Gündem Newspaper (31, English)

Media often spoke aboutthe role of women in theSyrian uprising. Women

are politically active, but they haveto play their roles as mothers andwives as well. What are the socialchallenges faced by those womenactivists? How do they prove theirpresence in this revolution? Howmuch time do they spend on theirpolitical activities? We asked thesequestions to a woman activist inDaria, Damascus via Skype pro-gramme on the internet. For rea-sons of security we will not discloseher name.

She tells us that every day shewakes up at around Vve o’clock inthe morning. Until her kids wakeup, she completes some revolution-ary work such as writing reportsand essays and printing them. “Inthe early morning, I communicatewith activists across the Internet inorder to coordinate matters con-cerning the revolution” she says.When her kids wake up at seveno’clock, she stops being a revolu-tionary for a while to fulVl her dutytowards her children as a mother.About ten o’clock she goes out todo some activities like visiting the

homes of the families ofmartyrs or participating indemonstrations, sit-insand psychological supportcampaigns for children. “Icarry my small child, whois 3 years old, with meand leave the two olderchildren at home alone”she says.Usually at two o’clock inthe afternoon, she goesback home to see how herchildren are doing and tobring them food. She thentidies her house and goes

out at Vve o'clock to complete heractivities.At about eight o’clock in theevening she stops being a “revolu-tionary” and becomes a housewife.“When I go back home, I Vnd myhusband waiting for me. We sit andtalk about what we have done dur-ing the day and we make our din-ner. When I get to bed at night Iam usually so tired that I can’tmove” she tells.Having children is not a problemfor her revolutionary work, shesays. What do her children thinkabout their mother’s activities as arevolutionary? We asked this ques-tion to one of her children. “I do

not see my mother too much, she isalways busy, she is either on thecomputer or outside” he says. Whatabout her husband? We asked herhusband about his opinion on herwork in the uprising. He said hewas very happy to see his wife help-ing people. However, he was some-what cynical about her politicalactivities: “e revolution needsher, but so do her kids,” he said.Last note : After a week we con-ducted our interview with her, shewas arrested in Damascus when shewas trying to go to Homs to deliverfood and medicine to the opposi-tion.

Hussein Alrajab

The Welcoming Night Party organizedby the Social and Cultural ActivitiesDirectorate as part of the Orientation

Days for new students was fascinating. eappreciative rock and roll music, the blazingof the twirling guitars and other musical in-struments revealed yet another exciting cam-pus funfare.e louder the music were, themore the uncontrollable student’s reply in ex-citements.

e stage program featured a DJ perform-ance by the EMU Radio and the InternationalCenter, a Turkish Cypriot folk dancing showand concerts by the Music Club, the Man-avella and the NaVz Dölek band, all thrillingthe students to the fullness at the WelcomingNight social gathering. e blend of theNigerian popular music ‘o wu sagi’ and a mix-ture of other African sounds were compelling

to the core.However, a look at the mixture of men and

ladies in the displayed traditional Cyprusdance, one can picture out the use of propsarrangement as in the use of sickles, spectacles,forms and costumes perfectly communicatedto the ever interesting crowd.

e Director of the International Centerheartily welcomed the new students on cam-pus to the EMU family, wishing them a nicestay and assuring them that they will enjoytheir university education.

Cheering noises pervaded the arena as theRector Prof. Dr. Abdullah Y. Oztoprak stoodon the platform to deliver his welcome speech.Prof. Dr. Oztoprak welcomed the studentsand admonished them to shun violence. “Youshould note that you are going to be in a mul-ticultural programme on campus, behave care-

fully, use up the opportunities that come yourway and once again, university education isnot only in the class, but with the people andthe environment you live in. ere are facili-ties on campus; use them and enjoy yourself ’’he concluded.

While the show continued with entertain-ment until late night, the event at AtaturkSquare witnessed an exhibition of differentfaculties, each under their cubicle welcomingand cheering up new students, with their en-quiries.

