FORMER COLLEAGUE: Whether or not one is a Zionist (and I am not), the way in which Larissa Klazinga has been treated by Rhodes University is a total disgrace! The events that have transpired make evident that academic freedom at the university is in jeopardy, and strongly suggest that the institution is being regulated and managed through an ethos of spying, threats and intolerance…. It is quite evidently a series of cooked-up-claims which would seem to be underpinned by homophobia. Rhodes conducted itself shamefully.

ARI: Your complaints are petty. Do you know how many universities in this place exclude or are unwilling to cater for us with particular disabilities? Or the fact that due to some courses require more equipment to make them accessible the uni just doesn’t have, and makes the disabled student leave the course? Get over yourself, grow up and appreciate the fact you can study without worse barriers.

JOHN ST JOHN: Seems that finding out you’re not part of the biggest victim group can indeed be heartwrenching, when you’ve built your career, sexuality, and life around that feeding trough identity. My heart would bleed, if I could summon even the smallest quantum of caring. I can’t.

LEON REICH: The saddest part of this story is that Larissa – an eminently capable woman – now finds herself jobless. She is prepared to take work anywhere in the country and if anyone would like to make contact with her in this regard, feel free to e-mail me at: leon@ccg-sa.co.za

EDITOR’S NOTE – We are experiencing a tech difficulty and further posts (see below) are not displaying as at the time of writing. We hope they will be there by the time you wish to read them HERE!

FORMER RHODES STUDENT: Hey “Another Ruth First Student”, it appears we were in res together then. To be clear, I loved Ruth First and was greatly involved in all aspects of res life while there for the TWO years I lived there. I loved the hall and many of the things Ruth First stood for. In fact I actively stood up for Larissa because those charges were really bogus. In my first year, I also deeply admired and respected Larissa.

However, that said, her Zionism and radical anti-Palestinian attitudes soon made me deeply uncomfortable and took away a lot of the joy of living in res. As you say, Larissa had very strong views and I’m sure as a former resident of Ruth First, you know that disagreeing with her meant a total isolation from the ‘inner circle’ as Larissa wielded her power very effectively in that sense. Yes, she taught students to stand up for themselves, but only if it was something she believed in. Those who she didn’t believe in and who didn’t believe in what she believed in, she mercilessly took down. Larissa had some good qualities for sure but I do believe her extremism got to her in the end and made life extremely uncomfortable for those who disagreed with her. 

ANON: “I didn’t ever think that it (being a zionist) was a controversial position, in fact, much like being “Proudly South African” it seemed like a no-brainer.” – Larissa Klazinga

Comparing pro-Israeli zionism (or any form of zionism for that matter) to being “proudly south african”, a no brainer? Seriously? The only way that would prove true would be if we were suddenly teleported back in time prior to 1994 in South Africa…  then she would definitely have a point. A no brainer indeed…

Mail & Guardian

One particularly amusing anecdote is that of M&G THOUGHT-LEADER Gcobani Qambela who posted a blog titled “No love at Rhodes University?” which itself has had several thousand reads and numerous comments posted.

Gcobani kicks off with the widely used quote by Martin Niemöller that he says he loves: “First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out – because I was not a Socialist. Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out – because I was not a Trade Unionist. Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out – because I was not a Jew. Then they came for me — and there was no one left to speak for me.”

Gcobani Qambela continues that he was “reminded of this quote as I read Larissa Klazinga’s article in the SA Jewish Report titled: “Rhodes University: Not a Home for All”. I am not interested in much of Klazinga’s article per se but more the extent to which her story offers an important teachable moment about white masculinist racism, whiteness and privilege and how it is as harmful to white women as it is to black people.”

In essence, Gcobani is telling his readers that Larissa Klazinga’s story is one that is so similar to so many blacks in SA and “how it’s only when whiteness rejects them, that many white women start speaking out about exclusionary processes and silencing done by white men at predominantly white spaces like Rhodes.”

He goes on at length to reveal his own experiences. But, that aside, here is the anecdote-worthy parable.

Plagiarism of the worst kind

Enter an (apparent Israeli) blogger, STEPHEN DARORI, who lifts Gcobani Qambela’s piece off the M&G entirely, style and all, and publishes it under his OWN NAME the following day. No credit to Gcobani or the M&G. This is so scurrilous that the Jewish Report decided to visit Darori’s website on which he describes himself as the “developer of the Threshold Technolgy (sic) Curve Model” – whatever that may be.
 
On the day the Rhodes stories were published ChaiFM asked SAJR’s online editor to do an interview which can be heard here: PODCAST