WINGO 2007

even in this peripheral, distributed
capacity."
But Pachoda did not have the last
word.
On Sept. 7, the executive board
of the U-M Press met and, citing
free speech concerns, ordered that
Overcoming Zionism be distributed
while it undertook a review of its
relationship with Pluto Press, to be
completed by the end of November.
U-M issued a statement that confirms
that Pluto Press publications are dis-
tributed without review, and that had
the book gone through its "standard
review process;' it would not have
been distributed.
While the board said the university
press contract with Pluto requires the
university to distribute all of the pub-
lisher's books, it also unanimously
decided to reconsider: "Pluto Press's
decision to publish Overcoming
Zionism brings into question the
viability of U-M Press's distribution
agreement with Pluto Press."
Kovel writes in Overcoming Zionism
that he "loathes Zionism" and that
"the notion of a 'Jewish restoration"
is "atrocious."
"Restored for what?" he asks.
"To rape Palestine, to pervert the
Holocaust, to become courtiers of
an empire [the United States] that is
destroying the planet itself? As they
have built their world, the power-Jews
have restored nothing so much as
Moloch, the child-devouring shadow-
form of Yahweh — a verdict all too
literal."

Unmasking Pluto Press
In the Sept. 25 StandWithUs
Michigan newsletter distributed by
e-mail and posted on the Internet,
StandWithUs Michigan Director
Jonathan Harris contrasts the mis-
sion of Pluto Press with that of the
U-M Press.
"A visit to the Pluto Web site
reveals that Pluto Press is not a
true commercial publisher, or even
an academic one, but rather was
founded in 1969 as the pamphleteer
of International Socialism, the later
British Socialist Worker's Party:'
Harris writes. "Though now indepen-
dent, Pluto Press has never been any-
thing other than an ideological enter-
prise, calling itself 'one of the world's
leading radical book publishers.
"In contrast, the UMP Web site
claims the press was founded in 1930
as a publisher of 'important scholarly
research!" He adds that Pluto Press is
the only outside publisher that U-M

Press has a distribution agreement
with.
Harris does not see it as a free
speech issue because he does not
challenge the right of Pluto Press to
publish whatever they wish. What he
does question is U-M's promotion of
a single publisher with a single politi-
cal perspective without academic
review.
Harris urges community members
to contact U-M President Mary Sue
Coleman to express concerns.
"Not only should we be concerned
about Pluto Press, we should be
concerned that there may be other
instances, particularly in the class-
room, where free speech concerns
compromise U-M's academic stan-
dards," Harris said.

Other Questionable Books
Jonathan Schwartz, a recent graduate
of Wayne State University Law School
in Detroit, notes on his blog, "Anti-
Racist Blog: Exposing Anti-Semitism
and Anti-Zionism on American
College Campuses," that Pluto also
publishes, and U-M distributes, works
by Israel Shahak.
In a Sept. 24 posting, Schwartz
cites an article in the Middle East
Quarterly (Fall 2001) claiming
Shahak, now deceased, "openly hated
Jews and Judaism. His writings center
around the theme that Judaism is the
fountain of all evil and that most of
the world's problems can ultimately
be traced back to Judaism. He pro-
pounded the thesis that Judaism is a
racist form of irrational anti-Gentile
hatred ... [and that] Jews worship
Satan daily"
Shahak's work is regularly cited
and promoted on neo-Nazi Web sites.
The Radio Islam Web site contains
the full text of Jewish History, Jewish
Religion: The Weight of 3000 Years, a
book cited by the Anti-Defamation
League as a classical anti-Semitic
interpretation of Jewish texts.
"The University of Michigan and
its press need to break their ties
to Pluto Press now," Schwartz says.
"Every minute Michigan continues
to distribute and make money from
racist books published by Pluto, the
more shame is brought upon the pub-
lic university"
Besides StandWith Us Michigan
and Schwartz's Anti-Racist Blog, the
Anti-Defamation League/Michigan
Region and the Great Lakes Region
of B'nai B'rith also have been in com-
munication with the university about
the issue. E

Welcome
back to WINGO!

16th annual women-only bingo

OPENING DOORS,
OPENING HEARTS

Tuesday, November 6, 2007
Congregation Shaarey Zedek
Southfield, Michigan

Registration, 5:45 p.m.
Sit-down dinner, 6:30 p.m.

Bingo, 7:1 S p.m.

Couvert $42
To receive an invitation or
for more information, contact the
ORT America Michigan Region
office at 248-723-8860 or
Michigan@ORTAmerica.org

Register online at www.ORTMichigan.org

Proceeds will support World ORT
programs from the U.S. to
Latin America to Israel to Europe!

Educating individuals.

Impacting communities.

Improving the world.

1307900

Lois G. Sandberg Michigan Region Office

6735 Telegraph Road, Suite 150
Bloomfield Hills, MI 48301-3172
Phone: 248-7238860 Fax: 248-723-8861
Michigan@ORTAmerica.org
www.ORTMichigan.org

October 4 • 2007

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