Moderated by Khalil Bendib on Voices of the Middle East and North Africa on KPFA, Berkeley, California :: June 1 and 8 2006
My new site is worth checking out, its on the subject of Israel’s upcoming 60th anniversary
I selected Neve Gordons lecture form the conference because I found his experience of academic freedom in Israel very interesting. Taking a critical look at his own Government I was surprised to hear that his department recieved many letters from the USA trying to damage his career. Also I agree with his analysis of the corporatisation of Universities. I’ve posted this to promote all the audio from the conference which is available in the links section below. [Thanks Victor]
Few academic papers in the last decade have generated as much controversy as the one published by two political scientists from the realist school last spring.
The working paper was published by Harvard, and an abridged version ran in the London Review of Books after being pulled from the Atlantic Monthly.
Since 9/11, the U.S. Congress has appropriated $610 billion dollars in war-related money. With inflation figured in, that’s roughly the same amount spent over the full 16 years of the Vietnam War. The Iraq War alone has cost the U.S. $450 billion dollars.
And what about the cost to the Iraqi people? In addition to civilian casualties, since 2003 hundreds of thousands of Iraqis have been forced to flee their war-torn country to nearby neighboring countries - countries that either don’t want them or can’t take care of them.
On this edition, correspondent Dahr Jamail takes us to the streets of Damascus, Syria where we hear from the Iraqi refugees themselves and the organizations trying to assist them.
John Perkins discusses the development of the first global empire beginning at the end of WWII. He describes the new tactics involving economic hitmen, assassins (jackals) and the military. Using Iraq as an example he explains how we must get the troops out but that we must also understand this new system and change it to prevent further conflicts and to improve life for all mankind.
Tariq Ali addressed a Sydney Ideas audience this week, with a lecture on lessons for the Middle East from Latin America, entitled Latin America and the Arab World: Resistance and Occupation. While one region serves to some degree as a good model of regional autonomy and has broken away from becoming a laboratory of neoliberalism, the other is struggling less successfully, so far, against the designs of neoconservatism.
Tariq Ali - Latin America and the Arab World: Resistance and Occupation: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download
Howard Zinn (born August 24, 1922) is an American historian, political scientist, social critic, and playwright, best known as author of the bestseller, A People’s History of the United States.
In this lecture Zinn discusses how by not trying to stop a war you are partly responsible for it happening and that “One persons action, however small, can make a difference in the world.”
Malcolm X discussing racism and the black mans holocaust (my words not his) where 80 million Black people were killed during slavery.
Chalmers Johnson’s Blowback predicted harsh reprisals in response to US imperial adventurism abroad. In a recent talk about his new book Nemesis, Johnson discusses the military-industrial-Congressional complex, considers the possibility of an attack on Iran, and wonders what’s happened to accountability and oversight in the halls of government.
Noam Chomsky, professor, linguistics, MIT
Robert Fisk, correspondent, The Independent
Journalist Robert Fisk of the UK-based publication, The Independent, recounts his experiences traveling around the world and living in the Middle East, Fisk speaks on history and geopolitics in the Middle East. His focus is on the problems with journalism in the United States, which include an over-reliance on what government authorities say and the common mode of reporting “from Baghdad” but entirely within the confines of a hotel room. Using newspaper articles and speeches from politicians, Fisk illustrates the lack of concern for Iraqis as human beings. Fisk’s talk also looks at the Armenian genocide, which was downplayed in Western media. After the talk, Fisk fields questions ranging from the rumors of civil war in Iraq to the situation in Lebanon.
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