Talk about mounting tension!
If you’re reading this right this moment it means that you should be down here in 517 Hamilton Hall! Seriously, we got seats itching for bums and fantastic speakers laying down the truth. Call it a study break, you deserve it, don’t you?
Well, if you somehow can’t make it (and tsk tsk) the Cub Pub has you covered, as always. It’s live-blogging time!
We know it’s late in the semester and times are tight, but that doesn’t stop human rights abuses in Syria. Bashar Al-Assad hasn’t let up the violent oppression of his own people since the Arab Spring, where they demanded an end to his political party’s nearly fifty year long rule. Al-Assad’s military intervention against protestors has resulted in the deaths of thousands of Syrians and the violence is continuing. Just recently Al-Assad’s forces shelled and dispersed opposition forces located in the city of Hama, killing fifty people.
The Columbia Political Union will be holding a panel to discuss the future of Syria and the extent of Al-Assad’s violence and if you have any interest then you’ll be doing yourself a great disservice by not attending. The event will be taking place Tuesday (that’s today) in room 517, Hamilton Hall. Panelists will include Mayor Mohamed T. Khairullah and Mr. Sarab Al-Jijakli. Be there, or influential international journalist, Fareed Zakaria, will be disappointed in you!
This Wednesday at 7:30 CPU and The French Cultural Society are holding a informal discussion on the French Elections in the IAB. It’s a deeply fascinating subject because these elections will shape the balance of power throughout Europe for five years. But if you aren’t up to date with France’s politics this might be all news to you. Well never fear Pub goers, we’ve broken it down for you. So sit back, grab your favorite French import to snack on, and join us on a brief tour de French electoral politics.
Nicolas Sarkozy is the incombent president of France. In 2007 he won in his race against Socialist Party candidate Ségolène Royal for his first five year term as president. But his Union for a Popular Movement (UPM, center-right) wasn’t just running against the Socialist Party. Twelve parties ran in France’s 2007 presidential election. See, in France voting works differently than in the United States. Instead of one big election there are two rounds, one in April and one in May. If no party received more than 50% of the vote in the first round, then the top two candidates go head to head in round two. That allows for France to have a larger amount of political parties, and ideally a more fluid political system. It also means that parties one might consider fringe groups, such the National Front who’s main platform is preventing Muslim immigration, can be very successful in the first round. This happened in 2002 when Jean-Marie Le Pen of the National Front won second place in the first round with only 16.86% of the votes, only to be trounced by Jacques Chirac in the second round.
Nicolas Sarkozy
Sarkozy didn’t win his second round in 2007 nearly as easily as Chirac did, partially due to his opponent not being a far-right radical. His presidency was marked by some early successes, especially in environmental policy (Columbia even ranked France as the most environmentally respectful out of all the G20). But Sarkozy’s popularity has waned. He’s to liberal for the right who supported him and still to conservative for the left to adopt him. He also has a nasty habit of saying the wrong thing at the wrong time, with several gaffs during his presidency that have been criticized as either racist, intolerant, elitist, or some combination of the above. Once he even tried to convince people that he was present during the fall of the Berlin Wall by posting a doctored photo on Facebook. All that plus a struggling economy after the global economic turndown doesn’t give Sarkozy much momentum going into the race.
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Ambassador Eikenberry in action
You’ve enjoyed Bacchanal and took advantage of the Spring weather, but now there’s another type of Spring to turn your attention to: The Arab Spring. Join Karl Eikenberry, the current Frank E. and Arthur W. Payne Distinguished Lecturer at Stanford University’s Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies and former Commander of Combined Forces in and U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan for an open discussion on Afghanistan and related issues.
Not familiar with anyone on the panel? Well, just take the word of CPU GM Emily Tampkin, who says “from the state of U.S. relations to Afghanistan and the Afghan government to the potential for a regional oil pipeline deal that could bring peace and stability to the region, there are few more knowledgeable voices on policy in the area than former Ambassador Eikenberry.” That’s right, Eikenberry has got the Tamkin Bump, so you know it will be an exciting evening filled with intriguing conversation.
It’s all going down this Monday at 5 pm (that’s TODAY) in the Wein Hall Lounge. Do it up, Cub Pubbers!
