The Justice

Media Credit: Max Matza Tapiwa Mushove '09 talks about Zimbabwe's political history.

Students and faculty met for a Global Affairs Table that focused on Zimbabwe and its economic and political turmoil on Thursday, Sept. 25.

The Global Affairs Table is a collaboration between the student organization Gen Ed Now, a club on campus that educates and inspires the campus on contemporary national and global issues, and the Wien International Scholars, international students who have won the Wien Scholarship for outstanding academic and personal achievements.

Ben Gorelick '11, a Wien Scholar and member of Gen Ed Now who helped organize the event, said, "Brandeis really claims to stand for a global focus and to be oriented towards global awareness. We noted that there was a lack of global dialogue on campus, and we wanted to improve that. So, we came up with the idea of the Global Affairs Table."

The topics for the Global Affairs Table are decided by the Wien Scholars, who come from different parts of the world, Gorelick said. "[They] have local insight not shared from people on campus necessarily. They can bring this insight, especially when there are events happening in these countries. They can bring forward that insight at a time when it is important to talk about it."

He said Zimbabwe was the topic of choice for the first discussion "because of the recent political developments in the country since the beginning of the year."

Twenty-five students and faculty members at the event learned about and discussed the process that is underway in Zimbabwe to create a government where "power is shared between the ruling party [Zimbabwe African National Union-Political Front] and the opposition [Movement for Democratic Change]," Gorelick said.

Prof. Wellington Nyangoni (AAAS) discussed the tension surrounding issues of land reform, and Gorelick and Tapiwa Mushove '09 gave brief presentations on the political and economic history of Zimbabwe using what they have learned in class, articles they have read, personal experiences and personal research.

Nyangoni discussed the issue of resentment among unsettled Africans of white ownership of land expropriated in the colonial era. He said land distribution has serious ramifications today in Zimbabwe.

He stressed the importance of understanding these worldwide issues, because we are students heading out into the global community.

Continued...

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