Today’s letters to The Courier.
Sir,I do find it strange that The Courier”s front page highlighted the “ruined career plans of the pair convicted of rascism against an Israeli student and his flag.
I consider that such “rascist-linked and disgusting behaviour is unacceptable for any “cause.”
Despite the offender claiming the judgement was “ridiculous”, it is “interesting the university had also earlier found him guilty.
I am just so glad I did not graduate from St. “Andrews but rather from “Heriot-Watt, with Dundee Business School “lectures to follow, or I would feel ashamed at the dishonoured reputation “of attending the same “campus.
R. Oakley.Edinburgh.
Must guard a basic freedom
Sir,As a Jew and writer on Jewish immigrants, I was one of the witnesses that the Cupar Sheriff “refused to allow to be called in the trial of Paul “Donnachie. Had he “allowed us to be heard, then perhaps he would have understood the “crucial distinction between Zionism ““ a political position of support for a Jewish state in Israel/Palestine ““ and Jewishness ““ a “person”s religion or “ethnicity.
Criticism of the political concept of a state based around a single religious or ethnic group or of the “actions of the Israeli government is legitimate.
The ability to criticise a political position or a national government is a basic freedom that must be guarded tenaciously.
A national flag is a political symbol. In displaying the Israeli flag in his room, Chanan Reitblat was making a political statement.
Desecration of a flag is a long established method of making a symbolic protest against a political regime.
Paul Donnachie”s protest was directed not against Chanan Reitblat as a person or as a Jew, but against the political position that he so clearly “supported.
It was not racist. The way that he chose to protest was hardly in very good taste, but that should not be a matter for the courts.
Our laws should protect our basic freedoms and our universities should “foster political debate; but under the guise of preventing discrimination they have moved us a step “closer to an Orwellian “police state.
(Dr) Sarah Glynn.Castle Terrace,Broughty Ferry.
Political protest” is a right
Sir,St Andrews has learned that it must “endure the crass behaviour of students from both sides of the Atlantic.
Few of the victims take themselves as seriously as Mr Reitblat, and it is unfortunate that Mr Donnachie”s career has been blighted as a consequence.
Racism is a deplorable offence, which is still too common in many “corners of our society, but I hope we can we be sure that Sherrif Macnair has properly understood the distinction between anti-semitism, which is inexcusable, and political “protest, which is a right, even for drunken students.
Mr Reitblat was, after all, making a political statement himself, as are all those who display a national flag.
Simon Weller.Kemback Beg,Cupar.
Emotional rerun “of old arguments
Sir,I write to express deep concern about Jim Crumley”s article deprecating the plans of Newburgh folk who want to invest in and secure major local ownership of their “renewable energy potential.
The article is simply an emotional rerun of the 30-year-old cliched “arguments of the anti-wind power lobby.” I think it important that people who join the discussion do so from a “position of full awareness of the critical state of our current dwindling fossil fuel reserves, within the dynamics of an exploding world population, and the fast increasing personal purchasing power of the developing world.
The people of Newburgh and many other similar communities throughout Scotland need to be “encouraged to play their part in delivering solution to the approaching energy crisis.
It is also important that commentators fully “appreciate the financial and physical potential of wind power.
There is a unique “opportunity to revolutionise rural economies by encouraging local rural businesses surrounding communities, and indeed public sector bodies, to “secure ownership of the “renewable energy potential within their localities.
It is a certain fact that big onshore wind turbines are by far the most financially and physically “efficient renewable energy source currently available.
Offshore wind costs two to three times that of onshore wind power. How”ever, I must emphasise that in the next two decades we will need it all if we are to keep the lights on.
Maitland Mackie.Eikeland Westertown,Rothienorman.
Doubts about stopovers
Sir,As a Crail resident, I read with scepticism the article (August 24) on stopover sites for travellers by group chairwoman Alice McGarry.
What is a stopover site?
The area at Kilminning seems to be in “almost permanent occupation by travellers as it is.
I wonder what the £15,000 is to be used for? Presumably £5000 to be “allocated to Crail, hopefully for sanitation, but I doubt that sum would be sufficient to provide the necessary facilities for10 to 15 caravans.
R S Mathieson.5 West Braes Crescent,Crail.
Get involved: to have your say on these or any other topics, email your letter to letters@thecourier.co.uk or send to Letters Editor, The Courier, 80 Kingsway East, Dundee DD4 8SL.