Columbia Political Review | October

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I | Issue VIII COLUMBIA | Volume POLITICAL A COLUMBIA 2008 POLITICAL UNION PUBLICATION October

“Violence Against Our Intellect” Why the 2007 Hunger Strike Still Matters By Catherine Chong

INSIDE: Street Art at the Bronx Museum | Crypto-fascism | Presidenting Rwanda | Student Poll on ROTC oct 08

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Editor-in-Chief Design Editors Karen Leung Sarah Cohler Charles E. T. Roberts Publisher Sajaa Ahmed Ideas Editors Kabita Parajuli Managing Editors David Zhou Sara Doskow Sara Vogel Outreach Editors Devon Galloway Managing Editor Maisha Rashid of Special Projects Tiffany Tang Eric Lukas Head Copy Editor Senior Editors Annie Ma Ayla Bonfiglio Michael Brener Campus Editors Catherine Chong Erin Conway Ian Crone Kati Fossett Jamie Kessler Sophia Merkin Ben Small Poll Analyst Art Editor Nicolas Alvear Stacy Chu Business Managers Deputy Art Editor Alex Frouman Taimur T. Malik Max Mogensen

Columbia Political Review | cpreview.org [ the contents ]

Four ______Sixteen ______Twenty Two ______Strategic Alliances “Violence Against Our Nothing Super Rwanda’s president and his Intellect” Caped crusaders and American Western dream team crypto-fascism in Alan Moore’s Why the 2007 hunger strike Watchmen Ayla Bonfiglio still matters Billy Goldstein Catherine Chong Six ______Eight ______Insuring the Dream Fourteen ______More Manet Than Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and a national ethos Higher Education and Grandmaster Flash Michael Tannenbaum Street Art, Street Life at the the Highest Office Bronx Museum of Art The future of student life via Richard Prins Twenty Five ______John and Barack Enough is Enough Adam Aisen, Erin Conway, Miguel Thirteen ______Lavalle, Nina Pedrad “A More Interesting One boy’s murder mobilizes Mexico Question” Cover ______Karen Woodin New Core at Center for the (A)Political Student Study of Ethnicity and Race Twelve ______Ink Drawing Interview with Professors Mae Ngai and Claudio Lomnitz Without the Right Stacy Chu

International students at the Phyllis Ma fringe of American politics Sarah Khan

Twenty Six ______Student Poll: Politics of Recruitment

Poll Analysis by Nicolas Alvear Graphic Design by Sarah Cohler

Columbia Political Review | October Strategic Alliances Rwanda’s President and his Western dream team Ayla Bonfiglio

he roads in Kigali are from demands that he stand trial for geno- done with Google’s Larry Page, who provided perfectly paved. The car cide crimes he may have committed as lead- the country with free web-based software— rides are conspicuously er of the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF). Look- but also to individuals with the potential to smooth, and the taxi-mo- ing at these two stances with a critical eye, become the next generation of leaders. torcyclists wear green hel- one needs to consider Kagame as an engineer Stepping back to the February head- T mets and carry extras for of strategic events. The most recent was the line-maker that first drew my attention to passengers. In East Afri- president’s participation in the Compton Lec- Kagame’s strategic networking: former Brit- ca, this is not the norm. ture at the Massachusetts Institute of Tech- ish Prime Minister Tony Blair voluntarily be- During my conversations with university stu- nology (MIT) in September 2007. came advisor to the East African leader. At a dents in Rwanda’s capital city, one explana- Dr. Susan Hockfield, MIT President,- in press conference in Kigali, Mr. Blair explained tion emerged for these superficial signs of de- troduced him graciously as a man “working that his involvement with Rwanda is a result velopment: President Paul Kagame. to transform Rwanda from a poor country of the strides the country has made in “over- Western notables consider Kagame, ap- trapped in subsistence farming to a thriv- coming trauma” since the genocide, a state- pointed temporarily in 2000 and then elected ing, modern, knowledge-based economy with ment that reveals his investment in Kagame’s in 2003 as the first Tutsi to hold the post, part trading partners around the world.” President narrative of progress. Mr. Blair has said that of a new wave of African politicians bringing Kagame spoke to a packed auditorium on the he in- tends to foster Rwandan devel- Western ideals of progress to their countries. importance of information technology for the opment by using his interna- For his part, President Kagame has built an advancement of Rwandese society, then en- tional status to facilitate advisory network of Western stars—including treated his audience to become active foreign aid and private Bill Gates, Bill Clinton, Joe Ritchie, and Tony in his country’s development. investment. Blair—over the past few years, all toward mov- Moreover, he empha- To sustain the ing the country into international prominence. sized the country’s econom- This high-profile development ic advancement strategy begs examination: Can after gaining ad- we take Kagame’s tactics at mittance to the face value? Did not Western East African De- leaders have similar rela- velopment Bank tionships with Mobutu and launching a of Zaire when he first stock exchange assumed power? last January, Based on my Kagame also re- o b s e r v a t i o n s ceives counsel in Kigali and from acclaimed t h r o u g h o u t commodities and neighboring options trader Uganda, there Joe Ritchie and appear to be former president two distinct per- Bill Clinton. In spectives that the public health one could take on sector, President Kagame’s policies. Kagame partners with Bill The first is that the Gates and Harvard professor Paul president, genuinely de- Farmer, a leading specialist on public health voted to a massive de- potential in impoverished settings, to improve Rwan- velopment overhaul of his of a relationship dans’ healthcare access. The addition of Mr. country, is exploiting the in- HY Kim between his coun- Blair to the advising team is not extraordinary, ternational resources ripened try and the univer- but one action taken among many to engage by the post-genocide environment. Or, sity. In this way, Western leaders in strategic development. Kagame’s extensive network of influential he not only reached out to leaders in the sci- Thus it was no surprise when, during my vis- Western leaders is meant to divert attention ence and technology community—as he has it to Kigali, President Bush told reporters that

Columbia Political Review | cpreview.org he considered President Kagame part of the oped map.” To this end, some hold that the Kagame has described the militias as a dan- “new generation of progressive African lead- president’s actions are attempts to focus ger to Rwanda. In the course of her field re- ers,” and later called him “a man of action” Western attention away from his controver- search, Barnard political science professor who can “get things done.” sial tenure in the RPF. Severine Autesserre found that numerous UN One should consider Blair’s advisory role A Rwandese friend explained to me that officials, soldiers, and other individuals living in light of Rwanda’s post-genocide develop- former General Kagame may well be guilty of and working in Rwanda do not see the Rwan- ment schemes and Kagame’s efforts to put “revenge killings” (or simply, “mass killings”). dese Hutu militias as a threat. She explains Rwanda on the map with the Western world. Moreover, there is controversy over whether that the rumor of danger could be “a pretext Ugandan political writer Andrew Mwenda he should be tried in court over claims that for [various elements of the Rwandese elite] poses a particularly poignant question when he ordered the assassination of former Pres- to remain in Congo,” to extract mineral re- he asks, “How can a small, poverty-strick- ident Habyarimana in 1994. Kagame said in sources and protect the Congolese of Rwan- “It is still too early to tell whether he is ‘walking the walk,’ but I did encounter aspects of Rwandan ‘development’ that throw doubt on the authenticity of his initiatives.” en country somewhere in the middle of Afri- a 2004 BBC interview that he was willing to dese descent. ca, having no rich minerals and almost of no stand trial for this second accusation, but in The two perspectives on Rwanda’s strate- strategic value in global politics, attract the 2007, he opposed the idea on the BBC pro- gic development contrast starkly. Leaders in attention of such an international states- gram HARDtalk. For over a year, French judge the West either hail Kagame as an innova- man as Blair?” Glancing at the news Rwan- Jean-Louis Bruguière has been compiling a tive force or as another dictator attempting da made in the month of March, the an- 70-page dossier on Kagame to implicate him to evade accountability. While the unbalanced swer seems clear: the president’s political in the murder that is said to have triggered development of Rwanda may suggest that and economic strategic positioning. the genocide. When the file was mentioned President Kagame seeks to deceive, the ev- The question now becomes: How is Pres- in an interview, the president answered, “It idence is far from concrete. Moreover, while ident Kagame’s dense network of allianc- is 70 pages of trash, of nothing, and I assure his selection of famous Westerners as infor- es improving the country? As Tony Blair ob- you that.” He has vehemently criticized the mal advisors do focus international attention served about Rwanda’s development, “The merits of the case and its sources because on his development schemes, this is in no vision is one thing and to make it happen of France’s alleged involvement in the geno- way conclusive about the president’s under- is another.” The president receives advice cide. The date Bruguière’s allegations were lying motivations. and assistance in a variety of sectors, but first made public, the president cut diplomat- What is clear is that President Kagame’s are the Rwandese people benefiting? It is ic ties with France. development of Kigali is simply not enough. still too early to tell whether he is “walking Lastly, the Rwandese president has been To prove the sincerity of his expressed inten- the walk,” but I did encounter aspects of under fire for sending troops back to the tions to the world and to his citizens, Kagame Rwandan “development” that throw doubt Democratic Republic of Congo, after officially will have to craft a more balanced develop- on the authenticity of his initiatives. For in- withdrawing them in 2002, to engage Rwan- ment scheme. He must convince the Rwan- stance, though Kigali appears highly devel- dese Hutu militias. Kagame has not openly dese people that the progress transform- oped—more so than the neighboring capital, acknowledged his continued involvement in ing the capital city will reach them in other Kampala—the rest of Rwanda lags far behind the Congo, but he has threatened to inter- parts of the country. Looking toward Rwan- the conditions of rural Uganda. The beauti- vene before. When a 2002 interviewer asked da’s future, author Stephen Kinzer says it ful roads, fountains, green spaces, high pric- how newly deployed troops might operate, best: “The course [Kagame and his support- es, and flocks of muzungus—well-off white he answered, “Maybe in a different way from ers] have chosen is at least as full of risk as it people—in the city may just be features of what we did last time. We’ll be more specif- is full of promise. Over the next few years, it a highly localized development showpiece, ic, we’ll target certain areas and certain posi- will be one of the most closely watched ex- while the rest of the state remains in need tions…and just get out.” In public comments, periments in Africa.” of assistance. How does the disparity in developmen- tal support between the capital city and almost everywhere else reflect on President Kagame’s true motivations? Aside from a Ayla Bonfiglio Ayla (CC’09) hopes to continue her genuine desire to develop Rwanda, should [email protected] studies on forced migration issues we seek alternative political explanations? Political Science, after graduation. From Rwandese university students and with a concentration in Ugandan businessmen in Rwanda, I heard Comparative Politics much skepticism of his highly publicized attempts to put the country on the “devel- Columbia Political Review | October went the way of its counterpart and be- Insuring the Dream came publicly traded. As they transitioned from federal to pri- Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and a national ethos vate agencies, Fannie and Freddie main- tained an ambiguous relationship with Michael Tannenbaum the government. Company stock could be traded on the New York Stock Exchange; company executives received compensa- tion commensurate with those of other s the nation’s housing cri- By examining the intersection of hous- enormous financial institutions; and their sis becomes increasingly ing and government, we can begin to un- balance sheets remained as risky as those politicized, Wall Street— derstand the importance Americans place of investment banks. But in chartering a phrase which today on homeownership. After all, the govern- these companies and remaining involved A seems to fasten to any in- ment’s support for the housing market with their corporate governance and op- dustry or person remotely during this crisis is only the latest in a erations, the federal government implicit- associated with the real succession of policies that have privileged ly backed Fannie and Freddie paper. Such estate, financial services, or insurance this sector over most others. The histo- support is marked in the very term used industries—becomes further demonized. ry of this special relationship spans the to characterize Fannie and Freddie: Gov- Politicians and businesses alike indict the Homestead Act of 1862 to Federal Hous- ernment-Sponsored Enterprises (GSEs). greed of “Wall Street,” and they see such ing Administration loans after World War Nomenclature aside, these companies corruption as an injury to its opposite glit- II, public housing, and Section Eight fund- became part and parcel of the government tering generality, “Main Street.” ing for low-income families. Taken togeth- when the US Treasury explicitly acknowl- But the world of finance, derivatives, er, these policies mark housing as excep- edged its responsibility for the agencies and mortgage-backed securities, and the tional. in its September 2008 Senior Preferred world of traditional industry, mom-and- In 1938, Congress created the Feder- Stock Purchase Agreement: “Because the pop stores, and first-time home buyers, al National Mortgage Association, later US government created these ambiguities are not so binary. dubbed “Fannie Mae,” to purchase loans [in the charters of Fannie Mae and Fred- The recent nationalization of mortgage from home lenders. The homeownership die Mac], we have a responsibility to both lenders Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac illu- rate was then the lowest of the twenti- avert and ultimately address the systemic minates a more complex relationship at eth century—the despond that preceded risk now posed by the scale and breadth the confluence of Main Street and Wall the post-World War II housing boom. Fan- of the holdings of GSE debt and mortgage- Street. The bailout of these agencies is nie Mae allowed traditional lenders, such backed securities.” different in principle from those of Bear as small savings and loan enterprises, to In reference to the recent bailout, NYU Stearns, AIG, and Washington Mutual. The sell loans and get repaid early, increas- Stern School of Business Professor Law- government did not just insure the as- ing liquidity in the housing market. Fan- rence J. White said, “The current situa- sets of Fannie and Freddie; it nationalized nie Mae was chartered as a sharehold- tion is not a story about Fannie and Fred- the companies. It did so for two reasons: er-owned company in 1968. The Federal die stoking the flame of the real estate as part of a much larger history of gov- Home Loan Company, commonly known bubble.” To White, bailing out Fanny and ernment involvement in housing, and be- as Freddie Mac, was originally created in Freddy is not complicit with Wall Street cause housing is special. There is some- 1970 to purchase loans made by institu- corruption. Instead, the government’s ef- thing unique about homeownership in tions that were part of the Federal Home fort stabilizes the housing market and this country and in our culture. Loan Bank System. In 1989, Freddie Mac consummates its long-standing relation- “Homeownership is more than just a symbol of the American Dream; it is an important part of our way of life. Core Amer- ican values of individuality, thrift, responsibility, and self-re- liance are embodied in homeownership. I am committed to helping more families know the security and sense of pride that comes with owning a home.” President George W. Bush, National Homeownership Month Speech, 2003

