“Mark
LeVine proposes a different way of thinking about "us"
and "them" in the Middle East: instead of seeing a
"clash of civilizations," he calls for historical
understanding and the creation of an 'axis of empathy.' This
is a necessary and illuminating work.”
— John Wiener, Professor of History, University of California,
Irvine.
“Why They Don't Hate Us is an engaging and provocative
response to a question that continues to be raised post 9/11.
Combining personal experience with a presentation and analysis
of history, politics, and culture, Mark Levine provides insight
into the origins and causes (from globalization and economics
to neo-conservative ideologues, journalists and political commentators)
of conflict between the West and the Muslim world.”
— John Esposito, University Professor and Founding Director
of the Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding, Georgetown
University and author of Unholy War: Terror in the Name of Islam.
"Mark Levine is a wandering ministral who also happens
to be a brilliant Middle Eastern scholar and veteran anti-globalization
activist. He hangs out with all the wrong people and brings
back profound insights that challenge the idiot stereotypes
and ethnic calumnies that pass for American foreign policy.
This brave and deeply stirring book simply blows 'the war of
civilizations' concept out of the water."
— Mike Davis, Author of Dead Cities
This book offers a groundbreaking exploration of the roots of
the current conflict between the United States and the Muslim
world. LeVine argues that the idea that most Muslims hate the
United States or the West is a useful fabrication that helps
fundamentalists on both sides to maintain political, economic
or cultural power in their societies through the spread of what
LeVine calls an Axis of Arrogance and Ignorance. He also offers
a critique of the works of writers and others who have been
crucial in the "branding of Islam" as a source of
violence and backwardness in today’s world. Against such
views, he advocates an Axis of Empathy as the only strategy
that can bring about a long-term solution to the current situation.
On Monday, Sept. 12, 7:30 p.m., Middle East
Historian Mark LeVine presents his new book Why They
Don't Hate Us: Lifting the Veil on the Axis of Evil and engages
in conversation with CODEPINK
cofounder Jodie Evans, who has made several trips to Iraq, along
with Baghdad-born Salam al-Marayati,
executive director of the Muslim
Public Affairs Council, a progressive voice for Muslim Americans
based in Los Angeles and Washington, D.C. The evening is moderated
by political scientist and KPFK "Beneath the Surface Host"
Suzi Weissman and is
cosponsored by CODEPINK and MPAC.
For more about the book click
here.
This evening is free to the public and takes place at Levantine
Cultural Center, 5920 Blackwelder Street, Culver City 90232. Info
310.559.5544.
Mark LeVine is a scholar, musician
and activist with well over a decade of experience living and
working in the Middle East, from Morocco to Iraq. As an guitarist
and 'oudist he has worked with Mick Jagger, Ozomatli, world music
artist Hassan Hakmoun and blues and jazz greats Dr. John and Johnny
Copeland. As an activist he has worked with various groups within
the global peace and justice movement and spoken at some of its
seminal gatherings, such as the Prague S26 Countersummit against
the IMF in 2000. As a journalist he has written widely in the
US and European press, including Le Monde, the Christian Science
Monitor, Middle East Report, and Asia Times. As a scholar he has
held positions at the International Center for Advanced Studies
at New York University, the Society for Humanities at Cornell
University, and the Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies
at the European University Institute in Florence, Italy. LeVine
is presently Associate Professor of Modern Middle Eastern History,
Culture and Islamic Studies at the University of California, Irvine.
His other books include Twilight of Empire: Responses to Occupation
(co-editor, Perceval Press, 2003), Overthrowing Geography:
Jaffa, Tel Aviv and the Struggle for Palestine (University
of California Press, 2004) and Religion, Social Practice, and
Contested Hegemonies: Reconstructing Muslim Public Spheres,
(co-editor, Palgrave Press, 2005).
Jodie Evans cofounder of CODEPINK:
Women for Peace with Medea Benjamin, has been a community,
social and political organizer for the last 30 years. She has
gone on several peace and aid mssions to Iraq since the war started
in2003, and has used her skills,for the protection of the earth,
to give voice to communities and people who go unheard and unseen,
in the area of human and civil rights, to protect the rights of
women, to raise the minimum wage for farm workers, to protect
dolphins, in El Salvador in the early 80's and with Zapitistas
since '94. From 1973 to 1982, she served in administrative capacities
in all of Jerry Brown's campaigns and in his staff and cabinet
as Director of Administration. Breakthroughs in wind and solar
energy happened while she was overseeing the office of Appropriate
Technology.
Salam Al-Marayati was born in Baghdad
and came to the U.S. as a young child. He is the director and
one of the founders of the Muslim
Public Affairs Council (MPAC), a public service agency aimed
at disseminating accurate information about Islam to the American
public. He has been director of MPAC for the past ten years. At
his present position, Mr. Al-Marayati has had the opportunity
to speak to congregations at community-sponsored events, temples,
synagogues, churches, high schools, and college campuses. Also,
Mr. Al-Marayati served as a Board member of the American committee
to Save Bosnia, a committee formed to lobby Congress and the Administration
to end the genocide in Bosnia. Mr. Al-Marayati serves as a commissioner
of the Human Relations Commission in Los Angeles, a commission
formed to improve access to city government, reduce discrimination,
and promote respect, tolerance and justice. He has written extensively
on Islam, human rights, democracy, Middle East politics, the Balkan
Crisis, and the Transcaucus conflict. His articles and interviews
have appeared in The Wall Street Journal, The Los Angeles Times,
The Christian Science Monitor, The LA Daily News, The Chicago
Tribune, The San Francisco Chronicle and USA Today. He has appeared
on radio and TV talk shows including C-SPAN and NBC.
Suzi Weissman (moderator) is Professor
and Chair of Politics at Saint
Mary's College of California and sits on the editorial boards
of Critique and Against the Current. She is the author of Victor
Serge: The Course is Set on Hope (Verso, 2001); and edited
Victor Serge: Russia Twenty Years After (Humanities, 1996),
and The Ideas of Victor Serge (Critique Books, 1997), as
well as many articles on the Soviet Union and Russia.
Suzi Weissman has broadcast drive-time public affairs programs
on KPFK for more than two decades. During the years of turmoil
and disintegration of the Soviet Union, she hosted many special
programs and live broadcasts from participants in the political
turmoil. Suzi Weissman's radio programs from 1986 to 2001 are
a featured archive at the Hoover Institution for War and Peace
at Stanford University. She is the recipient of the 1999 "Mover
and Shakers Award" from the Southern California Library of
Social Research. Her knowledge of Eastern Europe was a strong
feature in programming her independent coverage of the 1992-1995
war in Bosnia, as well as the pro-democracy and independent media
movements in Serbia and Kosovo during the recent regime changes
and street protests in that region. She currently hosts the Monday
edition of KPFK's "Beneath
the Surface" from 5-6 p.m.
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page or to make a contribution, click here.
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Axis
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