Wrestling with Shadows
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Wrestling with Shadows A Novel by Emanuel Pastreich This novel is entirely fictional and no part of its content is based on actual events or on the actions of actual individuals, living or dead. 1 Wrestling with Shadows Copyright 2021 2 Wrestling with Shadows CONTENTS Introduction page 9 Chapter 1 page 17 Chapter 2 page 53 Chapter 3 page 87 Chapter 4 page 113 Chapter 5 page 132 Chapter 6 page 148 Chapter 7 Page 177 Conclusion page 186 Appendix page 192 University of Illinois proposal page 192 University of Tokyo proposal Page 202 Peking University proposal page 210 Seoul National University proposal Page 214 3 4 Summary Emanuel Pastreich was an ambitious assistant professor at the University of Illinois when he happened to attend a demonstration of the on-line learning technology that was being developed there in April 2000. Within a few weeks, he had put together a proposal for shared courses on-line, for joint research and for other institutional collaboration between University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign and the leading research institutes in East Asia: University of Tokyo, Seoul National University and Peking University. Seeing such an unprecedented approach to on-line learning as a tremendous opportunity, he threw himself into the project. Pastreich had a strong command of the Chinese, Japanese and Korean languages form his training in Asian studies and his personal connections with top administrators and professors at the major universities in China, Japan and Korea allowed him to advance his ideas rapidly. He did not seek any personal financial benefit, and did not seek to promote himself, thus making the process far more easy. By June of 2020, Pastreich had prepared complex proposals in each language that were customized to the needs and concerns of each university, and each country. He also had developed a broad range of supporters across the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, from the school of engineering and the law school, to the school of agriculture and the business school. These academic units granted him more than enough funding to visit Asia and to pursue this proposal through a series of on-line seminars from the fall. It was the first time such a project had been attempted at an American university. But something went wrong in with the project. Pastreich’s department head at East Asian Languages and Cultures, and the d ean of Liberal Arts, refused to fund the project, or even to discuss the matter with Pastreich after June (although they had bee n big supporters previously). Ultimately, the provost asked the College of Liberal Arts to fund Pastreich’s trip which they agreed to reluctantly. Pastreich travelled to Korea, China and Japan in July and his proposals were welcomed all three schools. The enthusiasm at Seoul National University was the greatest, followed by Peking University and University of Tokyo. Pastreich returned to University of Illinois expecting to receive a hero’s welcome and to discuss the next step in this distance learning project with his peers. But he discovered a weird article in the school paper that criticized him for this entirely successful trip. Moreover, the department head refused to even met Pastreich to discuss the project, let alone allowing a trial on-line seminar. It made no sense for the weak department of East Asian Studies to oppose a proposal with support across the entire campus at University of Illinois, and with support in three major Asian universities. Clearly something else was going on. Pastreich thought that perhaps the dean was jealous of the power of the school of engineering which threatened to play a major role, or not willing to allow a junior professor to play an important role. But neither of these theories held water. The truth was that Pastreich stumbled into a challenge far beyond his pay-grade. The opposition of his department head was mandated by a classified, and illegal, operation that had been launched to destroy the proposal, and, if necessary, to destroy Pastreich’s career, in order to make sure the concepts behind it never saw the light of day. The proposals offered to Korea, Japan and China included solutions to geopolitical issues like Korean unification and US relations with China that found resonance with many policy makers in those countries. At the same time, those proposals were deeply threatening to certain politicians and military planners in the United States who had decided (because Clinton was trying to normalize relations with North Korea) that there was no limit to how far they would go to make sure that North Korea remained an enemy and China was perceived as a potential enemy that could never be a reliable partner. This campaign was judged necessary to US military presence at any cost and to prop up an unequal relationship between the United States with its allies in East Asia. Pastreich became the test case and there was no limit to w hat would be done. A secret team (FBI with CIA and NSA input) had been assigned to Pastreich to subtly undermine the project from April, The powerful forces in the military industrial complex (not the military itself which was sympathetic to Pastreich) could not stop the momentum generated at first by the project because it was exciting, potentially lucrative 5 (distance learning would become a multi-billion industry) and was supported by groups in Korea, Japan and China over which US operatives had little control. Over time, however, they were able to squash the proposal and the concepts, but not without considerable effort. First, in August, 2020, Faculty and administrators were explicitly instructed to stay away from Pastreich. At first emails to Pastreich, and phone calls, from Asia to Pastreich were blocked. His department head was ordered to take a series of steps to isolate Pastreich from his colleagues. As the fight within the Pentagon for and against the initiative for reconciliation with North Korea heated up Pastreich became a focus of attention. When a right-wing faction in the military seized power in December, 2000, in the aftermath of the catastrophic election, the actions against Pastreich were taken to a new level. Almost no one would meet with him. Yet, this isolation and harassment oddly enhanced Pastreich’s standing in the eyes of his supporters. The Bush administration appointed extremists to major positions in the military and intelligence who were ready to take extreme actions against Pastreich, even in light of his profile and his extensive connections. They were waiting for the right moment. That moment came when a Chinese journal published an article Pastreic had written advocating for a new peace regime in Northeast Asia that was published on Febuary 24, 2001. This vision of a common community anchored by the US and China was the last thing in the world that the “China threat” lobby wanted to see. Orders went down that Pastreich was to be “suicided” immediately. Although George W. Bush was cited as the origin of this order, he had no particular animus against Pastreich. He was responding to demands from a faction in the corporate world. If not for arguments by Colin Powell, and others, Pastreich would have been killed. In the end the angry forces in the military contented themselves subjecting Pastreich to constant death threats and harassment for years as a warning to others. When Pastreich’s father came to visit in February to see the son he was told was suffering from mental illness, Pastreich was dragged to the hospital to be certified as mentally ill without a single medical test. Sadly, Pastreich’s terrified family accepted this ridiculous process and refused to ask any meaningful questions about what had actually happened. Pastreich was forced to go through treatment, including medication, without any medical evaluation in a blatant sham. Such actions, however, were not unprecedented in American history. It turned out that Pastreich family had been fed the story of his mental illness through other channels even before February of 2001 and had been properly primed. But a funny thing happened in Pastreich’s meetings with the neurologist assigned to treat him. The doctor showed no interest in Pastreich’s health at all, but rather asked him in detail for his opinions on American security and diplomacy policy, even asking him to prepare papers describing proposals. From February, 2001 until the Summer of 2002, Pastreich was put on medical leave for mental illness. After April of 2002, however, he was given greater freedom of action, even if many of his friends refused to meet with him, or even to respond to his emails. Pastreich was allowed to teach again in 2003 after 18 months of treatment (and near poverty living on disability payments). He was given another chance to try for tenure in 2004. During this time, Pastreich developed close ties with a variety of people working on international relations and security issues in the United States. The conversations with those sent to spy on him were considered by certain groups to be of value. His suggestions about future security policy had far-ranging influence on those opposing the Bush regime. Pastreich was put in the bizarre position of both being under house arrest and subject to threats and being a significant figure in US domestic and international policy. Pastreich had increasing opportunities in 2003 and 2004 to talk at a variety of academic events, and even was granted two months in Japan for research. He was on the way to academic recovery—even though he did not wish to be an academic. But the illegal shutdown of the 2004 election undermined Pastreich’s defenders in government.