Public Intellectual: The Life of a Citizen Pilgrim

by Richard Falk

Overview

“Richard Falk recounts a life well spent trying to bend the arc of international law toward global justice. A Don Quixote tilting nobly at real dragons. His culminating vision of a better or even livable future—a 'necessary utopia'—evokes with current urgency the slogan of Paris, May 1968: 'Be realistic: demand the impossible.'”DANIEL ELLSBERG

This political memoir reveals how Richard Falk became prominent in America and internationally as both a public intellectual and citizen pilgrim.

Falk built a life of progressive commitment, highlighted by visits to North Vietnam where he met PM Pham Von Dong, to Iran during the Islamic Revolution after meeting Khomeini in Paris, to South Africa where he met with Nelson Mandela at the height of the struggle against apartheid, and frequently to Palestine and Israel. His memoir is studded with encounters with well-known public figures in law, academia, political activism and even Hollywood. Falk mentored the thesis of Robert Mueller, taught David Petraeus.

His publications and activism describe various encounters with embedded American militarism, especially as expressed by governmental resistance to responsible efforts to rid the world of nuclear weapons, and his United Nations efforts on behalf of the rights of the Palestinian people.

In 2010 he was named Outstanding Public Scholar in Political Economy by the International Studies Association. He has been nominated annually for the Nobel Peace Prize since 2009.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781949762327
Publisher:	Clarity Press, Incorporated
Publication date:	02/01/2021
Pages:	474
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.80(h) x 1.40(d)

About the Author

Richard Falk is a leading international law professor, prominent activist, prolific author, and a pioneer thinker dedicated to peace and justice. During forty years at Princeton University Falk was active in seeking an end to the Vietnam War, a better understanding of Iran, a just solution for Israel/Palestine, and improved democracy elsewhere. He also served as UN Special Rapporteur for Occupied Palestine. His books include This Endangered Planet, A Study of Future Worlds,; Power Shift, Revisiting the Vietnam War, Palestine Horizon, and On Nuclearism.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements viii

Part 1 Beginnings 1

1 A Reluctant Chronicler 3

2 Childhood Revisited 7

Part 2 Within the Academy 39

3 Collapse and Recovery at Penn 41

4 Growing at Yale Law School 53

Part 3 Professional Life 69

5 Awakenings at OSU 71

6 Experiencing Harvard 90

7 Returning to Ohio State 103

8 Princeton for 40 Years 111

9 Life: Students, Careers, Service 142

10 Santa Barbara/UCSB 164

Part 4 Engaging the World: Citizenship, Witnessing, Activism 183

11 America's Bloody Footprint in Vietnam: Descending from the Ivory Tower 185

12 Repatriating Three American Pilots 220

13 Iran Erupts 241

14 Establishing a Jewish State in Palestine 284

15 The Turkish Enigma 327

Part 5 Explorations of a Citizen Pilgrim 371

16 Engaging the World Intellectually: Fears, Desires, Hopes 375

17 Transformative Proposals 406

Part 6 Quixotic or Prophetic: Seeking Light 429

18 The Citizen Pilgrim as a Public Intellectual 435

19 Personal Hotspots: A Credo 445

Index 456

Editorial Reviews

"This intimate and penetrating account of a remarkable life is rich in insights about topics ranging from the academic world to global affairs to prospects for a livable society. A gripping story, with many lessons for a troubled world." — NOAM CHOMSKY

"Whether you are a peace activist or researcher, or you care about the earth and fellow human beings, Public Intellectual will enrich you intellectually and politically." — DR. VANDANA SHIVA

"Richard Falk is one of the few great public intellectuals and citizen pilgrims who has preserved his integrity and consistency in our dark and decadent times. This wise and powerful memoir is a gift that bestows us with a tear-soaked truth and blood-stained hope". — DR. CORNEL WEST

"The 2008 global meltdown spotlighted America's own legions of greedy wolf warriors, feeding at the trough. Neither America's nor China's wolf warriors offer happy returns, but only our best deep thinkers, it seems, know this. One is Richard Falk who, in his just-published political memoir Public Intellectual, is as successful as anyone in making the point that what's needed is not simply a course correction but a new course." — TOM PLATE, South China Morning Post

"Much more than just the 'memoirs' of a leading international law professor, this book tells a story of law in practice, addressing many issues of international relations, including UN standard-setting and monitoring, which Falk explores, cogently discussing the interactions between politics and law, expressing his understanding that politics must be subordinated to law and not vice versa. He proposes a 'progressive' agenda, which has been difficult to achieve in the socio-political context of the past 60 years. Indeed, as distinguished Professor in Princeton and Santa Barbara, UN Special Rapporteur on Palestine, and in other capacities, Falk has argued convincingly against the corruption of international law by geopolitics. In so doing Falk has left his imprint on international law. The book adds an important dimension to the understanding of international law and those who shape it.." — ALFRED DE ZAYAS, Netherlands International Law Review

"Richard Falk is universally regarded as one of the top minds when it comes to international law." — WALDEN BELLO, Economy and Politics

"Falk’s unique intellectual and political career poses a profound challenge to anybody working in International Relations: is it possible really to understand the dynamics of world politics without also participating passionately in its events? Many scholars argue that there should be a responsibility of objectivity in the social sciences; but Falk has never tried to be ‘neutral’. All his works were consciously born from a partisan attempt to change reality and to take a side. Nobody else is likely to be a witness to so many world events as Richard Falk; but he is teaching us that, to understand International Relations, and indeed the social sciences more broadly, scholars should be brave enough to enter the political arena."— DANIELE ARCHIBUGI, International Affairs

"In this 'political memoir', internationally respected scholar of international law, Richard Falk, at 90 gives a frank and personal account of his evolution to a 'citizen pilgrim'. Falk has made considerable contributions to international law. His notable four volume work The Vietnam War and International Law (1968–76) was central in the legal debates around the Vietnam War...His present book is not only of interest to those who lived through the same times as Falk, but also for those reflecting on the contributions of academics for justice, peace and environment... Public Intellectual: The Life of a Citizen Pilgrim is elegant, personal, relevant and thought-provoking..." — PETER WALLENSTEIN, Journal of Peace Research

"This book is must reading to remind us all how much higher the stakes are today for avoiding the Sixth Great Extinction which we ourselves still drive with our consumer societies. I hope all aspiring global citizens will learn as much from this book as I have." HAZEL HENDERSON, ethicalmarkets.com

“Falk is keenly aware of the challenges which we all face. As he writes ‘Now the future, if conceived as an extension of the present, paints a bleak picture. The miseries of climate change, global migration, famine, autocratic governance, militarist geopolitics, and diminishing biodiversity seem unlikely to be alleviated within my life span and will more likely worsen.’ Yet at the end, he holds out the hope for positive collective action to meet these challenges.” RENE WADLOW, Association of World Citizens

"Many of us who came of age during the Vietnam Era would be familiar with Falk’s travels, which were not for the faint-hearted. It would be hard today to name an American academic activist, with the courage and requisite empathy for ‘the Other’, who would undertake such a journey." — JOSEPH M. SIRACUSA, Australian Outlook, Australian Institute of International Affairs

From the Publisher