Issue: 31 September-October-November 2012Faculty of Communication And Media Studies Student Newspaper

Nmezi Onyedikachi UzozieWelcoming Night Party at Atatürk Square

“Mom” is a revolutionary:Notes fromthe daily life of a Syrian woman activist

http://gundem.emu.edu.tr

ENGLISH

Since the history tells us, the human be-ings had always lacks of many thingsto survive, so that our ancestors had to

work on these lacks to fulVl the gaps of sur-viving to continue their life. e interestingthing is that the human body is very weakin comparison to other creatures to survivein nature. For instance we cannot run sofast as many animals, neither jump likethem or even Wy, but because the human be-ings are intelligent and are able to think andcreate new ideas, thus we can advance ourcivilization. ere is also constantly a mak-ing progress in human`s life, so we can bemuch more powerful in achieving suchmentioned tasks but with the help of de-vises, which are made through ourminds.One of the most important thingsthat were always important to humanbeings for survival was the energy andmore importantly how to make it.Maybe the Vrst energy, which was knownto the early humans, was the heat energy, sothe way of how to make Vre was inventedand even was being advanced until today.

CClleeaann eenneerrggyy vveerrssuuss ddiirrttyy eenneerrggyyBut through our development and in our

advanced life today we are aware of otherenergies and now we can produce themwith our sophisticated technology, so thatmany other energies in our age are producedbut now there are serious problems withthese processes. For the Vrst times almost many new

processes have been in making the energiesconsidered as success in human`s life andadvanced the social life but later it could beexposed to us, that it is not reasonable tocontinue such processes in sake of our envi-ronment. To understand this matter deeplywe have to know these two terms, dirty en-ergy and clean energy.e clean energy is produced through wind,water and sunshine, but dirty energy is pro-duced through coal, oil, wood and nuclear,which damage the environment in the longterm. Now the most controversial energy onthe Earth is the nuclear energy.

ee pprroobblleemm wwiitthh nnuucclleeaarr wwaasstteessNuclear energy is not an ordi-nary energy; it requires much

more attention, because thereare many risks connected tothe nuclear plants. In casesof accidents like earth quake,

plane crash, Vre and suicidebomb attacks we will be facing a

huge disaster, which is not to recovereven after thousands of years. rough ra-dioactive contamination the genetic make-up of human beings can be so damaged, sothat a possibility of complete recovery fromgeneration to generation is not possible. In process of making nuclear energy, there isthe problem of nuclear waste materials,which are permanently produced by side.Until now the only way out is to bury thesematerials very deeply under the earth. In thecountries of European Union there are somelocations for burying those materials, whichcaused many protests. For instance the ra-dioactive waste materials from France are al-ways transported to Germany near to thecity of Gorleben. ere are now some scien-tiVc researches in Europe to reduce the con-tamination of radioactive waste materials toseveral hundred years instead of thousandsor millions of years, but this is now still piein the sky.

CChheeaapp bbuutt uunnhheeaalltthhyyNuclear energy is the description of en-

ergy, which is produced in nuclear plants.Basically it is considered as cheaper than al-ternative energies to produce but more dan-gerous and unhealthy. e main goals of having nuclear plants areto produce heat and electrical energy. Be-cause of high energy potentials of radioac-tive substances, the energy made in nuclearplants is extremely high. In addition, the

demand of security and safety is extremelyhigh, because of hidden dangers involved inthe nuclear energy process. e Vrst step in the nuclear energy processis the mining of uranium, which is risky, be-cause it poisons the workers and the envi-ronment. e second step is the process ofpuriVcation of uranium into plutonium, sothat it could be used as a source of energy innuclear plants and this is a very risky task.e third step is how to use this energy in anuclear plant in a safe way. Every now and then we are witnessing bywatching television how the inner facilitieslook in a nuclear plant, and, strangely, wesee how the coworkers are dressed up inwhite overalls and wearing mouth masksand even gas masks. is easily indicateshow dangerous and unhealthy the job is.When we a little bit think about it we Vndthat something oddness is in doing this joband the irony is that these coworkers mustwork almost even every working day a weekunder such pollution and condition!e supporters of nuclear energy in thebusiness world support the nuclear energyby making advertisements such as prospectsand brochures; and there are even businessesin the stock exchange. e other support,which is disturbing, comes from the govern-ments of some countries like NorthKorea and Iran, and at the top ofthem Russia and China, which doa lucrative business with thosecountries in that matter.

