Finding Mabel: documentary on Argentina's disappeared

Awhile ago, I received an email from Eileen Reardon, the director of Finding Mabel, a feature-length documentary film centered on Argentina's so-called "Dirty War." The film's synopsis follows:

Finding Mabel is a gripping documentary that follows a young woman's journey to Argentina, to piece together the enigmatic disappearance of the woman she was named after, one of the 30,000 people who disappeared during Argentina's last military dictatorship. Part scavenger hunt, part self-discovery, Finding Mabel intelligently weaves Argentina's recent dark past with today's polarizing struggle for justice.

For more, please see these links:

Fundraising campaign
Official website
Interview with the director here

NBC Olympic Editing Generates Controversy

The other day, someone asked me, "did you even know that the Olympics were starting?" And frankly, no, I did not. While I certainly see the value of exercise and understand and believe in the positive effects of sport on the mind and body, I do not practice a sport regularly and I certainly have no interest in watching or following the Olympics (as an aside, I am a huge baseball fan, which is another story, and I listen to my team's games every day -- and have, since I was about 8).

When the Olympics were going on when I was a teenager, my friends and I would gather to watch figure skating in winter and gymnastics in summer. Mostly, as with anything during adolescence, it held a romantic attraction for us. In skating, we liked to see the sequins and the skirts and the death-defying spins of couples impossibly paired and destined for heartbreak. In gymnastics, we pined after the guys on the pommel horse and their resin-covered hands and longed to be petite little girls whose developing bodies were forever locked in amber. We spent quite a long time imitating these heroines -- in fact, I broke my wrist for the first time ice-skating, while pretending to be Peggy Fleming in front of a friend.

Somewhere between junior high and college, the Olympics lost their allure for me and became something only athletes watched. And it took some time, but I also began to experience that sense of what the Spanish call "vergüenza ajena" -- a kind of embarrassment one encounters on behalf of someone else. The chants of "USA, USA" make me cringe. So do the wearing of flags, whether they be American or those of another nation. And all the opening ceremonies showcasing the supposed harmony of the world, complete with native dances and costumes -- like a UNICEF Christmas card -- belie what the Olympics is really about: a kind of athletic nation-building extravaganza. Certainly, a great deal of the Olympics is still about superior athletic achievement and what the human body is capable of. But inevitably, no matter where the Olympics are held, we must encounter an "Olympic controversy."

This year, in London, the U.S. newschannel NBC has already gotten into the fray by editing out a ceremony commemorating the 7/7 terrorist bombings and instead, pasting in an interview between Ryan Seacrest and swimmer Michael Phelps (see British coverage of the story here and American here). As The Guardian reports, "NBC. . . chose to broadcast the entire ceremony on a time-delay to maximise primetime advertising revenue..." While revenue may be part of the story, the larger issue is memory and victimhood. 

Basically, NBC decided that American viewers would not be interested in watching a memorial tribute to the 52 victims of the London bombings, and would prefer to see their own heroes -- in this case, the former "boy next door"gold medal winner Michael Phelps, making his triumphant return. NBC's excuse was that the program was tailored for U.S. audiences.

Maybe, part of the problem is precisely that! What the U.S. needs less of is programs tailored to its own viewing preferences and more opportunities for engaging with the rest of the world. If a British TV channel had edited out a tribute to victims of 9-11, we most certainly would have voiced our outrage. The bottom line is that politics matters when it's our politics. Victims matter when they're our victims. 9-11 is the terrorist attack, and all others fall beneath it. Editing out something even as apparently minor as this 6-minute tribute does nothing to help the image of the U.S. abroad. And then we complain about "anti-Americanism!" The tribute to the London victims could have been an opportunity for Americans to contemplate 9-11 alongside 7/7. As Joanne Garde-Hansen writes in Media and Memory, "National broadcast media, in particular, across the world tend to tell self-aggrandising stories about a nation to a nation" (109). The Olympics is the perfect stage for tales of rebirth from the ashes -- as long as the ashes are those of our own.

See the BBC video here.

CFP: Remembering, Forgetting, Imagining - NY, March 2013

This sounds like an exciting conference, with Marianne Hirsch as keynote speaker. I am currently reading Hirsch's The Generation of Postmemory.

CFP: Remembering, Forgetting, Imagining: The Practices of Memory
1-2 March, 2013
Keynote speaker: Professor Marianne Hirsch, Columbia University
“Modern memory is, above all, archival. It relies entirely on the materiality of the trace, the immediacy of the recording, the visibility of the image.”
–Pierre Nora

This interdisciplinary conference seeks to explore the crucial role of memory in formulating our individual and communal identities, and to examine the scholarly discipline of memory itself. We hope to initiate conversations about memory as an active and ongoing cognitive process rather than simply a reaction to past experiences or a set of “facts” frozen in time. While memory purports to preserve the past in the present, it is inherently protean and unstable, and prone to fictionalizing. Indeed, memory and imagination are tightly intertwined; memory and ideology are closely bound; and our memory of what has come before constantly shapes our understanding of and expectations about what is still to come.
This interdisciplinary conference, then, will explore not only this desire to make memory sacred but also our ability to forget, to forget that we've forgotten, and to imagine the past in a way that fits neatly into our worldviews. These questions are particularly relevant in the wake of recent revolutions and social movements in the Arab World, Europe, and even the United States; learning to reinvent the past in a certain way helps us to reimagine the future, and thus inaugurate change. Consequently, we invite proposals that explore the various and variegated practices of memory as figured through literature, culture, politics, and scholarship generally.
We welcome individual abstracts of 250 words or panel proposals of 750 words, for three participants, to practicesofmemory@gmail.com by November 15, 2012. In addition to traditional academic papers, the committee encourages creative literary work, performance art, and multi-media presentations that in some way address the topic.

Presenters might consider, but are not limited to, the following questions:
• How is memory practiced through literature, art, film, or culture?
• Who remembers? What is remembered? What is forgotten? Whose voices are heard? Whose voices are suppressed?
• What is the role of “postmemory,” with its focus on the trauma of the past?
• How is memory understood in early eras, such as medieval or early modern?
• How do texts treat or reflect the past?
• How does the past help us prepare for the future?
• What is the role of imagination in memory or nostalgia?
• How is memory mediated by “memory makers” and memorials?
• In what ways has postmodernism influenced the study of memory?
• What is the role of psychoanalysis in memory studies?
• In what ways does the state repress and/or produce memory?
• How do neoconservatist or neoliberalist movements treat the past?
• How do memorializing objects—texts, photographs, monuments—produce and /or subvert an official state narrative?
• What is the role of affect in producing collective memory?

Judge Garzón to Speak at University of Minnesota - April 25, 2011

Spanish Judge, Baltasar Garzón, advocate of universal jurisdiction will speak April 25 at 2:00 p.m.

Rarely has a modern-day judge or human rights defender created as much controversy as Judge Baltasar Garzón. Garzón's supporters view him as an unrelenting human rights advocate, taking on high-profile cases including former Chilean president Augusto Pinochet and Osama bin Laden. Garzón's critics write him off as an over-stepping judge who has abused his judicial power, including exceeding his authority by investigating Spanish Civil War atrocities.

