Roger Berkowitz Spoke with Moxie by Proxy about Hannah Arendt, Surprise in Writing, and Original Thought
“If there was anything Hannah Arendt was allergic to, it was clichéd thinking,” says Roger Berkowitz, academic director of the Hannah Arendt Center and professor of political studies and human rights. Speaking with the podcast Moxie by Proxy, Berkowitz offered an overview of the work of Hannah Arendt, as well as the lessons we can take from her in our present moment in history.
Roger Berkowitz Spoke with Moxie by Proxy about Hannah Arendt, Surprise in Writing, and Original Thought
“If there was anything Hannah Arendt was allergic to, it was clichéd thinking,” says Roger Berkowitz, academic director of the Hannah Arendt Center and professor of political studies and human rights. Speaking with the podcast Moxie by Proxy, Berkowitz offered an overview of the work of Hannah Arendt, as well as the lessons we can take from her in our present moment in history. “What I love about Hannah Arendt,” he says, “is that she always looked at every question, every event, every encounter that she wrote about and thought about, and said, how can I think about this?” Her work was always original and “surprising,” something Berkowitz encourages in his students’ writing: “What I tell my students, and I even tell some of my colleagues, is that, when I read you, I want to be surprised.”
As millions grapple with the realities of a post-Roe America, Omar G. Encarnación, professor of political studies, looked to Latin America for hope and lessons from their abortion rights revolution. “There’s no single trajectory for how Latin American countries came to legalize abortion,” Encarnación writes in the Nation. Instead, a combination of increased secularization, constitutional advances, and strategic reframing of the issue helped to undo “some of the most draconian abortion laws imaginable.”
Contending with a Post-Roe America, Professor Omar G. Encarnación Points to Lessons from Latin America’s Abortion Rights Movement in the Nation
As millions grapple with the realities of a post-Roe America, Omar G. Encarnación, professor of political studies, looked to Latin America for hope and lessons from their abortion rights revolution. “There’s no single trajectory for how Latin American countries came to legalize abortion,” Encarnación writes in the Nation. Instead, a combination of increased secularization, constitutional advances, and strategic reframing of the issue helped to undo “some of the most draconian abortion laws imaginable.” Similarly, highlighting abortion access as an issue of socioenomic access framed the issue as an economic one. Fashion, too, played a role, with the symbology of green scarves creating “the phenomenon known as marea verde, or green tide,” imagery unmistakably tied to previous political campaigns led by women. Perhaps the most concrete takeaway, in Encarnación’s view, was that criminalizing abortion did not lead to the end of abortion, but rather to the increase of illegal and often unsafe procedures, the “gruesome” details of which “eventually pushed the issue to the forefront in the effort to decriminalize abortion.” Encarnación concludes: “The lesson for the American anti-choice movement here is quite clear: When it comes to criminalizing abortion, be careful what you wish for.”
In an op-ed for the LA Times, civil rights attorney Cynthia Conti-Cook ’03 and Kate Bertash raise serious legal concerns over how the overturning of Roe could impact data privacy and they advocate for more robust protections of our digital autonomy. “The leak of a draft opinion indicating the Supreme Court’s intent to overturn Roe vs. Wade raises huge concerns for how online searches, text messages, and emails can be used to target and criminalize pregnant people seeking abortion care and support,” they write.
Opinion: Civil Rights Attorney Cynthia Conti-Cook ’03 Writes for the LA Times “The End of Roe Means We’ll Be Criminalized for More of our Data”
In an op-ed for the LA Times, civil rights attorney Cynthia Conti-Cook ’03 and Kate Bertash raise serious legal concerns over how the overturning of Roe could impact data privacy and they advocate for more robust protections of our digital autonomy. “The leak of a draft opinion indicating the Supreme Court’s intent to overturn Roe vs. Wade raises huge concerns for how online searches, text messages, and emails can be used to target and criminalize pregnant people seeking abortion care and support,” they write. “Digital autonomy and bodily autonomy are inextricably linked. Just as we need the right to ownership and control over our bodies, we should have the same over our data. But this has not been the case . . . At least as far back as 2015, we’ve seen law enforcement extract data from devices and present it as evidence in criminal cases against women facing charges related to terminating their pregnancies.” Conti-Cook and Bertash also lay out three steps individuals can take to help reduce the digital footprint of their internet research into abortion and related services in anticipation of the Supreme Court ruling.
