The tone was serious Saturday in the EMU, where about 130 people gathered to attend “After 9/11: The New Militarism and the Question of Belonging,” a one-day symposium sponsored by the ethnic studies department in cooperation with the Multicultural Center and other campus groups. Keynote speakers and panelists discussed immigrants’ rights, racism, militarism and repression in post-Sept. 11 America, focusing on the incarceration and deportation of immigrants.
The idea for the symposium came from Nerissa Balce, a visiting professor from University of California­Berkeley and a member of the Critical Filipina and Filipino Studies Collective.
“9-11 is a critical moment that is being addressed by ethnic studies and feminist studies scholars,” Balce said. “The conference came out of my own interest in having a public intellectual conversation about the human cost of the war on terror and the invasion of Iraq.”
One of Balce’s primary concerns is the loss of rights for immigrants and people of color in post-Sept. 11 America.
“It is important for people to know that the war affects not just those abroad, but domestic issues as well,” Balce said. “People are scared. This culture of surveillance targets immigrants and people of color. Deportations have increased. Incarcerations have increased. I wanted to put before the community the work of scholars who have analyzed this.”
Speakers included University of California­Santa Barbara sociologist Kum-Kum Bhavani, who discussed the role of women in the Third World in the global peace movement; University of California­Berkeley rhetoric and comparative literature Professor Judith Butler, who examined the social and political aspects of the Iraqi prisoner abuse photos; and Brooklyn College post-colonial theorist Moustafa Bayoumi, who criticized the war’s effects on public knowledge.
The afternoon panel was led by Fiona Ngô, a visiting instructor in the ethnic studies department. Panelists examined post-Sept. 11 labor discrimination against Filipino immigrant workers, the effects of the USA PATRIOT Act on Asian Americans, the parallels between the Vietnam and Iraq wars and the detention of Muslim and Arab immigrants.
By projecting stereotypes and encouraging public ignorance about the Islamic world, Bayoumi said, the American government gains more power to create discriminatory policies.
“Rights have evaporated like a kettle whistling dry,” he said. “This is not just a stupid war. It is a war designed to make us stupid.”
A recurring theme of the symposium was the history of profiling in the United States. A screening of Jason DaSilva’s documentary “Lest We Forget” compared post-Sept. 11 immigrant detentions with the internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II. This connection, panelist Irum Shiekh said, has led to Arab-Asian alliances against profiling.
“Japanese- and Korean-Americans have been really supportive, and they were some of the first groups that spoke up against the detentions of immigrants,” she said.
The symposium did not include arguments in defense of U.S. policies post-Sept. 11. Organizers said this was because scholars critical of the government needed a forum to discuss their concerns.
“The other side is amply provided a predominant position on FOX News and Clear Channel,” MCC adviser Steve Morozumi said. “This is an opportunity to look at how scholars are examining these issues.”
The symposium inspired some attendees to organize against discriminatory policies.
“It’s going to take a lot more effort on the part of people in this country to come together as a whole,” freshman Adam Lewis said. “Workshops like these help us get our ideas in sync.”