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{{Otherpeople|David Horowitz}}

[[Image:Horowitz.gif|right|frame|David Horowitz]]
'''David Horowitz''' is a conservative author and political commentator. In  the [[1960s]] he was a [[Marxism|Marxist]] in the American [[New Left]] movement, but today holds [[conservative]] views. Because of this evolution, he is often dubbed a [[neoconservative]]. 

He is the founder of [[Center for the Study of Popular Culture]].  He writes for the [[conservative]] magazine [[NewsMax]] and is the editor of [[FrontPageMag.com]]. He is affiliated with [http://www.studentsforacademicfreedom.org/ Students for Academic Freedom] and [http://www.campus-watch.org/ Campus-Watch].

==Life and career==
He was born in [[1939]] to a Jewish family in [[Forest Hills, New York]]. His parents Phil and Blanche Horowitz were school-teachers in Sunnyside Gardens, [[Queens]], [[New York City]], and raised their son in a strict '[[Stalinist]]' environment. Horowitz went to [[Columbia University]] as an [[undergraduate]], later taking a [[Master's degree]] in English literature at the [[University of California, Berkeley]]. Horowitz became a prominent member of the New Left movement in the [[United States]]—a break with the earlier [[Communist Party USA]]. After moving to [[California]], Horowitz became a well-known [[Marxist]] supporter of the various leftist causes of the 1960's and 1970's. He worked for the [[Bertrand Russell Peace Foundation]], and authored several books on [[Marxian]] interpretations of history, as well as serving as an editor of the radical magazine ''[[Ramparts magazine|Ramparts]]''. He also provided legal help to the [[Black Panthers]], and became a confidant of its leader [[Huey Newton]]. 

As the years went on, however, Horowitz became very disillusioned with some of the tactics of the American Left, especially after one of his close friends, [[Betty Van Patter]], was murdered in [[1974]].  Horowitz attributes her murder to the Panthers; no one was charged or arrested; and the case remains unsolved. Horowitz's thinking gradually became more conservative; and today he is regarded as a leading conservative advocate.  Among the key events he credits with his 'intellectual transformation' were the aftermath of the Vietnam War, and the [[AIDS]] crisis. He has written about his transformation in an autobiography, ''Radical Son'', and ''Left Illusions''. 

Horowitz's transition from a left-wing to a right-wing position is not atypical for those labeled [[Neoconservatism (United States)#Neoconservatism as an "ex-leftist" movement|neoconservatives]], but Horowitz strongly rejects the label.

==Work in Race-Relations==
Horowitz has continued to remain interested in the topic of race in the United States, and has written many articles on [[African American]]s and American society. 

Horowitz is a prominent opponent of "[[affirmative action]]" programs in the United States. In response to those advocating [[reparations]] for black slavery, he distributed an essay titled "Why reparations for slavery are a bad idea, and racist too"[http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=1153] to more than 50 [[college]] and [[university]] student newspapers. In the essay, Horowitz argued that present day black Americans had actually benefitted from slavery saying, "The claim for reparations is premised on the false assumption that only whites have benefited from slavery. If slave labor created wealth for Americans, then obviously it has created wealth for black Americans as well, including the descendants of slaves...American blacks on average enjoy per capita incomes in the range of twenty to fifty times that of blacks living in any of the African nations from which they were kidnapped."  With regard to economic adversity, he argued that the majority of blacks are now part of a prosperous middle-class community and that the existence of this community suggests "that economic adversity is the result of failures of individual character rather than the lingering after-effects of racial discrimination and a slave system that ceased to exist well over a century ago". Though the essay was offered as a paid advertisement, and few papers accepted it, it nonetheless sparked protests. Demonstrations against college newspapers which did carry the advertisement included destruction and burning of newstand copies by campus groups. Many critics considered paid political editorials inappropriate for college newspapers especially as this particular one made highly charged arguments on racial matters. Horowitz' "crusade against intolerance and racial [[McCarthyism]] on college campuses" inspired the book ''Uncivil Wars''.
[[Image:David Horowitz.jpg|right]]

