By
Laura Whitlock '03
New
York, N.Y., Sept. 20 - In the last week Americans
have been searching for meaning and trying to
determine the best course of action in the aftermath
of the terrorist attacks. On Wednesday, nearly
200 Barnard and Columbia students, faculty,
and staff members shared sharply contrasting
views during a two-hour panel and discussion
about appropriate responses, and about the nation's
role in the world.
"Last
week we weren't ready to step back and think
about what the best response was," Barnard President
Judith Shapiro said in her opening remarks.
"Now, a week and a day away from those events,
it's necessary to think about the wisest and
most reasonable responses." [Click here to
read President Shapiro's full
opening remarks.]
"The
life of an academic institution revolves
around the search for truth and understanding.
The vocation of our faculty is to
serve as guides in that search; their
primary audience is their students,
but, in fact, we are all a part of
this mission. All of us at Barnard
should contribute to it and benefit
from it."
-- Judith
Shapiro, President |
|
Assistant
Professor of Spanish and Latin American Cultures
Isolina Ballesteros and Assistant Professor
of History Lars Tragardh both emphasized that
Americans need to understand why there is such
anti-American sentiment across the world. Tragardh
criticized the "dangerous lack of self-reflection"
in these circumstances, while Ballesteros spoke
about her firsthand experience with terrorism
growing up in Spain and warned against the "dangerous
kind of patriotism and blind vengeance " being
seen in America in the last nine days. [Click
here to read Isolina
Ballesteros's full statement. Click here
to read Lars Tragadh's
full statement.]
"Americans need to take a long, painful
look in the mirror and see what the American
flag means to people across the world," she
said.
Associate
Professor of Political Science Kimberly Marten
Zisk, a fellow of the Council on Foreign Relations
who has studied defense and international peacemaking,
took a very different stance, stating that we
are already involved in war not because President
Bush has declared war, but because terrorists
will not stop their assaults until they destroy
the United States. "What happened last week
is, unfortunately, just the beginning," she
said, adding that not responding would be seen
as weakness and thereby only encourage the terrorists.
"Last
Saturday night we had some friends
over for dinner. One who works in
the financial district said, 'They
tried to kill me.' I think that sums
up well the situation we are all facing."
-- Kimberly
Marten Zisk, Associate Professor
of Political Science |
|
"Osama
bin Laden is a bloodthirsty individual," she
said, "and as long as he survives we are in
mortal danger... There is nothing to have a
dialogue about." She warned, however, against
an indiscriminate attack by America that would
take the lives of innocent Muslims because,
in such a situation, America would risk turning
the entire Muslim world against it, "and we
would be sunk." [Click here to read Kimberly
Marten Zisk's full statement.]
Five
faculty members responded to the three initial
three panelists, and shared their personal reactions
to the attacks.
A
Gandhi scholar and advocate of nonviolence,
Professor of Political Science Dennis Dalton
stood in dramatic contrast to Zisk and noted
Barnard's history of nonviolent opposition to
issues such as apartheid and sexual misconduct.
Saying "we must take violence seriously -- violence
is the enemy and we must do everything to break
the cycle," he quoted a Massachusetts rabbi's
speech earlier in the week: "What we must fear
most is not evil -- it is becoming evil ourselves."
"Supporting
wars around the world has finally
brought the war home. American's backing
and financing Islamic radicals in
the 1980's, using them as a vehicle
to fight Soviet forces in Afghanistan,
has backfired."
-- Isolina
Ballesteros, Assistant Professor
of Spanish |
|
Assistant
Professor of Religion Elizabeth Castelli, Associate
Professor of Dance Donlin Foreman, and Assistant
Professor of Anthropology Paige West each spoke
of not being able to concentrate and feeling
that their own day-to-day activities were unimportant
in the face of such destruction.
"It
is each person's directive to find the 'seed'
of what you believe and know -- the thing you
can always stand on. That will give you purpose
and direct your actions now as we try to return
to our lives," Foreman said. Castelli echoed
a similar sentiment, saying that citizens should
strive to emulate the virtues of caring an selflessness
shown by the rescuers risking their lives in
the rubble downtown, in essence "not to do more
damage." She said this personal philosophy could,
by extension, guide our national response. [Click
here to read Elizabeth
Castelli's full remarks.]
Professor
of French Serge Gavronsky read, "Darkest
Day, Bluest Sky," a poem about the dichotomies
of life in different parts of Manhattan, about
the "curtain of terror" that had fallen across
the City, and the idea of a merciful God. The
piece was written two days after the attacks.
[Click here to read the poem.]
|
"While
the American public is presented
with the image of the US as the
defender of freedom and democracy,
the savior of the free world, 'America'
has come to mean something very
different in those countries where
the US for decades have supported
corrupt and despotic regimes: throughout
Latin America and Africa, as well
as in Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Pakistan,
Indonesia, to choose some countries
in the Arab and Muslim world."
-- Lars
Tragardh, Assistant Professor
of History
|
|
At
the conclusion of the faculty members' remarks,
the floor was opened to students and faculty
who began an intense discussion of topics ranging
from our conception of justice to military action
that will be effective but not excessive.
One
student told Zisk that after spending time in
England, she discovered that people abroad feel
Americans are awash in opulence while so much
of the world is starving. Pointing to bin Laden's
own wealth as a result of US oil trade in Arab
countries, Zisk countered that, "Osama bin Laden
did not do this because two-thirds of the world
lives below the poverty line. He did this because
he wants America out of the Middle East, and
if we don't leave, he plans to destroy us."
But
Adjunct Associate Professor of Religion Celia
Deutsch defended the student's point of view,
saying that "bin Laden may not have done this
because two-thirds of the world lives below
the poverty line, but that's why he has so much
support."
Natalie
Underwood '03 cried as she asked the last question
of the night, speaking of how she had come to
New York City against the advice of her parents,
and how her own mind has been opened to new
ideas - and how the anger of both terrorists
and patriots made her question religion of any
kind.
"For
if we can bring ourselves to see our
whole world in that pile of rubble...
we can also see in very sharp focus
who we would want to be in this situation:
rescue workers --workers who labor
alongside other strangers, who honor
the enormity of the loss through the
most meticulous and delicate gestures
required to dismantle the ruin and
recover the remains, who make a commitment
that almost goes without saying because
it's so obvious not to do more damage."
-- Elizabeth
Castelli, Assistant Professor
of Religion |
|
"It's
so easy to follow religion blindly," said Underwood.
"I hope people won't say, 'This is my God. I
have all the answers,' because no one has all
the answers." Castelli agreed that absolutist
thinking in religion or politics was dangerous,
but said that most religions offer sources of
critique within them.
"Violence
destroys meaning and makes it hard for us to
put things in order," she said, "but that's
what we have to do right now."
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