TRAX, No. 1

TRAX is a new feature I’m adding to my blog as a way to share ideas and resources that, for lack of time, I can’t develop into a longer, single-themed post (though sometimes I might pick them up later). Every week or so I’ll collect a few resources that have fired up my neurons. I hope that you will enjoy them and find them useful. This feature will also allow me to update previous posts with the occasional stray item.

Here’s what HistoryLynx has tracked down for this week:

• In Memory of Anthony Shadid
• Documents for Sale  [Black History Month topic]
• History, Hockey, and the Holocaust

Sadly, this post begins with the passing of a talented journalist, whose dispatches from the Middle East I’ve listed many times in the RESOURCES and NOTES sections of previous posts.

In Memory of Anthony Shadid (1968-2012)

Thank you, Anthony, for all your great work.

My heartfelt sympathy to your family, especially to Nada and your children.

May all who mourn find peace and comfort.

Anthony Shadid was a hero, with a true calling. Intrepidly, to the very end, he reported from the frontlines of history--for the benefit of all of us. We could not ask for a more reliable witness. A hundred years from now historians will still probing the corners of the tragic conflicts, thwarted hopes, inspired awakenings, and amazing resilience of the people of our era. They will slip into the archives and find deeply moving stories of ordinary people, stories preserved only because Anthony Shadid listened to them. Then he shared their stories with us, planting seeds of empathy. His depth of knowledge about the peoples, cultures, and histories of the Middle East has enriched all who care about the heritage and the future of this region, where deep traditions converge and replenish each other.

  

"For the first time in a long time, we have the ability to imagine and, of course,

more importantly, to forge a new reality through that imagination."
 

Anthony Shadid, Address at the American University in Beirut (June 2011)

Eventually, I intend to write an extended essay about Shadid’s journalism–his storytelling, reporting, and analysis–and the debt future historians of the Middle East will owe to him. In the meantime, here are a few selected resources. Tributes abound on the Web–just Google "Anthony Shadid." Sample these and share excerpts with your students, or better yet, send your students to explore what Shadid’s friends and colleagues are saying about his work and its impact on their own endeavors.

　

RESOURCES: "Remembering Anthony Shadid." New York Times (Interactive): http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2012/02/17/world/middleeast/Anthony-Shadid-Remembrance.html?hp

• Tributes from friends and colleagues
• Links to Shadid’s articles in The New York Times, Washington Post, and Boston Globe

TIMES TOPICS: "Anthony Shadid (1968-2012). New York Times: http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/s/anthony_shadid/index.html?scp=1-spot&sq=shadid&st=cse

Gladstone, Rich. "At Work in Syria, Times Correspondent Dies." New York Times (16 February 2012): http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/17/world/middleeast/anthony-shadid-a-new-york-times-reporter-dies-in-syria.html?ref=middleeast

"Anthony Shadid." Editorial. New York Times (17 February 2012): http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/18/opinion/anthony-shadid.html?scp=2&sq=shadid&st=cse

Farhi, Paul and Mary Beth Sheridan. "Correspondent Anthony Shadid, 43, Dies in Syria." Washington Post (16 February 2012): http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/correspondent-anthony-shadid-43-dies-in-syria/2012/02/16/gIQAo2NyIR_story.html?sub=AR

• Access to photo gallery (10 slides, links to discussion of Shadid’s work and to tributes from colleagues

Goodwin, Michele. "Goodbye, Anthony Shadid …" Chronicle of Education (17 February 2012): http://chronicle.com/blogs/brainstorm/goodbye-anthony-shadid%e2%80%a6/44130?sid=pm&utm_source=pm&utm_medium=en

• Heart-warming account by a close friend, who recalls t their undergrad days at the University of Wisconsin-Madison

Johnson, Kayla. "Reporting Giant Anthony Shadid Dead at 43." Daily Cardinal (17 February 2012): http://host.madison.com/daily-cardinal/news/reporting-giant-anthony-shadid-dead-at/article_97a15b16-5941-11e1-9a0a-001871e3ce6c.html?tw_p=twt

• For photo of Shadid at work at the Daily Cardinal in the 1980s

Balaghi, Shiva. "Our Friend Anthony Shadid’s Stories." Jadaliyya (17 February 2012): http://www.jadaliyya.com/pages/index/4417/our-friend-anthony-shadids-stories

• Nada Bakri (Shadid’s widow, also a New York Times reporter), responded to this piece: "Shiva, what you wrote is beautiful. I take so much solace in your words."
• "Jadaliyya is an independent ezine produced by ASI (Arab Studies Institute), the umbrella organization that produces Arab Studies Journal (www.ArabStudiesJournal.org)" and "combines local knowledge, scholarship, and advocacy with an eye to audiences in the United States, the Arab world, and beyond."  Published in Arabic and English.

Anthony Shadid’s memoir, House of Stone (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt), will be released early, on February 28th. You can read an excerpt on the New York Times web site (published in the Sunday Review section on 18 February 2012): http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/19/opinion/sunday/house-of-stone.html

• It begins with the immigration of the Shadid family to America as the Ottoman Empire was collapsing–so a valuable primary source to use at that point in a WORLD HISTORY course or to bring the story of Arab immigrants into a UNITED STATES HISTORY classroom.

Also of special interest is the transcript of the speech he gave when awarded an honorary doctorate by the American University in Beirut: "Honorary Doctorate Recipient Anthony Shadid’s Address" (June 2011):
http://www.aub.edu.lb/commencement/program/Documents/Anthony-Shadid.pdf


Documents for Sale  
Whenever I hear that priceless historical documents are being foisted onto the auction block, I get a chill. Where will they end up? Will the integrity of a set of related documents be preserved for future historians and curators? Or will they float off to many different homes, making the work of future historians more difficult? If they land in the hands of private collectors, will they be misplaced or perhaps even forgotten?

On March 1st Swann Auction Galleries will offer for sale a treasure trove of documents collected by civil rights activists Clarence Mitchell, Jr., his wife Juanita Jackson Mitchell, and her mother Lillie Jackson. One folder of 200 documents is focused on the "Red Summer of 1919." There are also news releases and other items relating to the Joint Committee to Secure Equal Justice for Colored Riot Defendants and the National Conference on Lynching.

What makes these documents so special is that they have the potential to shed new light on events that occurred nearly 100 years ago. For example, original press releases may have hand-written notes or the published versions may not have survived.

Also for sale is a special "poster" created by Clarence Mitchell. He had received a copy of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 from Senator Claiborne Pell, one of its sponsors. Mitchell cut it into strips, then turned these into a collage for his office.   Art and politics and history–all hanging right on the wall.

Do your students think that the civil rights movement began in the 1950s? If they haven’t heard about the tumultuous events of 1919, send them to the Web to find out what transpired during the "Red Summer of 1919." Their research might focus on Chicago, Washington, DC, or Elaine, Arkansas (where the tenor to the times was explosive) or any of the nearly 40 cities where riots or outbreaks of violence occurred. Here is an opportunity to delve into local history so encourage research in local archives, copies of local newspapers, and documents residing in public libraries or historical societies. A project initiate now (after all, it is Black History month) can extend right to the end of the school year (research, drafting, revising, "publishing" the final product).

