Panel asks if world can cope

Kosovo, Kashmir, Rwanda and Jerusalem -- four sites of international conflict and dispute. Renowned experts highlighted these regions in turmoil at the Merriam Symposium on the Challenge of Ethnopolitical Conflict yesterday. About 60 students and faculty members attended the lecture and discussion in Houston Hall. The symposium asked the question "Can the World Cope?" and three panelists responded by bringing forth views on ethnic violence and resolutions. Joseph Montville, director of the Preventative Diplomacy Program for the Center of Strategic and International Studies in Washington D.C., stressed emotional factors in international conflicts. "Peace building is difficult because people remember their losses," he said. "The refusal of aggressors to acknowledge the pain of their victims creates resentment and makes the victims highly suspicious and alert to future acts of violence." Montville suggested that the suffering of the Palestinians today goes back to "centuries of Christian brutality towards the Jews," because "Israel is a product of the Jewish experience in Central Europe." Montville discussed the uncompromising beliefs of both Israelis and Palestinians, showing that these feelings arose from the influence of past psychological factors that are difficult, if not impossible, to forget. "Psychological and physiological symptoms are hard to get rid of," he said. "The old hurts remain." Yesterday's discussion also focused on past conflicts in South Africa. University of Capetown Anthropology Professor Pamela Reynolds pointed to the plight of youth during Apartheid. She has worked with groups of previously imprisoned young men in South Africa, witnessing -- first-hand -- their suffering in the aftermath of torture and violence. "Almost every detainee was beaten and tortured... and half of those tortured were men under 24," Reynolds said. In 1996, the Truth and Reparations Commission began to punish those who had committed brutalities during Apartheid. Criticizing the coverage of the TRC as "spectacular theater," Reynolds called for more intense and intimate coverage of the crimes committed, adding that "no reparations have yet been given." In his presentation, Duke University Law and Political Science Professor Donald Horowitz spoke about using governmental frameworks to keep peace, asking whether these designs really worked. "Many countries manage to resolve conflicts and create informal good relations that have fallen into place without governmental structures," he said, citing Thailand's relationship with China as an example. The lecture, moderated by School of Arts and Sciences Dean Samuel Preston, ended the day-long Merriam Symposium. "I am very delighted with the quality of the presentations, the quality of the discussions and the size of the audience," Preston said of the overall conference. School of Arts and Sciences Associate Dean Walter Licht -- the main coordinator of the conference -- agreed. "I thought the conference was stirring. It was all that I had hoped for in terms of intensity and thoughtfulness," he said. "There was an emotional intensity to the discussions, along with a striking intellectual and academic intensity." Former and current Penn students clapped enthusiastically following the event. Recent College graduate Beatrice Jauregui said, "I found it very informative. It was interesting to hear the different perspectives and... the interdisciplinary nature of the talks."