Columbia Political Review | cpreview.org ship with homeownership. Columbia Business School Dean R. The scale and breadth of Fannie and Glenn Hubbard and Senior Vice Dean Freddie’s holdings are truly remark- and MBA Real Estate Program Direc- able, and both demonstrate how impor- tor Christopher Mayer recently pub- tant housing is to the economy and the lished “Let’s Stabilize Home Prices,” American psyche. The initially innocu- an editorial in the Wall Street Journal. ous ambiguities surrounding the GSEs be- They noted, “The decline in housing came grave uncertainties as the nation’s prices remains the elephant in the room mortgage markets expanded exponential- in the discussion of the credit market de- ly alongside an ever-rising homeowner- terioration.” Hubbard and Mayer illumi- ship rate, which stood at 68.1 percent in nate a very important nuance in this hous- the second quarter of 2008—higher than in ing fiasco: no one is really talking about most other industrialized nations. Mort- falling home prices. This evasion in gages of all varieties—from zero-down the national conversation is an payment to those containing low “teaser extension of the coun- rates” followed by much higher ones—te- try’s homeowner- leologically led to more, and increasingly ship ethos. fragile, homeownership. What allowed this lending was the practice of securitizing loans, which packages individual mortgage obligations and sells them off in slices to reduce risk. The idea is that underwriting one person’s mortgage is very risky, but underwriting one one-hundredth of 100 mortgages is much less so. Through securitization, smaller mortgage-lenders could sell mortgages for packaging, leaving the same lenders free to give credit to even more borrowers. Se- curitization of mortgages and other forms of debt was crucial to the growth and recent collapse of America’s banking industry. As long as housing prices continued to rise, and the American Dream of homeownership continued to be a reality for more and more Americans, Wall Street and Main Street continued to play nice. As securitization emerged as integral to the prospect of homeownership in Ameri- ca, the quasi-public GSEs became the nat- Rebekah Kim ural place to store such a cultural burden. Homes are meant to be wealth builders ment is a function of homeownership as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac came to own and stockpiles of value, not speculative the American ethos invented it. an incredibly large amount of the Ameri- investments that ultimately foreclose. America and its politicians must come can Dream in the truest sense of the term. Homebuyers are builders and dreamers, to terms with, if not embrace, the link be- This Dream was extended to almost any- and it runs counter to our culture of ho- tween Wall Street and Main Street—an in- one who sought it out in the form of now- meownership to call anyone subprime, let timacy manifest in the very existence and controversial subprime loans and loans to alone unfit to own a home. bailout of the GSEs. We may realize that those with impaired credit. When home The truth about Fannie Mae and Fred- not everyone is meant for homeowner- values started falling, homeowners began die Mac is the truth of American housing ship—that it is not an unconditional good defaulting on their obligations and, as se- itself. Housing is special, and the govern- for all citizens. Those who find owning a curities unraveled, the government natu- ment treats Fannie and Freddie as such, home unsuitable must amend their Amer- rally stepped in to protect the very ideal both in their former lifetimes and in the ican Dreams. that it had done so much to propagate. recent bailout. This extraordinary treat-

Michael Tannenbaum Michael (CC’10) is currently a Re- held a number of internships with- [email protected] search Assistant at the Paul Mil- in the financial services industry Economics, Urban Studies stein Center for Real Estate at Co- and maintains an active interest in lumbia Business School. He has real estate and mortgage markets.

Columbia Political Review | October More Edouard Manet than Grandmaster Flash Street Art, Street Life: From the 1950s to Now at the Bronx Museum of Art Richard Prins

lancing at the press release quiat, for example, who has posthumously But, more to the point, it’s simply bi- for Street Art, Street Life: received a cult following, biopics, and an zarre for an exhibit about street art to priv- From the 1950s to Now, entire exhibition of his work at the more ilege the archivist over the artist, valuing the newest exhibition at established and better-endowed Brooklyn the second-hand source of the snapshot G the Bronx Museum of Art, I Museum of Art). instead of the original form of the graf- was surprised to learn that But I was wrong: as it turned out, not fiti. Essentially, the move rubberstamps the museum was founded a single artist from the Bronx was actual- the appropriation of a spontaneous art in 1971. In that decade, buildings in the ly represented. The irony of my trip to the form by the art world at large, implying museum’s neighborhood on the Grand Bronx Museum of Art is that I came fearing that Basquiat’s vandalism wouldn’t have Concourse were generally more flamma- an overdose of graffiti-chic, and left near- mattered had it not met the approbation ble than they were habitable, and the na- ly jonesing for it. of the artistic powers that be. Bearing us tion watched them burn in the background Basquiat is there, though his name back to that age-old philosophical ques- while the Yankees won the World Series. was conspicuously absent from the ex- tion: if a street urchin tags a brick wall and It was the decade that the city request- hibit poster. That’s because, instead of in- Andy Warhol doesn’t see it, did he ever re- ed a federal bailout for its budget woes cluding one of his paintings, the exhibit ally tag it at all? and did not receive a $700 billion handout, instead presents a series of photographs It was at this moment that I felt the ex- but was instead told by President Ford, via by Peter Moore of Basquiat’s graffiti tag hibit encouraging me to look at the street the Daily News, to “Drop Dead.” “SAMO” (ubiquitous in the Lower East through the imperial lens of the dominant Out of this pit of privation and blight, Side long before the neo-surrealist wun- art world. In truth, I should have realized the forms of street art we most closely derkind blossomed into the art world’s re- this bias as soon as I walked into the mu- identify with the Bronx began to spontane- sponse to the trope of the tragic rock star). seum and was greeted by an introductory ously generate, much like weeds do from I found this to be an especially galling way paragraph alluding to Charles Baudelaire’s cracks in the sidewalk. Without a budget for the museum to cover its bases: graffiti 1863 essay, “The Painter of Modern Life:” for interactive spaces, community centers, and Basquiat, why not kill two queer birds or even art classes in public schools, an with one showcase? Poet and critic Charles Baude- embryo of hip hop culture was conceived Such a cursory treatment of an iconic laire exhorted the impression- at block parties all over the South Bronx. black figure reeks Street art was in vogue—scratched records, of tokenism, but, graffiti and battling emcees—because the what’s worse, Bas- streets were all people had. quiat doesn’t even So, I thought I knew what to expect get his token: the from the exhibit when I read the state- credit for the work ment from the museum’s director, Holly goes to Moore, the Block, who explains, “The vitality of the photographer, who Bronx flows from its street culture, the is quoted as say- connections people make on the corner, ing, “If I don’t re- front stoop, or public park. During the pe- cord these, they’ll riod of this exhibition, the museum will be lost.” At best, draw both from these roots and the glob- this statement is al conversation.” If anything, I was worried disingenuous in the that the exhibit might, in its zeal to put its context of Basquiat, host borough on the map, prove nothing whose origins as a more than a predictable retread of proto- cryptic graffiti art- hip hop history—maybe an exhaustive ar- ist would be well- chive of paint-sprayed subways from an known with or with- unrecognizable New York of the 1980s, or out Moore waving just the latest canonizing of edgy urban from the bandwag- art’s usual subjects (like Jean Michel Bas- on.