This is a topic for the WORLD HISTORY classroom, too, an excellent opportunity to link American history to a global context. Cameron McWhirter, in his recently published book Red Summer, argues that the awakening of 1919 was the birth of the civil rights movement. The global context is the dissatisfaction of black veterans after World War I and increasing tensions that had begun during the war years–when sharecroppers in the south had benefitted from higher cotton prices. Students can learn a great deal from listening to McWhirter talking about his book and from online book reviews. Teachers and advanced students may profit from listening to the longer Book TV program in its entirety.

RESOURCES:

"Papers Tell History of Civil Rights Era." New York Times (16 February 2012):
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/17/arts/design/documents-of-the-civil-rights-era-all-about-rich-dogs.html?scp=1&sq=papers%20tell%20history%20of%20civil%20rights%20era&st=cse

"Red Summer (1919)." Part of the PBS webpage, "The Rise and Fall of Jim Crow." PBS:
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/jimcrow/stories_events_red.html

• Good place for students to start their research
• Box on right reminds teachers that Claude McKay’s poem, "If We Must Die," was inspired by the fatalities of 1919–so this is a topic for LITERATURE as well as HISTORY teachers (an excellent example of the relationship between history and the fine arts)
• Check out links to related pages (lower right-hand corner)
  　

  
"Red Summer of 1919." Wikipedia (last modified 31 January 2012): http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Red_Summer_of_1919&oldid=474245268

• Scroll down to "Chronology" section for list of cities where riots/confrontations occurred (then students can select any of these for more intensive research).
• "References" section includes links to large set of New York Times articles from 1919 (more convenient than searching the paper’s online archives–though such a exercise would sharpen students’ digital skills).
     

McWhirter, Cameron. Red Summer: The Summer of 1919 and the Awakening of Black America. New York: Henry Holt, 2011). Check out these reviews:

• Armstrong, Ken. The Seattle Times (16 July 2011): http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/books/2015601697_br17redsummer.html
• Arnesen, Eric. Chicago Tribune (18 November 2011): http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2011-11-18/entertainment/sc-ent-books-red-summer-mcwhirter-20111118_1_black-labor-black-people-racial-violence
• Yardley, Jonathan. Washington Post (14 July 2011): http://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/books/red-summer-by-cameron-mcwhirter-is-about-racial-violence-in-the-year-1919/2011/07/05/gIQAAfCmEI_story.html
• Taylor, Michael. Richmond Times-Dispatch (18 September 2011): http://www2.timesdispatch.com/entertainment/2011/sep/18/tdbook01-a-bloody-season-for-black-americans-ar-1309756/

"How the 'Red Summer' of 1919 Sparked the Civil Rights Movement." John Hockenberry and Celeste Headlee interview with Cameron McWhirter. The Takeaway (19 July 2011): http://www.thetakeaway.org/2011/jul/19/how-red-summer-1919-sparked-civil-rights-movement/

• AUDIO: Just a few seconds over 9 minutes, so easily inserted into a lesson plan (for students a welcome change of pace)
  

"Red Summer: The Summer of 1919 and the Awakening of Black America." Book TV (2011?; 1 hour, 4 mins.): 
http://www.booktv.org/Watch/12746/Red+Summer+The+Summer+of+1919+and+the+Awakening+of+Black+America.aspx

• McWhirter, speaking in Atlanta at the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library and Museum
• Too long for most typical classrooms but the first few minutes could introduce the topic (the author begins with Claude McKay’s poem and the experience that it encapsulates)–for example, in an American literature or history class

Especially for English/literature teachers: a new book of poems, Red Summer, by Amaud Jamaul Johnson (Tupelo Press, 2006): http://www.tupelopress.org/books/redsummer

• Five are poems reproduced on this page–for students to discuss along with Claude McKay’s classic

History, Hockey, and the Holocaust

In the sports section of Sunday’s New York Times there's a fascinating article about Evan Kaufmann, a young hockey player on the German national team. If you teach in any of the hockey-crazy communities of the US and Canada, you’ll hit the puck right into the net when you ask students to discuss Evan’s story. With this article you can craft a lesson about hockey, the Holocaust, identity, and forgiveness. (I’m recommending it for young people’s classes in synagogues and churches, not just for social studies and history in ordinary schools.)

 

Born in Minnesota, Evan Kaufmann played hockey for the University of Minnesota. When he didn’t get a spot on a National Hockey League team, he pounced on the chance to go pro in Germany. For Kaufman this was a return to the land of his ancestors–his Jewish ancestors. A great-grandfather and a great-grandmother died in the Holocaust, but his grandfather and great-aunt survived and emigrated to America.

 

Yet Evan Kaufman is proud to wear the German jersey, a jersey with the German flag on it. The Germans placed him on a fast-track to citizenship so, even though he admits to feeling more American--having lived in Germany for only four years, he is also committed to his new identity. That doesn’t mean he wants to forget the past: "Obviously, you never want to forget." But he can forgive: "I’m not going to hold it against a whole country for what happened long ago. You’re never going to move forward if you keep doing that."

 

RESOURCE: Jeré Longman, "A Jewish Hockey Player at History’s Indelible Crossroad," New York Times (18 February 2012): http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/19/sports/a-jewish-american-hockey-player-at-historys-indelible-crossroad.html?scp=1&sq=longman%20history's%20crossroad&st=cse

 

DISCUSS: What is life like for Evan and other Jews living in Germany? Is there a conflict between Evan’s Jewish identity and his German citizenship? What do other Jews think about his decision (play hockey in Germany, accept German citizenship)? What does Evan think his grandfather would approve or disapprove? What did his teammate Patrick Reimer mean when he said, "There is still a barrier in the head" ? Point out that Reimer doesn’t use the term Holocaust but refers to it as "what happened 70 years ago."

 

RESEARCH: The article mentions several Jewish athletes of the past and present (Germans or players on German teams): hockey player Rudi Ball, whose team won a bronze medal in 1932; soccer player Julius Hirsch, killed at Auschwitz; champion high jumper Margaret Bergmann Lambert, who was kept off the team in 1936 (now 97 and living in Queens, New York); swimmer Sarah Poewe (born in South Africa); soccer forward Itay Schechter, an Israeli. Send students to the web to find out about their stories and sports careers and then publish what they’ve learned on a class bulletin board (real or virtual). HINT: In additionto Googling, go directly to the New York Times site and search the archives (you’ll find several items about Margaret Bergmann Lambert).

   

Al Jadid: A True Gem

(This was supposed to be a short post, to fill in while I continued working on Part II of "Syria’s Ancient and Modern Mosaic." Like most recent posts it kept growing because I kept tracking down related items on the Web. Since summer is supposedly a good time to explore both online and offline, I hope you will take time to visit Al Jadid online, finding there not only its own riches but pathways to print media resources and novels, perhaps some you might find in your local library. Enjoy!)

