Discussion On War In Afghanistan Held In SC

This is the panel that held the forum on the war in Afghanistan. Students checked out the litterature on the war.

Students who wanted to talk about the war in Afghanistan got a chance last Wednesday when a forum on the war was held in the Student Centre Board Room.
A three-member panel was on hand to give their views on the situation, direct discussion and answer questions. It consisted of UTM’s Diversity Officer Pardeep Nagra, Professor Richard Iton and Mohammed El Rashidy from the Muslim Students Association.
After being welcomed to the event and having the proceedings outlined by Nagra, Iton made several points about the current war. Although he clearly stated that he was not an expert in international politics, he was obviously knowledgeable of the subject.
“It’s not clear that the United States has thought through the long-term results of what they’re doing,” said Iton. “They don’t seem to have a goal for what they want to see in that part of the world after the war.”
He spoke about the dangers of describing the terrorists simply as evil, which takes sets America implicitly up as innocent. If it’s purely good against evil, it’s difficult to examine things like foreign policy with helped to bring the situation to this point.
Nagra brought up the anti-terror bill that’s likely to be passed, agreeing with Iton that non-whites and especially Arab-looking people will bear the brunt of its effect, as they now bear the brunt of increased security at places like airports.
El Rashidy followed, talking about the troubles of someone being held currently for suspected involvement. He said a man is kept naked in solitary confinement and only allowed to see his lawyer for five minutes a day. Because of the Secret Evidence Act, his lawyer can’t even find out for sure what his client is charged with.
“In the mainstream media, only the facts of the trial are reported, not these abuses of the accused,” says El Rashidy. “We don’t get a balanced message delivered to the public because we don’t have a balanced, diverse group of people delivering that message.”
“The minute you employ the cliché ‘If you’re not part of the solution, you’re part of the problem’, you’re going to have people not standing up to speak out and be counted,” adds Nagra.
At this point, the floor was opened to questions and comments from those in attendance. The first one came from Mohammed Hashin, a UTM student and member of Breakdown, who asked about the United States interest in this war, making reference to the oil situation that came into play in the Gulf War.
While Iton commented that oil has been suggested as an additional U.S. interest this time too, El Rashidy said he’d like to believe it really is terrorism and nothing else. He added that the current strategy for fighting terrorism doesn’t seem to be working. Instead, it is widening the gap between different races and viewpoints.
“We must bridge this gap before it grows too wide,” he adds.
UTM ECSU President Erick Mckinlay was in attendance and asked what the panel thought of the Canadian media coverage of the situation since September 11th. All of three panel members agreed that CBC had been doing a pretty good job of trying to represent diversity, especially through their town halls on the issues. Iton emphasized the difference between Canadian and American coverage.
“What’s going on in the United States media doesn’t reflecy how people are feeling,”
explained Iton. “People don’t feel safe about questioning what’s happening; they feel there are no places available to discuss the situation openly.”
Nagra also commented on working with the media to bring out diverse perspectives, instead of simply knocking it down.
“Find people who are responsible for information and speak to them in good faith, trying to get them to understand your point of view,” he said.

“There’s hope if we believe there is.”
Another student, Ferozan Fariad, commented on Bush’s use of specific language.
“He’s used the word crusade. He said this terrorism was an attack on Christians and Jews,” said Fariad. “This language separates Muslims and other minorities, leaving them little voice against the media influence of figureheads like Bush.”
This led to a discussion of the real politics of the situation, far too detailed to relate in full here. The information is important however, so if you’re interested in this issue, find out the background. The discussion touched on the rise to power of Osama bin Laden, Northern Alliance and the Taliban, as well as foreign policy, the difference between fighting and governing, the method of the United States to isolate the countries it doesn’t like, and the reasons terrorism can breed in sme of these countries. Many insightful comments were made by students in attendance.
“We should eliminate reasons for terrorism,” said Hashin. “not its breeding grounds.”
“My hope is that, after the Taliban is out, foreign aid will be flown in to help rebuild the country and establish a government that the people there want,” said UTM student Michelle Daley. “The Western world is very liked because it hasn’t helped.”
When one student asked what effect the panel thought the war would have on neighbouring countries, Iton delivered an excellent metaphor.
“It’s as if the United States was bowling and all these countries were the pins,” he said. “The U.S. doesn’t care if it gets a strike and knocks them all down; it’s going home when the game’s over.”
Before the forum wrapped up, someone asked what they could do about the situation, other than donate to the relief funds. Nagra encouraged everyone to express themselves by submitting to the Medium or writing to other media outlets, as well as talking to other people and finding out what they think or what they’d like to see happen.
“The key is to take initaitive,” said Nagra. “And donations don’t hurt either.”
El Rashidy added that self-education of the situation and the different viewpoints was also essential, while Iton suggested writing to those who have spoken out against the war and lost their job or been unjustly investigated for it.
“Let them know they’re not alone in their opinions and that there is support for them,” he said.
The forum was organized after Fattah Abogodieh, president of the Muslim Students Association, suggested it to Jason Nicols, Student Centre Events Coordinator. They realized there was a need on campus for such a forum, but it took a while to find people who would speak on the panel and to balance their schedules to arrive at a date.
“It was disappointing to find that many faculty members didn’t want to speak because they didn’t consider themselves experts or, worse, didn’t have a particular opinion on the situation,” said Nicols. “But it did happen and hopefully we can organize with more groups in the future to have more forums of this kind.”
“It was an excellent start,” said Abogodieh. “I learned a lot myself, more than I have at other panels on this issue. discussed.”
For a closer look at the effect of the media’s manipulation in the coverage of the war, attend Breakdown’s “Breaking Down the Message” presentation Wednesday at 6 p.m. in the Student Centre.