Ideas: Professor Omar G. Encarnación Writes “Florida's 'Don't Say Gay' Bill Is Part of the State's Long, Shameful History” for Time
In an ideas piece for Time, Omar G. Encarnación, professor of political studies, asserts that Florida’s “long history as America’s breeding ground for toxic anti-gay politics” is pivotal in trying to understand how the state’s “Parental Rights in Education Bill,” which prohibits discussion of sexual orientation and gender identity in public schools from kindergarten through the third grade, was signed into law last month.
Rather than understanding Florida as the battleground of a contemporary right-wing culture war, Encarnación discusses “Florida’s dark and painful LGBTQ history,” with homophobic legislation spanning back to the 1950s, and the lack of any formal reckoning with that past as crucial in understanding the politics leading to this new law. “In the absence of such a reckoning, history continues to repeat itself in Florida with grave consequences for the state’s reputation, the welfare of its LGBTQ citizens, and even for the American nation as a whole,” he writes.
Diplomat in Residence Frederic C. Hof Discusses His New Book about the Secret Effort to Broker a Syria-Israel Peace Deal
In an interview with New Lines magazine, Diplomat in Residence Frederic C. Hof reflected on his time as a U.S. ambassador and the insights laid out in his new book, Reaching for the Heights: The Inside Story of a Secret Attempt to Reach a Syrian-Israeli Peace. One basic but essential challenge, according to Hof, was that “neither side was ever convinced that the other side was serious about wanting peace and ready to do what it would take to bring it about.” The talks, once initiated, were carried out in secrecy, making significant progress, even reaching the state of “a discussion paper that could serve as a draft peace treaty and a separate U.S.-Israeli memorandum of understanding,” writes Nicholas Blanford for the Christian Science Monitor.
Diplomat in Residence Frederic C. Hof on the Importance of Diplomacy, Teaching at Bard, and His New Book
Speaking with Joe Donahue on the Roundtable on WAMC, Diplomat in Residence Frederic C. Hof talked about what makes for a good diplomat, his insights as the chief architect and mediator of the United States effort to broker a Syria-Israel peace deal, and how his experiences have influenced his teaching at Bard College. “The Bard student body is terrific,” Hof says at the top of the interview. As the conversation shifted to the war in Ukraine, Hof emphasized that, even now, diplomacy remains an option. “Diplomacy is always, always in the equation,” Hof said. “I think we have to keep in mind that diplomacy has to be backed by the potential use of military force if it’s going to be effective.” Hof’s new book, Reaching for the Heights: The Inside Story of a Secret Attempt to Reach a Syrian-Israeli Peace, was published April 5, 2022.
Professor Sanjib Baruah on How the UN’s Ukraine Vote Shows the Racial Subtext of Global Politics
In Professor of Political Studies Sanjib Baruah’s article “Not the World’s War,” published in the Indian Express, he argues that the ambivalence of many countries in condemning Russia has made the fault line between Europe and non-Europe visible. The UN resolution was supported by an overwhelming majority of countries with 35 abstaining to vote. Baruah points out that commentators have mostly speculated on the interests of the abstaining countries rather than try to understand their positions. “Ukrainians now strongly identify with ‘Europe’ and ‘the West.’ Unfortunately, these concepts are haunted by the memories of colonialism and racial segregation,” writes Baruah. “Orientalism, as Edward Said put it memorably, ‘is never far from … the idea of Europe, a collective notion identifying “us” Europeans against all “those” non-Europeans.’ ” Ambivalence from abstaining countries in “non-Europe,” according to Baruah, should hardly be surprising. “One can’t expect the struggle for recognition as privileged ‘Europeans’ to inspire warm sentiments of solidarity in non-Europe. In these circumstances, abstaining from the vote to reprimand Russia for its war on Ukraine was not an untenable position.”