SSaannccttiioonnss aaggaaiinnsstt IIrraannIn a controversial case like Iran

there is the assumption of making anatom bomb. erefore the European Unionincreased the sanctions against Iran. eEuropean Union decided to introduce newmeasures against Iran in the Vnance, tradeand oil industry sectors. Any monetarytransaction is now forbidden between theEuropean Union and Iran. In addition, cer-tain metals and software are not allowed tobe delivered to Iran, and also the delivery ofnatural gas from Iran is canceled to the Eu-ropean Union.North Korea already admitted that it madethe atom bomb, despite of claiming Vrstthat the nuclear plant was used only forpeaceful purposes. After an earth quakefrom another part of the world it had beenconVrmed, that the location of this earthquake was deep under North Korea by ex-ploding an atom bomb as test, so thatNorth Korea is in possession of atom bomb.

e nuclear plants and their usages aremuch discussed in the world press. Only 30countries in the World are in possession ofnuclear plants, but some of these countrieshave already decided or are deciding toabandon nuclear energy. For instance, Italyis the Vrst country, which has abandonednuclear energy completely and furthercountries like Germany, Belgium andSwitzerland have decided to abandon nu-clear energy. Austria didn’t begin to use thebrand new nuclear plant Zwentendorf. Fur-ther countries canceled partly their plannednuclear energy productions. To achieve the abandonment of nuclear en-ergy within a country, political decisionmaking is required. For example, after theFukushima disaster in Japan there weremany cover-ups relating to the aftermath ofdisaster and there were no actual reactionfrom the government to change the attitudeof energy producing. Despite of frequentdemonstrations against the nuclear energyin Japan, the government wasn’t seriouslyinterested to change its policy. Unless a group of German experts in theGreen Party of Germany traveled to Japanto help Japanese people to establish theGreen Party in Japan, which didn’t existuntil that date. With that act it made possi-

ble to interfere in political decision mak-ing of Japanese parliament.

““HHaavviinngg tthhee nnuucclleeaarr eenneerrggyy iiss aarriigghhtt ooff IIrraanniiaann ppeeooppllee””

e most important issue forenlightenment of citizens of a

country regarding the nuclear en-ergy is the real explanation about the

truth of advantages and disadvantagesthrough the mass media, to be independentof governmental interests. For instance, inIran, we encounter permanently this argu-ment from the Iranian mass media, whichteaches the Iranian people how to thinkabout the nuclear policies in their country.It claims that “having the nuclear energy isone of the rights of Iranian people”. issentence is even printed on one of the billsof the Iranian currency. ere are always different points of view,different perspectives and different story-telling so the narrative can change manythings, but with freedom of information,people can be aware of a whole issue, andnot only a part of it. ere is an issue, which is the most impor-tant one to be aware of: we need the nature,the nature doesn’t need us.

September-October-November 2012 Gündem

Abtin Badie

Abandonment of nuclear energy

e Social and Cultural Activities Di-rectorate Hall was set agog about themorning hours on the 21st of Septem-ber as the powerfully rendered lectureby Dr. Uğur Maner rents the air. De-livering the lecture on culture shockDr. Maner x-rays the very many chal-lenges students face as they pursuetheir university education abroad. Ac-cording to the lecturer, “the study op-portunity is a good chance for thestudents to discover lifestyles in otherplaces of the world where new friendsand knowledge about new cultures aregreat experience’’.Coping with a new situation or envi-ronment may sometimes be a bit tiringand hard. She pointed out the manysymptoms of culture shock as home-sickness, stress, fear and confusion.She entreated that living in an envi-ronment different from ones usual set-ting may be the reason for cultureshock. Dr Uğur also said that some-times one feels the urge to run backhome as soon as possible, however,having the patience to stay contributesalso.

Stages of culture shockHearing her admonish in the seminar,she went further to highlight the cul-ture shock in various stages:Firstly, was the stage of excessive en-thusiasm (honeymoon). In this stageeverything goes out well and the stu-dents are having a great time in a newenvironment. In the second stage ofshock, one does not know how to dealwith the many unfamiliar things in thenew country and this increases unhap-piness and consciousness of anxiety.en comes the stage of transition,where the students starts to cope withnew problems and harmonize new ex-periences with the ones they have hadbefore; and fourthly, the stage of ac-ceptance where the students acceptsand adapts to the new environmentand become happier.Explaining the symptoms of cultureshock to the attendee students, Dr.Maner expressed signs like excessiveanger towards small issues, making aneffort to stay away from people youconsider as different; excessive homesickness appetitive, dullness, boredom,excessive need for sleep, head ache,gastric disorders, depressive mood, un-