UPDATE: I've added Mohammad Ali Atassi's eloquent, heart-wrenching but hopeful New York Times (June 27, 2011) op-ed piece to the Resources.

INTRODUCTION

"Shu iktashaft?" (What was your big discovery?). My big discovery last week was Al Jadid, a gem I found online while searching for sources on Islam in Syria.

Al Jadid is a quarterly print magazine devoted to Arab culture and the arts. It contains much topical material relevant to courses in world literature, art history, world history, and global affairs–much of it available in a very generous online archive. Its scope spans the Arab world, including the Arab diaspora. It is an excellent source of information about Arab-Americans, their literature, and issues related to being Arab or Arab-American (while living in the US and trying to connect or re-connect with Arab culture and history). Author Amy Wilentz discovered here "a wealth of opinion and information that no one else is publishing in English."

Elie Chalala, the editor of Al Jadid, was born in Lebanon, where he lived in Beirut until he left for the US about 30 years ago. He is a widely respected academic, with a Ph.D. in political science from the University of California Los Angeles. If you Google him, you’ll find not only his syllabi but long lists resources he has put online for his courses (see his Santa Monica College page: http://homepage.smc.edu/chalala_elie/).

Each issue has been put together, intentionally, to challenge conventional ideas about Arab culture, arts, and intellectual trends. The editor and staff are proud that Al Jadid has "covered scores of Arab intellectuals and artists under fire from the state or extremists" and that it has featured "lively debates between secular and religious, traditional and modernist voices" (see "About" on the home page). Elie Chalala is keenly aware of how context, and in particular politics and geopolitics, shapes cultural expression:

"In the U.S. we’ve had the demonizing and marginalizing of Arabs; in the Arab world, we have censorship issues, wars, civil strife, the vestiges of the colonial mentality, and the endless peace process. All of these factors impact and shape culture, and often find their most poignant, elegant expression in the arts."

For the current issue go to the home page (http://www.aljadid.com/). Running across the top is a menu from which you can access lists of essays and features, book reviews, interviews, and much more. Sample these lists and, thanks to serendipity, I bet you’ll find great material to consult as background when preparing lessons or that you can use directly with students (mostly high school and above). What’s most exciting (especially if you are unfamiliar with, for example, modern Arab literature in translation) is discovering the work of a new author or bumping into a fresh ideas. To entice you to explore Al Jadid, I’m going to present a few examples, but I won’t provide the URLs (so you’ll have to look for them on the site and, I hope, discover other useful items while you are there).

Essays and Features

When I printed the list (with a fairly small font), it ran to ten pages! There are numerous articles by Syrian writers, journalists, and academics. Scattered throughout the list are articles by Elie Chalala himself, a real boon since their peer-reviewed counterparts are mostly behind pay-walls or in JSTOR. (By the way, if you want to verify that Chalala is a real scholar, search Google Scholar.)

Another frequent contributor is Mohammad Ali Atassi, a Syrian journalist based in Beirut, whose comments on current events I’d already encountered in mainstream media (NPR, Los Angeles Times) and on the blog Syria Comment). Where did he fit into the spectrum of Middle East opinion? Curious to learn more about him, I searched the web and discovered that his family--prominent in Homs since the 16th century--included historical figures of major importance during much of the 20th century. (So I suggest sending students to do a similar search.)

The following articles give some sense of the variety of topics covered in Al Jadid:

1) Michael Teague’s "Syria Open Sesame?" is a timely piece for all of us who are current events buffs. Teague’s critique of four articles from the New York Times (a reputable newspaper despite its warts) reveals how media reaches out for a theme, ties it to a particular event or trend, and then adopts it as a framing device for a wild assortment of stories. This is a recurrent problem in US media, where reporters struggle to cast complex stories in terms that they imagine will make sense to ordinary Americans. Teague suggests that Kareem Fahim and other NYT journalists were so intrigued by signs that Syria was finally "opening up" that they ignored signs pointing in the opposite direction. Thus he finds Fahim’s reportage perceptive but out-of-balance. Only one of the four articles is properly described as "new analysis," however; the others are what we’d call human interest stories. Of course, when it comes to writing feature articles, journalists working for US media, must always ask themselves: What will catch the attention of American readers? In short, while I’d don’t entirely agree with Teague’s critique, I do think he raises very important issues, such as the influence of Washington and the US foreign policy establishment on media analysis of what’s happening in key regions or countries.

An additional benefit of using Teague’s article as a platform for a media literacy exercise (see Activities) is that it ties so directly into current events, especially the Fahim article about the Syrian government’s treatment of its resident Islamists.

2) An article of special interest to world literature and history instructors is Simone Fattal’s "The Passing of a Great Syrian Writer: Ilfat Idilbi, 1912-2007." Idilbi, born in Damascus and one of its beloved "cultural pillars," stands out as a pioneer among Arab women writers and as a nationalist and a feminist. Her novel Sabriya: Damascus Bitter Sweet is set during the revolt against the French in the 1920s (when Syria was a French mandate). The setting of her last book, The Story of My Grandfather, gives readers a vivid portrait of Ottoman Damascus during the late 19th century. I’m putting both books on my personal reading list, but I’ll start with Sabriya since it is easy to see how it would fit into a world history course (or a seminar in European imperialism), where it might be paired with a novel set in French Indochina or French West Africa. Both books are available in new and used copies from online vendors.
　

Interviews

1) For anyone wanting an introduction to Sufism, Sabah Zwein’s interview with Stefan Reichmuth is very informative. Reichmuth, a professor of Islamic Studies, gives a concise explanation of Sufi doctrine and clarifies the changing status of Sufism in the Ottoman Empire. What I found most valuable, however, was his brief discussion of Sufism as "a kind of civic organization" appealing to people outside the formal political structure but also serving as a bridging institution for immigrant communities. This approach to Sufism brings it into a broader analysis of civil society (where I now suspect it belongs).

2) Rebecca Joubin’s interview, "Syrian Artist Walid Agha Searches for the Spirit of the Letters," introduces the work of a fascinating artist. What intrigued me, as an instructor of world history, was Agha’s early exposure to a very deep tradition of Assyrian decorative art that, amazingly, he was exposed to as a child and his experimentation with Sumerian and Assyrian script in his highly original calligraphy. His work illustrates how cultural traditions are renewed through what Jan Vansina calls "repetition with difference."

Book Reviews

What makes this section invaluable are the reviews of books published in Arabic, whose content would otherwise be unavailable to many of us. In addition to the specialized information that we may glean from such reviews their true value lies in how they expose us the perspectives of books written for Arab audiences and thus shaped by concerns and issues that Arab writers and intellectuals deem important.

The list gives you the title of the review and its author--rather than title of the book under review and its author. So you’ll have to scan the lists and try to guess what the book may be about. This just makes exploring the list more enjoyable–though if pressed for time you might miss something good the first time around.

