the morningside post

Iranian Dissident Suggests How to Deal with Iran, Islam

Akbar Ganji, Iranian Dissident Journalist, Issues a Challenge
By Matteen Mokalla

While imprisoned on charges of "threatening national security," Iranian dissident journalist Akbar Ganji wrote in his now famous "Manifesto of Republicanism": "Intellectuals and the elite should not excuse themselves of their moral duty ... one must create hope, inject life and passion and exuberance into the society. Doing this demands self-sacrifice, boldness, and intrepidity. History has shown that giant steps have been taken only by men who were brave, idealistic and self-sacrificing."

Indeed, no one can accuse Mr. Ganji of pusillanimity. In the 1990s Mr. Ganji, a former revolutionary, wrote a series of articles accusing members of Iran's ruling government of the brutal murders of several prominent intellectuals. As a result, he was jailed in 2000 for six years. Unwilling to be silenced, Mr. Ganji wrote his "Manifesto of Republicanism" and engaged in a hunger strike to protest his imprisonment. For a short time, Mr. Ganji's imprisonment captured the world's attention.

A month ago, Mr. Ganji was welcomed to SIPA to deliver a lecture entitled "Civil Liberties, Islam and the Nexus between the Struggle for Democracy and Iran's Nuclear Ambitions."

In his address, Mr. Ganji thoroughly commented on the controversies that have led the so-called "Western World" to fear Islam and its followers: President Ahmadinejad's Holocaust Conference, the activities of Osama Bin Laden, and the Danish cartoon controversy. He argued that in any faith many categories of believers exist, ranging from fundamentalists to those who incorporate their traditions into liberal ideologies. Muslims, Mr. Ganji argued, are no exception.

With great dexterity, Mr. Ganji was able to impart to his audience a firm and powerful message: Fear not, America. Your enemy is not Islam, but fundamentalists of all religious stripes.

Temperatures Rising to the North

Election Season Heating Up, Canada Losing its Cool?
By Ian Foucher

Once hailed as the nation of "cool," Canada, it seemed for a while, could do no wrong. Sure its motto of "peace, order and government" was less brazen than "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness;" but its achievements, it was said, were more emollient. These days, however, Canada's climate is heating up, leaving its politics lukewarm.

The Liberals and the Conservatives-leading factions of Canada's multi-party system-have both had a part in Canada's thawing: Liberals let order be gummed up by a multi-million dollar corruption scandal while Conservatives put a hold on peace by extending the country's commitment to the war in Afghanistan.

The Liberals have paid the price for their graft by being on the losing side of the last federal election, held in 2006, effectively ending their twelve-year reign. As for the Conservatives, the day of electoral judgment for the war has yet to come; but with a spring election fueling the political rumor mill, the public's verdict may arrive sooner than anticipated.

An Un-objective Look at the West Bank

Chaim Yavin: Israel's Walter Cronkite
By Erica Hagen 

Chaim Yavin, 40-year veteran anchorman of Israeli television, downplays the nearly career-destroying move that he made three years ago when he went on a personal mission to make a documentary about the West Bank.

"I am already old, so if they had fired me it would not have mattered very much," he joked recently at a discussion with students at Columbia's School of Journalism.

But Yavin's five-part documentary series, "The Land of the Settlers," which first aired in Israel in 2003, did more than put his job at state-sponsored Channel One in jeopardy. The film, a disturbing look at Israeli settlements in the West Bank territories, stirred up a host of sentiments about the Israel-Palestine conflict and sparked a debate over objectivity in journalism.

Soon after the documentary aired, there were calls for Yavin to be fired from his position at the station he helped found, based on claims that he had "lost his objectivity."