Not the World’s War
(Originally published in print by Indian Express, excerpt below) by Sanjib Baruah
“Like sex in Victorian England . . . race is a taboo subject in contemporary polite society.” This is how the late R J Vincent, a highly regarded British international relations theorist, began his 1982 article, ‘Race in international relations’. Behind the diffidence about race, he said, there lurk dire apprehensions about racial divisions in international affairs. Apparently, Alec Douglas-Home, British prime minister in the early Sixties, was among the few politicians to publicly acknowledge such forebodings. Douglas-Home is reported to have said, “I believe the greatest danger ahead of us is that the world might be divided on racial lines. I see no danger, not even the nuclear bomb, which could be so catastrophic as that”.
His fears were not unfounded. It was during his brief tenure as prime minister (1963-64) that radical Black American leader Malcolm X appealed to the leaders of newly-independent African countries to place the issue of the persecution and violence against Blacks on the UN agenda. “If South African racism is not a domestic issue,” he said, “then American racism also is not a domestic issue.” US officials worried that if Malcolm X were to convince just one African government, US domestic politics might become the subject of UN debates. It would undermine US efforts to establish itself as leader of the West and a protector of human rights.
Two years ago, the worldwide protests against racism and police violence sparked by the police killing of George Floyd reminded everyone that the influential Black intellectual W E B Du Bois’s contention that America’s race problem “is but a local phase of a world problem” still resonates in large parts of the world.
Perhaps America’s Ambassador to the UN, Black diplomat Linda Thomas-Greenfield could have given some thought to DuBois’s prophetic words before commenting on the large number of African abstentions in the UN General Assembly vote deploring the Russian invasion of Ukraine. She vigorously rejected any analogy with the non-aligned stance of former colonial nations during the Cold War. The resolution was supported by an overwhelming majority of countries: 145 to 5 with 35 abstentions — India, China, and South Africa among them.
Professor Sanjib Baruah Reflects on Why the Capitol Attack Remains Hotly Contested in the United States
Writing for the Indian Express, Sanjib Baruah, professor of political studies, examines the impact of the January 6 Capitol attack in the United States. Tracing the demographics of those who participated in the attempted insurrection, most were from counties “that have seen the white population shrink fast and the non-white population grow rapidly,” Baruah writes. One year later, many Republican representatives remain wary of denouncing the attack on the Capitol, a position Baruah argues is in line with the current U.S. political climate. “The Republican Party’s ambivalence towards the insurrection is largely because of its mainstream provenance and because the ideas and values underpinning it have purchase among many white Americans,” he writes.
Fifty Years Later, Professor Sanjib Baruah Reflects on the Impact of the Civil War That Split Pakistan
On the 50th anniversary of the 1971 civil war in East Pakistan, Sanjib Baruah, professor of political studies, wrote about its destabilizing effects and impact on India’s national identity for the Indian Express. “The standard story is that most refugees returned home soon after the liberation of Bangladesh,” Baruah writes. “This is partly responsible for the unfounded myth that India’s domestic political order was insulated from the refugee influx. This is, of course, not how the refugee influx is remembered in Assam and other Northeastern states.”
Online Event5:30 pm – 7:00 pm EST/GMT-5 Join us for a panel discussing the challenges to voting access at the local and national level. We will be joined by two experts and participants in recent efforts to secure ballot access here at Bard in order to explore the nature of challenges in the Hudson Valley and across the nation.
This panel will feature speakers Yale Bromberg (Bromberg Law LLC & Lecturer, Rutgers School of Law) and John Pelosi (Pelosi Wolf Spates LLP.)
Sponsored by The Common Course: The Making of Citizens: Local National Global and the Center for Civic Engagement.
Thursday, November 18, 2021
Online Event12:00 pm – 1:00 pm EST/GMT-5 Peace is the goal for every country, community, and, hey, family. (See, we're funny here at BGIA.) In general, peace is the absence of war and violence. Through its work on the Global Peace Index and the Positive Peace Framework, the Institute for Economics and Peace takes peace and peace building further. It focuses on strengths not deficits and individual action on creating and sustaining positive societies.