Here are three examples from the book review section:

1) Andrea Sahlal-Esa, "Rethinking the Mediterranean," reviews a book for all you world history fans (fanatics?). It was fairly easy to guess that the book itself might be a somewhat updated version of Breudel’s classic. Certainly, Iain Chambers's Mediterranean Crossings: The Politics of an Interrupted Modernity (Duke University Press, 2008) is a worthy companion and one with "a long overdue reclamation of the often hidden Arabic and Islamic history" of the region. If you haven’t already consulted this book, reading this review will convince you to put it high on your list.

2) In "Burdened Histories" Bhakati Shringarpure examines Anne Nivat’s The Wake of War: Encounters with the People of Iraq and Afghanistan (Beacon Press, 2005). Nivat is a reporter, as the reviewer puts it, "committed to long durations of travel and sustained conversations," which makes this book potentially a source of primary material for use in global studies as well as history classes. I also encourage language and reading teachers to take a look at this review and Nivat's book, where you’ll probably discover material adaptable to use in class.   The review leaves the impression that Nivat is a masterful writer of vignettes so doing an analysis of her craftsmanship might find a place in composition classes.

3) What drew me to Michael Najjar’s "Embracing Inbetweenness" was the title’s implicit mystery. In between what? This is a review of Sarah M. A. Gualtieri’s amazing book, Between Arab and White: Race and Ethnicity in the Early Syrian American Diaspora (University of California Press, 2009).

Now I’m generally familiar with how genes have flowed from nearly all directions into the Arab gene pool (an Arab being anyone who self-identifies as Arab). When I see curly-haired, café au lait Libyans, Yemenis, and Iraqis I suspect that this may be due to a remote genetic infusion from the Bilad as-Sudan or the Zanj coast or even further afield. (The Syrian firebrand, red-headed and fair-skinned preacher, Shaykh Muhammad al-Yaqoubi, represents the other extreme of the continuum!) I was also generally aware of the racial conundrum that Middle Easterners and South Asians posed (still pose) in race conscious America. Yet this review refers briefly to an event in 1929 that I would not have imagined. Read the review and then get the book, where Gualtieri shares this and other horrifying stories.

ACTIVITIES

DISCUSS: Elie Chalala, when asked why he decided to make Arab literature and arts the focus of Al Jadid, gave this answer: "I think literature, anywhere in the world, provides an escape from political oppression. ... Literature remains the only area in society where individuals can escape the yoke of the state and express themselves." Use this quote to jump-start a discussion of any novel or short-story that reflects the experience of an author living in or writing about an authoritarian state.

MEDIA LITERACY PROJECT: First, assign Michael Teague’s article, "Syria Open Sesame?" DISCUSS the article to make sure that students understand Teague’s main points and can identify the issues he is raising. Then ask students to find and read the four NYT that he critiques (or three, if you want to omit Robert F. Worth’s article). If your students need to practice searching for specific items, send them to the NYT site to find and print the articles (rather than giving them the URLs, which are listed in Resources for your convenience). WRITE: After reading the NYT articles, students should evaluate Teague’s critique (that is, do a critique of the critique). Do they think Teague being fair in his analysis? Do they agree with Teague? Perhaps, they partly do, partly don’t. Ask students to write essays presenting their original analysis, stressing tha they must explain their points with specific reference to Teague and to the NYT articles. For advanced high school students this is a good exercise that will prepare them for critical reading and expository writing at the college-level.

RESEARCH: Explain to students that when evaluating online sources it is desirable to obtain background biographical information about the authors to have a better sense of what may be shaping their perspectives and opinions. Since Muhammad Ali Atassi is a frequent contributor to Al Jadid articles, send students to the Web to find out more about him and his family. Who was his father? Why is he based in Lebanon rather than Syria? What films has he made and what are they about?

I’d like to suggest that you PREVIEW/SELECT an excerpt from either of Atassi’s documentaries to show in class. However, a quick check online suggested that these are not (yet) readily available–though I suspect that a DVD of "Waiting for Abu Zayed" may soon appear (so keep checking).

DISCUSS: In "Waiting for Abu Zayd" Nasr Hamed Abu Zayd makes these provocative, insightful observations: "The intellectual who claims ownership of the Truth is the other leg of the dictator. When an intellectual claims to own the Truth he becomes the dictator’s servant."  The quote is from Jim Quilty’s film review (see Resources). What a piquant quote to turn students’ attention to the predicament of intellectuals in societieties where the cost of "speaking out" is so high! ASK: What does Abu Zayd mean by "ownership of the Truth"? Can you think of instances today or in the past where people assert (have asserted) that "own" the only true ideas? What kinds of service to a dictator is Abu Zayd talking about? ASK for historical examples (what popped into my mind was the book Theologians under Hitler by Robert P. Ericksen). Where is this happening today? (Perhaps in Syria, where President Bashar al-Assad’s spokesperson Boutheina Shabaan’s intentions may be good but the results may prove tragic.). And aren’t there also insidious relationships between intellectuals and politicians in "democratic" countries, too?

SEARCH online for more information about Syrian writer Ulfat Idilbi. Note that "Ulfat" (the spelling you will find online) is the transliteration used when her novels were translated and published in English. Students should find, rather easily, the obituary published in The Guardian. Ask them to read it to discover why, when she married at age 17, she decided to use her husband’s name. (Note that the Al Jadid article does not appear in a Google search unless you switch to the alternate spelling.)

FIND/EXAMINE closely online examples of the art work of Walid Agha. DISCUSS: What makes Agha’s art both traditional and modern at the same time? Refer to clues in the interview but try to connect these to visual elements in the examples.

RESOURCES

Al Jadid: A Review & Record of Arab Culture and Art: http://www.aljadid.com/

Gheytanchi, Elham. "More Than That." Interview with Elie Chalala. The Iranian (December 23, 2002): http://www.iranian.com/Opinion/2002/December/Chalala/index.html

　
Mohammad Ali Atassi

Atassi,Mohammad Ali.  "My Syria, Awake Again After 40 Years."  New York Times (June 27, 2011):
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/27/opinion/27Atassi.html?scp=1&sq=mohammad%20atassi&st=cse

"Syria Steps Up Crackdown on Protesters." NPR (April 25, 2011): http://www.npr

• Michele Norris, speaking with Deborah Amos and Mohammed Ali Atassi about a letter signed by more than 100 Syrian journalists and intellectuals (both inside/outside the country) in which they condemn the violence in Syria

Atassi, Mohammad Ali. "What the People Want ..." Heinrich Böll Stiftung North America: Perspectives: http://www.boell-meo.org/downloads/Perspectives_02-04_Mohammed_Ali_Atassi.pdf

• Atassi discusses the uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt, putting these into a larger context and taking issue with certain conventional views about Arab politics, the potential for revolution, and the Islamist factor. Translated from Arabic.
• "We are a political non-profit organization striving to promote democracy, civil society, equality and a healthy environment internationally. Headquarterd in Berlin/Germany, the Heinrich Böll Stiftung has 28 offices worldwide and cooperates with more than 200 partners in more than 60 countries."

Wright, Robin. Dreams and Shadows: The Future of the Middle East. Penguin, 2008.   Partially available at Google Books: search Atassi.

