About Fawaz A. Gerges
Article: Sarah Lawrence's expert on Mideast in demand
The Journal News, Dec. 4, 2001, by Georgette Gouveia.
Fawaz Gerges likes to think of himself as a bridge between cultures, and indeed, his compassionate and dispassionate analysis of the tangled, explosive Middle East scene has made him a sturdy bridge over troubled water.
It's also made him one of the most sought-after talking heads on the tube, with periodic appearances on ABC News - where he serves as a consultant and commentator - along with guest stints on programs such as PBS' "The NewsHour With Jim Lehrer." This month he'll be on ABC's "Politically Incorrect With Bill Maher."
All of which has left Gerges (GHER-ghehs) - who teaches international affairs and Middle East studies at Sarah Lawrence College in Yonkers - depleted, though exhilarated.
"Personally, I'm drained," he says, a chuckle punctuating his soft, British-inflected voice. "I wake up hoping it will end soon."
At the same time, he says, "I'm delighted to participate in the discussion as an educator."
Seated behind his desk in his campus office, Gerges, 42, looks every inch the professor in a colorful, zippered sweater and contrasting tie. Both the man and the place convey the vibrancy of pattern and texture. A Persian rug covers a utilitarian metal desk, giving it some welcome warmth. Textiles hang on the wall opposite, while behind the desk, shelves crammed with books on the Middle East and other subjects add designs and hues of their own, providing a dramatic backdrop for a postcard of Winston Churchill.
By any standards, Gerges' resume is impressive -bachelor's and master's degrees, in journalism and international affairs respectively, from the University of Southern California in Los Angeles; a master's degree in international economics from the London School of Economics; a doctorate in the social sciences from St. Anthony's College at Oxford University in Oxford, England; several books and numerous articles published; appearances on TV networks including CNN and CBS.
Gerges probably could've written his own ticket at Harvard and Princeton universities, where he held visiting fellowships. But in 1994, he came to teach at Sarah Lawrence, where he holds the Christian A. Johnson Chair in Middle East Studies & International Affairs.
Many of the students he encountered at Harvard cared only about their grades, he says. At Sarah Lawrence - which emphasizes intellectual inquiry through teacher-student conferences, written evaluations and small classes that encourage a great deal of reading, writing and discussion - Gerges found a community that was primarily interested in what he calls "a life of the mind."
In his case, that mind spans two worlds. Though educated in the West, Gerges was born in Lebanon to a family that is part of the ancient Greek Orthodox community there.
"We serve as a bridge between West and East. The Greek Orthodox community itself has tried to serve as a bridge. The challenge is to move freely, openly and completely between both civilizations."
Recently, Gerges spent almost two years in the Middle East as a MacArthur fellow, researching the relationship between Islamic movements and the West, particularly the United States. His next book, "The Islamists and the West: Ideology vs. Pragmatism," will be published by Cambridge University Press next year.
So Gerges would seem to be perfectly positioned to answer the questions of the day, not the least of which is, What's next for America and the Middle East?
The question is particularly crucial now that Osama bin Laden's endgame is at hand, Gerges says: "Now it's Osama bin Laden versus the world. He's lashed out at the U.N. It's a sign of his desperation. He's going under, and he knows it."
But while stating that "it is legitimate to bring Osama bin Laden to justice, as he provoked mass murder," Gerges adds that "at the end of the day, the military campaign won't be enough to wipe out the swamp of terrorism."
Instead, he says, Americans must consider this: "Why does (bin Laden's) message resonate? Until the 1990s, he was an obscure man. What enables him to recruit hundreds of thousands of people to not only fight but to commit suicide and kill thousands of people? ... There is an arsenal of accumulated grievances in the Arab and Muslim worlds. As a MacArthur fellow traveling in Yemen and Jordan, I couldn't find a single social group with a positive view of America. The soil is fertile, and it breeds foot soldiers.
"How do you compete with a professional killer for hearts and minds? How does the United States manage resentment when it is an imperial power, in the sense that it has interests all over the world?"
Short-term, Gerges says, there must be a resolution to the Palestine-Israeli conflict and an end to sanctions against the Iraqi people: "Why punish Iraqi children?"
Long-term, the United States must show what he calls "the human face of America."
"There is more to America than Washington, D.C. There are, for example, six million Muslims and Arabs in the U.S. leading wonderful lives."
Here Gerges gives President George W. Bush high marks for the sensitive way in which he has distinguished between the war on terrorism and respect for Islam.
Gerges says the United States must invest in the Middle East - in libraries, health clinics and schools - while holding the corrupt regimes that govern some Middle East countries at arm's length. This is, he acknowledges, a slippery slope at best.
"It's a formidable challenge to find a balance in healthy engagement," he says. "There are limits to what the U.S. can do. The United States is not responsible for the inability of Arab and Muslim countries to create vital institutions to catch up economically."
Rather, Gerges says, the United States has become the scapegoat for the Arab and Muslim nations' refusal to embrace modernism fully - something they must do.
Compounding a complex relationship is the Middle East's fascination with America - and America's lack of fascination with the Middle East, Gerges says.
"At the end of World War II, the U.S. was seen as a shining city on a hill. We inherited the responsibilities of Great Britain and France. But America was not interested in foreign policy. I'm hoping that out of great tragedy will come political change. Some people have said the U.S. has finally joined the world."
Still, Gerges is proud of his adopted homeland, proud of the moral fiber America has shown in a time of great crisis. And he is filled with affection for New York and the spirit of its people.
Each week, Gerges goes into the city to dine with colleagues and "spend as much money as we can," he says with a laugh.
(He lives in suburban New Jersey with his wife, Nora Ann Colton, a professor of international economics at Drew University, but declines to discuss their children, wishing to protect the family's privacy.)
If the events of Sept. 11 have led America to rejoin the world, Gerges says, then they have also led New York - always cosmopolitan and independent-minded- to rejoin America.
"New York," he says, "is the real capital of America. It's the capital of the world."
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