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Welcome to Issue Seven of Unrest Magazine. Issue Seven emerges days before the 2012 elections in the United States. Unrest presents its own form of election coverage by offering three pieces (Michael Loadenthal, Tara Ruttenberg, and Jay Filipi) on voting and the potential for either candidate to change the direction of U.S. policy. Richard E. Rubenstein puts a different spin on the election by examining the impact of theological disputes within the Republican party. As the conflict in Syria rages on, Adan E. Suazo offers an analysis of the failure of the Annan Plan and possible next steps for the international community. In our Banter section, Ramlath Kavil explores human rights abuses in India, while Sramana Majumdar reflects on the impact of the struggle for autonomy in the Kashmir. Cerelia Athanassiou and Michael D. English analyze the consequences of militarism and Sarah Rose-Jensen closes the issue off with a reflection on the personal challenges of doing conflict work. In short, we are thrilled to bring you another issue of Unrest Magazine!
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Originally published in the February 2012 S-CAR Newsletter and at Reasons to Kill.
The advent of unexpected forms of social conflict challenges conflict analysts to answer two hard questions. The first is “What’s really going on here?” What are the underlying causes, current dynamics, likely outcomes, and possible options for resolving this conflict? The second is, “Why have these events surprised us?” Since we are conflict analysts, why didn’t we see this struggle coming and recommend creative ways to deal with it? The answers to these queries are closely related, but let’s start with the issue of surprise.
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Unrest Magazine and The School for Conflict Analysis and Resolution hosted a conversation on the future of Occupy Wall St. and 2012 U.S. Presidential Elections. A video of the event can be accessed here at the bottom of the page: http://scar.gmu.edu/event/13406.
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Let me begin this essay with a riddle: what is the difference between Ron Paul and Ralph Nader? They are both septuagenarian advocates of extremist positions (in the context of the American political economy). They both have long and distinguished histories of political achievement in national politics, and they equally are both cranky and uncompromising proponents of their strategic approaches toward the reform of corporate capitalism. The difference between them is that, as what Paul Krugman has called the Lesser Depression unfolds, Paul is trumpeting his conceptual alternative to corporate capitalism on a national stage with an eight million dollar war chest, while Nader has been reduced to relative silence and ignominy. This difference has implications beyond the fates of the two radical leaders; Nader and Paul serve as metonymic representations of the movements they have led and of the future of movements we describe as left and right in American politics. The lesson of how Nader became pariah and Paul the quirky populist alternative is the story of American democracy told from the margins, but its implications are far from marginal. As we transition through catastrophes we once thought we would only read about in history books, it is the voice of the libertarian, not the social democratic alternative that is poised to steer us through the currents.
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The world is on fire with protests, or so it seems. While most of the camera eyes have been turned towards Egypt and the Middle East in the last few weeks, there is much unrest also within the borders of the United States. Puerto Rican police have recently assaulted university professors and students that went on strike. The strike was part of Puerto Rico’s ongoing struggle for democracy and justice in the face of human rights violations and political oppression. Protest is so large, it has even made headlines on Fox ‘News’ outlets. What follows is a brief history of this conflict. (Introduction by Jay Filipi).
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“What you really need to ask yourself is, ‘Why am I doing this?’”
Angela was looking straight in my eyes, and didn’t blink for the next seven long seconds.
Silence.
I didn’t have an answer for her.
Who was I – some young, naive American, coming in to the small town of San Andres with broken Spanish, anxious to hear what it’s like to have a husband go to the U.S. for work? What was I going to do with the information she was sharing with me, how it was to finally hear from her brother who had been gone for 34 days after leaving Guatemala to cross by foot the Mexico-Arizona border? Was I just going to write it all up for a grade on my Ethnographic Field School paper? What were my ethical responsibilities as a researcher? As an anthropologist? As someone entrusted with the stories told me?
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