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Life Onboard |
LAST UPDATE
July 19, 2005
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| site design imagesparkle.com |
| August 31, 2004 |
Symposium: Has the world changed since September 11th? – Takahashi Kazuo, Kawabe Ichiro, Susi Snyder, and Andreas Zumach |
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| Kawabe Ichiro, Susi Snyder and Andreas Zumach (left to right) |
Has the world changed since September 11th? To answer this question, a panel discussion was held with guest speakers from three different regions of the world: Kazuo Takahashi and Ichiro Kawabe from Japan, Susi Snyder from New York, and Andreas Zumach, based in Geneva. Beginning the discussion, all panelists agreed that September 11th has influenced media coverage and domestic and foreign policies throughout the world. To narrow the scope of these issues, the panelists chose to focus on Japan, the European Union, and the United States. |
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| Takahashi Kazuo talks about Japanese media shifts |
Within Japan, both Kazuo Takahashi (author and professor on media and the Middle East) and Ichiro Kawabe, (an expert on United Nations affairs), have seen shifts in media and foreign policy. Takashi began by pointing out positive transformations in Japanese media. "There is a lot more attention towards Arab-Islamic affairs today and Japanese television has begun to show some reports from Al Jazeera, which I believe has increased Japanese awareness of the Middle Eastern issues." However, regarding Japan's own media, Takahashi explained that many large television and publishing companies are quick to align toward conservatism. Kawabe cited the Yomiuri Newspaper as an example of this, outlining its coverage of the three Japanese humanitarian workers taken hostage in Iraq earlier this year. Initially the paper's coverage seemed determined to get the hostages home safely. However, on the return of the hostages the paper shifted its stance, said Kawabe, noting that even the head of the company publicly sided with the most conservative wing of the government in condemning the hostages' actions, and requesting their families pay their rescue expenses. |
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| Takahashi and Kawabe discussing the North Korean issue |
Moving the focus of the talk away from media to foreign policy the two panelists brought up another important date - September 17th 2002. The significance of the date lies in the historic summit held between Japan and North Korea. During the summit President Kim Jong Il apologized for the abductions of Japanese civilians - the first official acknowledgement that there were abductions of Japanese nationals. Due to the hyped up media attention the admission created a public outcry. Takahashi explained that by exploiting this outcry and labeling North Korea as a terrorist threat, Prime Minister Koizumi was able to follow the Bush administration's position on the "War on Terror" in the Middle East and violate Article 9 of the Japanese constitution (a war-renouncing clause which waives the sovereign right of the nation to wage war or hold weapons) by sending Japan's Self Defense Forces to Iraq. Takahashi added that the media's position had meant that all this could be accomplished by Koizumi without his appearing to have gone directly against the United Nations, to appearing to be only following the foreign poilicy of the US. |
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| The EU is developing its military, says Andreas Zumach |
Andreas Zumach, a journalist reporting on the United Nations in Geneva, shifted the discussions by informing participants about two major changes in the European Union (EU): military expansion and domestic law changes. "Now the EU has much more leverage to search houses, conduct wiretaps, or spy on its own citizens," said Zumach - who emphasized that like in the US, these domestic policies are being used to target refugees and citizens' privacy rights. Of bigger concern to Zumach is the EU's recent development of military, or "Intervention forces," to align with the "War Against Terrorism. "Now the EU is taking very much the same stance as the Bush administration in the name of developing military in the name of fighting terrorism," said Zumach. "They even reserve the right to preemption," he added, pointing out that under the United Nations charter this has been an illegal concept for over fifty years. Zumach went on to explain the destructive nature of preemption, which does not require a country to be attacked before it goes to war, essentially allowing governments to attack other country indiscriminately. "The War on Terror is defined as a self defense war," said Zumach. "Yet with all these measures - all these new laws against terrorism - there is no consensus in the world of what "terrorism" is. Therefore, very arbitrary, very manipulative, measures can be taken [against opposing countries]." |
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| New Yorker Susi Snyder talks about security, law, and media |
As a resident of New York and the Director of the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF) United Nations office, Susi Snyder followed Andreas' discussion of the EU by pointing out the changes she's seen in New York since September 11th. "In the United States the culture of fear, which had been fading since the Cold War, has reemerged," said Snyder. This climate of fear, she said, has caused major changes to take place concerning - security, law, and media. Reflecting on her own experience Snyder explained that immediately following September 11th the streets of New York were filled with soldiers, which she says was to be expected. But three years later the soldiers remain. |
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Shifting the discussion away from security, Susi raised the issue of domestic law reforms that have targeted immigrant communities. One specific example was the round up of over 1200 people of South Asian and Arabic descent who were deported, or detained for unspecified amounts of time, shortly following September 11th. After the targeting of minority groups, the US broadened its scope, passing the USA Patriot Act. As Susi explained, the Patriot Act was a major controversy in terms of domestic law reform, and as in the EU's recent law reforms reduces the civil liberties of citizens by restricting privacy rights. Even prior to the passing of the Patriot Act, Susi said the media had aided in the culture of fear, by closely following the position of the Bush administration. Pointing the finger at major publications, including the Wall Street Journal and New York Times, Susi said the two papers have since published apologies for printing front-page stories that used unsubstantiated intelligence information to justify the Iraq War.
Wrapping up the discussion, the panelist reached a general consensus that with all of these changes taking place in Japan, the EU, and the US, citizens need to take action. "Within this climate, is it all right for us to just hold our heads and wonder what we should do? We need to be responsible changer-makers," said Kawabe. Ending the talk Zumach followed in agreement, "We as citizens have to apply pressure from within our countries and request - from the media, politicians, and journalists - that these changes be made." |
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