Hatem Bazian

Dr Hatem Bazian is a Palestinian-American academic. He received his Ph.D. in Philosophy and Islamic Studies from the University of California, Berkeley. Currently, Bazian is a senior lecturer in the Departments of Near Eastern and Ethnic Studies, and an adjunct professor of law at Boalt Hall School of Law at the University of California, Berkeley. He teaches courses on Islamic Law and Society, Islam in America, Religious Studies, and Middle East Studies. In addition to Berkeley, Dr. Bazian is a visiting Professor in Religious Studies at Saint Mary's College of California and adviser to the Religion, Politics and Globalization Center at UC Berkeley and Zaytuna Institute

Dr. Bazian is known for being an organic intellectual, a term used for academics directly connecting their research to the people; rather than utilizing speculation alone. Dr. Bazian's most recent book, Jerusalem in Islamic Consciousness, is a reflection of his desire to contribute to a better understanding of Muslim attachment and informed political attitudes toward the Sacred City Jerusalem and Palestine in general. As an activist, Dr. Bazian has played a significant role in many human and civil rights movements in the Bay Area, nationally and internationally including the defense of Affirmative Action in California, the Americans With Disabilities Act, Anti-Apartheid, Anti-Globalization Movement, and Central American Solidarity struggles.

Dr. Bazian worked as Editor in Chief of Discourse Magazine, a monthly progressive publication in SF with a checkered past. Bazian appears to have been on the payroll as Editor of Discourse at a time when there were no publications at when there were no plans to continue publishing the magazine. [Golden Gater, May 18, 1995 [http://www.journalism.sfsu.edu/www/pubs/gater/spring95/may18/disc.htm] ] . Post 9-11, Bazian co-hosted “Islam Today,” a 94.1 KPFA weekly radio magazine show covering Islam and its diverse people around the world. Since the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, he has appeared in many TV and Radio interviews, offered frequent commentary on current affairs and is a regular consultant for the San Francisco Chronicle on stories relating to Palestine, the Arab world, Islam, Muslims and world politics.

Bazian is originally from Nablus in the area known biblically as Samaria, and migrated after finishing high school in Amman-Jordan to the United States. He arrived in the U.S. in pursuit of higher education. He finished a double major in International Relations and Speech and Communication at San Francisco State University as well as working on an MA in International Relations before moving to UC Berkeley for his Ph.D.

While engaged in undergraduate studies at San Francisco State University in the late 1980s, Bazian became the first Palestinian to be elected president of SFSU Associated Students and the Student Union Governing Board. Also, Bazian was the first student to win a second term as president in the history of SFSU. The election came as a result of a united front formed under the Progressive Coalition that brought together all the students of color organizations on a common platform and a joint political strategy. In addition, during this period Bazian was elected as a Chair of the National People of Color Student Coalition as well as an Executive Board Member of the United States Student Association. In both NPCSC and USSA, Bazian took the lead on affirmative action, access to education, anti-Apartheid efforts on college campuses, Central American Solidarity Movement, and authoring resolutions, which were adopted by the USSA national conference in 1991, calling for cutting US aid to Israel and imposing sanctions for its sales of military equipment to Apartheid South Africa. At USSA national conference held at UC Berkeley in 1988, Bazian lead with others a major walk-out that culminated in the organization adopting a progressive board of directors structure granting by a 2/3 vote at least 50% of the Seats to Students of Color, a development that was taken-up by other organizations afterward.

Bazian has been known to bait Jewish students on campus and at rallies throughout the United States [At a May 1999 conference in Santa Clara, Bazian stated, “The Day of Judgment will never happen until you fight the Jews . . . . [T] he trees and stones will say, oh Muslim, there is a Jews hiding behind me. Come and kill him!” [http://home.comcast.net/~ayc4israel/Lawsuit%20text.htm] ] . This is consistent with reports from students at San Francisco State that he was regularly involved in discrimination against Jewish students for their support of Israel. [Alex Horovitz notes in a letter in support of Bazian's right to free speech that "I was a student at SFSU with him [Bazian] in the late 80's and he went so far as to ensure that I was prevented from being confirmed as an appointee to the Student Judicial Council. He did so on the grounds that I supported the state of Israel. As a supporter of Israel I was therefore a Zionist; and, because I was a Zionist I was therefore a racist." [http://www.zionist.org/archives/000026.shtml] ] .

Conservative commentator David Horowitz named Bazian as one of the 101 most dangerous professors, because of what Horowitz believes are anti-American political opinions. [ [http://www2.truman.edu/~marc/horowitz.html The Professors: The 101 Most Dangerous Academics in America ] ]

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