Horowitz has acknowledged [[Jared Taylor]], an avowed white supremacist associated with the newsletter, [[American Renaissance]], as a "very intelligent and principled man" while calling his racialist views "mistaken".[http://frontpagemag.org/blog/BlogList.asp?D=&ID=&CP=65] Horowitz does not consider Taylor's views to be "racist"  but "racialist" because he has said that to call Taylor a racist would require calling the [[NAACP]] a racist organization. 
Horowitz has reprinted articles from Taylor's newsletter in his own [[Frontpage]] magazine [http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=1908]. Horowitz has also printed articles by [[James Lubinskas]], a Taylor protege, in his magazine.[http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=3693][http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=3478][http://frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=3570]

==Academic Bill of Rights==
Horowitz, along with some Republican leaders, has been promoting his "[[Academic Bill of Rights]]," an eight-point manifesto that seeks to eliminate alleged political bias in university hiring and grading. Horowitz claims that [[liberal bias]] in universities amounts to indoctrination, and charges that conservatives and particularly Republicans are 'systematically excluded' from faculties. He has often attempted to prove this by examining party registrations of faculty members[http://select.nytimes.com/2005/10/11/opinion/11tierney.html?hp]. The student government of [[Bates College]] has endorsed his Bill of Rights.[http://www.studentsforacademicfreedom.org/archive/2005/June/PortlandPressHeraldBatesCollege061305.htm]  Critics, such as [[Stanley Fish]], have argued that "academic diversity," as cited in the bill, is not a legitimate academic value. This is a normal course of argument for Fish, who frequently argues that no endorsement of a concept like "diversity" can be absolute. [http://chronicle.com/free/v50/i23/23b01301.htm]
Others claim that it is just an '[[affirmative action]]' program for conservatives, although Horowitz denies this, saying that the Bill is designed to prevent hiring being carried out on anything other than 'clear academic criteria'. His critics point out that rather than preventing hiring based on political criteria, the Bill would require political tests to be explicitly applied in the hiring process itself. Prospective applicants would be identified as "liberal" or "conservative" based either on their political party registeration or on the subjective decision of an evaluator within the process. Horowitz also charges the campus Left as having heavily slanted courses and reading lists towards a Left-liberal interpretation of history and society, implicitly or explicitly excluding non left-of-center points of view.  

Horowitz was [[Pieing|hit with a pie in the face]] by [[left-wing]] activists during a lecture given at [[Butler University]], just days after similar incidents at [[Western Michigan University]], during a speech by conservative writer and talk-show host [[Pat Buchanan]], and at [[Earlham College]], during a speech given by conservative writer and activist [[Bill Kristol]].

==Projects==
In 2004 Horowitz launched [[Discover the Networks]] (DSN), a conservative watchdog project that monitors the relationships between groups and individuals on the political left in the United States. DSN claims to research the political activities and financial supporters of its subjects and publicizes connections between prominent liberal figures and [[communist]], [[socialist]], [[Arab]] [[terrorist]] and other organizations described as extremist by the group. 

One of Horowitz's recurring themes is that of a western political Left in the 20th century which actively or tacitly colluded with violently repressive socialist/communist regimes and yet which has so far not had to come to terms with the fact, let alone been held to account. He has coined the term 'neo-Communist' to describe the current incarnation of, he says, such inherently totalitarian Leftism still extant in the west – and in particular in academia. In his book, Unholy Alliance, he further expands this idea to suggest that the political left has, since the decline of communism, engaged in a tacit conspiracy with Islamic extremists and terrorists.

==Regarding Peter Jennings' death==
Horowitz responded to the [[August 7]], [[2005]], death of [[ABC News]] anchor [[Peter Jennings]] with his [[August 8]] post on the Moonbat Central [[weblog]], titled "Peter Jennings Sympathies for the Devil," in which he wrote:

*''Peter Jennings is dead, may he rest in peace. Lest we forget, however, while he was alive Peter Jennings did considerable damage to the cause of civilization and human deceny [sic] by his sympathy for Jew-hating terrorists and their supporters.''

[[Media Matters for America]] and [[Al Franken]] of [[Air America Radio]] criticized Horowitz for his statement.