George Maciunas Columbia Political Review | cpreview.org ists to paint modern subjects, is applauded for so such as Parisian boulevards, doggedly pursuing bridges and sidewalk cafes. He and inciting social celebrated “the ephemeral, the fringes. fugitive, the contingent” quali- By portraying ties found in the street and de- street life as resis- scribed the figure of theflâneur tant to artistic incur- as a “gentleman stroller of city sion, the exhibit en- streets,’ a detached man of lei- visions these artists sure observing his own urban as intrepid equals of milieu. the lowlifes and out- casts at which they Expecting Grandmaster Flash, I wound flash. And this is up with Edouard Manet. The museum is when the true de- divided into three rooms, arranged in a sire behind the lens chronological manner. The first room, fea- of the artist is be- turing some of the most famous Ameri- trayed: what artist can photojournalists of the 1950s and 60s, does not harbor the dovetails with this neo-Baudelairian con- vague wish that by ception of street art as a sort of passive observing and stir- and peripatetic voyeurism. A freewheeling ring these hedonis- urban grit pervades in these photos. A few tic and craven seg- portraits of Lower East Side drag queens are ments of society, he included from Robert Frank’s seminal 1958 might gain the power book, The Americans. Some prolific snaps to transform himself, by Garry Winogrand follow, one capturing if only for a day, into a priceless moment when a swift-stepping one of these crea- pedestrian, anonymously blurred, lifts his tures? Jamel Shabazz hand in slick protest against the camera. I Something about the selections struck couldn’t help but wonder if the 1950s ver- me as inorganic, given that they were large- him insider status not because his last sion of the flâneur was much more than a ly the work of people who were ostensible name is Shabazz, but because he happens paparazzi of the common man. outsiders to the haunts they represented. to have been born in Brooklyn. His pho- Increasingly, the observation becomes What about the autonomous rumblings of tographs include a picture of four black obsessive. These artists may be “men of a local populace that isn’t held hostage by kids wearing red and white, striking play- leisure,” but they are far from “detached.” incorrigible creative types? I’d like to be- ful, masculine and conveniently geometric Take Lee Friedlander’s eerie photo “New lieve my concerns here went a little deep- poses, as well as a picture of five girls rid- York City 1966,” where the shadow of er than where’s the graffiti at? Street Art, ing down a block in a shopping cart. The the photographer’s face lands ominously Street Life is curated by the Bronx Muse- curator’s explanation cites these pictures on the back of a blonde lady’s fashion- um of Art, in a borough with one of the as “evidence of the reality of drugs, crime able coat, blurring the artist’s world with world’s richest histories in both street life and poverty that pervaded these streets the fetishistic world of the stalker. Pho- and street art, and yet not a single instal- throughout the decade.” tographer William Klein doffs his voyeur lation in the exhibit actually comes from Okay, hold up. Let’s pause for a second. shades, undertaking a strategy of provoca- the Bronx. What if we’d been presented with a pho- tion. His tactic was not to watch pedestri- There is one row of undeniably vibrant tograph of five white girls riding a shop- ans, but rather to accost them, aggressive- photographs in the second room that at ping cart down a block of brownstones? ly shoving his camera in their faces. This least resembles the Bronx in landscape, Most likely, the shot wouldn’t be entered resulted in the particularly brilliant “Gun 1, shot in locales like Brooklyn’s East Flat- into a court of real estate law as evidence New York City,” in which a wizened, bull- bush. These are the photographs of Jamel of a blighted, drug-addled neighborhood. ish lady reacted by sticking an out-of-fo- Shabazz, who essentially serves as the to- Shabazz’s attempt to portray a folksy, joy- cus gun directly at the camera’s lens. Klein ken insider of the second room. I assign ful scene is apparently belied by the pri-

“I’d like to believe my concerns here went a little deeper than where’s the graffiti at ?”

Columbia Political Review | October vation that the curator knows must exist perience. We’re presented with filmed ex- own affinity with outlaw poets of the past, there. Projecting a politics of consterna- cerpts of Hsieh lapping water from a leaky his opinion of the role they might play in tion is a somewhat exasperating stretch, fire hydrant and relieving himself in a field contemporary society, and, I would argue, particularly because it negates the aes- overlooking an indeterminate river. One his own desire to become Rimbaud. thetic and human richness of Shabazz’s of his daily logs is also provided, a map A similar piece, “The Mythic Being photos. of Lower Manhattan marked up with the Cruising White Women” by Adrian Piper, Shabazz is joined in the second room time and place of various actions (“7:10 features photographs of an epicene, ra- by the motley bohemians who rounded AM, woke up; 10:15 AM, defecated”). His cially ambiguous figure, ornamented by outdoor odyssey was only in- a large afro and curly moustache, walk- terrupted once when he was ing, sitting or smoking cigarettes in down- forced to spend a night in jail, town streets. This “mythic being” is alleg- imaginably for vagrancy. edly found intimidating despite its waifish So you see that these post- frame, and supposedly ironic because “Basquiat modern flâneurs are far less the performer was actually a white, fe- anonymous, far more his- male NYU student, publicly navigating her doesn’t even get trionic, than their predeces- identity. These works imbue us with the sors. Instead of feeding just perspective of the artist-outsider, whose on ephemera and Kodak mo- mission is to bring tension to his/her com- his token.” ments, they thrive on con- munity (and, lest it go unstated, gentrifica- trivance. And, for these art- tion). This must be why Shabazz’s attempt ists, representing urban grit is to record recreation—and a community’s no longer enough to suffice. makeshift effort to relieve tension—is so Hsieh’s night in jail, though thoroughly misrepresented by the curator, out New York’s art scene in the 1970s and technically a breach of his outdoors vow, who frames it as a portrayal of the tension 80s. The first installation is a project un- highlights his transformation from artist that history assures us must have lurked dertaken by photographer Vito Acconci: into bum. This theme of metamorphosis is in the background. every day, for a month, he chose a new continued through in David Wojnarovicz’s The third and final room of the exhib- downtown denizen to follow. Sometimes “Arthur Rimbaud in New York,” where a it covers the late 1990s and 2000s, and the stalking would last mere minutes un- person is photographed wearing a paper blows open this discussion of the reign- til the subject hailed a taxi; other times, mask of the late French poet, whilst impli- ing art world’s tendency to necessitate its he waited for hours outside his or her job. cated in objectionable activities. One fea- own stamp of approval. You might have He duly recorded every move of the sub- tures the masked actor with a hypodermic noticed by now that at least 90 percent of ject in a log, which is represented in full needle jammed in his arm, another lo- the work in the first two rooms took place alongside two grainy snapshots of a hir- cates him in Times Square in the midst of in New York. Yet this third room hosts sute Acconci photographing a subject un- its seedy heyday. Wojnarovicz exhibits his mostly foreign works, particularly from de- awares. Compare this piece to Friedlander’s menacing “New York City 1966,” which merely implied through clever use of shadow that the photographer might be stalking the posh female subject. Acco- nci ups the stakes, making it his explicit mission to stalk, and instead of furnish- ing us with a polished and aesthetically masterful print, he provides meticulous written evidence and two hasty snapshots taken by an associate. Tehching Hsieh, perhaps the most monastic performance artist I’ve ever encountered, outdoes Acconci’s month- long project with a far more grueling year-long performance, during which he vowed not to enter any indoor loca- tion. For a year, a sleeping bag and city streets were his only home. Like Acco- nci, he systematically recorded his ex-

Fatimah Tuggar

10 Columbia Political Review | cpreview.org veloping nations. Are we to conclude that Another installation from an artist of mised by the street’s capacity for tension there was nothing which could be consid- the developing world is called Blank Noise and chauvinist discourse. ered “street art” in the third world before Project. In the far corner of the third room, Surprisingly enough, it was in this glo- globalization defined our world and made two televisions face each other, and the balized last room that I thought I glimpsed cosmopolitanism a chic buzzword? More museumgoer may take a seat in between the Bronx, in Nikki Lee’s “Hispanic Proj- likely, prior works simply hadn’t pursued them. One television blares with women ect.” Lee is a young Korean woman whose by art elites. in Calcutta lamenting to the camera about “projects” involve transforming herself This stark, neo-Hegelian implication how they are verbally harassed by men, into her subjects, whether they are punks, that the developing world has no histo- and it alternates with the other television, yuppies or senior-citizens. “Hispanic Proj- ry so far as street art is concerned is un- where men are interviewed, arguing vehe- ect” depicts her at the Puerto Rican Day fortunately highlighted by the chronologi- mently that if a woman is harassed in this Parade as well as standing in front of a cal layout of the museum. After spending manner, it must be her fault for dressing stoop and wearing a bandana at a block the first hour of his visit surrounded by so scantily. In one case, an older wom- party, hanging with ostensible homegirls, edgy black and white photos from sem- an chimes in on the men’s side, decrying giving the camera a take-no-shit smirk. inal New York City, the museumgoer en- the nearly-naked women and arguing that This metamorphosis reads like quite the ters into a room filled with colorful - vid they get the disapproval they deserve. crowning achievement in an exhibit so re- eo installations from around the world. He She is cheered on licentiously by the sur- plete with artists’ meditations on, and at- is force-fed a teleological master-narrative rounding crowd of men. While caught in tempts to transcend, their outsider sta- which views New York as the vaunted del- this crossfire of confessions and epithets, tus. ta that influenced all this uncanny global the viewer may peruse a booklet titled Not Certain highly-represented places, like creative output. Glaring Suspiciously at Every Passerby Can downtown New York, do indeed absorb Having exploited all of New York’s grit Be Interpreted as an Invitation. creative migrants who wish to both au- as lavishly as a bunch of oil barons, the art Compare this to a video installation thenticate themselves to neighborhood world has no choice but to look to third- from the second room, which also por- people and impress the artistic communi- world artists for depictions of anything ex- trays the street as a battleground for pub- ty. But, by and large, this has not been the otic or impoverished. This discrepancy, lic discourse about gender. The artist VA- case in the Bronx. so prominent in the last room, was per- LIE EXPORT shows a 1969 photo of herself Representing a veritable historiography haps best encapsulated by Nigerian artist leading a man in a suit across the street of the downtown art scene that privileges Fatimah Tuggar. Onto a photograph of a by a dog leash, as well as a video of her- the view of the outsider—the flâneur who dusty and motorcycle-filled Nigerian road, self standing on a street corner with a box uses the street as his social experiment— she superimposes a familiar billboard ad- hung over her chest, encouraging men to the Bronx Museum of Art also neglects the vertisement from New York, in which Mag- reach inside and fondle her bare breasts. particular forms of expression that have ic Johnson’s face appears over a caption In both of these works, there is a vis- sprung up in its host borough, where lo- reading, “New York City has more AIDS ceral cognitive dissonance between the cals have taken artistic innovation to the than any other US city.” The contrast be- insider and outsider artist. VALIE EXPORT streets as a last resort, often because their tween the two urban environs, as well as uses the street as a public area to provoke own society has treated them like a social the inferred contrast between their rates tension and discourse; Blank Noise Project experiment. of HIV infection, is quite haunting. depicts women who are violently compro-

Richard Prins Richard (CC ‘09), affectionate- Photos by George Maciunas, Jamel [email protected] ly known as Platypus, is a former Shabazz and Fatimah Tuggar are Creative Writing Bronx resident. He hopes to write provided courtesy of the Bronx Mu- the great un-American novel, and seum of Art. retire in Tanzania. [email protected] write for the columbia political review a publication for people who read

