Sep 9, 2006 11:50:00 AM cite

Pico Iyer: I think for the same reason that we love and protect our families who may have ill-treated us. I’m a brown skinned person as you can see of Indian descent, who was born in England and citizen of America and lives now in Japan. And I can’t say I love England, but it – I owe it a life-long debt for the education it gave me, the sense of history, a certain stability it gave me. I nearly always disagree with current US policies, but the US has done a great thing by giving me and millions and millions of other immigrants a sense of freedom, a place to pursue our dreams, I believe in long horizons. In Japan, I am strip-searched almost every time I return to the country. I look exactly like what the Japanese don’t want to see coming into their land. And yet I love Japan for what it can teach me about attention and kindness and selflessness. Love and protection never are wasted. I think we’ll only get in trouble if we think we can expect something back guaranteed in return for them. I think such love and devotion as you feel for your country can only be a good force in your life, and all you can do is take care of your good feelings towards those who have nurtured you to some extent and hope that they will take care of their good feelings in return. If you as a black American resent America, I think you are locking yourself into a cycle from which there is no escape. So, congratulations to you for taking the first step in extending a hand of forgiveness and trust to the government that oversees you.

by Pico Iyer

Sep 9, 2006 11:50:00 AM cite

Rachid ElDaif:

by Rachid ElDaif

Sep 9, 2006 11:50:00 AM cite

Raymond Federman: Even though in the USA, where I live, totality, equality has not been reached. The US has made an enormous progress in accepting minorities than in other countries. And I have traveled to many place in the world, and I have seen what racism and prejudices there can be, including my own native country, France, which cannot deal with that problem. I have lived in America now for over 50 years and for a period of time, I was a jazz musician. I lived with the black community in Detroit, in Harlem. I was a black man as my friend would call me, and I have now seen the great progress that has been. But it is a slow, painful, difficult progress. I think just as the civil right movement created a great deal of change in America, it is still very much emotion and motion to be done. But I think it can be done by the black native American, what is now called African-American. I am not too sure that they still are African, but they are American, just as I am an American who came from another country, and I don’t call myself a Franco-American; I am an American. I have witnessed great changes, but I know that there are still many problems relating to the blacks. What I like in this question is the fact that Jason says, “I continue to love and defend my country”. Yes, he thinks of himself as an American. It’s a way of just as I as a Jew in America, I know that there is anti-semitism rampant in every place. But I will continue to love America and fight and defend America, even though I may be only a naturalized American. Jason is not a naturalized American. He is a real-born American., and I am glad that he raised that question, but I am glad he is aware also that there has been some very big progress made where it has not been made in many other countries in the world.

by Raymond Federman

Sep 9, 2006 11:50:00 AM cite

Robbie Conal: I don’t know what there is to love about a country. It is an idea; it is a concept. It is propaganda, not real; it is artificial. I don’t know if the country treats you in any particular way. Now the people in power in the country you are talking about, I don’t know that you love them and you might love other people in the geographical area and society. These people have too much power and control. That makes sense to me, there are wonderful people everywhere. But, maybe it is a misplaced allegiance to the country and maybe there is something that we can direct our energies to if we don’t like the way the people who have that much power over us in this general area are using it. We get together and get rid of them and you can love the people who love you and share power with them over your life and each other’s lives. Really not put up with that bullshit anymore. One can turn a little bit of focus and it is not about the country, it is about people who have power in the structure, in the government societal structure and maybe there are ways to change them.

by Robbie Conal

Sep 9, 2006 11:50:00 AM cite

Rodrigo Baggio: The opression and racism happening in our countries are absurd. Nobody should be considered different because they're black, indian or because they have a different religion or tradition. It is absurd what happens in our country, for example in Brazil, that people are marginalized and discriminated because they're black, because they live in slums or for example because they're people of the third age. It is very important that people can stop with this sort of limitation. The DNA of a black, a white or an asian person is extremely similar, 99,9 % of it is identic. Should people be less appreciated only because they have a different skin color or a different race? This is absurd. And it's even worse when a person is opressed, underestimated or other people have racist behaviour. We have to realize that we are equal. We have to realize that we are equal in our difference, appreciate this richness which exists in our societies and learn from this. This is very important and fundamental. We have to stop any sort of racism. This is not sustainable for the future of our countries and of our societies.

by Rodrigo Baggio

Sep 9, 2006 11:50:00 AM cite

Roland Berger: I think that in every nation human beings should be respected independently from their religion, race, color or social background. They should have the same possibilities to develop, to become wealthy, to contribute to the progress and development of the society and to the culture of society. Finally all human beings have the same possibilities to develop and to lead their lives. We all grew up in a certain country and in certain circumstances and we feel linked to that. Our home country and our nation are part of this and many people experienced or still experience that they are not respected the way they deserve it or the way they think they'd deserve it by the nation or even the family that they belong to. That won't hinder them to love their family, nation or home country. I think it is an important characteristic of humans to love and to be part of a community even though they suffer sometimes. I think that's also an important progress of humanity that we especially in democracies .....

