A statement from our editor in chief, Chris Lehmann:
The Baffler is extremely dismayed to learn that The Brooklyn Commons, which is hosting a panel discussion and launch party for Baffler no. 32 next week, appears to be proceeding with an event on September 7 featuring anti-Semitic 9/11 conspiracy theorist Christopher Bollyn. Bollyn has written about alleged Zionist plots to control the media and government, while approvingly citing discredited anti-Semitic texts such as “Th...e Protocols of the Elders of Zion.” Giving a public platform to fantasists and hatemongers such as Bollyn is not part of any truly humane left politics.
The Baffler calls on Brooklyn Commons to cancel the September 7 event immediately—following the example set by the DC-area books venue Busboys and Poets, which promptly canceled a privately scheduled event for Bollyn when informed of his anti-Semitic agenda. Brooklyn Commons has reacted to other public calls for the Bollyn event by scrubbing his event description of anti-Semitic words and phrases—a disingenuous and bad-faith effort to whitewash a public appearance by a hatemonger. The various literary and political constituencies served by Brooklyn Commons deserve an honest reckoning with this grievous misjudgment on the facility’s part. At a minimum, that reckoning mandates a cancellation of the Bollyn event—and a denunciation of hate-driven ethnic and racial politics going forward.