• Wright reveals that he is the son of Nurreddin al-Atassi, the president of Syria who was ousted by Hafez Assad in 1970 (p. 214)

"Atassi." Abitabout: http://www.abitabout.com/Atassi

• Family history based (apparently) on information from the Atassi family site; this family claims descent from Prophet Muhammad; their roots in Homs, where they were the recognized muftis, go back to the 16^th century.

FILM: "Ibn al-Aam." A documentary by Mohammad Al Atassi, 2001.

• About Riad al-Turk, a Syrian communist turned social democrat, whose life of political dissent and years of imprisonment shed much light on decades of Syrian politics. (An online search will bring up his commentary on recent events in the Middle East.)

FILM: "Waiting for Abu Zayd." A documentary by Mohammad Al Atassi. 2010. Arabic with English subtitles. 82 minutes.

• Atassi’s "portrait of a liberal Islamic scholar who dared to challenge conservative Islamic trends from within Islam." After Abu Zayd was "condemned for apostasy in Egypt on the grounds of his rational writings on the Qur’an, in which he places the religious text in a historical and cultural context," he and his wife left for the Netherlands, where he taught at Leiden University. Using footage shot over six years, Atassi strove to capture both Abu Zayd’s ideas and his interaction with the media. Abu Zayd died suddenly in 2010, shortly after the film was completed.
• For a brief biographical note on Atassi and a photo: http://www.dox-box.org/2011/index.php?ang=2&&page=show&dir=items&ex=2&year=2011&cid=7&fid=57 (also the source of the info/quotes in previous bullet).

FILM REVIEW: Jim Quilty, "Putting Flesh and Blood into a liberal Vision of Islam." The Daily Star: Lebanon (September 18, 2010): http://www.dailystar.com.lb/Culture/Film/Sep/18/Putting-flesh-and-blood-into-a-liberal-vision-of-Islam.ashx#axzz1QKpn4y62


Articles Critiqued by Michael Teague

Fahim, Kareem. "Syria’s Solidarity With Islamists Ends at Home." New York Times (September 3, 2011): http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/04/world/middleeast/04syria.html?scp=3&sq=kareem%20fahim%20syria%202010&st=cse

Fahim, Kareem, and Nawara Mafoud. "Damascus Journal: Evenings of Poetry Provide a Space for New Voices." New York Times (September 19, 2010): http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/20/world/middleeast/20poetry.html?scp=2&sq=kareem%20fahim%20syria%202010&st=cse

Fahim, Kareem. "Doors Start to Open to Activists in Syria." New York Times (August 28, 2011): http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/29/world/middleeast/29syria.html?scp=1&sq=kareem%20fahim%20syria%202010&st=cse

Worth, Robert F. "The Saturday Profile: Syrian Actress Tests Boundaries Again." New York Times (October 1, 2010): http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/02/world/middleeast/02actress.html?scp=1&sq=robert%20worth%20syrian%20actress&st=cse

　
Ulfat Idilbi

Clark, Peter. "Ulfat Idilbi: Renowned Syrian Fiction Writer, Lecturer and Feminist." The Guardian (April 19, 2007): http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/2007/apr/19/guardianobituaries.booksobituaries/print

Moubayed, Sami. "Farewell Sabriya." Mideast Views: http://mideastviews.com/print.php?art=196

McPhee, Jenny. Review of Sabriya: Damascus Bitter Sweet. New York Times (September 7, 1997): http://nytimes.com/books/97/09/07/bib/970907.rv104334.html

Mohja, Kahf. "The Silence of Contemporary Syrian Literature." World Literature Today (2001). URL: http://www.thefreelibrary.com/_/print/Print/Article.aspx?id=80500168

• For discussion of Idilbi’s work go to the section "The Poetics of Syrian Silence" (about half-way through the article).
• An article for teachers and advanced students.

Walid Agha

Albareh Art Gallery: Walid Agha. http://www.albareh.com/Albareh/Walid%20Agha.html

• For a detailed list of Agha’s numerous exhibitions and six examples of his work.

Syrian Art Directory. http://www.syriaart.com/new/index.php?page=viewArtist&id=51

• Photo of the artist (list of exhibitions, same as above) and four examples of his work.

Update V (2011)

(Apologies to anyone who has checked this blog recently and found nothing new. I’ve been very busy–bogged down is a better way to put it--working on posts about the mix of religious and ethnic identities in Syria. I hope to post these next week. Also, when I tried to post on Thursday night I couldn't get into BlogSpot--don't know why.  As the school year winds down, I’d like to hear from teachers who’ve visited this blog and used its resources. What worked or didn’t work? If you are a teacher ed student or practice teacher, I especially want to hear from you. Send your feedback to my e-mail account: historylynx@gmail.com.)


This post provides updated or additional resources for recent posts and covers these topics:

1) Ivory Coast’s New Chapter
2) Journalists on the Frontlines: Ivory Coast
3) Journalists on the Frontlines: Libya
4) From Birtherism to Otherism
5) Finland and the Crisis in the Euro Zone


IVORY COAST'S NEW CHAPTER

On May 21 Alassane Outtara was inaugurated as president of Cote d’Ivoire, opening a new chapter and a return to constitutionality (as legislative elections are expected before the end of this year). At the inauguration twenty heads of state and UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon listened as President Outtara called for national reconciliation and reiterated a strong commitment to investigating human rights abuses.

• For a quick rundown on Cote d'Ivoire since the overthrow of Laurent Gbagbo (April 11), see Paige McClanahan’s article in The Christian Science Monitor. The inauguration was widely covered in international media online (search your preferred sites) or check out the NYT article. (See Resources for both of these.)

Ouattara expects that the International Criminal Court will be involved in pursuing cases. He has stated that investigations, to be conducted internally and by the UN Human Rights Council, would probe allegation of mass killings (particularly in and around Duékoué) by forces taking his side in the civil war–as well as those by supporting Gbagbo. While he is determined to form a national unity government, he is worried that pro-Gbagbo fighters who have fled to Liberia might try to stir up trouble within the region (1).

A slow economic recovery is underway. Cocoa exports have resumed (May 8), a harbinger of better days to come, yet some cocoa farmers are too afraid to return to their plantations. Also fearful are many displaced farmers who grow foodstuffs are staying away others, also fearful, are fields and this means that food shortages. These fears are not irrational as attacks on returnees are documented in the Amnesty International report (see Resources).

For the country’s internally displaced and Ivorian refugees in Liberia, the immediate future still looks grim. That’s 335,000 unfortunate people (200,000 in Cote d’Ivoire, 135,000 in Liberia) in need of humanitarian assistance, especially food. UN and other programs only 35% funded, amounting to deficit of $200 million over the next few months. (2)

This week Amnesty International released a report, based on a two-months of research and more than 100 interviews conducted inside Cote d’Ivoire. Press coverage of this report has highlighted (unfairly I think) a statement by Gaetan Mootoo, Amnesty’s chief investigator, that is alarmist. According to Mootoo, "Alassane Ouattara’s failure to condemn these acts could be seen as a green light by many of his security forces, and other armed elements fighting with them, to continue" (3). I’ve added the bold emphasis to make it clear that Mootoo, despite his reporting incidents of abuse and retribution occurring after Gbagbo’s ouster--was not accusing Ouattara of ordering or orchestrating such actions (though, perhaps, he meant to imply this).

