Note: this interview was broadcast twice on WGBH radio in Boston.
It has also aired on WCAI/WNAN, WNED, KXOT and KYOU.
The controversial Harvard Law professor, author and celebrity lawyer Alan Dershowitz talks with ThoughtCast about his book “Preemption: A Knife That Cuts Both Ways”, as well as his views on the Israeli-Palestinian-Hezbollah conflict, torture, human rights and our ‘war on terror.’ His premise: the world has changed, and international law must change with it. We need more tools, he argues, in the fight against terror networks whose recruits hold no fear of death or retribution.
Note: Although the subjects we discuss are controversial, my goal is not to argue with Alan, but to find out what he’s thinking. My hope is that our conversation will provoke further discussion on these hot-button issues.
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Thanks for this podcast. Professor Dershowitz is a very thoughtful person.
This idea of “drawing lines” is not new. Look up any of the work of Giorgio Agamben analyzing Carl Schmidt’s jurisprudence, you will find exactly the same concepts.
The influence of Israels’ right wing forces in Washington is amazing compared to their percentage of the American population… Looking back through history …Walter Lippman led the way with “The World Outside and the Pictures in Our Heads”. Also see “A Face In the Crowd” ,1957 starring Andy Griffith, a revealing movie for its time. A check of the people surrounding Bush in the White House before 9/11 would also be revealing. The science of Social Psychology is for sale!
If you can afford to 90 minutes, here is the debate between Dershowitz and Chomsky on November 29, 2005 from the John F Kennedy Jr. Forum:
https://ksgaccman.harvard.edu/iop/events_forum_video.asp?ID=2885
If you want to see a quick review, see, for example, the following: (Google will return more results)
https://www.counterpunch.org/ryan12072005.html
https://www.news.harvard.edu/gazette/2005/12.01/31-chomsky.html
Sigh.
I suggest the following two letters written by Noam Chomsky. I am sure Alan has read them.
https://www.chomsky.info/letters/20070601.htm
https://www.chomsky.info/letters/20060817.htm
Jenny,
Many thanks for a thoughtful interview, as always. I grew up in a borderline Islamist state (Malaysia) and I have seen how acquiescence to potential violence has resulted, over recent decades, in the accumulative erosion of constitutional liberties. Preemption is a defensive violence in response to potential civilian violence – and to pose that ‘violence is unethical’ is a philosophical debate that paralyses proactive action in the present.
This idea of “drawing lines” is not new. Look up any of the work of Giorgio Agamben analyzing Carl Schmidt’s jurisprudence, you will find exactly the same concepts.
Even when one disagrees with Dershowitz, he makes an interesting case. His statement here that civilization essentially consists of the practice of drawing lines is intriguing. I’m not yet sure that I agree with it, but I want to think about it . . . .