UC Berkeley's student paper The Daily Californian posted a piece Sunday called "Looking into UC Berkeley’s history of activism" which briefly summarizes the school's central role in leftist protests, from the mid-1960s through the recent rioting that accompanied an attempted speaking engagement by libertarian firebrand Milo Yiannopoulos.
The article finishes with a "Where are they now?" segment which notes that "some former student activists have dramatically changed their views." There follows an extensive excerpt featuring Freedom Center founder and former leftist radical David Horowitz.
Check out the excerpt below and read the whole thing here:
“What we did was terrible,” said David Horowitz, who graduated from UC Berkeley in 1962 and worked as editor of San Francisco-based “Ramparts” magazine, which served as the mouthpiece of the anti-war movement and which Erlich also wrote for during the era.
Once, Horowitz was hauled before the administration for giving an anti-nuclear speech in front of Dwinelle Hall without authorization. He marched with Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee in 1962 to integrate Woolworths. Horowitz left Berkeley in 1962 but returned in 1968 to edit “Ramparts.”
Horowitz recalls standing with Tom Hayden, a fellow activist, during the People’s Park conflict.
“It was really ugly. Tear gas cans were flying. Tom said, ‘What we have to do, David, is lure middle class students into situations where the police will crack their heads, and that will make them radical,’ ” Horowitz said. “I was horrified.”
Horowitz recruited his bookkeeper from “Ramparts” magazine to work for the Black Panthers, and she was later found dead. Horowitz alleged that the Panthers had killed her. He became disillusioned with the anti-war movement as a whole.
“The U.S. withdrew from Vietnam and the communists proceeded to slaughter 2.5 million Indo-Chinese peasants. That’s when I knew I could no longer be a leftist,” Horowitz said. “They were murderers, and the innocent leftists who weren’t murderers would defend them. If you believe that you could create heaven on earth through social justice, what lie would you not tell?”
“I would characterize today’s student left as fascist. … They want to shut down everyone who disagrees with them. In the ‘60s, the left still had some democratic aspirations. I don’t see that today.”
– David Horowitz
Horowitz is now a conservative author. He is 78 and will not travel to campuses without a bodyguard. His organization, the Horowitz Freedom Center, supported Milo Yiannopoulos’ Feb. 2 appearance on campus, according to Breitbart. Horowitz himself will speak at UC Berkeley on April 12.
“I would characterize today’s student left as fascist. … They want to shut down everyone who disagrees with them. In the ‘60s, the left still had some democratic aspirations. I don’t see that today,” Horowitz said. “Berkeley is a national disgrace.”