Ziad Talks Fundamentalism

Pakistani political history expert Waleed Ziad lectured about jihad, poverty, and terrorism Monday night in Lerner Hall's Satow Room, providing students a break from a string of more political speakers in recent months.

Co-sponsored by the Columbia Political Union, College Democrats, the Asian American Alliance, and the Organization of Pakistani Students, the event approached the development of fundamentalist Islamic politics in Pakistan from a cultural and historical standpoint.

Ziad, currently working as an economic consultant in Montreal, framed the rise of Islamic fundamentalism in terms of "a humiliated group struggling to reassert itself" in the face of increased Westernization.

"They're a group of people who are looking for some position in society, ... looking for a way out," he said.

Ziad also noted the disparity between the popular definition of jihad as a holy war and the original Quranic definition, which he said "refers to a spiritual struggle against one's self or physical struggle against oppression" in which noncombatants were not to be harmed.

An increase in educational funding, Ziad said, is an important factor to combat Islamic fundamentalism and the terrorism it can engender. In poor, rural areas of Pakistan, often the only venues for even basic literacy are schools run by fundamentalist religious scholars.

According to Ziad, current educational spending in the country is "a drop in the hat contained to military expenditures. ... One percent [of spending] or less could create a complete turnaround in education."

Ziad's analytical and thematic speech reflected the CPU's recent trend of bringing traditionally less-political speakers to campus. While the inclusion of conventional political figures has continued, as demonstrated by Attorney General John Ashcroft's visit in November, last semester the CPU also co-sponsored the "Media That Matters" film festival and hosted a talk by political cartoonist David Rees, best known for his left-leaning comic "Get Your War On."

"This year I think it was our goal to show how diverse politics is beyond the Republican-Democratic dichotomy," CPU Events Coordinator Wei Wei Hsing, CC '08, said.

When choosing speakers, Hsing added, the events committee considers "current events, and what seems especially relevant to us. ... We look at what students are talking about."