Columbia Political Review | October 11 Vote prefers to focus on local and state Without the Right elections. It’s obvious that a fixation on the act of voting presents a binary choice International students at the fringe of American politics that doesn’t begin to address the complex Sarah Khan questions at issue. But internationals are often committed to domestic issues as well—after all, many Walking past a Barack Obama campaign of these students are proto-citizens and tionalism invokes a distinct kind of patri- proto-immigrants. For Taimur Malik (CC’11) booth in Morningside Heights, I stop to otism, one that can alienate internation- ask the volunteers about how students re- of Pakistan, who is considering a career als and immigrants from the US national in the US, Obama’s more favorable immi- spond to their work. After we speak for a project. few minutes, they ask the inevitable ques- gration stance is particularly important. But it would be a mistake to think that For Narain, undeniably “American” social tion: “Have you registered to vote?” When I international students possibly re- could questions—for instance, Roe v. Wade—cru- answer that I am an international student, main untouched by this presidential race—a necessarily voteless, they lose interest. cially shape her political commitments. reality that generates intense debate with- Despite all that is at stake for interna- Currently, Columbia ranks second in the international community. Writing for among almost 2000 US colleges and univer- tionals, this chunk of Columbia students the Al-Jazeera may not be especially politically active. sities reporting international enrollment. Global Voices International students comprise For instance, Ejeilat feels that Middle East- section after ern students could do much more to ed- 19 percent of the class the first of 2011—that’s 19 ucate voters on the global conse- percent guaranteed quences of this election. Narain, non-voters. If vot- a College Democrat and donor to ing is at the fore- the Obama campaign, disagrees front of political with international students dis- action, what is the tancing themselves from cam- role of internation- paigning. “It’s a huge mis- al students in the take,” she says. upcoming election? And voteless participation Elections are po- is easy. Students can con- litical exercises that nect with the franchised affirm—and newly immigrant communities of invent—a country’s their home countries. Cam- nationalistic identi- paigns like Desis Vote pro- Shaina Rubin vide ideal opportunities for ty. In this particular presidential debate, Lina Ejeilat, a Colum- presidential race, American exceptionalism this sort of mobilization work. “We essen- bia Journalism student from Jordan, re- tially need bodies,” Najmi stresses. “You has overshadowed a more global sensibili- marked, “I realized that whether we like it ty. Take, for instance, the ServiceNation Fo- don’t need to be a citizen to make phone or not, everything the US does affects the calls.” Desis Vote is just one of many ways rum held on campus this past September rest of the world tremendously.” 11th. John McCain called the United States for internationals to join a political exercise American policy’s global consequences that doesn’t require citizenship. “exceptional”; Barack Obama, surprisingly can complicate political involvement for in- blatant, called this country the “greatest Though it may surprise that interna- ternational students and immigrant com- tional students could fall short of politi- nation of the world.” munities alike. Ali Najmi, a law student Non-citizens are hardly the target audi- cal action now, it may be the very nature at CUNY, has worked to mobilize immi- of American politics that alienates them. ence, but it’s worth asking whether such grants in all five New York City boroughs. rhetoric estranges them from the political As far as the campus conversation is con- In 2006, he co-founded Desis Vote, a cam- cerned, a discourse more inclusive of the process. Mallika Narain (CC’11) is a non- paign to promote a culture of civic partici- resident Indian and a Singaporean national 4,970-strong international communi- pation within New York’s South Asian com- ty could remind non-voters that they do who has lived in the United States for the munity. Najmi describes the impact of US past five years, but is not a citizen. Nara- have a part to play. But it might also make foreign policy as deeply complex for South Americans remember that their vote is a in understands why the candidates’ lan- Asian Americans—so much so that Desis guage could seem off-putting, but does not worldly one. feel offended: “Every country has to have this sort of patriotic rhetoric…[we have to] Sarah (CC’11) is an international understand that these are just politically Sarah Khan student from Islamabad, Pakistan. strategic moves.” But Narain’s generous [email protected] She was intrigued by vice presi- comment conceals how American excep- Economics-Political Science, dential candidate Palin’s exchange Sustainable Development with Pakistani president Zardari at the UN. 12 Columbia Political Review | cpreview.org that good people can do such bad things? I think “A More Interesting Question” that’s a more interesting question.

New Common Core at CSER On Colonization/Decolonization’s approach:

Columbia’s Center for the Study of Ethnicity they are existing as minorities. So the integrat- CL: We thought we would need one course and Race (CSER) launches its Common Core for ed approach this class takes allows you to move that introduces students to the whole historical majors and concentrators in Comparative Ethnic across the global space from a particular kind of sweep of the rise of race, racial thinking, racial re- Studies, Asian American Studies and Latino Stud- analytic lens. lations, ethnicity, ethnification, class… Our majors ies this semester. The Center delivers two new and concentrators need to have a sense of the fact Core classes: Colonization/Decolonization, a fall On the trickiness of educational “foundations”: that none of these things were invented exclusive- seminar with Mae Ngai and Claudio Lomnitz, and ly in the last 150 years when the minorities we’re Race and Scientific Social Practice, to be taught by CL: I have a [high] opinion of the Core. My im- studying emerged as such. We did and do feel that Nadia Abu El-Haj in the spring. Karen Leung talks pression, having taught here at Columbia for two the historical scope defined in this course needs to Professors Lomnitz and Ngai about their class years, is that it really creates an undergraduate to reach back to the whole of the modern period. and the new curriculum. body that is intellectually quite rigorous…I certainly don’t regard it as simply a point of distinc- MN: And you’re working with primary texts. In On what it could mean to teach an alternative to tion at cocktail parties. But the process of criti- the secondary literature, somebody has already the Core Curriculum: cizing and working with the Core is a dialogue digested it and come up with an analysis. I won’t with certain foundational issues that have devel- say that we have no analysis, because we do, ob- MN: [Columbia’s] Core is set up as “the West oped over the years, and it would probably be an viously. We’re not teaching from the perspective and the rest,” if we can use that shorthand. That’s abandonment of our duties as professors not to of a blank slate, nor do we think you have no per- the product of an attempt to improve and reform a be thinking through them critically. spective on it. But we’re trying to get closer to Core that traditionally had been “the West.” To the [the historical experience] by eliminating at least credit of those who wanted to improve the Core, MN: I think there’s a place for studying west- one level of mediation, which is a scholar’s inter- there was a recognition that a common liberal arts ern tradition and western political philosophy. pretation. core should have a global understanding to it. But to call a class Contemporary Civilization is But adding something called Major Cultures to to suggest something that potentially could be CL: We were also a bit concerned that majors Lit Hum and CC didn’t really affect the basic Eu- much broader and more integrative, using a far and concentrators were very oriented around the rocentric nature of the core. And that’s not to say richer kind of vocabulary. contemporary, and very dominated by the con- that there weren’t changes within CC… but on the temporary discourse on colonialism, colonization, whole we still have an overall system that’s based CL: And the West is always a constructed cat- decolonization, slavery, race— on a western-centered view of contemporary civ- egory. If you look at what the West is, it’s some- ilization. This became more striking to us when thing that lots of people, places, groups, have MN: Identity— we had the opportunity to put [Colonization/De- wanted to claim for themselves, and doesn’t al- colonization] in Major Cultures…it doesn’t really ways describe an actual specific culture or civ- CL: —identity, etc., and we wanted to offer, in a fit there. Our focus is really on the rise of Euro- ilization. To give an example, there was in the basic course, the challenge of reading the primary pean hegemony and the making of the modern late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries a documentation…There is too much received wis- world. It’s an integrated concept that what made whole discussion in Latin America about wheth- dom that maybe any college student, certainly CC the modern world is the interaction between Eu- er it wasn’t truer to the Hellenic tradition than and Barnard and GS students, come in with… Any rope and the rest of the world. the United States, which might have turned its primary text is a fragment, it’s one voice from one back on that tradition. Well, here in the US, you person at one time, written for a particular audi- CL: The interest the university has in deep- don’t get [that history]. If you go to college and ence, and that audience is not a college student ening students’ comparative understanding—be- study Latin America, that’s considered non-West- reading it two or three hundred years later. So it tween the West and the rest, between Europe and ern culture…So “the West” is very much a shifty is challenging. But I really think students are up the US and other places—that interest is an impor- category, just as much a shifty category as “the for the challenge. tant one, and one that we support. But it can re- rest.” ally miss out on helping students understand the MN: Another thing we’re responding to is the way in which worlds are interconnected…And it MN: This array of texts allows us to see how ubiquity of the term “globalization” in contempo- can mean that [students] have no language for complicated [questions raised by colonization] rary discourse, which now means almost anything talking about minorities, racialized or ethnicized were. It’s so easy for us today to say, coloniza- one wants it to mean. An aspect of our goal with minorities in the West or outside, because they tion was brutal, or enslavement was horrible and the class is to subject that idea to historical in- can be kind of othered no matter which way you immoral…But what can we gain from asking more vestigation. slice it. questions about their motives, if we understand So it turns out that if you’re interested in mi- that these were people who believed themselves Claudio Lomnitz is Director of CSER and Professor grant groups within Germany or Canada, those to be good Christians, doing something posi- of Anthropology. might be excluded in a traditional discussion of tive?...This is the big question we should all be the West…their histories, their processes of iden- asking ourselves in understanding the world: Mae Ngai is Lung Family Professor of Asian Ameri- tification, are harder to focus on exactly because not, why do bad things get done, but why is it can Studies and Professor of History. Columbia Political Review | October 13 [ Higher Education and the Highest Off ice]

