DANIEL WONG/Daily Bruin Senior Staff Aamir Mufti, Amy
Zegart and Marc Trachtenberg were
among five professors who spoke at teach-in at Freud Playhouse on
Wednesday.
By Dexter Gauntlett
Daily Bruin Reporter
UCLA professors speaking at the Freud Playhouse Wednesday night
tried to shed light on why, who and how the United States will deal
with the Sept. 11 attacks.
The five panelists came from various academic fields ““ a
move intended to provide a well-balanced resource for the nearly
500 people that attended the teach-in, organizers said.
Despite emotions that heated up among panelists and audience
members during the question and answer period, organizer and vice
provost Geoffrey Garrett considered the forum a success.
He said the main goal, which was to address questions from the
community in a truthful and honest manner on an emotional subject,
was accomplished.
“I am skeptical that we have even learned anything from
this attack.” Aamir Mufti Professor
Gasps of shock were heard from audience members when a Muslim
woman recounted her mother’s dilemma at work when her
employer told her to remove her scarf from her head or risk being
fired.
The final comment of the evening came from a woman who,
interrupted several times by clapping from the audience, called for
more government cooperation. She said the government “needs
to stop systematically depriving the public of
information.”
Fourth-year political science student Johnathan Razbannia said
the teach-in was part of the essential process of coming to a
resolution.
“The teach-in showed there’s a lot of knowledge
still out there that still needs to be obtained before the U.S. can
reach a final conclusion,” he said.
Garrett, who moderated the teach-in, started off the session by
acknowledging existing foreign perceptions.
“There’s a hell of a lot of anti-American sentiment
out there and we need to realize that,” he said.
Marc Trachtenberg, a political science professor who spoke
first, asked the crowd why there is a negative sentiment.
“Despite the death of millions in the Middle East, we
opted instinctively from the very start to turn a blind eye,”
he said.
Trachtenberg said this is just the beginning of dealing with
terrorism, but said one thing will remain unfettered.
“We are an open society and will not be transformed into a
police state,” he said.
He made a second statement that the other panel members agreed
with.
“We are just scratching the surface,” he said.
“Even with the elimination of the Al-Qaeda network, other
groups will spring up.”
Policy studies professor Amy Zegart said though the U.S. has
strong support from foreign countries in the war on terrorism,
“this support will be eroding as time goes on.”
“States have different capabilities and different
interests,” she said. “We need to form a grand
alliance.”
Zegart also said too much federal money has been invested into
technological aspects of counter-terrorism instead of human
intelligence.
The next two speakers, both Muslims, focused on perceptions and
misconceptions of the world of Islam.
Comparative literature professor Aamir Mufti said he is
pessimistic about the way the United States will react to the
attacks.
“I am skeptical that we have even learned anything from
this attack,” Mufti said, citing the prevalence of hate
crimes in the country.
Law professor Khaled Abou el Fadl said there was a double
standard with domestic terrorists.
Jonathan Varat, dean of the law school, said the U.S.
hasn’t done too poorly in a global sense of infringing on
civil rights. He cited the Japanese internment camps as the worst
case of stripping civil liberties.