Join us on Thursday, November 18 at 12pm for an hour long Positive Peace Workshop. In this workshop, participants will learn how to better think about actions and approaches to creating peaceful societies. It will focus on policy, strategy, and implementation. If you're interested in conflict resolution, policymaking, and peace building, don't miss this virtual event. RSVP required.
Wednesday, November 10, 2021
Campus Center, Weis Cinema5:00 pm – 8:00 pm EST/GMT-5 Join us for a screening of the documentary followed by a discussion with the filmmaker, Avi Mograbi, and the co-director of Israeli NGO Breaking the Silence, Avner Gvaryahu.
Friday, November 5, 2021
Panel I: Arts of Resistance, 10:00am - 12:00pm Panel II: Systems and Power, 2:00pm - 3:30pm Finberg House Panel I: Arts of Resistance, 10:00am - 12:00pm
Mie Inouye, “W.E.B. Du Bois on ‘The Art of Organization’”
Rohma Khan, "Tipping Point: Immigrant Workers' Activism in the Taxi and Restaurant Industries"
Jomaira Salas-Pujols, “Black Girl Refusal: "Acting Out" Against Discipline & Scarcity in Schools”
Pınar Kemerli, “Muslim Nonviolence in an Age of Islamism: War-resistance and Decolonization in Turkey”
Panel II: Systems and Power, 2:00pm - 3:30pm
Rupali Warke, “The Zenana that incited war: Maharajpur, 1843”
Lucas Pinheiro, “Data Factories: The Politics of Digital Work at Google and MTurk” Yarran Hominh, “The Problem of Unfreedom”
Wednesday, October 20, 2021
Afghanistan: 20 Years On Online Event6:00 pm – 7:00 pm EDT/GMT-4 President George W. Bush invaded Afghanistan in 2001, in an effort to capture and defeat Al Qaeda and its leader Osama bin Laden. Twenty years later, Joe Biden ended this "forever" war this past summer, noting that Washington achieved its goal of capturing bin Laden. Yet, the withdrawal from Afghanistan was chaotic, as thousands of Afghans scrambled to leave the country. Was withdrawal the right decision? Did the U.S. achieve its goal in Afghanistan? To answer thse questions, we'll be joined by former U.S. State Department official Annie Pforzheimer. Ms. Pforzheimer served as the Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassy in Kabul from 2017-18. She also served as the Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary for Afghanistan. She will be joined by Bard professor Fred Hof, also an alumnus from the State Department. Via Zoom. RSVP required.
Monday, September 13, 2021
A Guide to the Field and Turning It Into a Career Olin, Room 2015:30 pm – 6:30 pm EDT/GMT-4 Among the fields that white men continue to dominate is international relations/foreign policy. Elmira Bayrasli is working to change that. Join us on Monday, September 13, at 6pm, as she discusses her multidisciplinary career, which has included stints at the U.S. State Department working for Madeleine Albright, as the chief spokesperson for the OSCE Mission for Bosnia-Herzegovina, and now as both the founder of a nonprofit focused on empowering women in foreign affairs and director of the Bard Globalization and International Affairs Program. Learn about how to navigate the male-dominated field and get that dream job.
Thursday, September 9, 2021
9/11: 20 Years On Online Event6:00 pm – 7:00 pm EDT/GMT-4 September 11. 2001 was the first foreign attack on U.S. soil. Not long after, then U.S. President George W. Bush put forward an aggressive plan to retaliate against the perpetrators. It gave birth to the "war on terror," which has been a core component of U.S. foreign policy since. How has this war on terror impacted U.S. foreign policy and America's place in the world? Joining us to answer that question and dive into a look at 9/11 20 years on are Karen Greenberg, Director of the Center on National Security at Fordham University School of Law and the author of the forthcoming book, Subtle Tools: The Dismantling of American Democracy from the War on Terror to Donald Trump, Maha Hilal, the inaugural Michael Ratner fellow with the Institute for Policy Studies in Washington, D.C. and author of Innocent Until Proven Muslim: Islamophobia, the War on Terror, and the Muslim Experience Since 9/11, and Jamil Dakwar, BGIA professor and the Director of the ACLU's Human Rights Program. Via Zoom. RSVP required.