willingness to study, bouts crying, ex-cessive cleaning and feeling sick andexhausted most of the day. Some of the advices she gave for cop-ing with culture shock were as follows:do not expect to be perfect in this newenvironment. You may have some dif-Vculties, although students have someknowledge about North Cyprus ingeneral and EMU in particular. Donot judge this new culture before get-ting to know it better. Do not considerthis culture as ‘better ‘or ‘worse’ thanyour own culture but as somethingdifferent. Being active participant inthe university’s activities, one can learnthe culture of the EMU and NorthCyprus by living it. For example, thestudents can start from the local foods.She also reminded that studentsshould endeavour to keep in touchwith their families and friends in theircountries while they are in the processof experiencing the culture of NorthCyprus. And more importantly, shestressed, involving in groups that havemembers from different cultures asstudying abroad is a special experienceand will hold a unique place in stu-dent’s life.

On Wednesday the 10th of Octo-ber, the Activity Center in theEMU held the first bicycle race

in our university. The race started fromthe Rector’s office building, it continuedto Namport café, up to the Library, to theLala Mustafa Pasha Sports Center, thencircled around the dorms, then to theRector’s office again.

The Rector of our university ProfessorAbdullah Oztoprak opened the race witha short speech he made at 5 p.m, wherehe discussed the importance of sports to

our university and what aspects it hasin gathering the students from differ-ent nationalities to be together and doactivities with each other.

The race had 21 different teams,each consisting of six students. Stu-dents from Azerbaijan, Iran, Iraq,Turkey, Cyprus, Palestine, Jordan,Nigeria and many other nationalitiesjoined the race.

After almost two hours of racing, ateam from Cyprus won the race. Theyreceived one bicycle as an award aswell receiving the golden medals.

Yazan Albarahma

The first bicycle race on the campus

The 4th International Conference onWomen Studies on “Gender Equality andthe Law’’ was held in Rauf Raif Denktaş

Conference and Congress Center between thedates of October 3-5. Organized by the EMUCenter for Women’s Studies, Koç UniversityCenter for Gender Studies and Ankara Univer-sity Women’s Studies Center , the conferencegathered academicians from 26 different coun-tries. Declaring the opening of the conference, ViceRector of Eastern Mediterranean UniversityÜlker Vancı Osam, welcomed the participantsand showed her gratitude to see the programmeorganized in the EMU. In her keynote openingaddress, the Vrst guest speaker, the Chairpersonof the Turkish Cypriot Human Rights Founda-tion, Emine Çolak, narrated the chronicles andstruggles that led to the establishment of the

human rights foundation within the region, insearch for peace and justice. Emine Çolak saidthat breaches of the human rights led Cypriotpeace activists, who were business people, jour-nalists, lawyers, artists and academicians, to es-tablish the Turkish Cypriot Human RightsFoundation in 2005. Following Çolak’s speech, Şebnem Korur Fin-cancı, the Head of the Foundation of HumanRights of Turkey welcomed the attendees andhighlighted the consequences of establishing thefoundation in Turkey. Fincancı elaborated on thehistory of human rights struggle in Turkey afterthe 1980 military coup, leading to the establish-ment of the Foundation of Human Rights ofTurkey in 1990. e three days conference also featured keynotespeeches by the eminent philosophy professorProf. Ionna Kucuradi and Israeli peace activistProf. Anat Biletzki from Tel Aviv and QuinnipiacUniversities.

e conference presentations addressed variousthemes on gender studies and brought togetherscholars, researchers, performers, and activistsfrom various disciplines to present their worksand exchange ideas on a wide range of issues inthe Velds of economics, law, politics, communi-

cation and design. Some of the topical issues onthe theme of the conference ‘’Gender Equalityand the Law’’ were law, justice and gender,women and peace, women and violence, womenand discrimination, gender and development,and women and public policy.

Gündem September-October-November 2012

Nmezi Onyedikachi

The 4th International Conference on Women Studies: Gender Equality and the Law

Coping with culture shockNmezi Onyedikachi Uzozie

Fire swept through the ancient cov-ered market in the heart of the oldcity of Aleppo on the 29th of Sep-tember, and caused extensive dam-age in the market, which is aheritage of Middle Ages. is bar-baric attack has appeared in thevideo footage aired by the activistson their web site, showing the scaleof the devastation and loss that hasbefallen in the market. Clouds ofdark smoke billowed over the city ofAleppo as a result of the Vre. ismarket was the spirit of Aleppo andone of the oldest inhabited areas inthe world.Without any deaths immediatelyfrom the Vre, the losses are limitedto the combustion of a large part ofthe rich market which is one of themost important treasures of the an-cient city and it is likely that thiswork angers the Syrians because ofits direct relationship with the day-to-day lives and livelihoods.A doctor in Aleppo who presentedherself as Dima said, "It's not just