makes federal income-related subsidies On Outsourcing On Health Care available to help individuals buy it. To finance his scheme, estimated to cost $50 Nina Pedrad to $65 billion per year, Obama proposes to draw from savings within the health Graduating se- Students about to enter the job market care system and discontinue tax cuts for niors will face will find sharp contrasts between Barack those with incomes over $250,000. the highest un- Obama and John McCain’s health care pro- McCain plans to provide refundable tax employment posals, both in goals and means. credits of up to $2,500 to individuals and rate of the past McCain’s plan depends heav- up to $5,000 to families for insurance five years. The ily on individual responsi- purchases. Individuals who find -in Economic Re- bility and the free market, novative, multi-year plans that cost search Institute while Obama’s plan calls less than the allotted amount can estimates 2.6 job for universal coverage save the excess refund money in seekers for every through expanded public Health Savings Accounts. McCain’s job, up from 1.6 the previous year. By 2015, up to 3.3 mil- insurance. tactic doesn’t require as much fi- lion US jobs and $136 billion in job earnings Obama’s plan requires nancing; he holds that cost contain- could be lost to outsourcing. It should be that all children have health ment measures would make insurance no surprise that job creation has catapult- insurance up to age 25, and makes more affordable to Americans. ed to a bread-and-butter campaign issue. it mandatory for employers to offer em- The candidates’ proposals propagate John McCain plans to appeal to the cor- ployee health benefits or contribute to two different theories of government and porations that do the hiring. A free trade public program costs. His new public plan two distinctly different goals for health- advocate, he suggests lowering the corpo- features comprehensive coverage and care. rate tax rate from 35 percent to 25 percent. What’s more, McCain would cut individual tax rates for small business owners and On Technology eliminate “costly requirements” for employers to provide health insurance or sup- Adam Aisen port pro-union initiatives. He would also build 45 new nuclear power plants by 2030, The two candidates clash on the ques- and unrealistic. They argue that let- which he says will create 700,000 jobs. tion of net neutrality: whether internet ser- ting ISPs charge websites and users Yet McCain’s published stance is chal- vice providers (ISPs) such as Comcast and for their connections would offset the lenged by his selection of former Hewlett- Road Runner should be allowed rising costs of broadband Internet Packard Chairperson and outspoken out- to charge websites for “premi- for end users. McCain has even sourcing advocate Carly Fiorina, and um” connection speeds. With attacked net neutrality legis- outsourcing broker Randy Altschuler, as se- these fees in place, non- lation as “prescriptive” and nior economic advisors. paying websites could overly burdensome, declar- Barack Obama’s economic plan is load more slowly, or be ing, “an open marketplace harsher on businesses but promises more entirely inaccessible. with a variety of consum- jobs. Unlike McCain, Obama would end tax Net neutrality ad- er choices is the best de- breaks for companies that send jobs over- vocates favor an inter- terrent against unfair seas and award government contracts to net where all ISPs would practices.” companies that employ American workers. be required to grant the As students, is- Obama also plans to double funding for the same connection speeds sues of intellectual expansion of manufacturing, and allocate to all websites, regardless property rights and net $150 billion over 10 years to create five mil- of size. Barack Obama falls neutrality may seem re- lion new green jobs. into this camp, saying that he mote. But in an age of in- Obama’s plan, too, has come under at- “strongly supports the principle of creasing connectivity, we tack. Critics charge that his proposal ne- network neutrality to preserve the ben- are all becoming increasing reliant on glects small businesses. They also accuse efits of open competition on the Internet.” the internet for our work, our studies, and our him of hypocrisy in renting campaign head- But opponents of net neutrality, everyday lives. quarters from Accenture, a Bermuda-based like McCain, call this model extreme company notorious for helping companies outsource. 14 Columbia Political Review | cpreview.org On Service On Student Loans Miguel Lavalle Nina Pedrad If the student loan industry continues down its current path, students may have to ask for a government bailout come graduation. Interest rates on student loans have hit As the global economy teeters and op- 23 percent. Last year, the cost to attend college rose six percent. Both candidates have portunities dry up, Columbians have found addressed the broken state of higher education funding and both propose to simplify it easier to discover their inner do-gooders. financial aid, but the similarities end there. Both candidates would John McCain’s scheme aims to streamline financial aid, but does not ultimately in- promote increased clude any new programming to help with college costs. Essentially, his policy would ex- civic involvement plain and clarify current policy on tax benefits for families with children in college. How- from young peo- ever, McCain evades any specific commitment to increase funding for government Pell ple—by expand- Grants. He does back an expansion of the program giving the government the capacity to ing Americorps act as a students’ final alternative lender. He also proposes improving information and and Teach for transparency in educational institutions. America, for Barack Obama offers a more extensive, and far more instance—but expensive, approach to student loans. Chief among they diverge his plans is a refundable tax credit of up to $4,000 on the degree to to help with tuition costs for students who complete which government 100 hours of community service. Obama also prom- gets involved. ises to “keep pace” with Pell Grants, though he too Discussing the role of does not commit to a numerical increase in fund- the individual in the state, Barack Obama ing. To simplify the financial aid application process, minces no words: “I will ask for your ser- he proposes allowing families to apply by checking vice and your active citizenship when I am a box on their tax form. Lastly, Obama does not fa- president of the United States.” To execute vor the current system of student loans and would in- his vision, he proposes offering college stu- stead eliminate bank subsidies and shift to direct gov- dents $4,000 in exchange for 100 community ernment loans. service hours per semester. The Obama policy would also mandate that 25 percent of all work-study positions serve some public service capacity. As far back as October 2001, John McCain On Contraception was summed up in a declaration from said, “There should be more focus on meet- the man himself: “I will be a pro-life ing national goals and on making short-term Erin Conway president, and my presidency will have service, both civilian and military, a rite of pro-life policies.” passage for young Americans.” McCain’s On the other hand, Barack Obama platform centers on acknowledging the suc- defends keeping abortion legal cesses of organizations like Americorps and and supports the Roe v. Wade the Peace Corps while avoiding the “crowd- John McCain and Barack decision. Obama favors making out” of already established private ini- Obama’s positions on con- ing emergency contracep- tiatives. He promises to protect the ability traception could not be tion available, and he has of faith-based charities to freely select per- more opposed. supported public funding sonnel without risk to their federal funding. McCain is strongly for contraception, health in- In the past, McCain has increased incentives against abortion except in formation and preventative for military service—for instance, an $18,000 cases of rape, incest and services. He believes that tuition reimbursement. threat to the mother’s life. states should hold the power One thing to keep in mind is the pos- He believes that the Roe v. to make abortion laws, but has sible effect of the fiscal crisis caused by Wade decision should be over- voted in favor of federal funding for this year’s economic troubles. Both candi- turned, and would give individual both birth control and abortion. Obama dates’ plans would be threatened by a lack states the power to make abortion laws also endorses comprehensive sex edu- of funds, but McCain’s less costly proposal instead. He promotes strengthening faith- cation, rather than abstinence-only ed- might remain relatively unscathed. based, community and neighborhood organizations to provide services to preg- ucation. nant mothers in need, hoping to “build The polarity of the candidates’ stanc- the consensus necessary to end abortion es presents voters with two distinct ap- at the state level.” McCain backs absti- proaches to contraception. nence-only education and opposes public spending for birth control. His approach Art by Phyllis Ma

Columbia Political Review | October 15 “Violence Against Our Intellect” Why the 2007 hunger strike still matters Catherine Chong

or those of us not in- out of the blue, but decided to act door of now-suspended TC profes- volved in multicultur- drastically after self-critical discus- sor Madonna Constantine all con- al affairs, Ethnic Stud- sions. And as hunger striker Bryan tributed to a tense, defensive, and ies or Manhattanville Mercer (CC ’07) said, “We organized angry student body. activism, the fading the hunger strike out of a sense of To reply to these events, some F fatigue around traditional channels memory of last year’s students organized a series of hunger strike is one of of communication with the admin- “townhalls” to discuss related a fringe group seizing center stage istration, which we had been utiliz- questions and tactics of response. and polarizing the campus. The ing since 2004.” For those involved, These townhalls drew a mixed promise to transform Major Cul- November 2007 was the ripest time crowd: “People wanted to get in- tures into seminar format will af- to act—not the only time. volved because they had done stuff fect some of us soon, but the oth- at school, they had been leaders on er concessions seem remote. On PROTEST AGAINST PROTEST campus, and some wanted to help expansion, the university remains just out of personal interest,” said unassailable; Nick Sprayregen and Many of us remember the spate Mercer. the Singh family notwithstanding, of hate crimes that shook the school The proposal to hunger strike all that stands between the school at the start of last fall semester. first emerged in these discussions. and 17 more acres of campus is the The Jena 6 protests, the Islamopho- “The idea of the hunger strike was ground-breaking. So why return to bic and racist graffiti in SIPA, the brought up by a few students, and the hunger strike? anti-Semitic graffiti in Lewisohn and there was a long debate about Since the tents have folded up, the Teacher’s College, and most no- whether we should go this route,” I’ve realized that there was a lot I toriously, the noose hung on the said strike organizer Ryan Fukumori didn’t understand from my outsider’s perspective. Mostly, I remem- bered the histrionics: the cardboard octopus, the barbeque. Protest, anti-protest, anti-anti- protest. And I wasn’t alone: after all, a full retrospective analysis of the hunger strike— never mind reflection— never surfaced in campus news coverage. By the end of the strike, publications moved on, probably convinced that students were sick of hearing about it. And many were, I think, tired of it. But the strike de- serves a closer look in the aftermath. The hunger strikers did not, as many thought, fast for ten days—inflict suffering on themselves— Stacy Chu

16 Columbia Political Review | cpreview.org (CC ’09). “Some people were will- appeared, most clearly ing to put their bodies on the line.” on the Facebook group After some three weeks of discus- wall. Vitriolic, asinine sion—which did not dispel all of comments dominat- their reservations—a handful of stu- ed the discussion, but “But mostly, my dents decided to risk their health. others tried to object In an official statement on their seriously. friends and I were blog (cu-strike.blogspot.com), they Contesting the de- declared, “We strike because the mands, some students onlookers of the university does not recognize that questioned the strik- the lack of space for the critical ers’ assertions. Liz spectacle the protest study of race through Ethnic Stud- Berger (CC ’09) wrote, ies, the lack of administrative sup- “I…object to the impli- port for minority students and their cation that hate crime had become.” concerns, the lack of engagement on campus is somehow with the community in West Har- the fault of the admin- lem, and the lack of true reform of istration, and is linked the Core Curriculum are harmful to to the lack of non-West- the intellectual life of its students.” ern perspectives in the Core.” And gaged. For Courtney Ervin (CC ’09), At a systemic level, the strikers as- some questioned the philosophical the strikers’ rhetoric “fostered pired to challenge how “racist, gen- basis of the strike. Brendan Price an image of sides that seem rac- dered, and sexualized hierarchies (CC ’09) put it this way: “The Amer- ist/anti-racist, with Columbia and dominate the way power flows.” ican civil rights movement of the those against this protest appar- They called these inadequacies “vi- 1960s made a powerful case for the ently on the racist side of things.” olence against our intellect.” use of this and similar tactics. The Many students, she thought, muted A list that clumps many concerns Columbia strikers’ demands, how- their criticism rather than face ac- together, but the official statements ever, do not rise to the same lev- cusations of “racism.” Timothy de and off-the-record complaints point- el. The issues at stake are not mat- Swardt (CC ’08) went even further, ed to one underlying concern: the ters of moral certainty and thus are claiming that the strikers were “po- apparent monolith of Columbia Uni- amenable to political contestation.” larizing Columbia and obstructing versity was not responding to the Historical allusions grew even more rational debate on real issues.” students it was supposed to serve. loaded, maybe, after Dennis Dalton, So in a highly visible protest, the a political science professor at Bar- THE SO-CALLED hunger strikers decided to enact nard, decided to fast with the strik- “SILENT MAJORITY” the self-criticism that the university ers. Dalton, a scholar of nonvio- wasn’t doing. “The idea of the hun- lence, drew connections between As students who did not support ger strike was appealing because it the strikers’ protest strategies and the hunger strike grew more vo- was an internal act. It was reflec- the ones he studies and teaches. cal and organized, many identified tive,” said Mercer. “Fasting wasn’t On Manhattanville, some stu- themselves as the “silent majori- meant as an attack but as a symbol dents argued that it was useless ty.” This term demands our anal- of meditation.” to quarrel with an inevitable ex- ysis. It first entered the American But many students did see the pansion and that Columbia’s plan consciousness in 1969, when Pres- hunger strike as an attack, a radical would revitalize an underdeveloped ident Richard Nixon popularized it attack that undemocratically pres- area in the most equitable way. in a speech meant to rally citizens sured administrators and practiced The university was the most benign who felt their voices had been lost a politics of victimhood to stifle de- possible evil—better us than cor- in the 1960s: during that decade’s bate. Opposing voices sometimes porate America. Max Talbot-Minkin radical protests, long-haired drug contested the demands themselves, (CC ’07) wrote, “The campus expan- culture, and, it must not be forgot- sometimes the tactics. These anti- sion is endorsed by nearly every ten, the ascent of minority groups strikers expressed themselves in city agency and Columbia’s trans- in the wake of the civil rights move- three main places: the “We Do NOT parency and openness in the pro- ment. While this context was rare- Support the Hunger Strikers” Face- cess has been second to none. Rat- ly, if ever discussed—probably not book group, comments on the Co- ner’s Brooklyn developments, for even consciously invoked—the his- lumbia Spectator website, and post- example, have had not [sic] near- torical resonance was at the very ings on Bwog, the blog of The Blue ly the same kind of public input op- least suggestive. & White. portunities.” But were the anti-hunger strik- Protesting against a protest, uni- Still others condemned the strike ers really a majority? Most of the ty of argument didn’t always char- as too extreme, an injury to dis- student body did not do what the acterize the opposition. But themes course on the issues they en- hunger strikers or anti-hunger strik- Columbia Political Review | October 17 An Outsider’s Primer to the Hunger Strike