Thursday, July 15, 2021
Foreign Policy in the Digital Age Online Event12:00 pm – 1:00 pm EDT/GMT-4 Foreign policy is among the things that the Internet has revolutionized. No longer is diplomacy confined to oak-paneled rooms and gilded corridors. This change, as New York Times reporter Mark Landler noted, “happened so fast that it left the foreign policy establishment gasping to catch up.” Author Adam Segal joins us for a conversation about how technology has changed diplomacy, geopolitics, war, and, most of all, power.
Thursday, June 24, 2021
A conversation about activism and change Online Event12:00 pm – 1:00 pm EDT/GMT-4 George Floyd's murder in May 2020 shined a brutal light on racism and inequality, not only in the U.S. but throughout the world. It renewed energy into the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement. Today, BLM is widely embraced and conversations about how to end systemic racism have become mainstream. What changed? And how are activists working to build on this momentum and achieve change? Talaya Robinson-Dancy and Cammie Jones join us virtually on Thursday, June 24 at 12pm for the Chace Speaker Hour to discuss. Talaya Dancy was the Founder and President of the Black Body Experience Council at Bard College and was the co-head of the Womxn of Color United club. Cammie Jones is the Executive Director of Community Engagement and Inclusion at Columbia University. Please join us on Zoom.
Tuesday, March 16, 2021
We'll be in-person in NYC this fall! Online Event6:00 pm – 7:00 pm EDT/GMT-4 Join us to learn more about the BGIA program, our courses, internships and our in-person semester in NYC this fall.
To apply for the fall '21 semester, please visit: https://bard.studioabroad.com/index.cfm?FuseAction=Programs.ViewProgram&Program_ID=41053
Wednesday, March 10, 2021
What have we learned about the coronavirus? Online Event12:00 pm – 1:00 pm EST/GMT-5 Last March changed all of our lives. What have learned about the coronavirus? Now that there are vaccines, how quickly will we go back to "normal?" What does the future hold for future pandemics? We'll be joined by Laurie Garrett, author of many books on pandemics, including The Coming Plague, and Heidi Larson, director of the Vaccine Confidence Project. Save the date: Wednesday, March 10, at 12pm EST/6pm Vienna. You don't want to miss this talk. RSVP required.
Tuesday, February 16, 2021
Learn more about the Bard Globalization and International Affairs Program. Online Event6:00 pm – 7:00 pm EST/GMT-5 Are you an undergrad eager for a career in international relations or foreign policy? Where do you start? What do you need to be considered? Join us to learn more about the Bard Globalization and International Affairs semester away program for Summer 2021/Fall 2021. We’ll help you get placed at a top organization, while earning academic credit. RSVP required.
Thursday, February 11, 2021
A Look at the Arab Spring a Decade Later Online Event12:00 pm – 1:00 pm EST/GMT-5 A decade has passed since hundreds of thousands poured into Cairo's Tahrir Square, igniting the Arab Spring. What has happened since? Join us on Thursday, February 11 (exactly 10 years to the day that Hosni Mubarak stepped down), at 12pm EST/6pm Vienna. We'll be joined by Century Foundation's Thanassis Cambanis, author of Once Upon a Revolution: An Egyptian Story, and Michael Hanna, author of Arab Politics Beyond the Uprisings.RSVP required.
Thursday, January 28, 2021
Should the US set up a truth commission after the Trump presidency? Online Event12:00 pm – 1:00 pm EST/GMT-5 We kick off our 2021 Chace Talk series with a discussion on Trump and truth, specifically, whether it's worth considering a truth and reconciliation commission. We’ll be joined by Bard College professor Omar Encarnación, who penned an article, “Truth After Trump,” for Foreign Policy magazine. Join us on January 28 at 12pm EST/6pm Vienna. RSVP required.