Of course, the international community needs to hold Ouattara’s feet to the fire. How responsible is Ouattara? Now that he’s president, we can say that the "franc stops on his verandah" but that is quite different from alleging that he is the instigator. I have reservations about the extent to which Ouattara has firm control over the military–which is probably taking order from Guillaume Soro (4). In any case, we all need to read the report for ourselves, not rely on brief summaries in the media (see Resources).

The report gives a detailed account of abuses occurring during the civil war or immediately after former President Gbagbo was captured on April 11th, when tensions were running very high (when Ouattara had not yet had an opportunity to exert his authority over forces acting on his behalf). Those "loyal" forces were directly under the control of military men and warlords, whose self-interest was to leverage their own positions. The Duékoué massacre on March 29th was a horrible event and the Amnesty report is justified in pointing to the UN’s "fatal inertia" as a major enabling factor. Survivors told Amnesty that they asked the UN for help, repeatedly, but it never came. Also, very apparent in the report’s presentation is the ethnic dynamic at work. How ethnic identities and the legacy of Ivoirité play out in the coming months is what I’ll be watching out for.

Activities

READ/COMPARE the BBC, VOA and Guardian articles: ASK: Do you detect difference in POV? What exactly indicates these differences? Which article is a fairer, more balanced presentation of the Amnesty reports findings?

PLAN: The eye-witness testimonies embedded in the Amnesty report are primary sources (though, of course, the original recordings/transcripts from the field are "more" primary). Global studies and world history teachers may plan now (or make a note to follow-up over the summer) to incorporate a balanced selection in next year’s lessons. If you teach an elective course on genocide, this material is relevant.

FRENCH TEACHERS: Go to the French version of the Amnesty report and select eye witness testimony (short paragraphs, in quotation marks, in Chapters 3-4) to use as a translation exercise. Introduce the topic orally or use a news source. If time permits, discuss these accounts in French.

Resources

McClanahan, Paige. "West Africa Rising: Ivory Coast Recovering from Season of Violence." Christian Science Monitor (May 24, 2011): http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Africa/Africa-Monitor/2011/0524/West-Africa-Rising-Ivory-Coast-recovering-from-season-of-violence

Nossiter, Adam. "Ivory Coast’s New leader Takes Oath, Urging Unity." New York Times (May 21, 2011): http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/22/world/africa/22ivory.html?scp=2&sq=nossiter%20ivory%20coast&st=cse

Amnesty International. "‘They Looked at His Identity Card and Shot Him Dead’: Six Months of Post-Electoral Violence in Cote d’Ivoire." Amnesty International (2011): http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/AFR31/002/2011/en

• Available as both a PDF and HTML, in English and in French(page numbers below are those of the document itself, not the PDF). English PDF: http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/asset/AFR31/002/2011/en/bb769d9e-874f-442e-9454-993977a35f95/afr310022011en.pdf
• Includes a concise summary of events since 2002, leading up to the election in November 2010 and Gbagbo’s unwillingness to cede power, the escalating violence, the conclusion of the civil war (Chapter 2).
• Chapters 3-4 cover crimes/abuses by all sides, including those perpetrated after Gbagbo was ousted. Eye-witness testimony is presented throughout these pages. The ethnic animosity involved is clearly apparent--very obviously pointed out in the title). For the Duékoué massacre and abuses in this area see pp. 37-44.
• See the ample footnotes (pp. 62-65) for more background sources, context, and detailed reports (for Ivoirité see notes 6, 20).
  

For an Amnesty International UK article about the report with a concise summaries of its findings and recommendations:

• "Ivory Coast: Both Sides Responsible for War Crimes and Crimes Against Humanity." Amnesty International UK (May 25, 20110: http://www.amnesty.org.uk/news_details.asp?NewsID=19469
  

For early press coverage of the Amnesty International report:

• Doyle, Mark. "The Politics of Human Rights in Ivory Coast." BBC News (Mary 24, 2011): http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-13528781
• Hennessy, Selah. "Amnesty: Ivory Coast’s Oattara Giving ‘Green Light’ to Violence." Voice of America (May 25, 2011): http://www.voanews.com/english/news/africa/west/Amnesty-Ivory-Coasts-Ouattara-Giving-Green-Light-to-Violence-122584629.html
• Smith, David. "Supporters of Ivory Coast President Alassane Ouattara ‘Killing Enemies.’" The Guardian (May 25, 2011): http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/may/25/alassane-outtara-supporters-committing-atrocities

Notes 

1) Adam Nossiter (see Resources). "Ivory Coast: Alassane Ouattara Warns of Mercenaries." BBC News (May 23, 2011): http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-13500677 

2) For details see "Ivory Coast Humanitarian Response Woefully Underfunded," Oxfam Ireland (May 23, 2011): http://www.oxfamireland.org/blog/2011/05/23/ivory-coast-humanitarian-response-woefully-underfunded/ 

3) Mootoo is quoted in The Guardian but the NOT in the Voice of America piece (despite its title); see articles in Resources.

JOURNALISTS ON THE FRONTLINES: IVORY COAST

(For Ivory Coast see posts listed above.)

During Cote d’Ivoire’s post-election stand-off and civil war the country’s journalists in working in both broadcast and print media–on both sides-- behaved badly, according to Reporters Without Borders. After Gbagbo was dislodged and arrested, Ouattara’s supporters have turned to harassing pro-Gbabgo journalists, looking for revenge. (1)

Recently, for Ivoirian journalists there have been a few positive signs--–but troubling news as well. One newspaper that had supported Gbagbo is now back in print and others expected to reappear within a week or so. But a warning by the new minister in charge of communications, Hamed Bakayoko, in which he stressed the desirability of limits on freedom of the press, is prompting organizations like Reporters Without Borders to voice their concerns. Speaking on World Press Freedom Day (May 3) Hamed Bakayoko (the new minister in charge of communications) spoke about freedom of the press in a manner worrisome to those who value it and advocate for the rights and protection of journalists. In addition, fears aroused by incidents, such as the torching of a radio station in a suburb of Abidjan, have been amplified by the news that a pro-Gbagbo radio journalist, Lago Sylvain Gagneto, who was arrested by pro-Ouattara forces earlier this month, was then summarily executed by them. On May 24 one of the directors of an opposition daily was arrested, perhaps to send a message before it resumes publication. (2)

I agree with CPJ spokesperson that Ouattara should act quickly "to rein in his forces and uphold the rule of law" (3).

Activities

These activities are recommended especially for journalism or global studies classes.

READ/DISCUSS: Distribute copies (or read online) the articles about the predicament of pro-Gbagbo journalists now that the former President has been arrested and his rival inaugurated (see Resources). ASK: What can/should President Ouattara to protect ALL journalists?

