Figured I'd forward this. Since last time we sat in front of the fire and stroked each other's hairs and talked about "SDS," we were talking about.... what was it? Yes, the military SPYING on them, hoping to make future arrests that way. Well here's an old (and I mean first-wave, not "years...")) SDS-er out of Germany (who we all know are much more dangerous) who was, if the facts hold up, told "no more travel to the U.S. for you" this week by the U.S. government beccause he was a left dissident in the 60s. Different organizations with the same acronym, but similar left political ideologies, both forming, of course, as part of the civil rights movement, especially the black civil rights movement. This, below, from someone who'd passed the email on to me:
KD Wolff will NOT be speaking at Rutgers on Tuesday, nor taking part in other scholarly venues in the U.S. this week, because he was detained Friday at JFK upon arrival, his valid visa was revoked, and he was deported back to Germany. This seems to be (though he was indeed given no reason) because in 1969 he was head of the West German Socialist Student Federation (SDS) and then co-founder of the Black Panther Solidarity Committee. He has traveled regularly to the U.S. in the intervening decades under a B1, B2 visa. He has always constituted himself as a particular admirer of the U.S. Continuing his civic engagement, he is now best known as an award-winning publisher of definitive editions of the works of major as well as overlooked German authors (for which he was awarded membership in P.E.N.) and a cultural leader in Frankfurt a.M. and in Germany more broadly.
The German Historical Association, Vassar College, and other institutions who likewise invited Mr. Wolff to come speak this week will be lodging some form of protest, and I hope Rutgers to join this protest in some formal fashion. In the meantime, I want to let you know that this talk will not take place.
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