AMERICA: THE BOOK accounts for class, gender, sexuality, and race in protected, that housing opportunities for low-, OR, THE CORE CURRICULUM the social construction of identities within the hi- moderate-, and middle-income residents are pro- erarchical American cultural fabric. tected and expanded, and that high-road jobs and As many students know, the Core is a recent For Professor Okihiro, critiques of pow- locally-owned businesses will be created and ex- invention. The Core Curriculum was inaugurated er should be enacted in classroom pedagogy, isting businesses preserved.” But this proposal in 1919 with the creation of Contemporary Civi- too. He says that in his generation, Ethnic Stud- was roundly rejected by Columbia and the city. lization. The University of Chicago followed suit, ies educators prescribed to the teaching ap- During the hunger strike, the Uniform Land creating its Core during the tenure of school pres- proach of Pablo Freire, “who said students are Use Review Process (ULURP), required for all re- ident Robert Maynard Hutchins. The university’s not empty vessels to be filled with knowledge by zoning in New York City, entered the final ap- website states that their Common Core was cre- professors...[students need to] gain a critical sen- proval stage for the City Council’s plan. Despite ated in response to “the rapidly shrinking, chang- sibility so that they can participate equally in their Community Board 9’s overwhelming objection to ing, and threatening world”—an assertion of tradi- education process.” Columbia’s 197-c plan, there was no communication to counter threats to “the American.” Okihiro emphasized, “Professors and students tion between the school and community leaders And why not? The 1920s saw an increase in should be learning from one another. That’s the until after the plan’s approval. But according to Southern and Eastern European immigrants and ideal.” While he says that this philosophy is not the university, administrators had negotiated with a drop the number of Western European immi- one necessarily shared by his colleagues, his ap- community actors in a democratic process. grants. Nativist backlash culminated in the Na- proach is one way in which Ethnic Studies peda- Campus expansion activists call this claim tional Origins Act of 1924, which attempted to gogy can dovetail with critiques of power in Eth- patently false. Days before the hunger strike, a maintain the ethnic distribution of the country. nic Studies theory. broad student coalition met with Maxine Griffith, By this time, Asian and Latino immigration had Students-as-teachers appear again in his the lead administrator responsible for handling already been restricted by law, most notorious- statement of solidarity with the hunger strikers: Columbia’s expansion. Accordingly to Andrew Ly- ly in the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882. This back- “It is unfortunate when students, who are at Co- ubarsky, “There was a lot of refusal to deal sub- ground partly constitutes the Core’s complicated— lumbia and Barnard for an education, must them- stantively with the concerns of the community.” and undeniably political—history. selves educate their professors, Columbia’s/Bar- An especially striking example of this behavior When I spoke to Gary Okihiro, Ethnic Stud- nard’s administrators, and their fellow students happened during the strike, in a meeting suppos- ies professor at Columbia and former Director of about the importance, nay necessity of a more edly open to the public. When CB9 member Vicky CSER, he encouraged me to continue thinking of democratic, responsible, and inclusive university, Gholson attempted to sit in as a silent observer, the Core as political. “The curriculum as it is pre- college, curriculum, and climate.” Griffith refused to negotiate with students until sented to students is…not divorced from histo- The approach of Okihiro and others convinced Gholson left the room. ry, not divorced from society. It’s not an abstrac- me that the university demanded to be analyzed In subsequent meetings with administrators, tion,” he said. “What people choose to include as a supremely political institution, not removed students could not convince Griffith to consider and exclude is a political exercise. The centrality from the world outside. We had to ask whether it their recommendations. As Lyubarsky said in an of the core curriculum is what the faculty believes had created structures of oppression that paral- interview with Bwog, the hunger strike negotia- to be the basis of American civilization and so- leled those suffusing American society. tions underscored “how recalcitrant the university ciety.” Okihiro’s comments challenged me to re- is on this issue, despite the fact that the universi- think the education that I had taken as given—as THE CITY AND THE STUDENTS ty was in a situation of heightened tension, they just natural. were still unwilling to negotiate with students. I wouldn’t want to reduce the field to these It was to address this relationship that the They treated it like an information session.” questions, but I’ve learned that some Ethnic Stud- hunger strikers took action on another front: Man- Just one month after the hunger strike, the ef- ies scholars attempt to address these kinds of as- hattanville. Yet negotiations between Columbia forts of students and West Harlem organizers took sumptions, analyzing power relations in an effort and the Lower Development Corporation (LDC), a final blow. In an unexpected move on December to create a more equitable society. This area of created to represent the West Harlem communi- 19th, the City Council overwhelmingly voted in fa- inquiry stresses how inadequately “multicultural- ty, only complicated this link. vor of Columbia’s Manhattanville plan, with 35 in ism,” as it’s popularly conceived by liberals and A statement from the Student Coalition on Ex- favor, five against, and six abstaining. taught in American schools, treats the issue of pansion and Gentrification (SCEG) asserts that the Even with only construction left, SCEG refuses power. group’s stance has never been “no expansion,” to give up. Lyubarsky says that the group plans Multiculturalism might seem to level pow- but “expansion within the context of the 197-a to “build education, to build a cohesive move- er relations by celebrating diversity and accord- plan,” a 247-page plan created by Community ment, and to understand contextually what is going each culture its due respect, but an approach Board 9 (CB9) to guide future development in the ing on, so if anything happens in Manhattanville, that says, “Let’s eat Chinese food, or let’s wear area. As opposed to Columbia’s 197-c plan, CB9’s we’re quick to respond.” Against highly improb- our Mexican costume today,” as Okihiro put it, would have forced the university to enter into a able odds, SCEG continues its work, hoping that doesn’t really get at the crux of the issue. Instead, “community benefits agreement.” The agreement it can force administrators to consider its recom- he holds up the theory of social formations, which would have promised “that the environment is mendations.

18 Columbia Political Review | cpreview.org ers did. That is, take an active role mistook the strikers’ perspective Coalition on Expansion and Gentri- and a hard stance. For most of for something it wasn’t; anti-strik- fication (SCEG), active to this day. the strike, I rushed madly to fin- ers formed judgments based on SCEG has arranged teach-ins to ed- ish my Lit Hum reading, highlight- sudden exposure to an effort that ucate students on expansion, held ing the pages yellow and taking had been underway for years. press conferences, written Specta- notes. When I wasn’t doing that, I At Columbia, the institutional- tor editorials, and sponsored Com- procrastinated between Facebook ization of Ethnic Studies had be- munity-Student dinner discussions. and Bwog, where I skimmed over gun over a decade earlier. In 1996, Suffice it to say that student ac- the strike coverage. I knew some of the school established the Center tivists kept busy up to the 2007 the students posting on the anti- for the Study of Ethnicity and Race hunger strike. hunger strike discussion board, and (CSER) after protests that includ- I knew of the people risking their ed a student hunger strike. But this A QUESTION OF EXPERTISE health. But mostly, my friends and I founding had a genealogy. Even were onlookers of the spectacle the during the 1968 protest, the Student Many hunger strikers and strike protest had become. From this per- Afro-American Society (SAS) had de- organizers began advocating for spective, we were convinced that manded Black Studies, which was their causes long before setting foot both sides had their flaws and mer- inaugurated as the Institute for Re- on campus. Fukumori is one exam- its. search in African-American Studies ple. He grew up in the San Francisco The hunger strikers’ concerns (IRAAS) in 1993. “An academic pres- Bay Area where he witnessed anti- were valid, we thought. The Core’s ence has existed for a pretty long war and anti-racism protests, learn- scope was too Western, as our Lit time [in the US],” stressed Mercer. ing about both activist practice and Hum and CC professors lamented on Ethnic Studies emerged as a field in theory. In high school, Fukumo- the first day. The College Republi- the 1960s. ri started a club to discuss these cans were cruel to throw a barbeque And an organized student re- issues. “Looking back on it now, I next to the tents. And for reasons sponse to Manhattanville began think I said some pretty dumb, self- we intuited but frankly couldn’t ar- in October 2003, a year after the righteous things,” laughed Fukumo- ticulate in detail, Manhattanville school unveiled its plans for the ri. “But I think that my experienc- was unjust. But we didn’t want any new campus. A coalition of student es made me begin to think critically more Core requirements—we felt groups organized a panel called about issues of power in our coun- constrained as it was. And when we “The Ethics of Expansion” to dis- try.” Now, he majors in Compara- wondered how else the Core might cuss how the expansion would af- tive Ethnic Studies and hopes to be- be taught, we experienced a failure fect community members. The co- come a scholar on the subject. But of imagination. So we returned to alition sprouted the group Students outside of formal study, Fukumori Butler, to our books, to Facebook. I don’t speak for all of my class- mates, but I suspect that many shared our reactions. We joked and snickered. We shook our heads. We believed that we un- derstood both sides and neither one was right. So we kept up with the news, or we didn’t; maybe joined a Facebook group or two. But it didn’t really matter—whatever our stances, the positions we took weren’t life-changing or ur- gent. But for the strikers agitating for curricular reform and administrative support, our way of thinking mirrored deep-seated problems. Anti-strikers were often just as misguided. Even their thoughtful statements betrayed a deep mis- understanding of Ethnic Studies as a field of study, and a mispercep- tion of the university’s actual con- duct with students and Manhat- Cristina Politano tanville residents. Particularly on the issue of Ethnic Studies, many Columbia Political Review | October 19 noted, “A lot of the activism hap- clude as many students as possi- they declined to point to specific pens in the day-to-day grind. We ble in a larger struggle with issues tactical errors or particular regrets. just don’t hear about it.” of inclusion. But acting as they did, Others expressed their dissatisfac- For me, Fukumori’s story high- the strikers risked being misunder- tion with the way the hunger strike lights important facts that were stood. had played out—but only off the re- overlooked by most students on the For most onlookers, there was cord. To maintain a unified front, outside. The hunger strikers saw little apparent connection between they kept these concerns from the their strategies as linked to the ac- the curricular demands and the ex- wider public. Much of their astute tivist impulse of a well-established pansion ones, giving the demands self-criticism was left out of the area of study; most already prac- only a tenuous unity. This made campus conversation, and this gave ticed activism in one form or anoth- one student write on the Facebook detractors room to accuse them er, and these strategies grew out of group wall, “They have sure done of naiveté and oversimplification. complicated personal histories. And an efficient job of bombarding us If the strikers had acknowledged Fukumori’s self-description is criti- with their propaganda.” Many strik- their missteps, maybe the criticism cal and reflexive. It accommodates ers cited “oppression” as a com- would have ebbed. At the same self-doubt. In an important sense, mon thread, but even I found this time, the hysterical defensiveness the most interesting, nuanced criti- explanation unsatisfying. It lacked of offended anti-strikers makes me cism of the hunger strike was gen- the specificity that would explain think that these critics weren’t ex- erated by the strikers and organiz- why these four demands were cho- actly looking for argumentative nu- ers themselves. sen, and not a host of others that ance. But these facts weren’t so obvi- could have been made on the basis “‘There’s been a lot of revisionist history about the level of support for the hunger strike,’ said Andrew Lyubarsky.”

