Paul Bremer, former U.S. ambassador to Iraq, deserves to be protested. He was a key figurehead of an unjust, or at least questionable, war. Bremer has to answer a lot of the questions the American people deserve to have. He was the boss of the Iraqi occupation, only to hit the lecture circuit and expound on how there weren't enough troops in Iraq to make a successful bid for freedom. Not enough troops? That's up in the air. But for those like us that see the war as unjust, does Bremer have some blood on his hands? Bet on it.
For democracy to work, people need to have the right to question their leaders. Those who think of Bremer as a war criminal should call him out on it in their constitutionally protected right to do so. But, there's always a right way and a wrong way to do things. The right way - protesting outside or distributing pamphlets to the crowd and asking or accusing Bremer in a direct manner. The wrong way - doing it in a way that disrupts the nature of Bremer's visit.
Tuesday's protests and subsequent arrests during Bremer's speech at Wharton Center are examples of how all parties involved are capable of getting it all wrong. The administration had asked people to submit pre-written questions for Bremer on index cards. Despite what MSU President M. Peter McPherson or other officials might say, cards are a great way to censor speech. A card that asked, "Mr. Bremer, are you a war criminal?" would not have gotten much play.
On Tuesday, Bremer, the protesters who brazenly disrupted his speech and MSU at large had an awesome opportunity to have an open, honest discourse on pressing political issues. When a controversial figure appears, organizers should be smart enough to facilitate an open question-and-answer segment that gives a voice to counter the drivel on index cards. Saying that Wharton Center is too big for Q & A isn't an acceptable excuse. They're called microphones - look into them.
So there's your way to give equal time to different viewpoints and a way to give students a voice, too. If a group wants to be taken seriously, though, they need to act seriously. An index card - however heavily edited - is not the only way to accuse Bremer of war crimes, should that be the belief. Write letters to the editor of local newspapers, including The State News. Pamphlet the entire population of East Lansing if need be, but don't disrespect a speaker's right to free speech. The volume of the message is not as important as the content or the manner in which it's delivered.
For however passionate or angry one might be with a prominent public figure, the U.S. Constitution has left you a healthy means to express your outrage. When emotion overpowers reason, the message is lost in the fray. Even if you think their message is bunk or full of hate, controversial figures like Bremer must be afforded basic civility, the same as their opposition.
In short, Tuesday night was an embarrassment to the First Amendment. Staged speeches without open discourse are about as constructive as the resulting shouting match that ensues out of frustration. There is little to no justification for protesters to have behaved so crudely, but we have equal disappointment in the university for doing their best to make sure any form of protest never saw the light of day.