==Criticism==
In 2003, liberal activist [[Chip Berlet]] wrote an article for the [[Southern Poverty Law Center]] (SPLC) entitled "Into the Mainstream", which named Horowitz's Center for the Study of Popular Culture (CSPC) as one of an "array of right-wing foundations and think tanks support[ing] efforts to make bigoted and discredited ideas respectable," for passages pertaining to Horowitz's writings against slavery reparations and affirmative action. [http://www.splcenter.org/intel/intelreport/article.jsp?pid=105] In an open letter to SPLC president [[Morris Dees]], Horowitz urged Dees to remove the article from the SPLC website, alleging that it was "so tendentious, so filled with transparent misrepresentations and smears that if you continue to post the report you will create for your Southern Poverty Law Center a well-earned reputation as a hate group itself." [http://www.frontpagemagazine.com/Articles/Printable.asp?ID=9622] Dees declined to remove the article. Since then, Horowitz's ''Front Page Magazine'' has carried a response from Berlet accusing Horowitz and the CSPC of using "inflammatory, mean-spirited, and divisive language that dismisses the idea that there are serious unresolved issues concerning racism and white supremacy in the United States," [http://www.frontpagemagazine.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=9831], a further rejoinder from Horowitz addressed to Dees, [http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=9830] and an article by Chris Arabia harshly critical of Berlet in which he claims that Berlet's work creates the "false illusion that conservatism and racism walk hand-in-hand" and "has squashed vigorous debate and discourse," including among the political left. [http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=10352] 
Critics of Horowitz' DSN project consider it to be little more than an attempt to revive 1950s style blacklists and guilt by association tactics{{fact}}.

[[Jack E. White]], of [[TIME]] magazine, described Horowitz as a "real live bigot."[http://www.mediatransparency.org/reprints/horowitz_bigot.htm]

==Books==
Horowitz has written many books and pamphlets, including:
* ''Student: The Political Activities of the Berkeley Students'', (1962, this was his leftist period)
* ''Empire and Revolution: A Radical Interpretation of Contemporary History'', (1970 ISBN 0394708563)
* ''Corporations and the Cold War'', edited and with an introduction by David Horowitz (1970 ISBN 0853451605)
* ''The Free World Colossus: A Critique of American Foreign Policy in the Cold War'' (1971 ISBN 0809001071)
* "A Radical's Disenchantment," ''[[The Nation (U.S. periodical)|The Nation]]'', December 8, 1979
* ''The Art of Political War And Other Radical Pursuits''
* ''How to Beat the Democrats and Other Subversive Ideas''
* ''[[Radical Son: A Generational Odyssey]]'' (1998 ISBN 0684840057), his autobiography
* ''Destructive Generation: Second Thoughts About the '60s'' by Peter Collier, David Horowitz ISBN 0684826410
* ''[[Uncivil Wars : The Controversy Over Reparations For Slavery]]'' (2002 ISBN 1893554449)
* ''Hating Whitey: and Other Progressive Causes'' ISBN 189062621X
* ''The Politics of Bad Faith: The Radical Assault on America’s Future''
* ''Left Illusions: An Intellectual Odyssey'' (2003 ISBN 1890626511)
* ''[[Unholy Alliance: Radical Islam and the American Left]]'' (2004 ISBN 089526076X)
* ''[[The Anti-Chomsky Reader]]'' with Peter Collier (2004 ISBN 189355497X).

Together with [[Peter Collier]] he wrote several best-selling biographies of prominent American families:

*''[[The Rockefellers: An American Dynasty]]'' (1976)
*''[[The Kennedys: An American Drama]]'' (1985)
*''[[The Fords: An American Epic]]''  (1987)
*''[[The Roosevelts: An American Saga]]'' (1994)

==Quotations==
*''If blacks are oppressed in America, why isn't there a black exodus?'' - from the 1999 Salon article "Guns don't kill black people, other blacks do"

*''The black middle-class in America is a prosperous community that is now larger in absolute terms than the black underclass. Does its existence not suggest that economic adversity is the result of failures of individual character rather than the lingering after-effects of racial discrimination and a slave system that ceased to exist well over a century ago?'' - From the article: Ten Reasons Why Reparations for Blacks is a Bad Idea for Blacks and Racist Too