Judge Garzón grabbed the world's attention in 1998 when he asked UK authorities to extradite former Chilean dictator, Augusto Pinochet, to the Spanish court under an indictment of torture. Garzón's request was under the legal theory of universal jurisdiction, which allows any court to try individuals who are alleged to have committed the most serious international crimes, such as crimes against humanity or war crimes.

Since the Pinochet case, Garzón has continued to push for broad jurisdictional authority, opening investigations in the militant Basque separatist group, ETA, as well as Osama bin Laden and Al Qaeda. After his most recent investigation into the Franco era crimes of the Spanish Civil War, the tables were turned, and Garzón himself was indicted for overreaching his jurisdiction in investigating war crimes arising out of the Spanish Civil War.

Judge Garzón is challenging the lawfulness of his indictment in Spain which the International Center for the Legal Protection of Human Rights (INTERIGHTS) has described as a "threat to the independence of judges and to their role in ensuring accountability for alleged widespread and systematic crimes." Garzón alleges the criminal case against him violates several of Spain's obligations under the European Convention on Human Rights including the obligation to protect individuals from an unfair criminal process.

Judge Garzón will speak at the University of Minnesota on April 25 at 2:00PM in Room 25 Mondale Hall, University of Minnesota Law School, 19th Ave South, Minneapolis MN 55455. His talk will focus on "Truth, Justice and Reparation". A reception will follow immediately Garzón's lecture.

Garzón's visit is being co-sponsored by the Human Rights Program, the Department of Political Science, the Department of Spanish and Portuguese Studies, The Institute for Global Studies, The Hubert Humphrey Center, The Law School, The Interdisciplinary Center for the Study of Global Change, Global Spotlight, European Studies Consortium
Event is free and open to the public.

Ariel Dorfman on Obama's Upcoming Visit to Chile

Barack Obama and Sebastián Piñera

Ariel Dorfman has published an editorial today in Spain's El País on President Obama's upcoming visit to Chile titled "Obama y el dolor de Chile" ("Obama and the Pain of Chile"). In the editorial he suggests that Obama visit with former exiles and children of the disappeared; go to the newly inaugurated Museo de la Memoria and get to know Villa Grimaldi, the former detention and torture center that is now the Villa Grimaldi Park for Peace. This is the first paragraph, with my translation in italics.

Cuando Barack Obama desembarque en Chile el próximo lunes en una visita de 24 horas, algo crucial va a faltar en su agenda. Habrá mariscos suculentos y discursos que elogien la prosperidad de Chile, acuerdos bilaterales y encuentros con los poderosos y los pomposos, pero no hay planes, sin duda, de que el presidente de Estados Unidos tome contacto con lo que fue la experiencia fundamental de la reciente historia chilena, el trauma que el pueblo de mi país padeció durante los casi 17 años del régimen del general Augusto Pinochet.

When Barack Obama lands in Chile next Monday on a 24-hour visit, something critical will be lacking in his agenda. There will be delicious seafood and speeches praising Chile's prosperity, bilateral agreements and meetings with the pompous and powerful, but there are absolutely no plans for the U.S. president to come in contact with what was the key experience in recent Chilean history, the trauma that the people of my country suffered for the almost 17 years of General Augusto Pinochet's regime. 

Dorfman goes on to explain why he believes Obama must address Chile's dictatorial past while in Chile (again, my translation follows in italics):

Una razón por la cual tiene sentido que Obama haga todo lo posible por vislumbrar, aunque fuera a través de un vidrio oscuro, nuestra vasta y devastadora pena, es que los norteamericanos fueron, en gran parte, responsables de aquella tragedia. Washington ayudó, alentó y financió la caída del Gobierno democráticamente elegido de Allende y la trayectoria dictatorial de Pinochet.

 One reason why Obama must do everything he can to make clearer, albeit through a dark lens, our vast and devastating pain, is that Americans were, in large part, responsible for that tragedy [that of the overthrow of Allende and the installation of the Pinochet regime]. Washington helped, encouraged and financed the fall of Allende's democratically-elected government and the dictatorial trajectory of Pinochet.

Dorfman's editorial does not go so far as to propose President Obama apologize for U.S. involvement and support of the Pinochet regime. In fact, he expressly states that that gesture, in his view, is unnecessary. What Dorfman would like instead is all the more simple and brief, but full of symbolism nonetheless: he wants Obama to visit the tomb of Salvador Allende and observe a few moments of silence, a gesture Dorfman believes will send the message to Chile, all of Latin America and the entire planet ("y de hecho a todo el planeta") that the U.S. is ushering in a new era of relations with its Latin American neighbors.

I applaud Dorfman's intentions in his editorial column. Certainly, more people -- especially in the U.S. -- need to inform themselves about American support of right-wing dictators in Latin America. For doubters,  plenty of de-classified state documents exist -- some of which are linked on this blog -- to help illustrate the U.S. role in funding and aiding otherwise the military dictatorships of the entire Southern Cone. I don't think, however, that Dorfman is being realistic about the kind of president that Obama has thusfar shown himself to be.

In his editorial, Dorfman resurrects the name of Bobby Kennedy, citing him as an example for Obama to follow. In the 60s, Kennedy visited with Chilean president Eduardo Frei (leader of the Christian Democratic Party and president just prior to Allende) and met with Chilean miners and angry Communist students protesting the former's visit. In Robert Kennedy and His Times, Arthur Schesslinger recounts part of that visit, and quotes Kennedy's remarks after meeting with the Chilean miners: "'If I worked in this mine,' Kennedy told a Chilean reporter, 'I'd be a Communist too'" (p. 696).

Has Dorfman been paying attention to American politics since Obama's election? First of all, Obama has largely disappointed the (true) left in this country, due to what they perceive to be his largely centrist position on nearly every important issue out there. Second, one of the rallying cries of the (extreme) right has been to call Obama a "Socialist" or a "Communist," often mixing the terms beyond recognition into a hodgepodge of McCarthy-era rhetoric (sometimes, unbelievably, these terms have been mixed with Obama as "Fascist" or even "Nazi"). So, let's imagine what Obama's visit to Chile would be like were he to follow Dorfman's suggestions.

Most likely, were we to see Obama at Allende's tomb, the right would immediately gravitate once more to the idea of foreign Obama, socialist Obama, radical America-hater Obama. Everyone knows Allende is a hero of the left. So, Obama linking himself to Allende, even in this brief appearance, would just feed into the right's fear-mongering machine. While the left might find the gesture laudable, they would also have reason to complain, for Obama has not demonstrated this kind of public presidential presence stateside. For example, the left might ask why Obama isn't standing with the Wisconsin workers protesting the end to their collective bargaining rights.

Nonetheless, as Dorfman reminds us, President Obama will be dining in the same Presidential palace where Salvador Allende died "en defensa del derecho de su pueblo a elegir su propio destino" ("in defense of his people's right to elect their own destiny"). It is difficult to imagine how his entire visit could go by with no mention of the tragic Chilean past. Unfortunately, however, the President's political identity has been shaped less by his risk-taking and more by his acquiescence to the ever-shifting Overton window. Like Clinton, Obama's desire to be "post-political" and "post-partisan," always seeking compromise, has only served to his disadvantage.

