Professor Lawrence Davidson, who has worked 27 years in the history department of West Chester University (USA), is currently visiting Australian universities and will be presenting an address entitled ‘Palestine and the West: A Political Discussion’ in Byron Bay on Saturday night.
He has authored five books: Cultural Genocide (2012); Foreign Policy, Inc: Privatizing America’s National Interest (2009); A Concise History of the Middle East (2005); Islamic Fundamentalism (2003); America’s Palestine: Popular and Official Perceptions from Balfour to Israeli Statehood (2001).
He also has published numerous articles on US policies toward the Middle East.
Professor Davidson has travelled extensively in Egypt, Morocco, Israel, Palestine, Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, Sudan and Iran where he has met and interviewed governmental leaders, academics, students and many leaders of civil society.
Over the last 20 years he has taken on the role of ‘public intellectual’ and has sought to heighten public awareness of the nature and consequences of US policies in the Middle East.
He has addressed college audiences, Rotary Clubs, churches, synagogues and other public venues, as well as the media in Middle East countries.
He sees American policies in the Middle East as having created the climate and context for the disaster that struck New York on September 11, 2001.
As a critic of US foreign policy he speaks out against uncritical American support of Israel’s illegal colonisation of Palestinian lands.
The event, hosted by the Byron Friends of Palestine, will be held at the Byron Bay Public School, Kingsley Street, Byron Bay, on Saturday, 25 July, 6pm–7pm (food), 7pm–9pm (talk).
