Le Moyne College’s Center for Peace and Global Studies: Agenda Politics Or Polls?

Obviously the name alone of Le Moyne College’s Center for Peace and Global Studies is enough to give one pause over a possible agenda behind their recent involvement in a Zogby poll in the headlines today.

The poll, conducted in conjunction with Le Moyne College’s Center for Peace and Global Studies

And looking behind the scenes a bit does little to assuage that concern.

As we move into the 21st Century it is important to examine the different paradigms of peace keeping/peace making as they have evolved and as they are evolving. Are we moving away from a state-centric approach to conflict management with an increased role for non-government actors and regional or international organizations, or have the recent events in Afghanistan and Iraq reified unilateralist impulses? What role do local organizations and even individuals have in peacemaking? here

Unilateralist? Interesting given that it's well documented we did not go to war in Iraq unilaterally, but with several allies, if not the grand coalition from the first Gulf War. And how might a local or regional organization or commission play a role in peacemaking? By undertaking a poll of the US military which shows results rather different from what many might expect? It's a thought, anyway. Was this poll a poll, or activism? What role did the college's center play?

I think we have a right to ask some questions given the the center had its start from our tax dollars.

J. Barron Boyd is Professor of Political Science, Director of the Le Moyne College International Studies program, and Director of its Center for Peace and Global Studies. In 2001, he led the team that wrote a successful Department of Education Title VI grant to create the Center for Peace and Global Studies.

Clearly this is an an organization not simply for peace, but also clearly against war. And there is a difference. Take a look at a recent conference schedule. It's a wonder they had time for a meditation session what with all the peace making going on.

A member of the Central New York Peace Studies Consortium, they seem to have a lot of events going on over the years.

This year’s theme is “Paradigms in Peace Making & Peace Keeping”, featuring keynote speaker Colman McCarthy, syndicated columnist; Professor, Georgetown University Law Center; Founder, Center for Teaching Peace, will be the keynote speaker at the Central New York Peace Studies Consortium, November 19th, 2005. His latest book, “I’d Rather Teach Peace,” is a journal of his experience as a teacher, and offers an alternative to organized violence. here

Here's Colman McCarthy in another context.

What first came to mind when you realized that the Twin Towers had been deliberately crashed into?

Shock but not surprise. The depth of the horror was initially beyond imagination. But the attack itself was not a surprise. On April 4, 1967, Martin Luther King, Jr., said that “the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today is my own government.” He was right then and is right now. In only the past 20 years, the U.S. government has sent troops to kill or threaten to kill people in Lebanon, Grenada, Libya, Panama, Haiti, Somalia, Sudan, Afghanistan, Yugoslavia and now Afghanistan again. All are poor nations and mostly people of color.

Then there's the associate director, Keith D. Watenpaugh, who when he isn't teaching had the time for a guest editorial in Juan Cole's Informed Comment Catchy opening:

America’s Incompetent Colonialism: The Failures of the US Administration of Iraq

A year ago, word began to filter out of Baghdad that in addition to the National Museum, the Iraqi National Library and Archive had also been looted, and burned, not once, but twice. Like the current scandal of systematic abuses of human rights by members of the US military, the CIA and its sub-contractors, the burning evoked a host of emotions most notably shame, revulsion and anger. The anger was primarily directed against the civilian leadership of the Department of Defense who failed to heed the near-unanimous warnings of the probability of post-war instability and the vulnerability of Iraq’s cultural heritage and take appropriate preventative measures. Their failure to fully grasp the reality of the situation in Iraq was among the earliest examples of continuing gross and criminal ineptitude of which the gruesome images from Abu Ghuraib are the most recent manifestations.

Also of note, John Zogby has also been a speaker at events sponsored by the center.

Since 1992 and the return of partisan politics, the country has been through tumultuous times. Voters this year seem desirous of change. But it is more than a change of policies they seek; it is a change of spirit. Whether Bush or Kerry can avoid another “Armageddon election” that contributes to the belief that victory by one or the other spells doom for the country remains to be seen. In order to govern, it will be necessary for the winner to reach across the partisan divide. Thus, the most intriguing question is not who will win. Rather, will the next president govern in the spirit of John Adams, whose presidency roiled the partisan waters, or Thomas Jefferson, who calmed them?