Click after the jump to see Ambassador Eikenberry discuss private security companies in Afganistan
Columbia life moves fast, and sometimes we just can’t cover all the events that have been going on. That’s a darn shame, but thankfully our fellow campus pubs pick up the slack with their dedicated writing staff armies. So, in a segment we hope will stick around and a name we hope won’t last, let’s go through these articles. Together. As a family. No you can’t go out with your friends, we have plans. It’ll be just as fun, we promise.
Pictured: "Fun"
Generation Iraq: Last Wednesday, a small cabal of journalists who’ve covered the Iraq war came to the Journalism School to talk about the effect of the war on Americans, Journalists, and Iraqis. It was a really great panel discussion with highlights coming from photographer Ashley Gilbertson, Iraqi journalist Ali Adeeb, and Democracy Now’s Amy Goodman (if she would only get off her iPad). For more check out Laura Kirchner’s article in Capital, linked above.
Herman Cain does Columbia. Everyone has a take on Cain’s presence, and so far it has been pretty good natured. Spec was taken by Cain’s recital of a song from the Pokemon movie while Bwog amused itself with Cain’s silly question & answer session where he discussed pizza toppings. Both occurrences, we should point out, where already predicted in Cub Pub’s own Cain coverage article from last week. All in all it seemed like everyone had fun. See, we promised didn’t we?
Come down and join CPU at Deutsches Haus today as we host Political Science students from the University of Copenhagen! That’s right, 24 Danish students have decided to take time out of their busy schedules to come mingle with us because we’re just that fascinating company. Aww, stop it, you’re too kind!
Did we mention that coffee and refreshments will be served? The event starts at 5:00 pm at Deutsches Haus, 420 West 116th Street (between Amsterdam & Manhattan). See you there, Cub Pubbers!
CUCR chose you! Herman Cain Go!
You know what they say, no Cain, no gain! That’s so far been proven true enough since the race for the Republican presidential nominee hasn’t gained any momentum since Cain dropped out. But while Romney and Santorum fail to drum up excitement, Columbia is moderately psyched for Cain’s speech next week, 7:00pm Tuesday, April 10th in Low Rotunda. Ok, Cain’s no Obama, but there’s a few good reasons Columbians should be more enthusiastic for Cain’s Morningside appearance, such as…
#5 A Unique Perspective:
Cain isn’t your typical Republican who’s been towing the party line for decades. He’s a businessman who hasn’t really focused on the business world since 2000. He’s sort of all over the place from Burger King to Godfather’s Pizza to the Kansas City Fed to talk radio and then politics. 2012 isn’t the first election he’s run in either. He put his name in for the Republican presidential nominee in 2000, and then in 2004 he tried to be a senator. So far Cain’s had bad luck getting nominated, but he went pretty far in this race, especially for someone who hasn’t held a major office.
But now Cain is out and that means he’s free to talk about who’s left in. Sure, he’s going to pretend to like Romney, Santorum, and Gingrich, but this is Herman cain we’re talking about. He’s not one to shy away from a question. He’d laugh and make it sound all folksy before laying down some truth on the state of the GOP.
An emotional night with Ruby Bridges
Last week The Political Union sponsored two exciting speakers who share their expertise with the Columbia community: civil rights activist Ruby Bridges and Cold War historian John Lewis Gaddis. In case you missed these events here are some highlights.
The most emotional moment of Veritas Forum’s interview with Ruby Bridges happened near the end of the evening. Bridges discussed the moment when she realized that she was being treated differently because of her race. As the first black student to attend an all white school, Bridges experienced a great deal of adversity, but she didn’t know what had caused it until one moment. She approached a white boy to play ball but the boy refused, saying “My parents say I can’t play with you because you are a n*****.” Bridges describes the experience as actually comforting because it meant the children avoided her not because she was mean or unlikable, but because of their parent’s prejudices. Kids don’t understand racism, Bridges explained, and naturally see all people as equal. When she works with children Bridges often role plays as a racist, saying white dogs are better than black dogs, to which one student replied “but they’re all just dogs.”
The evening ended with Bridges encouraging everyone in the Diana Center Oval to “save our own world.” Tearing up as she spoke, Bridges said “I believe in you so much, I believe you can change your world.”
Read about John Lewis Gaddis’s talk on his latest book on Geogre F. Kennen, after the jump.
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A More Perfect Union: Views from the Left and Right 