the market and shops that isburned, but also of our spirit." Onthe other hand, Brigadier Com-mander Bashir Haji, who leads thebattle to liberate Aleppo said thatthe Free Army was advancing to-wards the center of the city ofAleppo and that control was immi-nent. Brigadier Haji said he hadvisited the market area. “ere isanger, but is anger against Basharand his regime" he commented inan interview. e market in Aleppo historicallygoes back to 17th century. It wasnot only a tourist destination, butalso a vital center for trade and soci-ety. It is not clear how the Vre brokeout but it came after the clashes be-tween the Free Army and theregime's army. Some activists saidthey tried to put out the Vre, butthey were surprised by the difficultyextinguished because of the spreadof Syrian regime snipers on neigh-boring buildings to the market andtheir inability to put out the Vre be-cause of the intensity of the Vre bysnipers.

Hussein Alrajab

History burns in Syria

e EMU Center for Women’s Studies togetherwith Koç University Center for Gender Studies andAnkara University Women’s Studies Center organ-ized the 4th International Conference on Women’sStudies, which focused on “Gender Equality ande Law”. e conference, which was held in RaufRaif Denktaş Conference and Congress Center be-tween the dates of 3-5 October, gathered many pro-fessors, experts and professionals from differentcountries to discuss important issues on women’srights movements and feminism in general. One of the most interesting people I had the chanceto meet was Professor Anat Biletzki, a philosophylecturer in Tel Aviv University and Quinnipiac Uni-versity in Hamden. She is a feminist, leftist and apeace activist working in many organizations in theMiddle East. She has written many articles andconducted research on the Israeli- Palestinian con-Wict. Professor Biletzki is a supporter of Palestinianhuman rights and believes in the equality of Arabsand Jews living in the Occupied Territories, WestBank and the Gaza Strip. She is also a supporter ofthe one state solution to end the conWict, a demo-cratic state for all living peacefully together.At the conference, Professor Biletzki made a speechon “Militaristic Women: e Odd Case of IsraeliFeminism”, in which she analyzed the situation ofIsraeli women who do military service. As a Pales-tinian student at the EMU I found her speech veryinteresting. e main focus of her speech was thefeminist demand in Israel for women to serveequally in battle positions, but also to have the rightof not serving since Israel is the only country in theworld where military service for women is manda-tory. After her speech Iwas able to do an inter-view with her.

DDeeaarr PPrrooffeessssoorr BBiilleettzzkkii,, IItthhaannkk yyoouu ffoorr mmeeeettiinnggmmee aanndd iiff wwee ccoouulldd ssttaarrtttthhiiss iinntteerrvviieeww bbyy ddiiss--ccuussssiinngg tthhee ffoolllloowwiinngg iinncciiddeenntt:: rreeee ffeemmaallee ssooll--ddiieerrss,, ccaappttuurriinngg aa PPaalleessttiinniiaann ffeemmaallee,, bblliinnddffoollddeeddhheerr,, hhaannddccuuffffeedd hheerr wwhhiillee ssttaannddiinngg bbeehhiinndd hheerr aannddttaakkiinngg ppiiccttuurreess ooff tthheeiirr ““aaccccoommpplliisshhmmeenntt””.. HHoowwddooeess tthhaatt rreeWWeecctt tthhee mmaaiinn aarrgguummeenntt ooff ffeemmiinniissmm iinntthhee IIssrraaeellii llaannddss wwhhoo aarree aasskkiinngg ffoorr mmoorree rriigghhttss ffoorrwwoommeenn iinn jjooiinniinngg tthhee aarrmmyy??

I was speaking about the internal Israeli tensionbetween being a feminist of one type which is afeminist who refuses to Vght in the army and a fem-inist who thinks that Vghting in the army is evengreater for feminism than being just non-military.What I didn’t mention is that the speciVc part ofthe army in the occupation. You are bringing up themost painful part of being in the army. (In myspeech) I mentioned in general why people refuse togo in. People who go in are part of an occupyingarmy. People who go to the army and want to provethat they are just as good as the best Israeli soldiersare going to make a special effort in being more ag-gressive, better killers, better in combat, more tor-turing than a regular soldier in their desire to provetheir point. When you get a woman who is tryingto prove that she is as good as any male soldier sheis going to be more brutal against the Palestiniansthan a male. Now another thing that you broughtup is that they were laughing at a Palestinianwoman. I don’t think it really matters if it’s a Pales-tinian man or woman. It matters that it’s a Palestin-ian!

