Editor to discuss Middle Eastern hatred

After thousands of people were killed in the Sept. 11 attacks, the nation wanted to know why terrorists hated Americans. One month later, Fareed Zakaria gave the public some answers with an article in Newsweek.

Zakaria, editor for Newsweek International, will speak to students about his research analyzing the rage behind terrorism at 7 p.m. in Cooper Hall Room 103.

Zakaria received a bachelor of arts in history from Yale and a Ph.D. in international relations from Harvard. Zakaria was the managing editor for Foreign Affairs, a widely circulated journal on international politics and economics in the world, in the early ’90s.

In October 2000, he was named editor for Newsweek International.

The article, “The Politics of Rage: Why Do They Hate Us?” discusses the last 30 years of history in the Middle East. Zakaria explains the reasons for the hate against Americans in the Islamic world. He also lists ways to defeat terror and bring about reform.Zakaria said the strategy to deal with the form of religious terrorism must be divided along three lines: military, politics and cultural. He said military goals are the destruction of al-Qaida, the political goal is obtaining international legitimacy for refori-native acts; and the cultural goal is helping Islam enter the modern world.

Thomas Mieczkowski, USF professor for the department of criminology, said he agrees with some of Zakaria’s views but to trace the reasons for the rage you need to travel farther back in time. Mieczkowski said history reveals that the decline of the dominance of Islamic culture and the increase of popularity with today’s industrial culture has caused frustration in some Islam followers.

“While there is a desire for some of the modern principles, there is revulsion for others. (This) results in conflict, confusion, and consequently, rage,” Mieczkowski said.

Mieczkowski said besides the content of the lecture, he expects students to be curious about the topic in general. He also said it is important for students to hear different points of view before judging an issue, and Zakaria’s lecture will allow them to do that.