by Roland Berger

Sep 9, 2006 11:50:00 AM cite

Sanar Yurdatapan: I have a different idea, Jason. Why not ask this question to all white American in this way. Why do as a white American continue to love and defend a country – Excuse me -- Why a black American continue to love and defend a country that treats him or her like an unwanted child? Well, the same thing we can ask to a Turkish person in Turkey. Why should a Kurd keep on loving and defending the country if he or she feels him or herself as an unwanted child of his country? This question might be beginning of empathy on those people. And remember that famous song “Sympathy”? Let’s take the first letter out “S” and sing it this way. Empathy is what we need my friend.

by Sanar Yurdatapan

Sep 9, 2006 11:50:00 AM cite

Santiago Roncagliolo: I personally do not think one has to love or defend countries for any reason, whether they want you or not. Countries are groups of persons who agree on certain systems to put or remove governments from office, to make or disband laws ... And frankly, I think one does not have to like them. I think one has to love the people who are populating them; I think one has to love the people around us, ... At least this is what I love: but generally speaking, the love for countries produces wars and justifies that the people do things they should rather not do. In this particular case of a black American being part of this society, I think that it would be off far worse if he was a black person from South Africa, or Angola, or from Peru. In comparison to the rest of the world, the living conditions for black people in the USA are enviable and, depending on how one looks at it, might be not that bad. All Peruvians would like to be North-Americans; our life would be far easier.

by Santiago Roncagliolo

Sep 9, 2006 11:50:00 AM cite

Shaobin Yang: I'm neither a migrant nor a black by myself, but I'd like to answer this question. I think when a person, whether he is an immigrant or a native, belongs to these countries, he should defend this motherland. The so-called whites, in fact, also feel ignored and marginal like unwanted children. I think it is really a big political problem of racial discrimination. At that time, Martin Luther King has begun to struggle against this phenomenon already, but until now the problem of racial discrimination of black Americans hasn't been solved yet. On one hand, black Americans should strictly restrict themselves so as to be useful for the society, which is very important. If, as I have said, you all become helpful, I think, the society of the America will change its view of you black Americans.

by Shaobin Yang

Sep 9, 2006 11:50:00 AM cite

Sihem Bensedrine: I think it deserves our high regard to defend a nation which is discriminating and oppressing you. But it's not only a deserving gesture, but a useful gesture, as by this gesture the discriminated and rejected person refuses to conform to the logic of marginalisation in which the system of his country wants to put him. So this is an excellent way to break out of this logic of rejection - you are rejected, you reject those who reject you, and this way, a vicious circle of violence emerges. The fact of loving your country and of rejecting to accept your status of a rejected, of a minority, is the first step to fight back in the most effective way discrimination and rejection, and I think the best way is, indeed, not to resort to this reflex of rejection and isolation.

by Sihem Bensedrine

Sep 9, 2006 11:50:00 AM cite

Sima Wali: Because at this root cause is the abused child. When a child is abused, it does basically -- is suffering from its wounds, and it however -- wants to have a sense of belonging. It leaves -- the whole sense of violence leaves a scar. When you look at Afghanistan and Afghan women especially during the Taliban, Afghan women were subservient and the Taliban introduced edicts that – introduced words for more violence that were depicted as gender apartheid, and I would term it as a war against women. I basically found so much strength in the Afghan women that I work with, that I talk with, and I dialog across the country, and in refugee conditions that I work with. Basically, Afghan women feel that they are more -- Afghanistan basically is more then the Taliban. And that’s what helps the country transcend on to that stage, despite the horrors of the war, and the horrors of -- that they experienced during the Taliban regime. So, basically this does not go to defend the Taliban or any kind of slavery. It shows that we can transcend, and there is good coming out of bad things that happen in this world. There are some people who transcend their difficulties, and some people who cannot, basically by remembering that whatever it is, that their existence depends on more than what they currently are suffering from.

by Sima Wali

Sep 9, 2006 11:50:00 AM cite

Simon Retallack: Well, I can only assume that ethnic minorities that are either persecuted or treated as second class citizens in developed countries may still feel a degree of patriotism towards their country because they are proud of their country and because they have a deep sense of forgiveness, I think. They must do. It’s hard for me to say. I haven’t experienced that but if – I mean if I was in the shoes of a black American who was treated with suspicion on a systematic basis by the police, who knew people that tried to vote in presidential elections and who weren’t able to because of the color of their skin, who were not given the same job opportunities because of the color of their skin, I would be pretty cross, and I would feel disempowered and angry, I think, with my fellow countrymen. And I don’t know whether that would make me feel less – feel less supportive of my country. It would make me want to change my country, I think; and there are plenty of examples in the states of black leaders who have sought to do so in a fantastic way. Of course, you think of Martin Luther King as the greatest example of, I think, of a black American who wanted to change his country but sets the world alight, I think, when it came to civil rights. And there’s a lot we can still learn from his example, I think. He loved his country so I think it is…[audio ends]

by Simon Retallack

Sep 9, 2006 11:50:00 AM cite

Sohrab Mahdavi: I think Jason, since he is an American, I think America is not a country. It’s the empire. And there is a big difference between an empire and a country. An empire sees only the end of its powers. It only sees how to come bigger and expand more and as such, the American Empire, the USA, is bound to begin war and to build its edifice on the backs of people, of minorities like Black Americans, it has no other choice.