DISCUSS: Lift Minister Bakayoko’s remarks (as quoted in "Opposition Press Resumes Publishing") and put them into a hand-out. ASK students to respond: Does freedom of the press have limits? What limits might be appropriate or not, in a crisis situation? How might what he said apply--or not--to places in the news right now? (If you are an advocate of absolute freedom of the press, stop and think for a moment how radio messages were used to incite genocide in Rwanda.)

FRENCH CLASS: For a quick translation exercise (a good "bell-ringer") print-out the this page and/or listen to the audio (if you think it’s clear enough):

• "Three Questions for Fraternité Matin’s New Managing Editor," Reporters Without Borders (April 28, 2011): http://www.rsf/cote-d-ivoire-three-questions-for-fraternite-29-04-2011,40137.html

Resources

"Call to Avoid Media Vengeance by Civil War Victors," Reporters Without Borders (April 19, 2011): http://en.rsf.org/cote-d-ivoire-call-to-avoid-media-vengeance-by-19-04-2011,40061.html
"Opposition Press Resumes Publishing," Reporters Without Borders: (May 23, 2011): http://en.rsf.org/cote-d-ivoire-opposition-press-resumes-23-05-2011,40263.html

"In Ivory Coast, Pro-Ouattara forces Harass Journalists," Committee to Protect Journalists (May 24, 2011): http://cpj.org/2011/05/in-ivory-coast-pro-ouattara-forces-harass-journali.php

Notes

1) "Call to Avoid Media Vengeance by Civil War Victors," Reporters Without Borders (April 19, 2011); "In Ivory Coast, Pro-Ouattara forces Harass Journalists," Committee to Protect Journalists (May 24, 2011); see resources. For incidents after the disputed election see Nassirou Diallo with Mohamed Keita, "The Struggle Contines for Power, and Media, in Ivory Coast," Committee to Protect Journalists Blog (January 2011?): http://www.cjp.org/blog/2011/01/the-struggle-continues-for-power-and-media-in-ivor.php

2) "Opposition Press Resumes Publishing," Reporters Without Borders: (May 23, 2011): http://en.rsf.org/cote-d-ivoire-opposition-press-resumes-23-05-2011,40263.html; "Pro-Gbagbo Journalist Murdered, Newspaper Hounded as Reprisals Continue," Reporters Without Borders (May 25, 2011): http://www.rsf.org/cote-d-ivoire-pro-gbagbo-journalist-murdered-25-05-2011,40345.html

3) Mohamed Keita (CJP Africa Advocay Coordinator), as quoted in In Ivory Coast, Pro-Ouattara forces Harass Journalists," Committee to Protect Journalists (May 24, 2011)" (see note 1).


JOURNALISM ON THE FRONTLINE: LIBYA

Finally, on May 18th, after six weeks in detention, the Libyan government released four journalists: James Foley, Clare Gillis, Manuel Varela Brago, and Nigel Chandler. Foley, Gillis, and Brabo had been traveling near Brega when they were attacked by Libyan soldiers. They have now revealed that Anton Hammerl, a South African journalist who was with them, was o shot and left to die in the sand. The Libyan government had been claiming that it had no information about Hammerl. Perhaps as many as 15 international journalists are still being held in Libya.

This week those just released have begun to share their stories. I’m planning a post devoted to their stories, with background and links to their work. In the meantime, if you need an end-of-year video, consider showing the James Foley segment broadcast this week on PBS NewHour.

Resources

"Journalist Foley Details 6 Weeks of Captivity in Libya: 'I Could Make it.'" PBS NewHour (May 25, 2011): http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/world/jan-june11/libya_05-25.html

Jensen, Jon. "Reporters Release Tempered by news of Colleague’s Death." GlobalPost (May 19, 2011): http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/africa/110519/libya-journalist-death-anton-hammerl-james-foley-clare-gillis


FROM BIRTHERISM TO OTHERISM

See this post: "Birther Bigotry–in America and Ivory Coast" (April 29, 2011).

In the US President Obama’s decision to release the long-form birth certificate has put a damper on Birtherism and, after a flurry of attention, sidelined Donald Trump, who won’t be running in the Republican primaries in 2012. But for diehard Obama skeptics (including a subgroup of Obama-haters) there are other ways "to other" Obama: he’s a socialist, he thinks too much like a European, he doesn’t believe in the American experiment.

My post emphasized that in both the US and Ivory Coast "Birtherism" was a strategy for putting the "not us" label on a political opponent. David Corn’s piece is a swell way to convey to students how birtherism and otherism (regardless of the subjects directed towards) are both "delegitimizing" strategies (see Resources). It also presents a critique of American exceptionalism that is guaranteed to spark discussion.

You will find the Meneimer piece a fascinating unmasking of the WorldNet Daily’s agenda (CAUTION: there is "not-for-the-classroom" language in its quotations). Here you will find a link to the short satire in Esquire that so infuriated WorldNet’s publisher Joseph Farah (see Resources). I wonder, what’s really in store for Jerome Corsi’s book, Where’s the Birth Certificate?

Labeling Obama "not -us" is not a phenomenon limited to white or right-wing critics, however. Cornel West, Princeton’s leading African-American public intellectual, has been stirring up the racial identity cauldron by calling Obama "a white man with black skin." And while West’s disappointment with the Obama presidency is fueled by West’s progressive-cum-populist outlook, he can’t resist framing it in racial terms. For West, Obama isn’t simply a mascot and puppet of the US oligarchy/plutocracy but "a black mascot of Wall Street oligarchs and a black puppet of corporate plutocrats" (1). When West explains how Obama’s presidential decisions and policies have betrayed supporters on the left, he is expressing a genuine critique (making points that we should be talking about, whether or not we agree with them).

What is disturbing, however, is West’s resorting to an insidious race card style of "othering." Whether he intend it or not, the message he’s conveying is that Obama just isn’t black enough. While Newt Gingerich might think Obama’s too far out of the American mainstream, Cornel West is saying he’s too far out of the African American mainstream. Doesn’t West realize just how broad that mainstream is? And who is rising to Obama’s defense? None other than Al Sharpton, whose widely quoted statement I repeat here:

• This is the first time in this country that we have an African American president. He is not the president of African Americans. The problem we’re seeing withtoo many odler-minded people is you don’t want the next generation. You want clones. And people don’t have to be your clone to validate your sacrifice (2).

Activities

READ/DISCUSS: Use the David Corn article to explore the various tactics that politicians (across the spectrum) use "to other" their opponents. Aslo, use this piece to raise issues about American exceptionalism. ASK: Is exceptionalism just plain arrogance? Is there a middle road, such as acknowledging what’s special but stopping short of taking exceptionalism all the way to one end of a continuum? In a World History or Comparative Government class, expand the topic by mvoing on to other cases where exceptionalism is/was a core element of a faction or party’s political ideology.

