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LAROUCHE PRESENCE AROUND CAMPUS AGITATES COMMUNITY
Andrew Doughman
The Daily of the University of Washington
October 1, 2009
Lyndon LaRouche advocates set up a table on campus yesterday with
posters bearing photographs of President Barack Obama with an
edited-in, Adolf-Hitler-style moustache. While other students and
staff browsed the Dawg Daze booths, some people were busy raising
their voices because of the display.
Members of the LaRouche group hand out pamphlets with a defaced
President Obama on the cover. These depictions of the president upset
many people who saw them.
"What do you think of Obama?" one LaRouche supporter asked people
passing by the stand between Mary Gates Hall and Red Square. "He's
kissing too much booty. What do you think of the mustache?"
Santiago Vega, a passing community member, said the display angered
him, but he said that it is tricky to define the group's display as
either hate speech or speech protected by the First Amendment.
"They push it up to the line, but they don't go over it," he
said. "They're on the precipice."
The LaRouche group distributed pamphlets that drew a link between
Obama's policies and Hitler's policies on euthanasia.
"Obviously, they have no sense of history," Vega said. "It's
incredible, the abject stupidity."
Henry Gasparian, an Armenian immigrant who lived through a Nazi
occupation, was charged with assault after a fight with LaRouche
supporters in Edmonds Sept. 5.
"I would almost say this is an incitement to violence," said Jeff
Ostrove, a UW sophomore who saw the display on campus yesterday.
LaRouche supporters have campaigned on campus for years, handing out
pamphlets and engaging in political debates with passers-by. Members
of the perennial presidential candidate's national party do not talk
to the press as a rule and declined to comment for this story.
LaRouche, who first ran for U.S. president in 1976, has a long
political history. He has, at various times, been called the leader
of a politi ommunist, a racist and an anti-Semite. Although the
majority of his presidential campaigns seek a Democratic nomination,
the Democratic Party has never recognized LaRouche.
Andrew Doughman
The Daily of the University of Washington
October 1, 2009
Lyndon LaRouche advocates set up a table on campus yesterday with
posters bearing photographs of President Barack Obama with an
edited-in, Adolf-Hitler-style moustache. While other students and
staff browsed the Dawg Daze booths, some people were busy raising
their voices because of the display.
Members of the LaRouche group hand out pamphlets with a defaced
President Obama on the cover. These depictions of the president upset
many people who saw them.
"What do you think of Obama?" one LaRouche supporter asked people
passing by the stand between Mary Gates Hall and Red Square. "He's
kissing too much booty. What do you think of the mustache?"
Santiago Vega, a passing community member, said the display angered
him, but he said that it is tricky to define the group's display as
either hate speech or speech protected by the First Amendment.
"They push it up to the line, but they don't go over it," he
said. "They're on the precipice."
The LaRouche group distributed pamphlets that drew a link between
Obama's policies and Hitler's policies on euthanasia.
"Obviously, they have no sense of history," Vega said. "It's
incredible, the abject stupidity."
Henry Gasparian, an Armenian immigrant who lived through a Nazi
occupation, was charged with assault after a fight with LaRouche
supporters in Edmonds Sept. 5.
"I would almost say this is an incitement to violence," said Jeff
Ostrove, a UW sophomore who saw the display on campus yesterday.
LaRouche supporters have campaigned on campus for years, handing out
pamphlets and engaging in political debates with passers-by. Members
of the perennial presidential candidate's national party do not talk
to the press as a rule and declined to comment for this story.
LaRouche, who first ran for U.S. president in 1976, has a long
political history. He has, at various times, been called the leader
of a politi ommunist, a racist and an anti-Semite. Although the
majority of his presidential campaigns seek a Democratic nomination,
the Democratic Party has never recognized LaRouche.