Speaker series highlights war-torn regions

After trips to the Middle East, Africa and most recently India, Jon Lee Anderson stopped by Chapel Hill on Thursday night before continuing on to Egypt.

Anderson, a foreign correspondent for The New Yorker, spoke about his experiences reporting from war-torn regions around the world to more than 100 people gathered in Carroll Hall.

“Americans have to be aware they have an impact on the world,” he said. “Things don’t just happen.”

Anderson’s speech is the first installment of the two-part series “War Stories” hosted by the global studies department.

Helene Cooper, White House correspondent for the New York Times and UNC graduate, is scheduled to speak in March.

Andrew Reynolds, chairman of the global studies department, solicited the speakers.

Reynolds said he hoped they would unveil the realities of war and share their experiences as journalists. He called Anderson one of the leading foreign correspondents in the world.

“He’s been the main person opening our eyes to what’s going on in Afghanistan,” said Reynolds, who helped write that county’s constitution.

“His breadth of knowledge of the world is unrivaled. He gives us, in much better color, an understanding of the complexity of the world.”

Reynolds said he hoped the series would help the public understand the current and future challenges facing violent regions.

“We’re all so interconnected, and these events in North Africa and around the world affect us economically, politically and socially,” Reynolds said. “The world is a much smaller place, so understanding the rest of the world is crucial.”

Lara Markstein, global studies curriculum manager, said the series is particularly pertinent considering the political upheavals in North Africa and other parts of the world.

“We only have to look in the newspapers at the situation in Tunisia, Egypt, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, the Sudan etc. to realize that we need to better understand conflict,” she said. “They both have long and well-respected experiences of violent conflict that should shed light onto our own understanding of why conflict occurs.”

A fruit vendor from Tunisia set himself on fire six weeks ago in protest of the country’s dictator, Zine El Abidine Ben Ali. He is credited with jump-starting the Tunisian revolution, which set in motion a domino-effect of pro-democracy protests throughout Northern Africa and other parts of the globe.

Anderson said the revolutions are a result of years of built-up frustrations.

“Things accumulate and it’s like steam in a pot,” he said.

“If you hit it just the right way, the steam escapes, and that’s kind of what happened.”

Anderson said Americans are intimately connected to the political upheaval in Egypt. The American government funded the Egyptian dictatorship for the past 30 years, he said.

“We need to know that this event that’s filling our television screens and banner headlines in the newspapers is connected to us because we made this happen,” he said.

“Now all bets are off. Everything that’s been done in regards to Middle East peace is now in the air. All the dice are up in play.

“No one knows how it’s going to fall down again.”

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