In Chile, Obama will be meeting with President Sebastián Piñera. Though perhaps not as visible a meeting as that between Obama and Hu Jin Tao, this encounter will be still put under a microscope, as will Obama's other Latin American stops. While Ariel Dorfman's position in his editorial is certainly understandable and reasonable, given Chile's recent past, it is highly unlikely that Barack Obama will acknowledge anything regarding Allende or the Pinochet dictatorship. In fact, the nuclear issue has already taken precedence, as The Santiago Times reported Wednesday that Pres. Piñera has announced a nuclear agreement with the U.S. (see also today's NYT, "Undeterred by Fallout Fears....").

January 28, 1986

Photos here

I have a mixed relationship with the sciences. Until high school, I loved participating in science fairs, contemplating black holes and listening to "2001: a Space Odyssey" and a National Geographic record called "Space Sounds." My scrapbook was full of newspaper clippings on new planetary moons, shuttle launches and supernovas. My sister and I would lie upside down on my canopy bed and pretend we were getting ready for lift-off. While most of my friends were busy seeing themselves as teachers or nurses, I proudly stated that I wanted to be a paleontologist, and then, an astronaut. In junior high, I participated in a science fair with a project on natural dyes. Another year, I made crystals. By the time I was ready for high school, I had won a few science prizes at my school and was really jazzed about the idea of studying biology. Unfortunately, chemistry and physics altered my earlier relationship with science, and although I still maintain a love for all things "outer space," I have long considered myself to be essentially a "language person," which is really kind of silly.

On January 28, 1986, I was not yet a teenager. That day, classes were cancelled due to snow -- as they often are this time of year in northeast Ohio -- and my mom had taken my friends and me to the ice skating rink where I had taken lessons for the past few years. At some point, I recall an adult coming to get us early, and being disappointed because we weren't ready to go. When I got home, my mom was crying and glued to the TV, which my father was also watching (a rarity, as he was not a big fan of TV). The space shuttle Challenger had exploded just 73 seconds after liftoff (video here). Perhaps because both my parents were teachers, they took this news especially hard; on the Challenger, teacher Christa McAuliffe would be making her first flight into space. In addition, one of the astronauts, Judy Resnick, was from Akron, just over an hour away from us. My reaction, outwardly, was measured. But inside, I just could not believe it. I felt crushed, as if I had been a partner in the same project as the astronauts -- space! Glorious space! How could this happen?

Later on in the day, we had to go to the store for something. It was a store with audio equipment of some kind and there were TVs playing. One of my vivid recollections is seeing and hearing the TVs playing the story. That night, and in the coming weeks, I did nothing but write in my journal about the Challenger disaster, recording details about the flight and the astronauts and my reaction to the new information being revealed. Even though I was still a child, I had the sense that something major had occurred that would change what happened in years to come. I wanted to be able to say, "I wrote about this when it happened and here are my reflections."

The Challenger disaster changed the face of the entire space program in the United States. It meant the end of this sort of golden era of space exploration (or at least, what we had seen as such) -- and this feels quite evident in my childhood scrapbook, when there are no longer any newspaper articles on new moons, photos of planetary rings or shuttle launches. As a professor, explaining this change (in terms of memory) can be a challenge.

In several of my classes, when we've spoken about photography and collective memory, I show a series of well-known photographs with no captions and ask students to identify the event depicted in the photo and also, to provide an approximate year or time period for the image. To me, the trails of white smoke against a dark blue sky (seen in the photo at the start of this post) are immediately identifiable as the Challenger explosion. Yet quite often, students are unsure what this is -- some recall the 2003 Columbia disaster instead.

It is unbelievable to me that today marks 25 years since the Challenger disaster. Though so much time has passed, it is easy to recall the pit in my throat that day when I learned about the explosion and what it meant for the seven astronauts and their families. In some ways, Challenger was my first real experience with death. It is one of those moments where I will "never forget where I was" when I heard the news.

Since 1986, space exploration, though it may have evolved considerably in some ways (the Hubble telescrope, the International Space Station, no moon exploration, suggestions of going to Mars, etc.), is still very much influenced by national and transnational politics. In the U.S. January 28, 1986 was a defining moment of 80s history (in addition to the images of the catastrophe, think of Ronald Reagan's "heroes" speech that night -- "a day for mourning and remembering"). The space program was suspended for several years. We no longer pursued shuttle launches and explorations with the same frequency or sense of "news-worthiness." In some ways, this is evident even in the manner in which the Columbia disaster was covered in February 2003. Today, it is difficult to say what is in store for NASA or future shuttle missions, particularly after proposed cuts by the Obama administration.

Wilderness vs. Wal-Mart

First, let's be blunt. I hate Wal-Mart. And let's be honest. I do shop there, less out of a desire to do so, and more because it is one of the only places to get what I need in the small town in which I live (the Wal-Mart here is of the old-fashioned early Sam Walton variety: it stocks the basics. The very basics). I hate Wal-Mart for the reasons that people everywhere hate it. It's the epitome of the postmodern corporation: it gives us cheap (finanically and materially), shoddy merchandise made in China by exploited workers, while promoting a carefully-constructed mythology of American values: helping out the working class, being "good for the community" and allowing mom to stay within her budget. In reality, the economic behavior of Wal-Mart in the United States and elsewhere should make them the enemy of the working class, particularly if we look at their atrocious record of workplace gender and racial discrimination (women and other minority groups missing out on promotions), and denial of health care to its workers by re-defining what "full-time" meant. For more, see Robert Greenwald's 2005 documentary Wal-Mart: the High Cost of Low Price.

Since the end of the Bush era, Wal-Mart has invested in a healthy dose of re-branding. Let's take a look at the "military industrial complex" Wal-Mart (original photo here):

The red, white and blue (and cement gray), clearly meant to emphasize the patriotic nature of shopping (as promoted by George W. Bush in 2007), fit nicely with the pretty star-cum-hyphen between Wal and Mart:

Of late, we have seen a move to this cleaner, more environmentally-conscious looking logo:

No matter how it defines itself to the public, Wal-Mart still has the reputation for deciding to set up shop where it is least welcome. Claiming that it will provide impoverished communities with a healthy supply of jobs, it seems to nearly always get its way when all is said and done. Its idea of "living better" is being able to do "one-stop shopping," where you can get groceries, prescriptions, clothes, a burger at McDonalds, an oil change for your car, a lawnmower and perhaps a bookcase or two all under one roof. On the way out, stop at the Wal-Mart gas station for some extra cheap gas too! Wal-Mart made other kinds of shopping -- the pharmacy, the clothing boutique, the family-owned hardware store -- extinct, turning town squares into a bunch of empty storefronts and making small business owners and employees largely unnecessary.