Pollster John Zogby examines these issues when he speaks at Le Moyne College on Thursday, September 23, at 8 p.m. in the Panasci Family Chapel. His talk is titled “The Armageddon Election.”

It seems Amy Goodman of Democracy Now! has also had the honor.

This year’s lecture will be delivered by Amy Goodman, host and executive producer of Pacifica Radio’s award winning radio show “Democracy Now!” Goodman’s talk is titled “Independent Media in Time of War and Election.”

And then there's this event they sponsored, see any agenda there?

Jonathan Schell will speak again in Central New York on Tuesday, April 6 at 7:30 pm at Grewen Aud., Le Moyne College, co-sponsored by Peace Action of CNY and the Le Moyne College Center for Peace and Global Studies.

Schell, the Peace and Disarmament editor for The Nation, writes frequently on topics such as nuclear policy and nonviolent social activism, and is the author of The Fate of the Earth and most recently, The Unconquerable World: Power, Nonviolence, and the Will of the People. He began his lecture by acknowledging the radical changes in US foreign policy since 9/11, highlighting strategies and rhetoric favoring military dominance, regime change and the troubling doctrine of preemptive war.

Schell also talked about the de-politicization of the US and its population’s loss of faith in the political process, but was hopeful that these trends were reversing, citing several recent studies on US Americans’ political views. After an overview of his conception of US society and the current political environment, Schell dove right into his main topic: the classification of the US as an empire.

Comments

[sigmund, carl and alfred]

Zogby is a regular contributor to Arab News. Over time, one can detect a clear agenda put forward in his columns.

[John Valentine]

Le Moyne College is actually a conservative Jesuit college, and the "peace" part of the Center for Peace and Global Studies reflects its Roman Catholic traditions. (Look, the ultra-conservative Pope, John Paul II, spoke out strongly against the invasion of Iraq.)

Frank Haig, brother of Alexander Haig, Ronald Reagan's Secretary of State was president in the 1980s while Haig was in the Cabinet.* Al Haig was a visiting lecturer there, President Reagan heaped praise on the college, and Vice President George Bush visited the campus on several occasions. Not much has changed there recently, and to say it's a left-wing haven is incorrect. It is “progressive”, however, in the Catholic/Christian social justice sense.

*http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F0CE0DA1E38F936A15752C0A964948260

[Rev.Fr.Isaac Aniny]

Dear Father,
How are you? i am verything is perfect as i am here in Ghana. This is the pictures of my church and i am a Rev Father Isaac Anim of St. Dominic Roman Catholic church in one of rural areaws in Ghana Kumasi. Also i am very grateful if you could send us some catholic materials such as Rosaries, Statues, Mass books and rings for us to share it to my church members. Try as much as posiblem to send the materials to my church. May the Virgine Mother mary bless you and your Church to improve in the Mary. Amen

Rev. Fr. Isaac Anim
St. Dominic Roman Catholic Church
Post Office Box se 2244
Suame - Kumasi
Ghana -West/Africa.+233

[FR.EMMANUEL TAKYI]

DEAR ONE IN CHRIST,
I WANT TO REQUEST ONLY ONE ROSARY FROM YOU AND I HOPE YOU WILL SEND IT
BY--------
TAKYI EMMANUEL
P.O.BOX SE 772
SUAME KUMASI
GHANA WEST AFRICA

[rob tyrka]

"...it's well documented we did not go to war in Iraq unilaterally, but with several allies..."

Indeed, we had Tony Blair, and countries like the Maldives joined the Coalition of the Willing after we sent them a ton of aid money. So did Slovakia--or Slovenia, I forget which, as did the Rove/Cheney Administration, which announced the participation of the wrong country (much to the consternation of the other). Not that it made a damn bit of difference, since hardly any non-American or -UK troops are in Iraq.

The Coalition of the Willing is a fraud propagated by the Rove/Cheney Administration to trick Americans into believing that the rest of the world doesn't hate us. A quick web search of international polls--or buying Kohut's new book--will show that the last 4-5 years have shown the biggest increase in anti-American hostility in the history of polling. The Rove/Cheney Administration is functioning as a recruitment operation for anti-American terrorists.

[Kati Stuetzle]

I am a Peace and Global Studies major at Le Moyne College... and an atheist! I don't sense an oppression, or even religious presence, by the Roman Catholics in the department at all! Touche.