Middle East Library Talk
Called Off, Then On Again
A February 20 program at the Kingston (R.I.) Free Library about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict by former state senator Rod Driver was cancelled January 17—only to be rebooked as originally scheduled later that same day—after a town official expressed concern that the program would lack balance because of Driver’s pro-Palestinian views. “It boggled my mind,” Driver said in the January 23 Narragansett Times of the phone call he’d received canceling the event. “The program is so diversified, so I was shocked when I was told it would be called off.”
Town Councilwoman Karen Asher admitted to the Times that she had inadvertently triggered the chain of events after receiving a flyer about the library Friends-sponsored speaker series. Admitting that she “strongly disagrees” with Driver’s viewpoint, Asher said she advised the Friends, of which she is a member, that it should invite a speaker who could offer an opposing perspective. “I never, ever asked for it to be cancelled,” she insisted to the newspaper.
Friends President Mary Daley explained that the decision to cancel was made to give organizers time to find an additional speaker.
Posted January 28, 2002.
|
