Van Jones, Free Speech and Cuban Exiles

THIS POST WAS UNBLOCKED TODAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 2009 BY GOOGLE'S SEARCH ENGINE

I remember my encounter with Van Jones in Berkeley for I was there in 1999 when hundreds or perhaps more than a thousand took to the streets to protest Pacifica Radio's alleged censorship of KPFA, its local affiliate. Those who had missed Berkeley's renowned free speech movement in 1964 now had a chance to defend a right enshrined in the U.S. constitution.

Yet this was Berkeley and thus someone could both defend and deny the right to free speech without any jaws dropping. In other words, many in Berkeley were more than willing to patriotically turn the town upside down to defend their constitutional right to free speech while supporting Fidel Castro's 'free speech only for those who think like me' regime and turning Berkeley into a sister city of Palma Soriano, Santiago de Cuba. Their utterly shameless hypocrisy was hard to believe and so I decided to test it by lending my support to their "free speech" cause.

When a community strategy meeting was called and all activist organizations were invited I decided to attend. The 75-100 representatives of activist organizations were seated in a semi-circle while Mr. Van Jones and Ms. Andrea Buffa stood at the head. They began the meeting by reminding everyone about the importance of avoiding divisiveness since that would certainly be the enemy's tactic against the reborn fledgling movement. A united front with a common strategy was to be the way to win this war for, hmmm, Free Speech.

Van Jones then asked each of the seated participants to introduce himself or herself. I was among the first ten and when my turn arrived I announced that I was a Cuban exile and could therefore identify completely with the right they were claiming. I then offered my services, that is, to help nationalize their cause by seeking support among fellow exiles in Florida. I assured them that Cuban exiles would overwhelmingly support their claim to freedom of expression.

Without any hesitation whatsoever, Van Jones icily replied: "Progressives only" and proceeded to the next participant.

I analyzed his response for less than a minute and walked out.

Given this interaction, I'm not surprised by the revelations that have surfaced in the past few weeks or his politically inevitable resignation (for Obama's sake). But how could Obama ever have elected him as a czar?

Had I been Fidel's Castro emissary, or the tyrant himself, I suppose Van Jones would have welcomed me. Indeed, STORM or (Standing Together to Organize a Revolutionary Movement), a group to which he belonged, travelled to Cuba in 1999. There are no reports of Van Jones or any of his STORM associates organizing free speech protests during that visit; or of their meeting with dissident Cuban human rights advocates or visiting political prisoners. Need I ask why not? They and some congressmen only seemed to be concerned about 'their right' to travel to Cuba, not about human rights for Cubans or anyone else.

How much time did President Obama spend with Van Jones or reading his reports, if any? Surely he must have had influence or he would not have been recruited to be part of Obama's team of czars.

What was Van Jones' input, if any, on Obama's Cuba and Honduras policies? How do we know this for sure?