Professor Ronald Griffin in Bosnia -- Interview
Professor Ronald Griffin recently visited Sarajevo and other portions of Bosnia. An interview he gave during his visit appeared in the newspaper Oslobodenje. An English translation of his interview appears below.
Cover of Newspaper
Page 4 of Article
(Inset I)
Women as Target of Aggression
Sarajevo is at the moment commemorating the tenth anniversary of open aggression against Bosnia and Herzegovina and its capital. In all these years how did you see and comprehend this war?
I saw this war through analogies. It seems to me that the conflict was waged on the basis of ethnic and cultural differences. All this was already familiar to me from what happened earlier in the United Stets of America. I was astonished by the force of people's belief in various reclaimed ideas. What was new to me was the fact that women were one of the targets. I wrote about it in several articles. I United Stets' history the target were men. And real victims are always children. In Bosnia and Herzegovina one of the targets were women, but the actual victims are again always children.
I wanted to write about how one can handle a child who opted to solve its problems through violence. How to discourage children from copying adults whom they see using violence to solve their problems. I have seen that the peoples of this region struggle with this. I remember how this was done in the United States through education and traditional institutions. The students would be taken out of their usual environment, one in which they were told before they should not spend their time in. I wanted to come to Bosnia and Herzegovina to see what strategies are being considered here in that respect, and what would be acceptable to prevent children from using violence to solve their problems.
Translation for this page
by Zvonimir Radeljkovic
(original article written by Antonio Prlenda)
Interview of the Day
Ronald Griffin, American Professor
Oslobodjenje, Sarajevo
Americans Practice More Tolerance Today
People View Cosmopolitanism Now as a Way of Breaking From Prejudices
* Oscar as an American Catharsis | * America Recognizes Talent
Organized by NGO Nansen Dialogue Center, Atelier for Philosophy, Social Sciences and Psychoanalysis, as well as Sarajevo University Human Rights' Center, a lecture about discrimination and human rights in U.S.A. took place on Tuesday at the Sarajevo University campus.
The lecturer was an American professor, Ronald C. Griffin from Washburn University, Kansas. His picturesque lecture was enriched by his own experience in American racism from the 1960s.
As a part of his first visit to Bosnia and Herzegovina, Professor Griffin already spoke on human rights at the Faculty of Philosophy on Monday, and on Wednesday he lectured at the Law School. After that he will visit Mostar and speak there as well, at Mostar University ["Dzemal Bijedic"].
Recognizing Differences
How do you see America after terrorist attacks of September 11, and what kind of changes can be anticipated as a consequence of it?
Changes are obvious. The people are conscious of state institutions, Federal government and civic duties. Americans accept differences now, and practice more tolerance. People view cosmopolitanism now as a way of breaking with prejudices. I think that one still cannot say how this development will influence the education of young Americans. Like in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the most valuable asset that the United States have is children.
Page 5 of Article
(Inset II)
Tanovic's Talent Awarded
Could one say that No Man's Land, a great movie by our director Danis Tanovic, appeared right at the time when Americans are passing through a certain catharsis?
Everything that I said up to now could also be described as an opining celebrating values, but also different opinions, But if you accept that fact that the American elite awards people on the basis of their talent, ability and intelligence, the fact that an excellent work, which appeared at the time when America is having a new experience, means that it was always a part of us. Whether or not we are in a crisis, we admire talent, and award the talented. Being pragmatic, we try to recognize talent, regardless of where it comes from.
Translation for this page
by Zvonimir Radeljkovic
(original article written by Antonio Prlenda)
Did we perhaps see the first proof of these changes in American society in the recent Academy Awards ceremony?
Yes. It was an institutional answer. Absolutely.
It looked as if it was an attempt to redress a wrong done to Afro-Americans?
It was a recognition of differences. A signal was sent to the American community, actually to Americans who live in community, showing, at least within the Academy organization, cosmopolitanism using magnanimity and recognition of talent, in order to revive that which we all hope could be American experience.
Are you satisfied with this?
I think it is positive. These things have always begun within an elite. Every society has a workaday circle and a public sphere. It is the public sphere that always dragged the society forward. And media are always a part of the public sphere. What was introduced at the latest Academy Awards ceremony belongs to the public sphere. It was a re-definition, in a ritual way, of what it means to be a citizen of the United States of America.
Dialogue With All Nations
In the global anti-terrorist campaign, American president George W. Bush does not hesitate lately to take steps with which European allies openly disagree. Have we reached the point at which American administration considers European allies not quite necessary? Or is it only a further ripening of the new situation, when initial errors are possible, if these are errors?
Americans who participate in the public opinion development process see the U.S. as a part of a global community. I think that the last year's events show clearly that Americans must participate in the dialogue with all the nations of the world, in order to get a correct image of themselves, their responsibilities, and the respective places in the world. What one can probably notice is that the opinion-makers try to do thing one step at a time. They are pragmatic, and as an important part of the international community they are trying to reach corresponding level-headed decisions about what one should do next. Which means that what you are seeing now is people going two steps ahead and one step back. I do not know how one country will relate to the other in the struggle with terrorism. But I know the process.
What is your view of the result of anti-terrorist struggle?
Changes in the world are incessant. One cannot say anything definite. I do not know what will happen next, but I do know that this process has opened possibilities for the rest who will want to contribute so that the result can be level-headed, pragmatic and bring welfare to many nations.
