Proper Protest

To the Editors of The Crimson

I was interested in the irony of the dissenting opinion of Martha A. Bridegam, Sean C. Griffin, Jonathan M. Moses and email E. Parker in the March 24 Crimson.

I refer firstly to their statement, "restricting some of [Kent-Brown's] rights is an appropriate method of activism." I am continually amazed at the number of people who list as justification for their methods of protest the exact principle against which they are supposedly protesting. Perhaps the irony of their statement could be illustratred if the dissenters were reminded that the very target of their protest, the government of South Africa, is "restricting some" of the rights of its Black citizens, and that since 1917 the "activists" who took control of the Russian government have been "restricting some" of the rights of the Soviet people.

The second statement that is worthy of response says that "the speech by Kent-Brown tonight is a question of competing rights: the right of the vice consul to speak versus the right of the protesters to have themselves heard." Unfortunately, the dissenters have not listed two rights. No one has the right to be heard. One does have the right to speak. Whether one is heard or listened to is not, nor should be, under the speaker's control. Saying, "I have a right to be heard" implies that you have the right to force someone to listen to you.

Finally, I refer to the statement, "Kent-Brown has an advantage in protecting his rights, the Harvard University police force. Activists have only their overwhelming desire to make the voices of their protest heard." The only rights that the H.U.P.D. are protecting are Kent-Brown's physical right to the free movement that the dissenters are so willing to "blockade," and his right not to be harmed by the "militant action" that they condone. If they feel that this is an "advantage," and eliminating that advantage means using a police force to "make the voices of protest heard," then the dissenters should examine seriously their own practices before criticizing those of South Africa. Allen R. Barton '90