For some time now, Wal-Mart has been involved in a dispute in the state of Virginia over whether the former should be permitted to build near an historic battle site of the American Civil War. Wal-Mart argues, once again, that the construction will bring many new jobs to the area. It also states that it would be building in an area already dotted with retail locations. Those involved in the local tourism industry claim that what visitors desire is familiarity, convenience and access, which Wal-Mart can provide (see video). Historical preservationists are concerned by the shopping center's proposed proximity to the site of the Battle of the Wilderness, a turning point of the war. For a change, Republicans and Democrats have, together with historians and celebrities, teamed up to keep Wal-Mart out. This week, the case goes to court. It is hard to overlook the irony of the battle's name in its confrontation with the corporate giant. It is getting harder and harder to imagine any wilderness in this country.

When I was growing up, in 1980s Ohio, my parents took my sister and I on many exciting "one tank trip" vacations. We got to know our state parks, in other words. But three of the most thrilling summer trips were going from Ohio-Florida (in a brown Valiant with vinyl seats and no air conditioning!), Ohio-Great Smoky Mountains and Ohio-Maine. There were no Wal-Marts to stop at along the way. And yes, a certain amount of "wilderness" was involved -- we were never sure where we would end up and what we might find there. We had to pack for the unexpected. We drove all day, until my parents were too tired to go any further -- and then we found a hotel. We always had enough gas, because we were never sure where the next gas station would be -- it's not like now, where there is one at every highway exit. The littering of the American landscape with Wal-Marts and other similar structures makes our universe always 24-7, always within reach. We don't have to rely on ourselves, because Wal-Mart will always be there to help us out of a jam, as this 2008 map from Wal-Mart Watch suggests:

The impact of Wal-Mart construction is not only environmental and cultural, but, as the case in Virginia demonstrates, historical. Does it really matter, as some claim, that the proposed store location would fall outside the actual core of the Civil War battlefield, where some 30,000 were killed, injured or disappeared? Does building a perimeter of commerce -- with Wal-Mart at the helm -- around the battle area defame or re-shape this "site of memory"?

There are those who argue -- including the Pulitzer prize-winning historian James McPherson -- that the building site that would be occupied by Wal-Mart was in and of itself part of the battle area:

McPherson is expected to testify that the store's site and nearby acres were blood-soaked ground and a Union "nerve center" in the battle. Grant's headquarters and his senior leaders were encamped near the site of the proposed store and Union casualties were treated there or in an area destined to be the store's parking lot, McPherson wrote in a summary of his testimony.

"Among other things, thousands of wounded and dying soldiers occupied the then open fields that included the Walmart site, which is where many of the Union Army hospital tents were located during the battle," McPherson wrote.

The pro-Wal-Mart side claims, on the other hand, that "'There is no indication that any significant historical event occurred on this land.'"

It will be interesting to see how this story develops, especially given the upcoming commemoration of the Civil War. The interest in "historical preservation" in the United States is very uneven. On the one hand, this country seems to favor a "throw away" architectural practice -- build one, build more, and if it doesn't work, tear it down and build it again. Or, if it's old, it's no good. The U.S. is a largely forward-looking society -- rather than honoring "tradition," it likes to see "progress," which often means the building and opening of new, often unnecessary, stores. But at the same time, it is also a country -- like others, I suppose -- that engages in a very selective monumentalization -- Mt. Rushmore, the Statue of Liberty, the new World Trade Center.

The American Civil War is a defining piece of U.S. history. Why does Wal-Mart need to build right there, near the battle site of the Battle of the Wilderness? Surely, it is not the only location available. It seems more likely that the company hopes to capitalize on the challenges of the current economy -- perhaps, by linking itself to perceived demands of local tourism as well.

Obama's Arizona Speech

"If this tragedy prompts reflection and debate, as it should, let's make sure it's worthy of those we have lost."

(At some point soon, I will write a post on the Arizona shootings, and this speech).

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Commemorating the American Civil War

Since around 2004, my main area of research has been on contemporary literature and film of the Spanish Civil War and Francoism. Therefore, whenever I hear "civil war," my first reaction is to think of Spain. The American Civil War (1861-65) is, quite frankly, something that has never really piqued my interest. I guess when I think of this period of American history, the image that comes to mind is my high school A.P (advanced placement) history class, where the teacher spent a large part of the period reading the newspaper while we "did homework." I did not learn anything in that class, and I did not get college credit for it either (instead, in college, at the wonderful suggestion of an adviser, I ended up taking "Black Experience I and II," which were two of the best history classes never taught in high school -- at least, not mine). In addition to my dreary high school history experience, the American Civil War also brings to mind Civil War re-enactments or the burning passion some still feel for the Confederate flag. It's difficult for me to relate to the desire to live or pay homage to our history in either of these ways.

Over the past few weeks, I have begun to notice more and more mentions of the American Civil War. One of my favorite poetry sites, Poetry Daily, featured James Doyle's "Civil War Photograph." I heard that the USPS will be releasing commemorative Civil War stamps in 2011. And today's NYT features a new occasional series, "Disunion," which "follows the Civil War as it unfolded." Of course, the renewed interest in the war is due to the fact that 2011 is the 150th anniversary of its beginning. We are sure to see an increase in the number of films, publications and commentary -- and probably, commemorative activities -- on the war.

The 150th commemoration of the start of the American Civil War comes at a time of extreme political vitriol in the United States. It is not at all surprising to encounter some rather casual and more explicit Civil War allusions in the verbal sparring between Democrats, Republicans and Tea Partiers and in the neo-confederate tributes to the so-called "War for Southern Independence" such as the ones below:

• April 2010: governor Bob McDonnell (R-VA) declares "Confederate History Month," failing to mention slavery as a cause for the Civil War 
• June 2010: in reference to the Arizona immigration bill, Glenn Beck claims "I think we're headed for a civil war"
• October 19, 2010: Time magazine publishes the commentary "Will the Federal Reserve's Ben Bernanke Cause a Civil War?"
• December 2010: South Carolina's "Secession Gala," which remembered the state as the first to secede from the U.S., was met by protests (of course, "states' rights" is a huge Tea Party focal point, so it's a convenient way to tie the Civil War memory to current day agendas)

I must admit, I feel a new interest in learning about the American Civil War, thanks to studying the Spanish Civil War -- and particularly, how it continues to be remembered. But as with the SCW, I am especially intrigued by how the memory of war continues to mark the contemporary political landscape. Obviously, there is quite a difference between "remembering" a war that began 150 years ago and one that occurred in the 20th century (2011 is 75 years since the start of the war in Spain). The case of Spain is complicated, besides, by 36 years of dictatorship, the "pact of silence" and the fact that mass graves continue to be uncovered today (though of course, a majority of these graves are not from the war itself, but the brutal postwar repression). In the U.S., no one can say they recall the war, while in Spain, the war's survivors have passed or will do so soon. Nonetheless, the shelf life of a civil war is long. 150 years may seem like an eternity, but  many are more than happy to make the past quite present, if only to help feed current political interests. In that, Spain and the U.S. have something in common.