AAss aa ffeemmiinniisstt wwhhaatt kkiinndd ooff tthhiinnggss ccaann yyoouu ddoo ttoocchhaannggee ssuucchh ttrraaggeeddiieess?? Perhaps because I’m am so politically involved

what I see here is the Israeli Palestinian issuerather than the feminism issue, not if I want to

look at it through feminist eyes. I would say thatwomen have something to offer and I’m not stereo-typing women but I do think women’s experienceand women’s sensitivity and the way women look atthe world is something that we can offer even to thearmy. ere is a wonderful group called “Check-point Watch”. It was put together by women andtheir whole point was that as feminists they couldteach the people at the checkpoints, men orwomen, to behave differently. Feminists and womenhave helped in trying to get the army educatedabout these kind of things. However, I’m still notcompletely clear if its feminism or women becausethose are two different things.

AAss aann IIssrraaeellii,, hhooww ddoo yyoouu sseeee PPaalleessttiinniiaann wwoommaann??First of all, I consider myself a cosmopolitan. As I

told you before I am a “one stater”. I think that thedivision between Jews and Palestinians in Israel isworthless and has brought more wars. Until alleleven millions of us, from the sea to the river, livetogether, I think we’re not going anywhere. I have alot of Palestinian friends who are women. ere arethree populations of Palestinian women: the womenin the West Bank, in Gaza and Palestinian womenwho are citizens of Israel. ey have always beencalled Israeli Arabs, I can’t stand that. ey are notIsraeli Arabs. ey are Palestinians who are Israelicitizens. We do see some interesting sociologicalthings. For instance, in the past 20 to 30 years theeducation of Palestinian women in Israel has goneup. Instead of leaving school at the average age of13 or 14, they are Vnishing high school now. Inter-estingly, we are seeing a drop in the birth rates. So,the whole society is changing and I work with a lot

of them in peacemovements andhuman rights or-ganizations. ewomen in occu-pied Palestine, Ithink, have thehardest life possi-

ble. ey have to Vght both for their rights in anArab Muslim society and against the occupation. Ithink they are doing the most courageous work pos-sible.

YYoouu aarree aa lleeffttiisstt lliivviinngg uunnddeerr aann eexxttrreemmeerriigghhttiisstt ZZiioonniisstt ggoovveerrnnmmeenntt.. ee ggoovv--eerrnnmmeenntt ooff BBeennjjaammiinn NNee--ttaannyyaahhuu iiss,, iinn ffaacctt,, aaggaaiinnssttaannyy lleeffttiisstt mmoovveemmeenntt iinn IIss--rraaeell.. DDooeess tthhaatt tthhrreeaatteennyyoouu oorr ppuutt yyoouu iinn ddaannggeerr??

e whole society hasmoved to the right andthe numbers are as-tounding. We just

had poles three months ago. Only 18-20 percentcall themselves leftists, both radical and moderateleftists, so the left is gone. It’s not there anymore.e country is becoming less and less democratic.Now that being said, I don’t think any of us is indanger. Some people leave, some continue Vghting,and some people internalize things and stop being apart of the Vght. I do think that it’s becomingharder and harder to be a leftist in Israel. Just twoweeks ago a government committee decided thatthey are going to close the politics and governmentdepartment in Beer Sheva University because it’s a“leftist department”. We never had those things. So,yes, things are getting unbearable, but, and I saythis cynically, I don’t think there is any danger toany of us because we are Jews. Jews don’t do any-thing to otherJews, eventhough, yes, theyassassinatedRabin. But Ithink its unpleas-ant being a leftistin Israel today. Itis not dangerousjust unpleasant.Nothing that anyof us undergoes can be compared to what the Pales-tinians undergo. So, yes, I have a harder time get-ting an article on the newspaper but so what? Orpeople are saying that some of us aren’t getting pro-motions in the university. I am not even sure that iscorrect. During demonstrations, the police are moreviolent or more brutal, Vne. But still, when we go todemonstrations against the wall if they arrest two Is-raelis and two Palestinians, the two Israelis are let gothat evening and the Palestinians go in for demon-strative detention for several weeks or severalmonths. It’s not pleasant being a leftist in Israel, butit’s a good Vght! And Palestinians are the ones whoare getting the brunt of the Israeli occupation.