*''Real human flesh and blood had been sacrificed on the altar of utopian ideals. A collusive silence had followed.'' - Concerning Betty Van Patter's murder from Jamie Glazov's introduction to "Left Illusions"

*''For the sake of the poorest peasants in this Godforsaken country, I can't wait for the [[contras]] to march into this town and liberate it from these fucking [[Sandinista National Liberation Front|Sandinista]]s!'' - In the dining room of the Intercontinental Hotel in [[Nicaragua]], during the fall of 1987

*''Intelligent people who read his book will discover for themselves what a second-rate ideologue and empty intellectual suit he ( [[Cornel West]] ) is without anyone's help.'' - from an article in [[FrontPageMagazine.com]], October 18, 2004. 

*''Leftists think that nothing is bad but the [[Holocaust]].'' - from a speech at [[Michigan State University]]

*''Leftists want to regulate everything but hard drugs and sex.'' - from a speech at [[Michigan State University]]

*''What about the debt blacks owe to America—to white America—for liberating them from slavery?''- from "Ten Reasons Why Reparations for Blacks is a Bad Idea for Blacks—and Racist Too," an article in [[FrontPageMagazine.com]], January 3, 2001.

*''Liberation is no longer, and can be no longer, merely a national concern. The dimension of the struggle, as Lenin and the Bolsheviks so clearly saw, is international: its road is the socialist revolution.'' - from the 1969 essay "Imperialism and Revolution"

*''Black Africans and Arabs were responsible for enslaving the ancestors of African-Americans.'' - from "Ten Reasons Why Reparations for Blacks is a Bad Idea for Blacks—and Racist Too," an article in [[FrontPageMagazine.com]], January 3, 2001.

*''The claim for reparations is premised on the false assumption that only whites have benefited from slavery. If slave labor created wealth for Americans, then obviously it has created wealth for black Americans as well, including the descendants of slaves.'' - from "Ten Reasons Why Reparations for Blacks is a Bad Idea for Blacks—and Racist Too," an article in [[FrontPageMagazine.com]], January 3, 2001.

==See also==
* [[FrontPageMag.com]] - online right wing magazine edited by Horowitz [http://www.frontpagemag.com]

==External links==
*[http://www.frontpagemag.com/AboutHorowitz/index.asp FrontPage magazine.com About Horowitz]
*[http://www.studentsforacademicfreedom.org/ Students for Academic Freedom] - website promoting the "Academic Bill of Rights"
*[http://archive.salon.com/news/feature/2001/03/13/horowitz/print.html Horowitz: "I'm not a racial provocateur"] (Salon)
*[http://aaup-ca.org/larkin_horowitz.html Legislating Academic Freedom: The Larkin-Horowitz Debate]
*[http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20000703&c=1&s=sherman David Horowitz's Long March] by Scott Sherman in ''[[The Nation (U.S. periodical)|The Nation]]''
*[http://www.campusprogress.org/tools/155/know-your-right-wing-speakers-david-horowitz Know Your Right-Wing Speakers: David Horowitz]
*[http://mediamatters.org/archives/search.html?topic=David%20Horowitz Media Matters entries on Horowitz]
*[http://reason.com/links/links091703.shtml Jesse Walker of Reason Magazine on the dangers of the Academic Bill of Rights]
*[http://www.disinfopedia.org/wiki.phtml?title=David_Horowitz_(ex-Marxist) Disinfopedia - David Horowitz]
*[http://www.counterpunch.org/nimmo1031.html The Delusions of David Horowitz] (Counterpunch)
*Paul de Rooij, "[http://www.counterpunch.org/rooij04112005.html Undermining Civil Society: David Horowitz's Corrosive Projects]", ''CounterPunch'', April 11, 2005.
*MediaTransparency, "[http://www.mediatransparency.com/personprofile.php?personID=15 David Horowitz]", an overview of Horowitz, and some articles referring to him.
*[http://www.rwor.org/a/013/horowitz-battering-ram.htm Revolutionary Worker: Meet the Real David Horowitz]


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[[Category:Activists|Horowitz, David]]
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