Memory Conference: "The Art of Public Memory"

CALL FOR PAPERS, WORKSHOPS, PERFORMANCES, LECTURE PERFORMANCES

THE ART OF PUBLIC MEMORY

An international, interdisciplinary conference exploring intersections of the arts, memory, and history

April 7th to 10th, 2011, University of North Carolina, Greensboro

The conference is, in part, inspired by the performance of Bill T. Jones's Serenade/ The Proposition, at UNCG on Friday, April 8. A contemporary dance about the legacy of Abraham Lincoln and a rumination on the nature of history, Jones’s dance suggests examination of other works involving Lincoln such as the current off Broadway play Abraham Lincoln's Big Gay Dance Party Review and Suzan-Lori Park's 1994 The America Play, and portraits of Lincoln by composers such as Charles Ives and Roy Harris. It also calls for a broader examination of the arts, memory and history. Potential questions include: How and in what ways do memories acquire a public character and through what means are they preserved, archived, and negotiated in everyday life? In what ways do expressions of public memory create, sustain, and de-stabilize the work(ings) of power? How are ideas of gender, sexuality, race, class, and nation re-inscribed or contested through performances, especially performances of history? In what ways do the body, bodily action, and bodily experience enter into public memory?

We invite proposals of academic papers, panels, workshops, lecture performances, and performances from scholars and artists in the arts, education, the humanities, social sciences, and sciences. The conference is sponsored by, and celebrates, the new School of Music, Theatre and Dance at UNCG, and is co-sponsored by UNCG's Program in Women's and Gender Studies.

Proposals must be received by December 1, 2010
Notification of acceptance by January 31, 2011

Send your submission through email to: womens_studies@uncg.edu.

Please include your last name and ART OF PUBLIC MEMORY in the Subject Heading of the e-mail. The text should be attached and pasted in the body of the e-mail to assure access. Please send documents in .doc or .docx formats.

Receipt of all submissions will be confirmed electronically.

REQUIREMENTS

Individual papers should not exceed 20 minutes for presentation. Submit a 500 word abstract.

Panels consisting of three individual presenters may be proposed. Submit a 250 word discussion of the ideas and issues important to the panel in addition to individual paper proposals of 500 words each for the presenters. Please send all documents together.

Performances (solo performance, staged readings, dance, music, installations): We hope to include a limited number of performances, especially performances that can be accomplished in alternate spaces, studios, classrooms, or in shared evenings of music, theatre, and dance. Submit a 500 word abstract describing the event and its organization.

Lecture-Demonstrations, Lecture-Performances, or Workshops may run from 30-45 minutes. Submit a 500 word abstract describing the topic and organization of the session.

For all proposals, include:

• name
• affiliation (if applicable),
• contact information,
• 150 word biography of presenter,
• presentation title,
• presentation format (individual paper, panel, workshop, performance, etc),
• space needs,
• technology needs.

Queries about proposals may be addressed by e-mail to Ann Dils at ahdils@uncg.edu.

Upcoming publications on the 10-year anniversary of 9-11

From UPenn CFP:

"9/11/2011" Abstract deadline: November 30, 2010 Paper Submission deadline: May 2011

Other Modernities, Università degli Studi di Milano, Italy
contact email:
amonline@unimi.it

9/11/2011
Guest Editors Emanuele Monegato and Cinzia Scarpino

If the risk of turning the forthcoming ten-year 9/11 anniversary into a commemorative rhetorical triumph is very high, for us, Altre Modernità (http://riviste.unimi.it/index.php/AMonline/index), a journal of Literary and Cultural studies, that date may otherwise invite reflections that encompass the one event – or, better, “the mother of all events” – which has marked a watershed in late-modern history. Hence the idea of a special issue, “9/11/2011”, which welcomes proposals for papers that explore how the terrorist attacks on the Twin Towers have re-drawn both the political boundaries and the world’s imagination of our time on the basis of the “war on terror” ideology endorsed by George W. Bush in the aftermath of 9/11. Beside considering the effects posited by such rhetorical strategy – what U.S. scholar Donald Pease has called “the New American Exceptionalism” – another issue we are interested in investigating is the “collateral language” which has been imposed upon American and world citizens as a weapon of “mass distraction”, a doublespeak aimed at containing political dissent and cement national as well as international consent. Fuelled by a renewed East/West clash of civilizations, Washington “war on terror” ideological tenets have been responsible for restrictive immigration policies not only against Arabs but also against other peoples, for example Mexicans.

We also welcome theoretical-philosophical analyses of the epistemological changes associated with a post-9/11 paradigm as well as aesthetics insights into the literary and artistic output which has been shaped after the very “futurable” event long anticipated by mass culture (cinema, TV, comics, etc.).

A further area of consideration will include, accordingly, a study of 9/11 as a turning point in the writing of American and world literature and literary criticism.

Possible topics of relevance include:

• 9/11/2001 – 9/11/2011
• 9/11 East-West
• 9/11 and the contemporary philosophical paradigm
• Aesthetics of 9/11
• “Language is power”: collateral language
• “War on terror” rhetoric
• New 9/11 in contemporary arts
• Theories and acts of violence in post-9/11 cultural representations
• 9/11 and (new) mass culture(s): cinema, documentaries, TV series, comics, music

Proposal Submission deadline: November 30, 2010 at amonline@unimi.it
Paper Submission deadline: May 2011 at amonline@unimi.it
All essays will undergo a double-blind peer review.
Online: September 11, 2011
Languages of contributions: Italian, English, Spanish, French.

We also welcome book reviews (fiction, criticism, poetry, etc.) and reviews for art events (exhibitions, installations, etc.) addressing the above-mentioned themes. Please write to amonline@unimi.it

2. “Field Notes on the 9/11 Moment: Transformations in Community and Country”

Leslie Shortlidge/Kirwan institute for the Study of Race and Ethnicity
contact email:
shortlidge.2@osu.edu

Call for papers
Race/Ethnicity: Multidisciplinary Global Contexts
Volume 4 Number 3
Spring 2011 (June 2011)
Submission Deadline: October 15, 2010

“Field Notes on the 9/11 Moment: Transformations in Community and Country”
The ten-year anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacks on American soil encourages us to consider how the events of that day have framed how we address race, religion and national origin in the policy and public realms. The 9/11 moment has shaped American domestic and foreign policy, and has transformed individuals and communities both in the United States and abroad. Here in the United States, Arab Americans, South Asians, Muslims, and Sikhs have endured backlash, targeted law enforcement, and various forms of racial, religious and national origin profiling at the hands of the general public, the media, and the U.S. government in the name of national security. Nor were the repercussions of 9-11 felt only within the United States; Muslim communities around the world have experienced unprecedented backlash since 9/11.

Guest Editor Deepa Iyer, Executive Director of South Asian Americans Leading Together (SAALT), and the editorial staff of Race/Ethnicity: Multidisciplinary Global Contexts invite submissions for the third issue of its fourth volume, entitled “Field Notes on the 9/11 Moment: Transformations in Community and Country .”
We especially welcome analysis, critiques, reflections, and documentation by activists, community-based organizations, and others who responded to the crisis that enveloped the South Asian, Muslim, Sikh, and Arab American communities in the wake of the terrorist attacks.

