As part of Remembrance Week, a panel discussion focusing on the Syracuse University community’s response to terrorism was held Tuesday at 8 p.m. in Kittredge Auditorium.

The panel, titled ‘Terrorism: Memory, Politics, Action,’ consisted of Mehrzad Boroujerdi, director of Syracuse University’s Middle Eastern studies program, Joan Deppa, an S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications professor and author of ‘The Media and Disasters: Pan Am 103;’ Jessica Maxwell of the Syracuse Peace Council and Anthony Nocella, co-editor of ‘Terrorists or Freedom Fighters? Reflections on the Liberation of Animals.’

Remembrance Week is held to honor the 35 SU students who were killed in a terrorist attack when Pan Am 103 exploded over Lockerbie, Scotland on Dec. 21, 1988.

‘I think panels like this really encourage us to think more broadly about what would be a correct response to a tragedy or terrorist attack like Pan Am 103,’ Maxwell said. ‘A big part of Remembrance Week is to make sure that similar events do not take place in the future.’

Remembrance Week is special because it was the idea of students, Deppa said.

SU students started Remembrance Week because they were afraid the memory of the Pan Am 103 tragedy would be forgotten, she said.

‘I have this vision of coming back to campus 20 years from now and still seeing Remembrance Week happen,’ Deppa said.

‘It is very important that we recognize that this was not an accident,’ Deppa said. ‘It is etched in stone so that we never forget that this was a terror attack.’

Terrorists often use communications as part of their operations, said Deppa, who teaches a class called Terrorism in the Media, which looks at how terrorism is depicted in the news and entertainment media.

When Pan Am 103 was bombed, they did not release a statement with their reasons for the attack, Deppa said.

‘I was surprised because it was just expected that they would release a statement saying this is why we did what we did,’ she said.

Boroujerdi said he starts all of his classes with a reference to Pan Am 103 to instill the importance of politics. He tries to make it clear that even if someone is not interested in politics, politics is interested in them. Terrorists are trying to instill political or social change.

Boroujerdi has had first-hand experience with terrorism; his father was assassinated by Islamic fundamentalists.

During the panel, he presented a series of questions about memory and terrorism. He asked if students will always continue to memorialize this event rather than historicize it. He saidAmerica views the rest of the world as either markets or targets.

Nocella, a self-described radical activist, had a very different perspective.

Beyond remembering the victims of Pan Am 103, other individuals who fight for liberation must be remembered, he said.

This generation is living in an era of terrorism, much like people of the 1960s were living in the Vietnam era, he said.

There is no one definition of terrorism and the FBI has said it cannot define terrorism – it has taken on many meanings over time, Nocella said.

Boroujerdi agreed with Nocella that there is no universal definition of the term.

People define certain violent acts as those of freedom fighters if people agree with their ideals. It is only the opponents that are labeled as terrorists, he said.

An act can only be defined as terrorist if it is against non-combatant citizens, Boroujerdi said. Violent acts against military forces cannot be defined as terrorism. He said he does not believe the attacks on the troops in Iraq are terrorist attacks because it is a military presence that is being attacked.

‘We need to remember Rosa Parks, and others that protested with her, were labeled as terrorists,’ Nocella said.

Published on November 1, 2005 at 12:00 pm