The Justice

U.S. Senator Carl Levin addresses a packed Shapiro Campus Center Theater as part of Brandeis' Martin Luther King, Jr. Day celebration. Photo by David Sheppard-Brick/the Justice.

U.S. Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, spoke about the human rights abuses perpetuated by the United States in the Abu Ghraib prison and in Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, as well as America's worsening reputation worldwide, as the University celebrated Martin Luther King, Jr. Day last Monday.

"Today the struggle against extremism is being undermined by how America is being viewed in the world," Levin said.

The event filled the Carl J. Shapiro Theater to capacity and drew around 200 more students to watch a live streaming of the speech in the Shapiro Campus Center Atrium. It consisted of Levin's speech and questions posed to him by a panel made up of Guy Raz '96; defense correspondent for National Public Radio, Prof. Mari Fitzduff (COEX), a participant in the Northern Ireland peace process; Prof. Ibrahim Sundiata (AAAS); and several students in the audience. The event was moderated by Charles A. Radin, a former Middle East correspondent for the Boston Globe.

Levin said that our country needs the support of people around the world as well as information and cooperation of the world to combat terrorism. One person can prevent a terrorist attack if he reports it, Levin said.

The United States used to be represented by the Statue of Liberty, he said, but is now represented by pictures of the Abu Ghraib prison. He then recited a quote by King: "The world stands aghast at the path that we have taken."

"America at its best is a beacon for human rights, … but most of the world sees us in a different way," Levin said.

We will be more secure when we act to win back respect around the world, Levin said, as "it is not just our standing in the world which has diminished, it is our security."

Levin criticized the current policies, which sacrifice ideals of what we see as human rights in order to preserve security, citing how a person can be convicted as an enemy combatant without ever having a lawyer because the evidence against him is classified. Levin also emphasized the need for the government to establish responsibility for what went wrong in Abu Ghraib.

Continued...

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