Topics of inquiry can include but are not limited to:
• How has 9/11 changed the way that we think about race, religion, national origin, and immigration status in the United States and abroad?
• What tools and strategies have been used by community activists to sustain and build community during and after the 9/11 moment?
• What impacts does being targeted as “suspect” by the United States government have on an individual? A family? A community?
• What are some of the success stories around coalition-building and race relations that have occurred since 9/11?
• What lasting impacts, if any, have the events of 9-11 and their aftermath had on relationships between racial and ethnic minority communities in the United States or abroad?
• What lasting impacts, if any, have 9-11 and the subsequent decade-long, global War on Terror had on the political consciousness of Arab American, South Asian, Muslim and/or Sikh communities inside or outside the United States?
See our suggested Style Guidelines (www.raceethnicity.org/styleguide.html) and please feel free to contact our managing editor, Leslie Shortlidge (shortlidge.2@osu.edu), with any questions or concerns about submitting your work.

Submission of artwork for the cover that relates to the theme of the issue is welcome. See website at http://www.raceethnicity.org/coverart.html for submission guidelines.

An August 28 of 47 Years Ago

All day I have been contemplating a post on this despicable appropriation of what might be called a U.S. Civil Rights "site of memory." However, I think that posting on it, especially now, will only end up attracting unwelcome visitors and their comments. Also, posting on "it," even in this minuscule, unknown corner of internet space, is offering a gift to those people whose "ideas" I wish to deflect. Instead, for now, I will post this reminder of August 28, 1963. We need to contemplate why persons such as those mentioned in the NYT article have decided to descend on the Lincoln Memorial on precisely this day. Post-racial society? I think not.



Read full text of speech here

New Publication: "Memorial Mania"

Erika Doss
Memorial Mania. Public Feeling in America
488 pages © 2010

In the past few decades, thousands of new memorials to executed witches, victims of terrorism, and dead astronauts, along with those that pay tribute to civil rights, organ donors, and the end of Communism have dotted the American landscape. Equally ubiquitous, though until now less the subject of serious inquiry, are temporary memorials: spontaneous offerings of flowers and candles that materialize at sites of tragic and traumatic death. In Memorial Mania, Erika Doss argues that these memorials underscore our obsession with issues of memory and history, and the urgent desire to express—and claim—those issues in visibly public contexts.

Doss shows how this desire to memorialize the past disposes itself to individual anniversaries and personal grievances, to stories of tragedy and trauma, and to the social and political agendas of diverse numbers of Americans. By offering a framework for understanding these sites, Doss engages the larger issues behind our culture of commemoration. Driven by heated struggles over identity and the politics of representation, Memorial Mania is a testament to the fevered pitch of public feelings in America today.

Seen on: University of Chicago Press

My Visit to Ground Zero

In May 2000, I made my first trip to New York City. I was attending a wedding between a Japanese woman and an American man, and the couple had arranged a tour of the city for some of their guests. It was an ideal first time experience, and I was lucky to be a part of it, essentially for free. We did many of the typical tourist excursions -- the Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, Little Italy and Chinatown, a boat tour along the skyline. And, we also stopped outside the Twin Towers, just long enough to get out of our shuttle and shoot several photographs. I really had no understanding of what occurred inside those buildings or in the surrounding area. But I did recall the 1993 bombing and knew that the towers had been, at one time, the tallest buildings in the world. Mainly, my recollection of the towers is limited to the one or two images left behind by my point-and-shoot camera: massive, institutional gray structures that blocked the sun and sky, making it seem like night on the street below. Because it was impossible to capture the buildings in their entirety, most of us tried to catch the top of the towers in our lens (see my photo below, from May 9, 2000). Maybe I am wrong, but I also recall sitting or kneeling on the sidewalk out in front in order to get the best view. And then it was time to board the shuttle again with the remainder of the gawkers, most of whom had never been in the city before.

personal photo, taken May 9, 2000

Since 2000, I've returned to NYC three times; however, because I usually spend time in other areas of the city, I had never gone to Ground Zero until a week or so ago. There were several factors that motivated me to visit the area this time around. First, after the memory course I taught last semester, I thought it was essential that I be able to talk about my direct impressions of the site, particularly since several of my students had already visited Ground Zero and the visitors' center. There is no substitute for being there. Waiting until now has also allowed me to have a more informed encounter with the site; I benefited from studying memory and traumatic events for many years prior to my visit, because I was able to observe and evaluate the scene differently than had I gone with say, only the TV images of planes crashing into the buildings. Finally, the fact that the site is under construction also compelled me to see it now, before the new tower goes up. The traumatic landscape is unstable and in the process of being transformed (though perhaps "transformed" is too strong a word because it signals something final, and I mean to indicate more of an evolution).

I made the trip to Ground Zero with a person who grew up just outside the city. At one time, he had worked briefly in Manhattan. He had last visited the site in December 2001, when the area was heavily protected by chain link fences still peppered with photographs of loved ones, letters, poems and other personal items. He experienced 9-11 while living in the Midwest -- actually, in what some call the "buckle of the Bible Belt," a phrase that to me, has always encompassed multiple points on the U.S. map -- and he had felt, early on, that New York's 9-11 had been "co-opted" by the rest of the country. Yes, of couse 9-11 was a national, collective event. But to him, it was as if suddenly, New York mattered in the Midwest. More than just the stereotypical image of rude people, insane taxi drivers and crime, New York suddenly became "ours," with the flood of "United We Stand" and "God Bless America" bumper stickers soon to come, followed by the yellow ribbon car magnets ("Support the Troops"). In other words, where he lived, the experience of 9-11 seemed to become political quicker than elsewhere. Revolting expressions of nationalism had not only (re-)surfaced, but taken over the entire landscape. Everyone's patriotism was questionable. If you didn't have an American flag in your yard, you were probably "the enemy." This was the logical mindset spawned by the "you are either with us or against us" mentality of the post 9-11 world. In his own words, he writes:

it was odd for New York, or at least certain very specific aspects of New York being embraced suddenly as "our America."  New York has always been regarded, especially in the rural midwest, as essentially "foreign" --- in ethnicity, values, politics, etc.  It felt manipulative and disingenuous the way very specific New Yorkers (Cops, Firemen, First Responders, Rudy Giuliani) were suddenly---it seemed---granted temporary status as exemplary Americans.  It was always and without fail these New Yorkers who were celebrated, not the ordinary citizens---not the Hasidic Jews and the Somali cab drivers and the Puerto Rican restaurant workers, etc.

Then came the 2004 GOP Convention in New York, which took this manipulation to new heights.  911 memories and Ground Zero  was a kind of conquered "Red State territory" in the heart of the enemy.

It is difficult to be at Ground Zero and concentrate on the terror of 9-11 without also reflecting on the way 9-11 was used -- and continues to be used -- politically (a perfect recent example is the debate over whether a mosque should be permitted near the site). While the Ground Zero landscape is about the catastrophic loss of human lives, it is subsequently about other wars (Iraq, Afghanistan); about imperialism and capitalism; about religious freedom and (in)tolerance; about memorialization and urban landscapes. My visit to the site was relatively brief -- maybe 15 minutes -- because, truthfully, there is not that much to see, but a lot upon which we can reflect later on.

