I received this on a US-based listserv. Does anything like it exist
already in Britain?



---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Fri, 21 Sep 2001 06:26:08 -0400
From: Nancy Ries <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: FW: professors for peace

please subscribe to Professors_for_Peace and pass this message on.

-----Original Message-----
From: Catherine Besteman [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Thursday, September 20, 2001 12:51 PM

Subject: professors for peace

Dear Friends,

I'm forwarding a message from Hugh Gusterson from MIT's anthropology
department, who forwarded the message below about a group being formed
called Professors for Peace. Please read these messages and if joining such
a group is in line with your thinking, send a message to subscribe to
[log in to unmask]

Thanks, Catherine Besteman


Dear Friends,

I'm writing to tell you about a network of faculty and other educators
called "Professors for Peace" that is crystallizing across the U.S. and
Canada in response to the attacks of last week and the gathering signs that
the Bush Administration's response to those attacks may result in much more
loss of innocent life and a further wave of resentment against the U.S. in
other parts of the world. Jennifer Terry's message below is pretty
self-explanatory. If you want to join this network send a message saying
"subscribe" to [log in to unmask] If that doesn't work,
contact Jennifer herself and she can add you to the group. In closing let
me say that there has already been some discussion about the network's
possibly elitist name, and Jennifer has made it clear that she construes
"professors" very broadly and is happy to include all stripes of educators
while holding on to both the alliterative title and the cultural capital
that still, fadingly, inheres in the title "professor."

best wishes,

Hugh Gusterson




 >Dear List members: A couple people have asked that I
 >post the original email that I sent out on Sunday that
 >sparked what is now growing into an international
 >network of people professing peace and justice. So
 >here it is.
 >
 >Jennifer Terry
 >
 >Dear Friends:
 >
 >I have been talking with some of you and with others
 >informally around the US and overseas about the
 >possibility of starting a group called something like
 >Professors for Peace. Perhaps there is such a group
 >already but I am not aware of it. If any of you knows
 >of such a group, would you please let me know? Some
 >of us may consider joining it or, in its absence, we
 >may consider forming one. In any case, here is the
 >impetus behind the idea I propose to you now.
 >
 >Basic rationale: It seems obvious to many of us
 >teaching college students right now that they have
 >very little understanding of the history and
 >possibilities of peace movements and that many of them
 >are not so gung-ho about going to war yet they are
 >nearly paralyzed and cannot think of alternatives
 >right now. Also many of them feel personally
 >threatened by the unleashing of bigotry being done in
 >the name of patriotism and national security.
 >
 >Basic strategy: In addition to teach-ins and courses
 >and public (on and off-line) demonstrations on waging
 >peace in a post Cold War world, Professors for Peace
 >could work in affinity with other anti-racist groups
 >fighting against the rising tide of hate crimes
 >against people of Islamic and/or Middle East and South
 >Asian origins. I understand that a course on
 >tolerance and hatred is being put together to be
 >collectively taught this Fall quarter at Ohio State
 >University. We could share syllabi and course
 >materials about such courses and teach-ins. And we
 >could form ad hoc watch dog groups to monitor the role
 >of the university in funding and supporting defense
 >contracts and the current mobilization for war. In
 >other words, there is much to be done and we could
 >decide how much we want to undertake and what our
 >coordinated strategies might be. Outreach to you is
 >the first step. We might find that we should organize
 >in local contexts, college by college, university by
 >university. Or we might want to think of other
 >strategies for organizing, such as around particular
 >foci and tasks. Or a combo of these and other kinds
 >of strategies and subgroups. I'm thinking outloud here
 >folks, so please bear with me.
 >
 >Beyond the Campuses and into the Public Sphere: In
 >addition to whatever we do on campuses, the group
 >could show the larger society that the professoriate
 >has a crucial (and neglected) role to play in shaping
 >public dialogue and debate right now. This could also
 >be an avenue for the voices of profs of color, women,
 >and queers to be heard -- we are almost no where to be
 >found in all the pundit shows and "late breaking news"
 >on TV right now. Right now it's mostly the straight
 >white men heroes' show. We need to be more organized,
 >involved, and visible as this country moves toward
 >some racist war.
 >
 >Let me know your thoughts on this and please spread
 >the word to others who you think might be interested.
 >
 >Jennifer Terry
 >Visiting Associate Professor of Women's Studies
 >UC Berkeley (2001-2002)
 >Associate Professor of Comparative Studies
 >Ohio State University




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