tommy bruce takes on GWB

Who would have expected the public face of Cornell, Tommy Bruce, VP for Communications and Media Relations, to lay the smack down (ok, that is a little too 1998 but it seemed fitting) on GWB via his "terrorist" detainment policies.

Background:
Jose Bove, a French farmer and alter-globalization activist was scheduled to speak this afternoon at Cornell ILR's Global Unions Conference in NYC, and then again at a student organization sponsored event on Monday, but was detained yesterday at JFK airport and then sent back to France. The story seems to vary but has to do with him not reporting past prosecutions for "moral crimes" in his application to enter the United States without a visa as part of the visa-waiver program. However, Kate Bronfenbrenner, ILR researcher extraordinnaire and organizer of the Global Unions Conference, was indirectly quoted in Newsday saying that he had a visa. Regardless of the details of the incident, the staffs of both Senator Clinton and Rep. Hinchey (D-NY) seemingly came to his aid in investigating the matter at Cornell's request. And Tommy Bruce, often at odds with Cornell's activist groups, for his insistence on refusing to back down on issues in which he thinks Cornell may look bad, said, "When researchers and scholars are denied first-hand experience and world experiences about the issues at hand of this conference, then we all lose."

So basically Bruce stood by Bove and his GMO-crop burning, McDonalds'-window-bashing self at the expense of making Cornell sound subversive. Maybe Bush-'n-crew will accuse Mr. Bruce or even Cornell's brand spankin new president, Dr. David Skorton, of University of Iowa, of giving aid and comfort to the enemy. mwahahaha.

I'm pretty bummed that I can't go to the conference anyway, especially since I'm right hear and it sounds amazing, but I'd have to take time off of work, where I literally sit here and do NOTHING. An inside source tells me that Cornell is attempting to bring him back to the states another time, but they (and I) doubt it will work. He seems to be resigned not to even attempt to set foot in this country until George Washington Bridge is out of office.

"For the moment, I'm not going to ask to come to the United States. . . . While
Mr. Bush is in the White House, I am not going to ask to come back," he said.
"They don't want any discussion that can affect all the things going on with
globalization. They don't want people coming from outside to discuss it."

I hope I get to see him some time though. Somehow, I hadn't actually heard of him until the talk about him coming to Cornell and the conference sparked me to google him, but he's pretty fucking cool. If I go to the Tufts Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy, where I was recently accepted into the Masters program in the Dep't of Agriculture, Food and Environment, maybe we could try to bring him as a speaker.

Newsday reports "Last November, Bove was sentenced to four months in prison for destroying a field of genetically modified corn planted by an American seed company in southern France in July 2004. "

Somehow Newsday got a much better scoop on the story than any of the other papers or wires. maybe the local connections.

maybe our friend gustavo esteva would be detained too. maybe that makes me a criminal cuz i spent a week at his house....ahahaha. long live SIT.

ETA: I just found out: According to Wikipedia, "in an interview with TV channel Canal Plus, Bove stated that the wave of attacks against French synagogues then underway was being either arranged or fabricated by Mossad (the Israeli secret service). 'Who profits from the crime?' Bove asked. 'The Israeli government and its secret services have an interest in creating a certain psychosis, in making believe that there is a climate of antisemitism in France, in order to distract attention from what they are doing.'"

ok, so maybe I don't want to have this guy's babies. but he's still pretty cool. and Tommy Bruce still defended his coming to my alma mater. and that makes me happy :)