ous. A pointed, effective communi- of battling sexism, LGBTQ discrimi- THE FUTURE AS HISTORY cation of motivations and demands nation, and other systemic exclu- didn’t always happen. Strike or- sion. Even now, I’m not sure that References to the 1968 protests ganizer Natalie DeNault (BC ’10) I understand; but I’m certain that stalked the hunger strike, and for called this problem one of the big- “oppression” as it was deployed obvious reasons. The events of 1968 gest setbacks for the hunger strike. didn’t have the explanatory and swelled into a national symbol of “We definitely had trouble convey- rhetorical power the strikers need- student protest and truly shook the ing the history of expansion, the ed. administration for years to come. facts and the figures,” she said. “It One strike organizer, asking It elicited sympathy from Ameri- created a cult of people who knew to remain anonymous, suggest- cans who opposed the war and dis- about it, and those who didn’t were ed in an e-mail that there exist- approved of violent intervention by on the outside.” ed “a potential tactical conflict in the NYPD. Blamed then for exert- And so the quickly assembled which many people felt that the ing unnecessary force, the admin- protest provoked much confusion ethnic studies/OMA/curricular is- istration strains, even now, to ex- and criticism from students, some sues were the most appealing for orcise this image. When President who thought of the strikers as a cultural organizations on campus, Bollinger spoke to the New York Ob- fringe group out to divide the cam- as evidenced by their statements server about the Manhattanville ex- pus. “I don’t think any activist of support and the numbers they pansion in 2007, he explained, “Be- movement can claim to be majori- turned out to our rallies.” Trying cause of the crisis of the 1960s, part tarian, but you try to cast a wide of to garner widespread support and of which involved space, Columbia a net as possible. It’s very difficult give each issue the attention it de- has struggled for several decades to do, though, and there’s no doubt served wasn’t easy. Perhaps it un- to address the issue.” that the hunger strike did polarize derscores the problems that all ac- But a triumphalist narrative of the campus,” said strike negotiator tivism faces. the 1968 protests can mask a large Andrew Lyubarsky (CC ’09). “But at One last problem I noticed was oppositional voice. A survey con- some point, when you view a lot of the reluctance of hunger strik- ducted by Columbia’s Bureau of Ap- things that are going on, you have ers and organizers to speak open- plied Social Research in the autumn to take a stand. And that’s what ly about their mistakes. Many men- of 1968 found that 68 percent of happened.” The goal of the hunger tioned inadequate communication, students opposed the demonstra- strike was not to divide, but to in- but when I asked for more details, tion tactics while 26 percent were 20 Columbia Political Review | cpreview.org for it. An opposition group—mainly athletes and fraternity members— also formed, calling themselves the “Majority Coalition.” They created a human blockade around Low Library, where students were con- ducting sit-ins, and prevented sup- plies from getting inside. Even Columbia’s most famous, most successful student protest was plagued by majority opposition. But last fall, the critics exploited new- er weapons: anonymous forms of communication like the Facebook group wall, Bwog postings, and on- Ramin Talaie / Bloomberg News line Spectator comments. Nameless over the internet, students wrote position as the Facebook, Bwog, leave, or whether it will persist in the most absurd, callous, hurtful and Spectator commenters claimed? the institutional memory at all. But comments without having to be ac- “There’s been a lot of revision- interestingly, demands that stu- countable for them. “When people ist history about the level of sup- dents fought for a generation ago can express their opinions anony- port for the hunger strike. It’s being have become a given in ours. Some mously—however well-thought out, presented in the popular culture protests live on invisibly—and this it changes the level of discourse,” of Columbia as if it was a totally is, in fact, a measure of their suc- said Marcel Agüeros (CC ’96), who fringe movement,” Lyubarsky said. cess. participated in the 1996 hunger “But almost every relevant group One aspect of the 1968 strike strike for Ethnic Studies. “When I on campus issued a statement of that’s often forgotten is the strong was protesting, there was nothing support. That’s been lost a lot in black-white schism between even how it’s being portrayed in white radicals and African Ameri- the months afterwards.” The can protestors who protested “Gym College Democrats, Colum- Crow,” Columbia’s plan to build a bia College Student Coun- segregated gymnasium in Morning- “Some protests live cil, Student Government side Park. When students began oc- Association, and many cul- cupying Hamilton, African American on invisibly —and tural groups released state- students active in the Black Pow- ments of solidarity, and er movement asked white Students this is, in fact, a many formally unaffiliated for a Democratic Society members students showed their sup- to leave. When last year’s strike measure of their port. “On the night that the raised the expansion question administrators finally capit- again, we saw students of diverse success.” ulated and said that they ethnicities, genders, and sexualities would give us a lot of our physically suffering together under demands, 300 to 400 stu- three tents. This historical turn pro- dents came out to the vig- vokes the question: what legacy of il to support us,” DeNault the 2007 hunger strike will haunt pointed out. the campus, 40 years on? Will we equivalent to that. The kinds of re- We will never really know how even realize what we will have tak- actions that I saw last year were many students actually support- en for granted? very embarrassing. I don’t mean ed the hunger strike; nothing more that people had to agree, but they methodical than a poorly execut- should be able to articulate their ed Spectator poll ever tried to cap- opinions and not hide.” ture the campus mood. We can only Was there really as large an op- wonder what traces the protest will

Catherine Chong Catherine (CC ‘11) volunteers for cial services around the city. In her [email protected] Advocacy Coalition, which pro- spare time, she hungers for a num- Sociology vides information to homeless and ber of things, including food and low-income New Yorkers about so- social justice.

Columbia Political Review | October 21 Nothing Super Caped crusaders and American crypto-fascism in Alan Moore’s Watchmen Billy Goldstein

t’s 1985. The Doomsday Alan Moore books don’t exactly have the unequivocally. And that, on one level, is Clock stands at five to best track record.1 Watchmen is uncom- what Watchmen is all about: a hard look 12. Nixon, after winning promisingly high-brow—rigorously ethical, at the mythos of the Superhero as it re- Vietnam and amending it provides no one clear viewpoint, offers lates to the very real possibility that the the Constitution, is in his no facile answers—and there is some con- world will tear itself apart. With bombs. I fifth term. God exists, and cern among fans that Snyder isn’t up to Instead of saviors who must overcome he’s American—but the the task of condensing the twelve-part adversity within a fairly well-defined mor- Cold War rages on. epic into a reasonably faithful two-hour al order, as is the case with most Super- This is the world of Watchmen, Alan approximation.2 So, before yet another heroes of the classical mold (Batman, Moore’s bestselling, trendsetting, ground- Alan Moore masterwork is turned into a Spider-Man, and their angst included), breaking, amazing, genius, superlative- flaming pile of dumbed-down doggy poo Watchmen’s protagonists all come with magnet comic book masterpiece. Watch- (God forbid), let us take a moment to their own version of a moral order, which men has won Kirby Awards and Eisner fawn lovingly over the best comic book of they try, and fail, to impose on an uncar- Awards, and it is the only comic book to all time—that is, to appreciate it. ing, or even hostile, world. The hostili- win a Hugo Award (the Oscar of sci-fi and What the hell is Watchmen about, any- ty they confront is somehow pre-moral, fantasy). It won for “Best Other Forms,” way? You know, the usual: free will, love, more primal and ambiguous than any- a category invented just to award it once the meaning and future of human life on thing you’ll find in a holy book, a punch again, and it is the only comic to make planet Earth…and Superheroes. Or rather, in the gut to anyone who takes comfort TIME Magazine’s list of the “100 Great- masked vigilantes, costumed crusaders, in phrases like “the essential goodness est English Language Novels from 1923 to Nazi perverts in spandex, whatever you of man.” The book has a reputation for the Present.” And on March 6th, 2009, af- want to call them—as long as it isn’t Su- leaving readers with an alarming feeling ter nearly 20 years of development limbo, per-, because (with one very important of unease, an angsty cauldron of angst Watchmen is coming to the silver screen, exception) there’s nothing Super-pow- where the stomach used to be—an expe- directed by 300 auteur (*coughcough*) ered about Watchmen’s heroes. Strictly rience I can personally vouch for. Zack Snyder. speaking, they’re not even heroes. Some In the midst of all this abyss-gazing,3 It is in anticipation of this long-await- of them try, earnestly, but Moore is the main characters cling, with increased, long-feared moment that I am be- too suspicious of hero nar- ing desperation, to their in- ing allowed to write about a comic book ratives to let any creasingly tattered and from the 1980s. Long-awaited, obvious- succeed compromised notions ly, because Watchmen is awesome; long- of goodness. What feared because adaptations of emerges out

Cassie Spodak

22 Columbia Political Review | cpreview.org of all this hand-wringing is a fairly com- al world. plex comparative discussion of ethics, Unraveling Moore’s own with several discernible viewpoints in positions gets tricky. The in- play. We get the nostalgic liberal techno- tegrity of the story is such “God exists, and crat, the right-wing Manichean absolutist, that one is led to feel that the cynical authoritarian would-be nihil- none of the characters can ist (also a right-winger, and a covert gov- be “right” or “wrong”—much he’s American— ernment agent to boot!4), and the mega- like real life, the experience lomaniacal, totalizing rationalist (among of reading it opens up, ulti- but the Cold War others). These viewpoints are not pre- mately, into ambiguity. Nev- sented as naïve sets of assumptions. In ertheless, certain of Moore’s rages on.” fact, all are premised (to varying degrees ethical commitments shine and in varying ways) on what we might through fairly clearly, and can call the fact of the abyss—an unpalat- be summed up by a recurring able mixture consisting, in equal parts, piece of graffiti: “Who watches ers. of a creeping sense of the meaningless- the watchmen?”9 In 1959, nuclear physicist Dr. John ness of human affairs (the modern con- Moore has stated publicly that the po- Osterman, son of a watchmaker, was dition) and the gut-knowledge of human- litical thrust of Watchmen is a kind of trapped inside of a test chamber at the ity’s brutal, essentially amoral core (the “anti-Reaganism,” but what exactly this Gila Flats research base, stripped of his human condition). “anti-Reaganism” consists of is both ob- “intrinsic field,” and thereby disinte- What this means is that the charac- vious and unobvious. Certainly, there is grated. But, you know, not entirely. “An ters’ positions (and hence their opposi- an obvious frustration with the idea that electromagnetic pattern resembling con- tions) are not schematic, but rather root- MORE BOMBS will keep the peace, as well sciousness” persists, and he is eventual- ed in the experience and psychology of as a strong suspicion that America’s mil- ly able to physically reconstitute himself. the characters who claim them. The op- itary interferences in, say, Latin America, Only now he’s big and blue and he glows. erative word here is realism,5 a princi- were not exactly conducted in the glori- And he has godlike powers, an absolute ple which circumscribes (almost) the ous name of Freedom. This authoritari- control over matter, which he perceives whole book. The characters have “stag- an, anti-democratic streak in Reaganism and manipulates at the subatomic level. geringly complex psychological profiles,”6 is, for Moore, tied up with the vigilantism He is a walking H-bomb, the “linch-pin and maybe one or two origin stories, but of Watchmen’s heroes. The moral view- of America’s strategic superiority,” Rea- nothing corny—no radioactive spider-bites points of the protagonists are all compro- gan’s SDI with a consciousness,11 a being or dead Uncle Bens. In fact, the first gen- mised, then, precisely because they are, who singlehandedly shifts the balance of eration of Watchmen’s costumed crime- or try to be, heroes—at bottom, all end up international power. And he works, for a fighters (sketched out in flashbacks and as anti-democratic, no matter how super- time, for the US government. the fictional documents at the end of ev- ficially liberal their character. Dr. Manhattan is the ultimate com- ery chapter) are inspired to don masks This proposal is complicated by two plication—he makes all other life on the by real honest-to-god comic books,7 and things. The first is the conspicuous ab- planet effectively obsolete. He is all-pow- they are socially perceived much as they sence of a truly democratic voice. There erful, and yet, in the context of Cold War might be in our world.8 Because of all of is a sort of Greek chorus, in the form of a Soviet psychology, he almost guarantees this, the motivations of the costumed he- newsstand vendor, but he’s something of Mutually Assured Destruction. He can do roes are questioned in a way that Super- a buffoon. Any voice that might conceiv- anything, but because he experiences all man’s would never be. And rightly so— ably be “of the people” is deeply mediat- time simultaneously, he is a determinist— given the world they inhabit, it should ed by the political world around it. For all unwilling or unable to alter the course of be no surprise that their claim to being the force behind Moore’s critique, it’s not events as he perceives it. He is unwilling agents of the good is fundamentally com- at all clear what he would substitute in or unable, for instance, to prevent the as- promised. place of Reaganism, or how being “anti- sassination of JFK, despite knowing about It is in this context that Moore thinks democratic” can effectively be a vice in it in advance. He implies the impotence— through how the presence of practicing, the absence of even the possibility of tru- moral, political, and even sexual—of ev- efficacious vigilantes might warp a soci- ly democratic discourse. ery conscious being (all species will even- ety (think police strikes, rioting, and leg- The second complication is what, in tually fail), and he is himself fatalistically islation, the last of which Marvel only addition to the book’s formal proper- incapable of making choices. recently ripped off in its Civil War sto- ties,10 kicks it up into a delicious realm of Most staggeringly, he is totally amoral, ry arcs, maybe hoping that after 20-plus sweet sweet goodness, way better than willing to be led along to “fight crime” on years no would notice the theft). He does anything anyone could have any right to behalf of the US government without any all this while simultaneously embedding expect. I am talking, sports fans, about sense of the humanity12 of his actions— arguments about accountability and en- Dr. Manhattan, the one exception to ev- because, really, he isn’t human. He is, trenched authority in the “Superhero dis- ery rule the book sets for itself and the truly, a God, and a God for our day and course” as it plays itself out in his fiction- only character with bona fide superpow- age. Reigning absolutely over matter and

