"Man has been given to understand that he lives only by grace of those in power. Let him therefore busy himself sipping coffee, catching butterflies. Who cares for the Republic will have his right hand cut off." Czelaw Milosz |
Iraq, the Middle East, the War on Terror: A Different Approach to U.S. Foreign Policy Reflections on THE GOOD FIGHT by Peter Beinart Speakers: Peter BEINART Editor-at-large at The New Republic, author of The Good Fight Paul BERMAN Journalist, writer, expert in American foreign policy Msgr. Lorenzo ALBACETE Theologian, author, columnist Tuesday, September 19, 2006, 7:00PM Columbia University 117th Street & Broadway, New York |
| HUMAN AFFAIRS Dialogues on events that shape our world |
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| FROM THE OPENING SPEECH: I would like to make just some brief comments regarding what motivated us to organize this event, and why we think that having Peter Beinart and Paul Berman discussing current challenges and opportunities to American foreign policy is truly a unique occasion to understand our current situation. I think that most of us remember the years right after the end of the Soviet Union, when many thought that the age of the great totalitarian ideologies had finally come to an end. Thus, it seemed likely that world politics were headed back to the 19th century, to some "great game" of national powers competing for political and economic supremacy. Little did we imagine that, on the contrary, the next quarter of a century would witness a veritable worldwide explosion of ideology. Little did we imagine that by now we would be back to a situation where what is at stake in foreign policy is not just the distribution of political power in the world, but much more fundamental philosophical and even theological issues, as in the Pope's remarkable speech in Regensburg a week ago. What is freedom? What is reason? What is it that we prize in our civilization? How is a true dialogue among cultures possible? Peter Beinart and Paul Berman are among the few commentators who seem to be fully aware of this cultural and philosophical dimension of the present political situation in the world. Their work, including Peter's new book that he will present to us tonight, centers on the struggle of human freedom against totalitarian ideology. On our part, together with Msgr. Luigi Giussani, we regard ideology and nihilism as the deeply ingrained diseases that are undermining our civilization and threatening our freedom, not only from the outside (in its Islamic forms), but also, in some ways, from the inside. We also believe that a true dialogue between cultures requires a clear awareness of each one’s identity. |