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War is cruelty, and you cannot refine it.
— General William Tecumseh Sherman
Fall 2011 Making War, Making Peace
Lecture and Colloquium Series:
Extreme Politics: Provoking the Body Politic to War?
When & Where: see schedule below
Departmental Sponsor: College of Arts and Sciences, American Studies Program
Propaganda is a powerful tool of government and has been used throughout history to mobilize support for political actions, including war. False-flag operations are covert activities conducted at the behest of government officials, involving the manipulation of events in order to create the false impression of being under attack by hostile forces. False-flag events can be construed by means of propaganda to provide warrant for a desired political and/or military policy. Such extralegal exercises of state powers have been used as false pretexts for war. Operation Northwoods, the Mukden Incident and Operation Gladio are well-documented examples of false-flag operations proposed and/or carried out within the United States or other countries. As another example, the Gulf of Tonkin Incident, which led to open warfare between the United States and North Vietnam, is a suspected case of false-flag type activity.
With a series of public colloquia featuring invited scholars, associated readings, and opportunity for Q&A, we propose to examine the phenomenon of false-flag attacks as pretexts for war. Our focus on false-flag events leads us to several bigger picture issues, and we will examine post WWII American militarism and geostrategy and their connection to "deep events" in American politics, that is, events occurring below the radar of public consciousness.
Despite clear evidence for false-flag activities in world and U.S. history, those who consider false flags are often labeled as "conspiracy theorists." The blanket application of that label can have a chilling effect on investigation and discourse. We will therefore spend time addressing "conspiracy theory" and the broader framework of "state crimes against democracy" (SCADs), including the historical context, relationship to national security, evaluation, and investigation of conspiracy theory and SCADs. We will take a retrospective look, using historical case studies, at getting Americans in and out of wars. We will also explore the official narrative of the events of 9/11 and consider some of the disparities between the official narrative and the physical evidence of the collapse of the World Trade Center buildings.
Thursday, September 15 |
American War Machine: Deep Politics and the Road to Extended Wars. Peter Dale Scott (Retired Canadian Diplomat and Professor of English, UC Berkeley) |
Monday, October 3 |
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Wednesday, October 12 |
DISCUSSION: Conspiracy Theories. Lance deHaven-Smith (Florida State University), Nick Cullather (Indiana University) and the students of HIST-J 301 |
Thursday, October 13 |
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Thursday, October 20 |
The Terrorist Attacks of September 11 2001. What Do We Know Ten Years Later? A Historical Investigation. Daniele Ganser (Historian and Peace Researcher, Basel University) Note: This is a pre-taped video presentation. |
Monday, October 24 |
A Conversation with Daniele Ganser. (Historian and Peace Researcher, Basel University) |
Thursday, Nov 10 |
Getting Americans in and out of Wars: some Historical Examples and Reflections. Andy Rotter (Colgate University) |
Wednesday, November 16 |
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