Donahue, Ratner Discuss War and Terrorism at Goodman Symposium
Submitted by MikeN on Sun, 11/06/2005 - 23:14.
Editor-in-Chief Amidst a packed audience in the Student Activities Center auditorium on Thursday, well-renowned former talk show host Phil Donahue and the President of the Center for Constitutional Rights Michael Ratner spoke on issues of terrorism, war, free speech and civil liberties in today's age, as part of the seventh annual George Goodman symposium. The event was part of the University's Provost's Lecture Series, and was in honor of the memory of George Goodman, a former professor of ophthalmology at the Stony Brook University medical school, and father of well-known journalist and host of the Democracy Now! radio and televison public affairs program Amy Goodman, who was also in attendance. Before Donahue and Ratner went on stage, Goodman briefly addressed the audience, thanking Donahue and Ratner for appearing and for their active role in their involvement in issues of peace and justice. "There is nothing more noble than being involved, than participating, than being engaged," said Goodman. Goodman also made mention of the recent addition of Democracy Now to university radio station WUSB 90.1 FM's broadcast schedule each weekday afternoon, which was met with applause by a large portion of the audience. Ratner, who is also the author of several books, including "Guantanamo: What the World Should Know," and who served as the co-counsel for the Guantanamo Bay detainees in their landmark June 2004 Supreme Court victory, began his speech with harsh words about the Bush administration. He spoke of a lawsuit he recently filed in Germany against Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld for war crimes, thanks to the country's far-reaching human rights laws. Ratner drew comparisons between some aspects of the Bush administration's policy and those employed by Adolf Hitler's regime in Nazi Germany. Quoting an excerpt from Irmgard Litten's "Beyond Tears," a story written by the mother of Hans Litten, who cross-examined Hitler in the years before he became the leader of Germany and who was later executed by the Nazis for that reason, he said: "It's chilling not just for of what the Nazis did then, but for where this country is going today. "I'm telling this story not because I think we're living in the Germany of the 1940's, but to emphasize the dangers of the direction in which the Bush administration is taking us." Ratner emphasized the role the Bush administration's stance on the Guantanamo Bay controversy has had on citizens' day-to-day rights. Likening Bush to "a king without any checks and balances," Ratner stated that "a lot of [the] constraints on the executive are being ripped away," and that the Bush administration "has abandoned fundamental legal tactics," in dealing with the Guantanamo Bay detainees. Ratner, who represented the Guantanamo Bay detainees in their Supreme Court victory, then likened the conditions at the prison camp to "Dante's 9th Circle of Hell" and spoke of some of the tactics used against the detainees, including "assisted feeding" of detainees on hunger strikes. "Guantanamo and Abu Gharib are iconic symbols of what this administration is doing," said Ratner. "...We are now living in an outlaw state." Ratner attributed the success of many of the ongoing policies of the Bush administration to the lack of a progressive movement to oppose those policies, closing off his speech by saying: "This is not a time to sit on our hands. It is not a time to be summer soldiers, it's a time to be winter soldiers, and to really get out there and end torture at Guantanamo and really bring this administration down." Donahue, who came to the podium immediately after Ratner's speech, started with some light banter and jokes about his career as a television talk show host, but then continued along the same vein as Ratner, urging people to be more active in their opposition to the policies of the Bush administration. "The American public is largely standing mute while the Bill of Rights is being shredded," said Donahue. "More and more young men and women are giving their lives to an immoral, unnecessary, unconstitutional, unwinnable war, and the American populace is standing largely mute." Donahue also attributed much of the blame for the lack of a strong opposition movement to the Democratic party and the two-party system. "[The] Democratic leadership stood there like a deer in the headlights," said Donahue. Like Ratner, Donahue also spent a large portion of his speech discussing the Bush administration's policies, terrorism and the role of free speech and dissent in today's society. He likened the war on terror to a "crusade without a devil," noting that the people of the United States are, as a whole, much more religious than people in most other countries. "We are a very religious nation," said Donahue. "No one is inhibiting our freedom to worship." Donahue made mention of the effectiveness right-wing religious groups have had in this country as far as influencing public opinion, pointing out that in a recent poll, 51% of respondants did not believe in the theory of evolution. "It's amazing what you can do if you scare the people," said Donahue. Donahue referred to the Constitution and Bill of Rights as a "sacred" document, adding: "I see what the framers [of the constitution] meant...I see that there's no democracy without dissent." Donahue, who pioneered the advent of audience-participation television, spent a good portion of his time on stage discussing the role of mass media, and had especially harsh words for the role mass media have played during the war in Iraq. "If you are anti-war, you can get on television as a guest, but you cannot have your own show," said Donahue, referring to the program he hosted on MSNBC before the invasion of Iraq in March 2003, which was cancelled due to his anti-war stance, despite being the highest-rated show on the network at the time. "American corporate media are beating the biggest drum for this war," he added. Like Ratner, Donahue called on the American public to take an active interest in their government's practices, and on events happening overseas, something which he feels most people should do more of. "We are a nation without curiosity for anything beyond our shores," he said. After their speeches, Donahue and Ratner fielded questions from the audience, which filled the SAC auditorium to the top but which was also mostly comprised of non-student members of the local community. The two speakers, as well as Goodman, were met with applause multiple times throughout the evening, and Goodman spent time after the speeches speaking to members of the audience in person. The event was taped for future broadcast on Democracy Now! and on C-SPAN. Photos by Peter Poon/Independent |
Upcoming events
- How to Survive the Holidays without Gaining Weight or Going Crazy(event)(10 hours)
- Symposium on Constitutionalism and the Rule of Law in Egypt and Iran(event)(12 hours)
- Belly Dancing Club Fusion(event)(17 hours)
- Lecture: Geology Open Night(event)(18 hours)
- Admissions Open House(event)(1 day)