eerree’’ss aann aarrgguummeenntt tthhaatt ssaayyss ““nnoott eevveerryy PPaalleessttiinniiaanniiss bboorrnn ttoo bbee aa ffrreeeeddoomm VVgghhtteerr,, bbuutt eevveerryy IIssrraaeellii iissbboorrnn ttoo bbee aa ssoollddiieerr..”” HHooww ddooeess tthhaatt mmaakkee yyoouuffeeeell?? EEvveerryy IIssrraaeellii iiss ggooiinngg ttoo tthhee aarrmmyy aannddppoossssiibbllyy kkiilllliinngg PPaalleessttiinniiaannss.. II’’mm aa PPaalleess--ttiinniiaann,, yyoouu’’rree ssiittttiinngg hheerree wwiitthh mmee aanndd

II hhaavvee nneevveerr hheelldd aa gguunn iinn mmyylliiffee.. aatt’’ss aa hhuuggee ddiiffffeerr--

eennccee bbeettwweeeenn PPaalleessttiinniiaannssaanndd IIssrraaeelliiss.. AAss aa lleeffttiissttffeemmiinniisstt llooookkiinngg ffoorrggeennddeerr eeqquuaalliittyy iinn tthheeIIssrraaeellii aarrmmyy,, ddooeess tthhaattssuuppppoorrtt yyoouurr aarrgguummeennttoorr mmaakkee iitt hhaarrddeerr ffoorryyoouu aass aa ssuuppppoorrtteerr ooff

PPaalleessttiinniiaannss??One of the rea-

sons I

think we are a cursed society is that we are a mili-tary society. You know, when I was a child, peopleused to say that we had no option but to defendourselves. Today we’re a military society, we idolizethe army and I think it makes a perverse society. Ithink we can explain it. I don’t justify it but I canexplain it. Jews always say that we are posttrau-matic. We are posttraumatic and dramatized all thetime. It is a paranoid society and I think it’s a verytroubled society but the militaristic part of it justadds on to. I’m not saying that we don’t need anarmy, a defense army, but there is a distance be-tween being a defense army and being an occupyingforce, of what we have become. We don’t needmandatory military service anymore. If you made ita professional army like in the United States we

could do just aswell. ere’s noreason, as you said,to have every babyborn being a sol-dier.

HHooww ddoo yyoouu sseeeetthhee PPaalleessttiinniiaannpprrooggrreessss iinn tthheeUUnniitteedd NNaattiioonnss??

I thought that last year’s activity in the UN wasbrilliant. If the Security Council is so skewed and sobiased, America is never going to vote for Palestinebecoming a member, so go differently. ere areother ways to do it and I think what they were plan-ning for this year is brilliant. Palestine is in UN-ESCO now; it did make it into UNESCO whichmight be the start of becoming a full member in theUN.

DDoo yyoouu tthhiinnkk iitt wwiillll ssoollvvee tthhee ccoonnWWiicctt??No, but it will make progress. Palestine is a soci-

ety and not a state perhaps, but a community that isrecognized. e only thing that will solve the con-

Wict is Israel getting out ofthose territories.

Eastern Mediterranean University, Faculty of

Communication and MediaStudies

Tel: 0392 630 16 42E-mail: [email protected]

Printed at EMU Printing House

PUBLISHEROn behalf of Eastern Mediterranean

University, Rector Prof.Dr. Abdullah Y. Öztoprak

COMMITTEE OF ADVISORSProf. Dr.Süleyman İrvan

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Hanife AliefendioğluAssist. Prof. Dr. Pembe Behçetoğulları

Assist. Prof. Dr. Metin Ersoy

EDITORAyça Atay

PHOTOGRAPHY EDITORMert Yusuf Özlük

GRAPHIC DESIGNMehmet Balyemez

CONTRIBUTORS Yazan AlbarahmaHussein Alrajab

Abtin Badie Nmezi Onyedikachi Uzozie

a Palestinian student’s interview with an Israeli professor When “enemies” become friends:Yazan Albarahma

“One of the reasons we are acursed society is that we are a

military society. We idolize the army”

“Israeli society has moved tothe right. The left is gone. It is

becoming harder and harder to be aleftist in Israel. The country is

becoming less and less democratic.”