by Sohrab Mahdavi

Sep 9, 2006 11:50:00 AM cite

Song Kosal: Because the country is, is like our mother. Where we grow up and live with our parents and our family.

by Song Kosal

Sep 9, 2006 11:50:00 AM cite

Stephanie Robinson: Jason, thank you very much for that question. I would just say to be black in America is a contradiction in the very form that you have expressed the question. Black Americans have loved the United States, they have fought for the United States, they have died for the United States and they still do love the United States notwithstanding the history of bigotry and prejudice that has been visited upon black Americans from the very beginning. The contradiction speaks to both the benefits and the burdens of being in America. The U.S. is really bursting with the possibility and the promise and the robust conception of American democracy allows for the belief that Americans and it’s citizens can overcome the problems of race, as you articulated in your question, but the problems of race in America just as surely as we replace slavery with freedom how imperfectly that may be realized. So to say that black people in America don’t love this country, haven’t always loved this country, and will continue to love this country and are an integral part of this country and actually built this country. Have riches beyond your wildest imagination about this country. I would say that is why we have and will continue to love this country and will fight to make sure that we are a part of this country. And it is something that I hold very, very dear. The organization that I represent here today as the president is The Jamestown Project and in fact that is exactly what we endeavor to do we endeavor to say that from the very beginning African Americans were part of this country as many other marginalized groups were part of this country and to realize a true democracy, an inclusive democracy that realizes the promise of this country in order to do so we have to lift up voices of color, we have to lift up leadership of color, and by taking a collective of diverse new voices, bringing that to bear on understanding the history of this country and how it impacts the present of this country is [audio ends]

by Stephanie Robinson

Sep 9, 2006 11:50:00 AM cite

Steve Earle: As a white American I have no idea why you as a black American would continue to love and defend a country that indeed treats you like an unwanted child. That's one of the most embarrassing things about being an American, especially a white American. And that's saying something in this day and age.

by Steve Earle

Sep 9, 2006 11:50:00 AM cite

Sulak Sivaraksa: I think it is wonderful to love your family, love your country, to love the world. Sometimes people are oppressed; they hate themselves, they hate their family, they hate their country, they hate their world. I think that is very negative. I think it is good to love your country. But to defend your country, you must also be wise, particularly in the USA that the ruling elites in the name of defending the country harm other peoples, and even youth minorities, to harm other country like Iraq, Afghanistan, and they claim that the best defense is to be offensive. I think the word ‘defense’ should be more non-violent. If you love your country, love yourself, you must love it without selfishness. You love your country as much as you love other countries. Even the so-called enemies should be loved. Because, the enemy is deep down, is not outside yourself, but in yourself. Greed, hate and illusion in yourself are the enemies, not outside. Once you get rid of enemies inside, you love the country, the family, or yourself would be really non-violent. You will really cultivate the culture of awakening, not become mere patriotic in the very selfish way which is linked directly to violence, which in fact, link directly also with international corporation, with war mongers, and the international corporation who produce more and more arms at tax payer expense. In fact, this money should be used for minorities; for the black, for the oppressed, for the poor, for the old, and for the young alike.

by Sulak Sivaraksa

Sep 9, 2006 11:50:00 AM cite

Susan George: That’s really hard for me to answer because I have been a white person in white dominated societies all my life. So -- and even as a women, I don’t know what it means to be excluded because I have always been a privileged person. So, I am perhaps not the person that should have the temerity or the -- what shall I say, should start and answer that question. But, let me say that it’s probably not just because – it’s not just a country that you would be defending, it’s your idea of what that country could be and could become if it really lived up to its ideals, if it lived up to its initial declaration of independence, its constitution, you are also defending your family, your neighborhood, your friends, that all of that is what's in our immediate surroundings is part of that country and it’s very good that you can feel that you love a country because we all should be able to love as widely as possible beyond our immediate surroundings and go to the level of the country and then to the level of the world humanity, of everything that is on this planet and everything indeed that’s in the universe and love all of creation. So, I would congratulate Jason on that sentiment and say that it’s up to him to say why is it. But I would say, not knowing him, that probably it’s because he is thinking of an ideal country which has always put its ideals forward and for many periods of history abused them and traduced them and betrayed them; but in other periods its history has been a savior to others, has been, and has been [audio ends]

by Susan George

Sep 9, 2006 11:50:00 AM cite

Swami Pragyapad: Answertext will be available soon.

by Swami Pragyapad