The National Building Museum will award Caterpillar Inc. the 2011 Henry C. Turner Prize for Innovation in Construction Technology during a ceremony September 14, 2011. The Turner Prize jury chose Caterpillar Inc. for its long history of innovation within the construction industry.This incensed the anti-Israel crowd. The Rachel Corrie Foundation, the Jewish Voice for Peace, the ISM and others went on a campaign to get the museum to rescind the award. Yesterday, the museum announced that the public ceremony was cancelled.
“Since the early days of the corporation, Caterpillar has consistently excelled in developing innovative products to meet the emerging technical and market challenges of the construction and mining industries,” stated Clyde Tatum, Henry C. Turner Prize jury member and Obayashi Professor in the School of Engineering at Stanford University. “Their recent examples of increasing the sustainability and productivity of their products provide further evidence of their leadership.”
According to jury member Art Gensler, founder and chairman of the architectural firm bearing his name, Caterpillar has “taken American technology and know-how around the world.”
The museum's exact words were that it made this decision out of "an abundant concern for the safety of Museum staff and guests."
Which means that, implicitly or explicitly, the Museum was threatened. It reasonably decided that a ceremony to honor an American success story should not be marred by ugly protests from people who have decided that Caterpillar represents evil.
I never saw these hypocrites issue any condemnations when a Palestinian Arab used a hijacked Caterpillar construction vehicle to kill three civilians in Jerusalem in 2008, or the other bulldozer attacks against Israelis. No doubt they cheered.
I see no campaigns against Palestinian Arabs who use bulldozers - even when they are demolishing houses.
The simple fact is that a museum was forced to cancel a non-political ceremony because it is threatened by, and fearful of, gangs of hypocritical thugs.
That is terrorism.
The message being given is that if you accede to the demands of the terrorist supporters, then nothing will happen to you. It is the "activist" equivalent of a protection racket.
Now the same terrorist-supporting thugs are trying to get the museum to rescind the award altogether. Contact the museum and give them your support.