April 14, 2003 Issue

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Feature

Assault on Diversity

On April 1 the Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in the University of Michigan affirmative action cases on whether to overturn the 1978 Bakke decision and ban consideration of race as
Alfred Ross and Lee Cokorinos
Stanford U. and the Bush Administration

As student antiwar activists work to make their case against war persuasive to ambivalent classmates, the leaders of a Stanford University peace group have launched a different kind of campaign–
Emily Biuso
Dispatch From Spain

The Spanish capital took on the air of a battle zone the weekend after the war began, as antiwar protesters clashed with riot police throughout the city.
Samuel Loewenberg
Letter to America

Dear America:

This is a difficult letter to write, because I’m no longer sure who you are. Some of you may be having the same trouble.
Margaret Atwood
Dispatch From Germany

I came across a sign the other day, inelegantly scrawled on cardboard and stuck to a telephone pole. It read Fuck Bush.
Paul Hockenos
Dispatch From Mexico

“We have come to give flowers instead of missiles,” a flower producer repeated, as he gave roses to the passers-by in the main square of Mexico City on Friday morning, hours after the US attack
Tania Molina Ramírez
Dispatch From India

The Indian public has long been suspicious of the US arguments for military action against Iraq and the legitimacy of any “regime change” executed by a superpower with imperial ambitions.
Praful Bidwai
Dispatch From Nigeria

The gym is the last place to look for an impassioned discussion of global politics in Nigeria, a country that is currently pre-occupied with gasoline scarcity, rising political and ethnic viole
Waziri Adio
Dispatch From Egypt

My neighbor, who like many Egyptians prefers not to see his name in print, asked me about my nationality the morning the war broke out. “French?” he inquired hopefully. American, I told him.
Steve Negus
Dispatch From Jordan

The shockingly awful Anglo-American invasion of Iraq means that Jordan is now literally situated between two wars: To the west, the increasingly bloody Israeli-Palestinian confrontation is now
Mouin Rabbani
Dispatch From Philippines

Walden Bello was in Baghdad March 14-17 as a member of the Asian Peace Mission, a delegation of parliamentarians and members of civil society from different countries in Asia.
Walden Bello
Dispatch From Israel

As I was driving home from work late Wednesday night, it became clear that the assault would begin within hours.
Neve Gordon
Dispatch From China

The pedicab driver stretched out in the passenger seat, his legs thrown over the bicycle seat, half dozing and half listening to the latest news updates in the hours after America began its mis
Jen Lin-Liu
Dispatch From France

Following the first attack at 3 am French time, the morning papers were ready with generic “War Is Here” headlines, accompanied by full-page images of dark skies.
Mark Cramer
Dispatch From Russia

A few hours after the United States launched its first missile attack against Baghdad, I spoke to 400 students and faculty at Moscow’s largest university of commerce and economics.
Katrina vanden Heuvel
Dispatch From Vietnam

In this country, where a US military attack echoes more loudly perhaps than anywhere else in the world, protesters against the war are expressing themselves from Hanoi in the north to central V
Peter Davis
Dispatch From Britain

The night the war began, an ashen-faced woman in Parliament Square held up a photograph of an Iraqi soldier, reduced to a smudge of carbon but for his head and feet–an image from the last Gulf
Maria Margaronis
The Other Superpower

Jonathan Schell

Editorial

On White Preferences

The Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in the University of Michigan affirmative action cases on April 1.
Jay Rosner
CNN–War Casualty

You could have knocked CNN’s Aaron Brown over with a feather.
Susan J. Douglas
Bush and God

Not since Jimmy Carter’s confession that he had lusted in his heart after women other than his wife have Americans been so interested in the religious life of the man occupying the Oval Office.
Randall Balmer
Shocks to the Constitution

Spring officially began on Thursday, March 20, but the first real spring day in Washington was Saturday, a blindingly sunny day, flowers just beginning to peek out, the National Kite Festival o
David Cole
The Road to Peace

Many pundits predicted that the peace movement would dry up once war began, and indeed polls show that American support for the war rose to as high as 71 percent after its launch.
Liza Featherstone
With the Kurds

I’m standing at the northern front in Chamchamal, a quarter-mile from Saddam Hussein’s hilltop divisions. Before me six mounds of earth, like oversized anthills, line the ridge.
Eliza Griswold
The Rockets’ Red Glare

The fierce tableau of smoke and flames that US bombs created over Baghdad–a visual message of America’s awesomely destructive power–brought to mind Shelley’s meditation on an ancient ruin, wh
The Editors
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Column

‘Terror’ as the Ultimate Excuse

“My own government,” Martin Luther King Jr.
Robert Scheer
Codes of Etiquette

Recently, Nilas Martins, principal dancer at the New York City Ballet, was stopped in Washington, DC, by gun-wielding policemen.
Patricia J. Williams
Chickens in a Darkening Sky

Suddenly the sky is dark with chickens coming home to roost, and bedtime reading is Thucydides’ account of the disastrous Athenian siege of Syracuse.
Alexander Cockburn
On Richard Perle, Lobbyist, Businessman And, Perhaps Not Coincidentally, Chairman of the Defense Policy Board

The plans to start this war were laid
Within the Sissy Hawk Brigade–
A band of Vietnam evaders
All puffed up now as tough crusaders.
Calvin Trillin