We took the subway to Ground Zero, and even though my companion thought the stop for the WTC had been eliminated, we later discovered it still exists, but on a different train than the one we were on. Even if we hadn't known which direction to head when getting off the subway, it would have become quickly apparent by the long line of tourists on the sidewalk and an enormous construction site at the end of the street. We bypassed the tourist line, which was gazing at a bronze-colored wall sculpture commemorating "first responders," and stood at the edge of the sidewalk across the street from the construction area.

The first thing I noticed was the amount of people with cameras out. I told my companion, "I feel guilty taking photographs," but at the same time, it seemed a necessary, important thing to do, as long as it was done in a respectful, unobtrusive way. This is the first photo I took:

I am not positive, but I believe that what we are looking at in the center of the photo is the beginning of the new building, "One World Trade Center," which is scheduled to open in 2013. While looking at this site, I was struck by the emptiness of the landscape, and the fact that the sky is visible. When I stood in front of the Twin Towers in 2000, what I recall is the shadow they produced, and the sliver of sky between them. What's interesting is that the view of this traumatic site of memory is also now obstructed by fences and gates and screens of all kinds. I don't know how much of this has to do with security, and how much is just a regular part of safety on any construction job site, but it certainly adds a sense of secrecy to the whole operation, despite the large banners designed to help viewers understand what the site will look like upon completion (see photos 3 and 4).

Photo 1

Photo 2

Photo 3

Photo 4

Although it was important to contemplate the construction site, to take in the cramped quarters of the nearby streets and to imagine what the devastation must have been like, I found it more interesting to turn my gaze to the sidewalk area. I think I may have been anticipating a larger, public memorial on the street. But all that was there was this makeshift memorial:

This memorial, to NYC firefighters lost on 9-11 (see large poster), is also a place for people to leave fire and police uniform insignia from all over the world. The fluorescent uniform item in the lower right-hand corner is that of a police officer from Móstoles, just outside Madrid. If one looks carefully, above this memorial is a handwritten sign taped to a building window:

"Vendors are not allowed to sell near or around firehouse (photos/pamphlets/booklets/etc. Please do not purchase in these areas and report them to police. Thanks."

Just around the corner from the sign above, one finds the Tribute WTC Visitor Center, open 10-6 on most days, with a $10 admission fee. We did not go in. For some reason, to do so felt wrong. I had learned enough on the street outside. Nonetheless, I did pick up a pamphlet, and am intrigued by this description of the center:

Tribute Center Tour Guides are intimately connected to the events of September 11, 2001 as survivors, family members who lost loved ones, rescue workers, civilian volunteers, police, firefighters and Lower Manhattan residents and workers. Guides share their personal experience of loss, healing and survival with a factual description of the events, providing the visitor with an unparalleled opportunity to connect with history firsthand.

I am glad I made this visit to Ground Zero, though I must admit I am in opposition to the construction of a new building at this site. I can understand and respect the argument that sees construction as proof of strength and perseverance in the face of tragedy, as well as what comes "natural" to New York. However, the entire reconstruction process has already been marred by design polemics, and to me, there is something very American about the need to rebuild bigger and better and not just let it be. I do like the plans for the actual memorial, but I am resistant to that new memorial being located alongside more commerce and power. Perhaps, when I view the site in coming years, my impressions will change. Also, I should recognize that my Midwestern upbringing also probably colors my perspective on this site and what ought to be done with it.

New Book of Short Stories - "Memory Wall"

I am on the lookout for this new book of short stories, which I read about twice in the NYT this past week. Here is a brief synopsis from Amazon.com's reviewer:

Books made of linked stories, like recent award-winning favorites Olive Kitteridge and Let the Great World Spin, are usually connected by shared places and people. The tender and lyrical stories in Anthony Doerr's Memory Wall are linked no less strongly, but, as if Oliver Sacks had turned to fiction, by a neurological theme. Set as far apart as South Africa and the Korean DMZ, Doerr's stories circle around the central pull of memory, both the struggle against memory's loss and the weight of memories that remain. In the long and brilliantly intricate title story, as memories fade from an aging white woman in suburban Cape Town, they are stored for her (and for anyone else with compatible ports installed in their head) in replayable cartridges. In the final story, "Afterworld," girls from a Jewish orphanage who were murdered by Nazis survive decades later as ghosts in the visionary epileptic seizures of the one girl who survived them. If memories in these tales are like the Yangtze River town in "Village 113," threatened with the forced forgetfulness of a man-made flood, they are also like the legendary sturgeon in "The River Nemunas," which surfaces with an ancient, armor-covered dignity years after it was thought to have vanished. --Tom Nissley

Read review here

Read article here in Books of the Times

Read book excerpt here 

7/7 Memorial

It is interesting that yesterday, Queen Elizabeth II was at Ground Zero, just one day prior to the anniversary of the terrorist bombings in London (July 7, 2005). Here are a few images of the memorial for victims of the 7/7 attacks, which opened in 2009.

photo here

As a point of comparison, this is Madrid's March 11 memorial, located outside Atocha train station.

Interior:

Exterior:

It will be interesting to see what develops as a memorial at Ground Zero. For various reasons, my personal opinion is that a new skyscraper - which will be the same height as one of the previous towers of the World Trade Center - should not go up. However, I do like the idea of the memorial (called "Reflecting Absence") thus far -- two empty spaces where the original towers once stood. According to Wikipedia, "pools of water fill the footprints, underneath which sits a memorial space whose walls bear the names of the victims."

Photo here

L.A. Times on Judge Garzón

The L.A. Times has published a new, more extensive article on Judge Garzón today. Thanks again to The Volunteer for sharing the link on their blog.

Crusading Spain judge Garzon himself a defendant - latimes.com

Posted using ShareThis

L.A. Times on Garzón's Suspension

Thanks to The Volunteer, a newsletter-blog published on behalf of the veterans of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade, I've found out about a new article on the suspension of Judge Garzón, published yesterday in the opinion section of the L.A. Times. Of course, it's a bit exaggerated to call this case "a new Spanish Civil War," and yet, one understands where the sentiment is coming from. It is easy to feel that many of the same types of divisions that motivated that war are still in play today.

Lately, in the U.S., most of the news coming out of Spain has had to do with the economy. It is good to know some papers are also interested in keeping readers abreast of the other less visible controversy. We cannot praise Judge Garzón when he goes after figures like Pinochet, Osama Bin Laden, or members of the Bush administration, and then criticize him for attempting to pursue justice in his own country, by bringing the crimes of Francoism to light! This case is still in need of greater international visibility.