Columbia Political Review | October 23 its mechanics, he is the deification of Sci- religious, until, perhaps, the end. But I And yet it cannot but concern us, it ence—the God of the Deists—the Watch- wouldn’t want to spoil anything. must concern us, because this is the maker, and ultimately just as detached All of this is, perhaps, part of Moore’s world we live in. Moore insists upon this, and uninterested in human affairs as that point. Insofar as Dr. Manhattan embod- and in so doing, insists upon the endur- god was imagined to be…except when it ies divinity as it exists for modernity, he ing relevance of his own work, able as it

The protagonists are all morally compromised...precisely because they are, or try to be, heroes —at bottom, all end up as anti-democratic. comes to sex. Dr. Manhattan is some- also embodies the conceptual limits (or is to grasp—in one long glance—the inco- thing of a serial monogamist, and yet he frontiers) of the universe Moore is writing herence of democracy and the dangers of never conceives a child (immaculately or about—a universe in which the meaning the Age of Reagan,13 as well as a sense of otherwise). of “human being” has been torqued in what lies below, behind, and beneath it: Most puzzlingly, for me—and this is a way no one understands quite yet. The an impenetrable metaphysical puzzle not something of a peripheral concern—is fate of democracy can seem a paltry con- even our atomic-powered deities can get his complete lack of interest in the concern in the face of the physical and tem- a handle on. “God help us all,” as the Co- ditions of his own identity. He knows, poral scales of science. median says. firsthand, something that no one in our world will probably ever know: that identity, sentience, consciousness can inhere Billy Goldstein Billy (CC’09) likes comic books and in things other than normal animal bod- [email protected] fancy words. He doesn’t ies. He is a God without any sense of the Creative Writing, Philosophy really want to graduate.

1. The League of Extraordinary Gentle- Nixon’s behalf. often laughed at.” men? VOMIT VOMIT VOMIT. V for Vendetta 5. You know, like in Flaubert and stuff. 9. Or quis custodiet ipsos custodes, as was better, but not better enough. The world of Watchmen looks and feels like originally penned by the Roman satirist Ju- 2. Terry Gilliam reportedly worked on a the world we live in, except when it doesn’t. venal. script for years before deciding Watchmen Moore and his illustrator, Dave Gibbons, 10. These are dazzling and deserve an was unfilmable as a feature (which Moore pack incredible amounts of nuance onto ev- article all their own. Would that I had the has been saying all along), saying he could ery page. The details are all synchronized space to address them substantively, but only do it as a five-hour (at least) miniseries. according to the demands of the work as a once you get going on how incredibly bril- That, obviously, never happened (alas). whole, so they don’t exactly produce a “reliant Moore is, it’s hard (for me) to stop (as 3. The title of every chapter is a fragment ality effect,” but the plot is so free of holes you may have noticed). of a famous quote, which is then repro- that the overall mood is still one of realism. 11. One of the fictional documents in the duced in full at the end of the chapter. The 6. Thanks, New York Times Book Review! book quotes theoretical calculations which first one is Bob frickin’ Dylan—“at midnight, 7. Specifically, theAction Comics of 1938, demonstrate that Dr. M could “deflect or all the agents and superhuman crew go out in which Superman made his first appear- disarm at least 60 percent” of a full-scale and round up everyone who knows more ances. This is more than a clever plot point. nuclear assault by the Soviets. than they do”—from “Desolation Row.” An- Moore, who had a very high-profile run on 12. At one point, Dr. Manhattan says, other, as the phrase that directed you down Superman, is situating himself in a heritage, “This world’s smartest man means no more here obviously suggests, belongs to Fried- in effect saying that Watchmen could not ex- to me than does its smartest termite.” He rich frickin’ Nietzsche, referenced before it ist without those first, schlock-filled comic understands human emotions only abstract- was even cool to do so again: “Battle not books—like Picasso and cave paintings, only ly, and is, Moore suggests, therefore incapa- with monsters, lest ye become a monster, with capes. ble of genuine moral thinking or doing. Alan and if you gaze into the abyss, the abyss 8. With derision and scorn, most likely. Moore, weighing in on Kant vs. Hume 200 gazes also into you.” Heavy, man. Heavy. Upon retiring, one of the first heroes writes a years after the fact. 4. That is, in Moore’s world, an agent memoir (Under the Hood—he becomes a car 13. Which we are undoubtedly still liv- of US imperialism. The Comedian, as he’s mechanic), the first few chapters of which ing in, despite the temporary cessation of known, toppled his fair share of Marxist Re- are “reproduced” in the comic. He writes the Cold War. publics in Latin America (the anti-Ché), and that masked adventurers were “sometimes may or may not have assassinated JFK on respected, sometimes analyzed, and most

24 Columbia Political Review | cpreview.org the police. Enough Is Enough But people also feel that Mexico systematically excludes citizens from poli- One boy’s murder mobilizes Mexico cy decisions that could change these cor- rupt systems. “In response to organized Karen Woodin crime, what we have is a disorganized society,” Kuri said. Roberto Gallardo, the or- Kidnappings are close to common prac- can’t be. We cannot just let this go.” But ganizer of Iluminemos Nuevo León—the arm tice in Mexico and the majority go unre- weeks before, an entire family was killed; of the march in the state of Nuevo León— ported. But when this fate befell Fernan- just days after, another boy was kidnapped agreed. When politicians convene on issues do Martí, the 14-year-old son of a wealthy and murdered. The media seized upon Fer- that affect society, Gallardo says, “the cit- businessman this summer, hundreds of nando’s case because his father had direct izen is uninvited.” March organizers, with- thousands of Mexicans flooded the streets access to them at the boy’s funeral mass, out an opportunity to participate directly of 88 cities throughout the country in a se- which was attended by President Felipé in government, took matters into their own ries of candlelit marches called Iluminemos Calderón. hands by creating one. México (“Let’s Illuminate Mexico”), crying This much-publicized case was also a People will remember the marches’ uni- “Enough is enough!” and “No more kid- rare one—only one out of every eight ab- fying effects in the face of this fragmenta- nappings!” ductions in Mexico targets the wealthy. The tion: “It was important that we came to- Two months later, the candles are extin- problem of insecurity in Mexico affects the gether as one people, without political or masses more than those who can afford to class distinctions,” Gallardo noted. hire private firms to keep their Politicians recognize this unity as the families safe. If Alejandro Mar- movement’s most potent asset, and at tí couldn’t save his son with all some levels of government, they are at- of his wealth, how could mid- tempting to restore faith in the democrat- “In response to or- dle class and impoverished ic process. families save theirs? It took Kuri plans to create a program called ganized crime, what the kidnapping and murder of “Commitment to Mexico” in Nuevo León Martí to trigger the “collective which would call upon individuals to fight conscience” of the society and corruption where they live and work. Hold- we have is a disorga- start a social movement. ing businesses, labor organizations, and Mexicans responded to the other groups accountable for their pledg- nized society.” high profile case by rallying in es would channel the spirit of Iluminemos 88 cities across the country. In México into a long-term policy. each city, wearing white and Meanwhile, Iluminemos Nuevo León ad- bearing candles, they marched dresses citizens’ demands through Semáfo- guished, and protesters are back at home. against the inefficiency of the government, ro Nuevo León or “Nuevo León Streetlight,” As a Mexican citizen, I wonder: What was echoing Martí’s words at the National Se- launched in August to lower crime rates in the significance of this massive public up- curity Council: “If you can’t [do your job], every city by 25 percent of the “historical rising? then quit.” mean rate” between 2004 and 2007. A city Frequent kidnappings and insecurity Among my friends and family, and com- receives a green light if it meets the goal, are not new in Mexico. According to Pab- mentators in newspaper editorials and a yellow light if it achieves between the lo Picatto, Director of Columbia’s Institute blogs, I have noticed general support for mean and the goal, and a red light if the of Latin American Studies, the rate of vi- the marches coupled with disbelief in the rate is higher than the mean. “We cannot olations and misdemeanors rose in the movement’s capacity to effect change. It control that which we cannot measure, and 1980s but has since remained constant. was a good means of expression, every- [Nuevo León Streetlight] allows us to evalu- It might be the case, he says, that more one said, but the government will not take ate results,” Gallardo says. crimes are reported now, masking a fall- action. These initiatives are still sprouting. But ing crime rate; but the statistics don’t tell Two reasons for this disillusionment are even if they don’t lower crime rates, if us the full story. the sterility and corruption of the justice done right, they establish spaces for citi- But it is clear that kidnappings and system and lack of trust in law enforce- zen participation—something the people murders perpetrated by the country’s ment. It should be noted that when Fer- also craved when they flooded the streets crime rings have been happening for nando was abducted, his father did not call this summer. years. Why organize now? One reason is the sensational and ex- Karen Woodin Karen (CC’11) is an international tensive media coverage of the Martí case. [email protected] student from Mexico. Her research Elías Kuri, the main organizer of Iluminemos Economics-Political Science interests include government, pub- México, said that publicity gave people lic policy, and economic policy. cause to think, “Since this happened to him, it could have happened to me. This Columbia Political Review | October 25 [ student poll: politics of recruitment] Are you aware of the reason that the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) is not allowed to recruit on the Columbia campus? margin of error: +/- 5.1 number of respondents: 319

CC No GS Yes CC

SEAS GS Barnard Barnard SEAS 83% of Total Barnard is aware; 45% of SEAS is aware. Women are more likely to be aware. # of students

No Yes Does Columbia’s ban on ROTC recruitment imply an anti-military stance? margin of error: +/- 0.66 number of respondents: 222

Yes

Women are more likely to say no Neutral than men. No

26 Columbia Political Review | cpreview.org Would Columbia’s acceptance of on-campus ROTC recruitment imply an endorsement of discriminatory hiring policies? margin of error: +/- 0.84 number of respondents: 222

Men are more likely No to say no than women.

Neutral Yes

If an employer recruits on campus, how much more likely are you to take advantage of their services? margin of error: +/- 0.67 number of respondents: 315

CC GS

SEAS Barnard

School Breakdown of Those Much More Likely

Not More Somewhat Much More Likely More Likely Likely Only 13% of seniors said “much For more detailed poll more likely,” compared analysis, visit cpreview.org. to 25% first years, 24% sophomores, 22% juniors.

Columbia Political Review | October 27 28 Columbia Political Review | cpreview.org