READ/DISCUSS: The Hedges’s article draws heavily on interview with Cornel West, so it presents a less filtered version of West’s views (see Resources)so it is a good place to start the discussion. The issues may be inflammatory in many classrooms. ASK: What is West’s POV? How does it reflect his identity as an African American? What do you think of West’s criticism of President Obama? Is West’s rhetoric of race justified? Does it draw attention away from his criticism of Obama’s failure to live up to the 2008 campaign’s progressive messages?

Resources

Corn, David. "Birtherism Is Dead. Long Live Otherism." Mother Jones (May 19, 2011): http://motherjones.com/politics/2011/05/birtherism-otherism-romney-gingrich-2012

Meneimer, Stephanie. "WorldNet Daily Can’t Take a Joke." Mother Jones (May 25, 2011): http://motherjones.com/mojo/2011/05/worldnet-daily-cant-take-joke

Thompson, Krissah. "Cornel West’s Criticism of Obama Sparks Debate among African Americans." Washington Post (May 18, 2011): http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/cornel-wests-criticism-of-obama-sparks-debate-among-african-americans/2011/05/18/AFlGTf6G_story.html

Hedges, Chris. "The Obama Deception: Why Cornel West Went Ballistic." Truthdig (May 16, 2011): http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/the_obama_deception_why_cornel_west_went_ballistic_20110516
　

Notes

1) Bold emphasis added. As quoted in Chris Hedges (with more context); also quoted in Krissah Thompson; both in Resources. DISCLOSURE: As the mother of two biracial children (and a grandmother) I do react strongly to these issues of identity.

2) Sharpton, as quoted in Krissah Thompson (see Resources) and also widely repeated in the media.


FINLAND AND THE CRISIS IN THE EURO ZONE

See previous post: "Finland: The Mouse That Roared?" (May 4, 2011).
 
"Anybody who is hoping the two sides can come together and work out a plan to control health care costs should plan a lengthy visit to some other country. I hear that Finland is nice."

Gail Collins, New York Times (May 26, 2011)

　
 For a few years now my sister and I have been joking about how we’d like to move to Finland (or Norway or Sweden or Denmark) to escape from the craziness of US politics. So I read, with more than a few chuckles, Anu Partanen’s fine op-ed piece about her Finnish compatriots, desperate for visas to America (see Resources). After living in Brooklyn (New York City) for two years, she returned home to discover that her boring homeland had been transformed by the run-up to, and startling results of, Finland’s recent election. Guess her friends haven’t heard much about the Tea Party (or Newt Gingrich or Sarah Palin)!

BREAKING NEWS: Yesterday (May 25) the Finnish Parliament, after a lively debate, voted 137-49 to approve the Portugal bailout. Four members of the True Finn Party broke ranks with their leader and abstained. Soini had argued that the bailout would benefit primarily German and French banks. Since Finland’s approval was required for the bailout to to go ahead, this news should make the G-8 meeting in Deauville, France, a little less gloomy. (For sources see note 1.)

The larger context of my post on the Finnish election was its possible impact on the viability of the euro as a common currency and thus the future of the euro zone (perhaps even the European Union)--with implications for economies of nations across European. Another part of the picture is the increasing popularity of right-wing parties, such as the True Finns, how worries over immigration are shaping politics and parliaments in several countries.
With the G-8 meeting this week (May,26-27), and the ongoing European economic crisis having a negative impact on the US stock markets, Americans need clear explanations about what’s at stake. Right now the debts and budget deficits of Europe’s PIIGS (Portugal, Ireland, Italy, Greece, and Spain) are a much more immediate threat to the global economy–and hence to the US economy--than our own short-term budgetary quandaries.

A good resource for teaching this topic is Paul Solman’s "Making Sen$e" (part of the PBS Newshour web site--see Resources). His overview of economies of eight countries--the PIIGS plus Germany, England, and Poland (with links to segments on France)–is an excellent place to send students (see "Obama’s European Trip" in Resources).

　
Activities

READ/DISCUSS: Anu Partanen’s "A True Finnish Spring" is a short, clearly presented POV on Finnish politics and Finland’s place in the world. ASK: Why do Anu’s friends want to escape to America? How do you think living in America has changed Anu’s POV?

LANGUAGE ARTS: Analyze "A True Finnish Spring" as a highly effective piece of writing. ASK: Why do the images in her intro (and elsewhere) draw the reader in? How has she woven otherwise blunt "facts" into her essay?

VIEW/REACT: Students watch the PBS NewsHour segment (May 23), take notes and/or review transcript. ASK: What do you think the Europeans can or should do to help other Europeans? What should the US do (or not do) about Europe’s economic crisis? DISCUSS: How are the Irish and Spanish perspectives and government responses different? What accounts for these differences?

RESEARCH: Post the first comment to the PBS segment and use it as a research prompt. Students search online to find out more: What are economists saying about Europe’s austerity budgets? Individual students may focus on the policies and consequences in particular countries.

READING/NOTE-TAKING: Students read "Euro Crisis Looms for Group fo 8" (online or printed copies) and list the issues on the agenda at the G-meeting in Deauville, France, on Thursday and Friday (May 26-27). EXPAND this lesson, if time permits, to a follow-up search of what actually happened at the meeting. What issues, among those reported as significant, did press coverage of the meeting pay most attention to? (Subsitute any similar preview article from your preferred national or international news source.)

Resources

Partanan, Anu. "A True Finnish Spring." New York Times (May 13, 2011): http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/14/opinion/14Partanen.html?_r=1&ref=finland

Making Sen$e: PBS Newshour:  http://www.pbs.org/newshour/economy/makingsense/

• Paul Solman’s explanations of economist’s concepts and theories are "super-accessible" and thus constitute a great resource for social studies classes (not just high school or college Economics 101).
• Scroll down left-side to access items specific to the world’s regions.

Solman, Paul. "Obama's European Trip: Comparing Countries' Debt Troubles." PBS NewsHour (May 25, 2011: http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/2011/05/obamas-european-trip-comparing-countries-debt-troubles.html

VIDEO: "As Obama Kicks Off Trip, How Far-Reaching Is Europe's Economic Crisis?". PBS NewsHour (May 23, 2011): http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/business/jan-june11/europe_05-23.html

• Jeffrey Brown discusses Europe's continued financial struggles with the Financial Times' Gillian Tett and Harvard University's Kenneth Rogoff.
• Transcript available just below the video box.
• Use the comment by OLYCJ as a writing/research prompt.

Erlanger, Steven, and Liz Alderman. "Euro Crisis Looms for Group of 8." New York Times (May 26, 2011): http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/27/world/europe/27g8.html?scp=1&sq=erlanger+euro+crisis&st=nyt

Note

1) "Finnish Parliament Backs Portugal Bailout," Financial Times (May 25, 2011):
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/6855ade6-86db-11e0-9d41-00144feabdc0.html#axzz1NT7KcTtu. For more details about the debate see "Parliament Passes Portugal Bailout Package 137-49," Helsingin Sanomat (May 26, 2011): http://www.hs.fi/english/article/Parliament+passes+Portugal+bailout+package+137-49/1135266412585