By Sandra Smith
Maryland Rep. Jamie Raskin gave the fourth Irving and Renee Milchberg Endowed Lecture on democracy and the threat to reason on Thursday, but was disrupted by students protesting the Israel-Hamas conflict.
Raskin began by discussing how emotions affect political truths and reason.
“Progress in history requires not just reason, which is necessary, but it also requires the addition of the prosocial emotions, of solidarity, empathy, love and the attendant political virtues,” Raskin said.
He was quickly interrupted by uproar from the audience. Protestors in support of Palestine repeatedly shouted: “Raskin, Raskin you can’t hide, you’re complicit in genocide.”
Raskin responded by criticizing the student’s method of “heckling.”
“I’m a little bit disappointed in today’s generation of hecklers because they just want to drown out the speech and not engage in a conversation,” Raskin said. “I would have loved to invite them to have a conversation with me instead.”
Raskin then began to explain his position on the hostages held by Hamas.
“I’ve taken a very strong position for the immediate return of the hostages that have been held by Hamas,” he said.
Since the conflict began, Raskin has promoted a military ceasefire along with a two-state solution. Protestors questioned this and continued to interrupt his lecture.
Raskin also removed his name from a bill early this month that affirms the state of Palestine’s right to exist. He claims that his name was added without his knowledge or consent.
Students and staff who attended the lecture were shocked by the dialogue; many left or yelled back at the protestors.
“We need a new peace movement,” Raskin said. “You need to be the representatives of it, you’re not engaging in real dialogue and not convincing anybody.”
The lecture moved to a question-and-answer session since Raskin could not complete his original speech.
Darryll Pines, president of the University of Maryland, concluded the lecture early by circling back to the original topic: democracy.
“Little did we know we would see democracy working today in this very room,” Pines said.
Featured Image: Student protestor holds up sign that says “End Jew Hatred” at Rep. Raskin’s lecture on Thursday, March 28 2024. Photo by Sandra Smith.