Books & the Arts

Respectfully Yours

Richard Sennett is best known in the United States for his 1972 book (written with Jonathan Cobb), The Hidden Injuries of Class. That study of white working-class men, how they understoo
Linda Gordon
A Stone Unturned

Someone once described Graham Greene as the novelist of decolonizing Britain.
Patrick Smith
The Tragedy of William O. Douglas

William O. Douglas was a judicial record-setter.
David J. Garrow
To the Unfinished

Clear eminence without whom I would be
nothing oh great provision never seen
barely acknowledged even wished away
W.S. Merwin
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Letters

Letters

THE INTELLIGENCE SOURCE SPEAKS

Oxford, England
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April 14, 2003 Issue

Feature

On April 1 the Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in the University of Michigan affirmative action cases on whether to overturn the 1978 Bakke decision and ban consideration of race as

As student antiwar activists work to make their case against war persuasive to ambivalent classmates, the leaders of a Stanford University peace group have launched a different kind of campaign–

The Spanish capital took on the air of a battle zone the weekend after the war began, as antiwar protesters clashed with riot police throughout the city.

Dear America: This is a difficult letter to write, because I’m no longer sure who you are. Some of you may be having the same trouble.

I came across a sign the other day, inelegantly scrawled on cardboard and stuck to a telephone pole. It read Fuck Bush.

“We have come to give flowers instead of missiles,” a flower producer repeated, as he gave roses to the passers-by in the main square of Mexico City on Friday morning, hours after the US attack

The Indian public has long been suspicious of the US arguments for military action against Iraq and the legitimacy of any “regime change” executed by a superpower with imperial ambitions.

The gym is the last place to look for an impassioned discussion of global politics in Nigeria, a country that is currently pre-occupied with gasoline scarcity, rising political and ethnic viole

My neighbor, who like many Egyptians prefers not to see his name in print, asked me about my nationality the morning the war broke out. “French?” he inquired hopefully. American, I told him.

The shockingly awful Anglo-American invasion of Iraq means that Jordan is now literally situated between two wars: To the west, the increasingly bloody Israeli-Palestinian confrontation is now

Walden Bello was in Baghdad March 14-17 as a member of the Asian Peace Mission, a delegation of parliamentarians and members of civil society from different countries in Asia.

As I was driving home from work late Wednesday night, it became clear that the assault would begin within hours.

The pedicab driver stretched out in the passenger seat, his legs thrown over the bicycle seat, half dozing and half listening to the latest news updates in the hours after America began its mis

Following the first attack at 3 am French time, the morning papers were ready with generic “War Is Here” headlines, accompanied by full-page images of dark skies.

A few hours after the United States launched its first missile attack against Baghdad, I spoke to 400 students and faculty at Moscow’s largest university of commerce and economics.

In this country, where a US military attack echoes more loudly perhaps than anywhere else in the world, protesters against the war are expressing themselves from Hanoi in the north to central V

The night the war began, an ashen-faced woman in Parliament Square held up a photograph of an Iraqi soldier, reduced to a smudge of carbon but for his head and feet–an image from the last Gulf

Editorial

The Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in the University of Michigan affirmative action cases on April 1.

You could have knocked CNN’s Aaron Brown over with a feather.

Not since Jimmy Carter’s confession that he had lusted in his heart after women other than his wife have Americans been so interested in the religious life of the man occupying the Oval Office.

Spring officially began on Thursday, March 20, but the first real spring day in Washington was Saturday, a blindingly sunny day, flowers just beginning to peek out, the National Kite Festival o

Many pundits predicted that the peace movement would dry up once war began, and indeed polls show that American support for the war rose to as high as 71 percent after its launch.

I’m standing at the northern front in Chamchamal, a quarter-mile from Saddam Hussein’s hilltop divisions. Before me six mounds of earth, like oversized anthills, line the ridge.

The fierce tableau of smoke and flames that US bombs created over Baghdad–a visual message of America’s awesomely destructive power–brought to mind Shelley’s meditation on an ancient ruin, wh

GET UNLIMITED DIGITAL ACCESS FOR LESS THAN $3 A MONTH!

Column

“My own government,” Martin Luther King Jr.

Recently, Nilas Martins, principal dancer at the New York City Ballet, was stopped in Washington, DC, by gun-wielding policemen.

Suddenly the sky is dark with chickens coming home to roost, and bedtime reading is Thucydides’ account of the disastrous Athenian siege of Syracuse.

The plans to start this war were laid Within the Sissy Hawk Brigade– A band of Vietnam evaders All puffed up now as tough crusaders.

Books & the Arts

Richard Sennett is best known in the United States for his 1972 book (written with Jonathan Cobb), The Hidden Injuries of Class. That study of white working-class men, how they understoo

Someone once described Graham Greene as the novelist of decolonizing Britain.

William O. Douglas was a judicial record-setter.

Clear eminence without whom I would be nothing oh great provision never seen barely acknowledged even wished away

The stakes are higher now than ever. Get The Nation in your inbox.

Letters

THE INTELLIGENCE SOURCE SPEAKS Oxford, England

Dear America:

This is a difficult letter to write, because I’m no longer sure who you are. Some of you may be having the same trouble.

The plans to start this war were laid
Within the Sissy Hawk Brigade–
A band of Vietnam evaders
All puffed up now as tough crusaders.

Clear eminence without whom I would be
nothing oh great provision never seen
barely acknowledged even wished away

THE INTELLIGENCE SOURCE SPEAKS

Oxford, England