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Protestors Disrupt Kissinger Event at Stern [1]
['Téa Kvetenadze']
Date: 2023-10-12 23:45:14.933000+00:00
Protestors Disrupt Kissinger Event at Stern
Activists protested against him by disrupting inside the event and rallying outside. Téa Kvetenadze · Follow Published in NYU Local · 7 min read · Oct 17, 2018 -- Listen Share
Photo by author.
Protests swelled in response to Stern hosting a talk with former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger on Tuesday evening. The invitation-only event, which barred media access including NYU Local, was disrupted numerous times by student activists accusing him of being a war criminal. Starting around 5 p.m. a large crowd of demonstrators gathered for two hours at Gould Plaza outside of Stern’s Kaufman Management Center where the event was being held, chanting and brandishing signs with slogans such as “Prosecute Kissinger” and “(Kiss)inger My Ass.”
At least four student protestors interrupted the talk, which was part of Stern’s “In Conversation with Lord Mervyn King” series, and were forced to leave. Several then joined the crowd of over one hundred demonstrators outside making their voices heard; they passed around a megaphone for different activist speakers, shouted at times explicit rebukes of Kissinger and the university, and loudly chanted expressions including “We don’t need you, get out of NYU!” and “NYU, shame on you!”
Photo by author.
Kissinger is a contentious figure, revered as an elder statesman by some and a war criminal by others. He has been described as “the most important foreign policy official in modern American history,” and served as national security advisor and secretary of state under presidents Nixon and Ford. Some of his foreign policy initiatives included a five-year carpet-bombing campaign in Cambodia which killed an estimated 100,000 civilians, overseeing the bombing of Laos and North and South Vietnam, and enabling bloodshed by the military dictatorship in Argentina.
Monday happened to mark the 45th anniversary of Kissinger being controversially awarded the Nobel Peace Prize along with his North Vietnamese counterpart Le Duc Tho for their efforts to negotiate a peaceful settlement to the Vietnam War.
The coincidence was pointed out by several activists and groups such as NYU Disorient, one of over two dozen clubs involved in organizing the demonstration. The alliance published an open letter addressed to the NYU community ahead of the rally in which they denounce NYU for hosting Kissinger and describe him as “the morally reprehensible poster child of U.S. militarism and imperialism.” Its signatories include student organizations such as NYU Against Fascism, the university’s Amnesty International chapter, and NYC Democratic Socialists of America.
Those participating in the protest, officially called “No War Criminals at NYU,” did not hold back when talking about Kissinger. Many called him a war criminal; others labelled him “subhuman,” “scum,” “despicable,” and an “imperial warmonger.” They also criticized NYU for implicitly endorsing Kissinger by having him speak.
The crowd as seen from Kaufman. Photo by Catie Brown.
“NYU basically acts like a global corporation, so it makes sense they’d honor Kissinger,” said Jennifer Lenow, a recent GSAS graduate.
“It’s really appalling to me that the school that I go to and pay tuition is having this man come here,” said Aeslyn Vlahos, a junior in Silver. “We’re not going to tolerate this stuff, and if we can’t stop these events from happening we’ll at least have our anger be heard.”
The protest at times veered off-topic, with different speakers criticizing the Democratic Party, the Palestinian conflict, and politicians from both sides of the aisle, namely John McCain, Hillary Clinton, and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
At one point the crowd called out Stern in particular, chanting “Fuck Stern!” repeatedly.
One Stern student who gave his name as Keith expressed his displeasure as he watched the rally. He admitted he hadn’t heard of Kissinger before.
“It’s pretty annoying,” he said, given upcoming midterm exams. “These students are a nuisance.”
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[1] Url:
https://nyulocal.com/protestors-disrupt-kissingers-event-at-stern-d60bd0990f5d
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