Socrates & King

Having been immersed this semester in discussions of civil disobedience, it’s impossible for me, at least, to not keep Socrates and King in mind when I learn of social unrest and injustice in the world.

Would an Iranian Socrates willingly allow himself to be taken to Evin prison? I admit this hypothetical is a difficult one to take on. Socrates, I’m sure, had great confidence in the laws of Athens. I’m not so sure he would undertake the same action in Tehran.

I’ve often wondered where the Muslim “Martin Luther King” is in the Islamic world. Where’s the Gandhi? This direction of thought has been made all the more a matter of concern since I finished reading a biography of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Dietrich Bonhoeffer: A Spoke in the Wheel. I highly recommend it.

The middle class Bonhoeffer moved from a concerned bystander, to passive resistor, to active resistor, even to the degree of sanctioning violence. Bonhoeffer was in contact with Gandhi and had hoped to visit Gandhi in India. Would Gandhi have tried to convince Bonhoeffer to avoid the violent resistance to Hitler?

Many “go along to get along” Blacks in the South became active participants in the nonviolent resistance movement. Thousands of people eventually followed Gandhi’s lead in India. His methods worked against the British and King’s methods worked against the American segregationists. Would it have worked against Hitler or Stalin?

Most people think not.

But what about Iran? We witnessed some nonviolent action last summer immediately following the elections in Iran. We saw Neda’s lifeless body. Today there are reports of more deaths. The demands are known, the body count is rising. What’s next?

From the NY Times:

In a statement posted on his Web site, the Iranian filmmaker Mohsen Makhmalbaf, who took part in the revolt against the Shah in the 1970s and is now a supporter of the opposition, denounced Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader, for today’s violence. Mr. Makhmalbaf’s statement sarcastically praises Ayatollah Khamenei for outdoing the caliph Yazid, whose forces killed the Shiite martyr Imam Hossein on Ashura, the holiday being celebrated today in Iran:

Khamenei! You are more scrupulous than Yazdi. You won! Yazid is no longer the top winner of killing people on Ashura. You beat him.

I am so sorry that I fought against the Shah when I was 17. He left the country when he realized that people no longer wanted him. but you are resisting until everyone else leaves the country.

As most of your know there was a student protest on campus. Students occupied the Business Building and some blocked traffic on 19th Avenue. I felt a twinge of (Gator) pride coupled with concern.

I often give an example of blocking traffic on 19th as an example of civil disobedience.  I wondered whether any of my Gators were responsible for doing it for real. When we were reading the Crito, I “promised” that I’d bail Gators out of jail, just as Crito had promised the court to post bond for Socrates. The convergence of class discussion and actual events was, well, creepy.

I didn’t know all the demands of the occupiers until I received a letter from President Corrigan. I followed the link he provided to their Wordpress blog.  I’m in favor of a lot of their demands. Two things in particular struck me about Corrigan’s letter. He mentioned that he had participated in the “real” (my words, not his) civil rights campaigns of the past, the very ones we studied this semester.

The other thing that most grabbed my attention was that Corrigan highlighted the same question we pondered in class: does it really count as an act of civil disobedience if you’re not willing to take the punishment that comes with it?

It’s always heartening to have events connect with classroom discussion.

It’s for a worthy cause. Otherwise, I simply can’t fathom doing it myself. I’m glad to see that the topic is democracy.

It’s evidently taken Mr. Muzawazi two-and-a-half years to face the prospect of yet another marathon speech. But starting on Wednesday, December 9, at noon local time, the 25-year-old law student commenced what is being billed as “The Longest Lecture,” a planned 130-hour talk on, you guessed it, democracy.

The lecture, which Mr. Muzawazi is giving at Jagiellonian University, in Krakow, Poland, is being presented in English—except for the introduction, which he read in six languages. Throughout his lecture, he sits and stands, talks and rambles, and often reads text verbatim. When we were watching, Mr. Muzawazi, who was recognized as this year’s “best foreign student in Poland,” read passages on fascism and monarchies from the Web-based “Science Encyclopedia”…

I hope we’ll have an opportunity to listen to (and perhaps read) some of Dr. West’s discussions on Socrates, King, and the practice of philosophy.

Here’s a short profile on Cornel West from a recent issue of The New Yorker.

I lectured today about ethical and metaethical principles. One point was about existentialist ethics. It’s the view that moral truths are based upon the kind of life or the kind of person I choose for myself. Actions that comport with this authentic self are, for that person, moral actions.

I mentioned being “Gator” identified. (This may be more of a clan or group thing, but I used it with respect to my own personal identity.)

I just received a LinkedIn invite from a former student. I then discovered that I was not hooked up with the LinkedIn SF State Alumni group. (Horrors!) I joined, of course. And discovered this bit of news. Wow! The big 1-0-0!

I just received info about a rally on Thursday. I’ll be there. Will you? (I’ll be there from 12-12:30pm; we’ll still have class at 12:35pm)

*WHAT*: Speak Out (in solidarity with a one-day strike of students, staff and faculty at the University of California.)
*WHEN*: Thursday, September 24th at NOON
*WHERE*: Malcolm X Plaza
*INFO*: www.ucfacultywalkout.com

*WHY:* To protest the budget cuts *AND* to show a campus presence that is ready to mobilize in larger form for next year

One of the most extraordinary debates ever recorded. I’ve always had a soft spot for Baldwin. I don’t know who he’s channeling, but he is magnificent here.

The full debate between Baldwin and Buckley is available here.

We talked today about Thoreau’s comments about political majorities. This made me think of Nelson Mandela and apartheid South Africa. Imprisoned 27 years yet Mandela says:

“They took the best years of my life but they could not take my mind and heart — I would not let them.”

A new comic book, er, graphic novel, is out on Mandela’s life. Can’t wait to see a copy.

Excerpts are here.

I’m hoping for a bumper crop of tweets this semester.

One way we’ll be able to continue thinking about and discussing Socrates and King is to use the social media service Twitter. It’s free. It’s fun. It’s easy.

Whenever something comes up that reminds you of Socrates or Martin Luther King, send a tweet to:

@socratesking

The home page of the class Twitter account is:

http://twitter.com/socratesking