A new Spanish civil war
A legal attack on Spain's star judge, Baltasar Garzon, is launched after his attempts to probe Spanish Civil War deaths.
May 16, 2010

For years, conservatives in Spain bristled as their most famous magistrate, Baltasar Garzon, pushed the boundaries of international law against former Chilean dictator Gen. Augusto Pinochet and human rights abusers in other countries, but they were powerless to stop him. When Spain's star judge turned his sights on Spanish Civil War atrocities, however, they joined forces with his many personal enemies and went after him, accusing him of opening old wounds and violating the country's 1977 amnesty law. Last week, a Supreme Court judge decided to bring the case to trial, and the General Council of the Judiciary voted in an emergency session to suspend Garzon.

From the beginning, the case against Garzon has seemed to be motivated by political and personal vendettas, and the timing of these decisions is no exception. Early in the week, Garzon had asked Spanish authorities for a seven-month leave to work as a consultant to the International Criminal Court in The Hague, presumably as a face-saving measure to avoid the humiliation of a suspension. But on Wednesday, an investigating magistrate for the Supreme Court (and one of Garzon's detractors) suddenly ordered Garzon to face trial for proceeding without jurisdiction on the Spanish Civil War cases, and the suspension followed on Friday. Such haste in a case that had been moving normally through the system since February has the whiff of malice; the decision was made even though the Spanish attorney general's office still had questions about the case. If convicted, the 54-year-old Garzon would not be jailed, but he could be removed from the bench for up to 20 years. For all practical purposes, it would mean the end of his career in Spain.

Garzon is a hero to many in the international human rights community for his pursuit of criminals and despots, regardless of their political bent, and for his commitment to international laws that say crimes against humanity cannot be amnestied or subjected to statutes of limitations. But heroes are often flawed characters, and Garzon is no exception. His ego and grandstanding, along with his legal stands, have earned him enemies. He is also being investigated in connection with questionable wiretaps he ordered in a probe of a corruption scandal involving the conservative opposition party.

In the Spanish Civil War case, Garzon sought to apply at home the principles he had championed abroad. He tried to open a case on behalf of relatives of the tens of thousands of Spaniards who died or disappeared in the war that ushered in the dictatorship of Gen. Francisco Franco in 1939, despite the amnesty covering the deaths and disappearances during the war and in its aftermath. The vehemence with which Garzon's inquiry was rejected is not surprising given the bloody history of the period, yet the legal action against Garzon is; it's one thing for his superiors to disagree with his judgment in bringing the case or to determine that he is overreaching, but it is quite another to charge him with breaking the law for doing so. Whatever happens in the case against Garzon, it seems that Spain is going to have to probe that past and provide the families with answers. The political divisions that marked that dark chapter of Spanish history still seem to be in play.

40th Anniversary of May 4, 1970

May 4, 2010 is almost over, and yet, I cannot let this day pass without writing at least a few lines (in fact, it will be May 5 by the time this is posted). Today was the 40th anniversary of the Kent State shootings. Although I was not even born yet, I am tied to the events of that day for two reasons - my uncle was a journalism student at Kent State in 1970, and I graduated with two degrees from the university in the 1990s. In 1995, I attended and participated in the 25th year commemoration of the shootings. I often think that my interest in memory goes back to my early experiences at the university, and the yearly debates that surfaced about what to do -- or not -- to commemorate May 4 (photo of students running for cover in a May 4 parking lot)

During my six years in Kent, my feelings about May 4 evolved and matured, as I listened to professors, students, family members, townspeople and poets bear witness (my uncle NEVER talked about May 4 -- it was, in a sense, his secret). As a first-year student, I went to an initial meeting of the "May 4th Task Force," but I was not involved in politics at the time, and I felt that I would need to be were I to become a part of the group. Later, I participated in a silent candelight procession on May 3 around the perimeter of the campus, which ended in the parking lot where the students were shot. This was one of the most moving moments of my time as a Kent State student.

Over the past few days, I have barely been able to keep up with the articles and reports on May 4. Rather than attempting to review the multiple articles out there on Kent State, I will just post links to several, most of which are from the greater northeast Ohio area:

• "Kent State and May 4: a new generation refuses to forget" (in Scene - part 1)
• "A 40-Year Old Tragedy and the Wounds that Never Heal" (in Scene - part 2)
• "On 40th Anniversary of Kent State Shootings, Truth Tribunal Seeks Answers" (in Democracy Now)
• "Kent State Shooting Divided Campus and Country" (on NPR)
• "Shots Still Reverberate for Survivors of Kent State" (on NPR)
• "Vietnam War Still Stirs Passionate Divisions at Kent State May 4 Events" (in Cleveland Plain Dealer)
• "Lives Interrupted" (in Akron Beacon Journal)
• "Kent State: Coming of Age 40 Years after May 4, 1970 Shootings that Stunned America" (in Cleveland Plain Dealer)

The flood of articles is, of course, due to the anniversary year. However, the increased press is also because the May 4 site has recently been listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and a new "walking tour" has been constructed to facilitate doing what the stones of the memorial state -- "inquire, learn, reflect." A "visitors' center" is also planned, which will be housed in Taylor Hall, the journalism building that sat in the middle of the protests and the fatal shots.

I am glad that the University has taken steps to acknowledge visibly the physical markers of May 4, or to give voice to those places where a story has been missing. For example, when I was a student at Kent, everyone knew to "look for the bullet hole," and yet, this hole remained unidentified to the everyday observer. I have not yet returned to Kent to visit the campus and see how the tour is laid out, but it seems to be designed to enhance engagement with and reflection on the past, as well as with the present. Kent State did not happen in a vacuum, and hopefully, the tour will provide an appropriate historical context for the events of May 4, so that the memorial and eventual "visitors' center" can be as interactive as possible. A few pictures:

from the KSU website

May 4 Memorial, dedicated 1990 (photo here)

Without a doubt, it is essential to learn what happened on May 4, 1970 in Kent, Ohio.* Unfortunately, part of the learning has, until now, often involved "picking a side," with the choices being "innocent students" versus "evil National Guard." After all this time, hopefully we can do better than that. There are so many ways we can link the local tragedy of May 4 to the national tragedies war produces. When we learn about one May 4, we inevitably find out about others, much like Ariel Dorfman opened many Americans' eyes with The Other September 11.

When we remember the 4 students killed 40 years ago at Kent State, we should take the time to inquire about other unjust deaths, including those perpetrated by our own country. I agree with and like the "Inquire, Learn, Reflect" statement on the stones that form part of the 1990 May 4 Memorial. But perhaps, 20 years after that memorial was unveiled, Kent State is showing the university is ready to go beyond reflection, toward action.

What will it mean to make May 4 a "historical site"? This summer, I plan a visit to Ohio. I will report back with more detailed observations then. For more, see the Kent State May 4 Center website here and the university's Center for Applied Conflict Mangagement.

*Laurel Krause, the sister of one of the May 4 victims, has set up a "Kent State Truth Tribunal: "We hope the Kent State Truth Tribunal will help to heal those involved, establish cause and effect, and shed light on responsibility for the events that transpired on May 4, 1970. We have not set out in pursuit of punitive justice, but rather the restorative justice that comes from collective sharing and healing. The Truth Tribunal honors those whose lives have been directly affected by the killings and also marks the importance of Kent State as an influential chapter in the history of protest, democracy, civil rights and public security in the United States."

In memory of R.B.