War on the Borderlands: Conflict Reporting Now

War on the Borderlands

Conflict Reporting Now

Journalism 298 // Spring 2024 // Mon 2 – 5 pm // North Gate 106

Mark Danner

At the far borders of what was once the American Empire, fires are raging. After the fall of the Berlin Wall more than three decades ago, the American led NATO alliance began moving East, and it has at last found conflict at the very doorstep of what was once its rival superpower: Russia has gone to war rather than accept a Westernized, NATO-ized Ukraine. At the other end of the vast Eurasian supercontinent, China stands poised to invade Taiwan, its ruler for life having declared he would "unify the homeland" before his term was up. The United States is committed to use all its resources to oppose any armed attempt to seize the island. The two major challenges of Ukraine and Taiwan, of Russia and China, as well as the conflict between Israel and Palestine in the Middle East and many lesser conflicts in Africa and elsewhere, and the international migration pressures of climate change, define the current landscape of conflict reporting. In this seminar, we will learn the basics of ongoing and burgeoning conflicts, read the best that has been written covering war, and prepare ourselves to report on a new era of conflict and war.

Course Goals In this seminar we will seek to achieve three broad and interconnected goals:

  1. To explore the present transitional moment in international politics and understand why it is so perilous – and important
  2. To gain familiarity with certain current international conflicts and with those reporters covering them
  3. To highlight basic techniques of reporting about conflict

Class Requirements This seminar will be a mixture of lecture and discussion, backed up by a great deal of book- and article-reading and film-viewing. The most important requirements are that students

  • Attend all class sessions
  • Keep up with reading and viewing assignments
  • Participate in discussions
  • Do one presentation on a correspondent or a problem of foreign policy
  • Hand in a final paper of ten pages on the last day of class

A student’s record of attendance and participation in class discussion, together with the quality of their writing, will determine the success of our class and contribute the better part of the grade.

Schedule Note that classes will meet Mondays at 2 pm in North Gate 106 and will end at 5 pm. We will normally break for about 15 minutes at 3:30. Please plan to do any texting and telephoning you find necessary during the break.

Reading Our primary reading will draw from a number of books and articles of foreign reporting, classic and contemporary. I strongly urge you to obtain these books in your own copies and in the edition specified, either from local bookstores or from online suppliers, so that you will be able to highlight and annotate them.

Viewing During the semester we will be assigning a number of films for each class that bear closely on the subject of foreign reporting and foreign affairs. Please watch these continuously – without a break – and on the largest screen available. We encourage you to screen these films along with your colleagues.

Tracking the News A significant part of each class will be given over to tracking and discussing foreign policy as it takes shape around ongoing conflicts. Following these events closely in various publications, beginning with the New York Times, the Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal and other newspapers and websites, and familiarizing yourselves with the work of the leading contemporary foreign correspondents and commentators, is essential. Even if you are not a habitual newspaper reader, you must become one for this class. Also strongly recommended are The Guardian, The Economist, Foreign Policy and Foreign Affairs, among other publications.

Presentations Each student will make one presentation to the class. This may take one of two forms: first, present a discussion on the work and career of a foreign correspondent of your choice, contemporary or not. (If the correspondent is contemporary, work to secure an interview.) Second, take up a major issue or event in contemporary foreign policy and report or comment on it. We will be discussing these projects extensively in class sessions and in individual meetings. Use of multimedia and social media during the presentation is strongly encouraged.

Writing There is a single writing assignment in this class, a final paper of 10 pages. Note the paper is due at the last class on April 29. The subject – as we will discuss more fully in class – must bear on a foreign conflict or on foreign conflict reporting. To bolster the clarity and vigor of your prose, I strongly suggest studying two works: George Orwell’s essay, “Politics and the English Language,” which can be readily found online, and Strunk and White’s little manual, The Elements of Style.

Office Hours I will count on meeting with each of you individually at least once during the course of the term. We will make these appointments on an ad hoc basis. I am best reached via email, at mark@markdanner.com. My office is North Gate 32. My writing, speaking and other information can be found at my website, markdanner.com.

Grading Students will be graded on their preparedness and their participation in class, the strength of their presentations and the quality of their written work, as follows:

  • Attendance 25 percent
  • Participation 25 percent
  • Presentation 25 percent
  • Writing 25 percent

Note that regular attendance is vital. Those who miss multiple classes will not do well in this course.

Syllabus and Texts Note the list of assignments and books below will certainly change during the semester. Some books we will read in excerpt, not in full. As the semester progresses some articles will replace books or supplement them. The syllabus will be regularly updated on bCourses and you will receive a fully revised syllabus at the end of the course.

Texts

Azam Ahmed, Fear Is Just A Word (Random House, 2023)

Vincent Bevins, The Jakarta Method: Washington’s Anticommunist Crusade and the Mass Murder Program that Shaped Our World (Public Affairs, 2020)

Charles Bowden, Murder City (Nation, 2011)

Darren Byler, In the Camps: China’s High-Tech Penal Colony, 2021

Marie Colvin, On the Front Line: The Collected Journalism of Marie Colvin (Harper, 2012)

Paul Conroy, Under the Wire: Marie Colvin’s Final Assignment (Weinstein, 2013)

Mark Danner, The Massacre at El Mozote: A Parable of the Cold War (Vintage, 1994)

Mark Danner, Stripping Bare the Body: Politics Violence War (Nation, 2009)

Alexander Etkind, Russia Against Modernity (Polity, 2023)

Dexter Filkins, The Forever War (Vintage, 2009)

Luke Harding, Invasion: The Inside Story of Russia’s Bloody War and Ukraine’s Fight for Survival (Vintage, 2022)

Gideon Levy, The Punishment of Gaza (Verso, 2010)

Owen Matthews, Overreach: The Inside Story of Putin and Russia’s War Against Ukraine (Mudlark, 2023)

Joe Sacco, Palestine (Fantagraphics, 2001)

Joe Sacco, Footnotes in Gaza (Metropolitan Press, 2009)

Anjan Sundaram, Stringer: A Reporter’s Journey to the Congo (Doubleday, 2014)

Nathan Thrall, A Day in the Life of Abed Salameh (Metropolitan, 2023)

William Wheeler, State of War: MS-13 and El Salvador’s World of Violence (Columbia Global Reports, 2020)

Films

Evgeny Afineevsky, Winter on Fire (2015)

Ra’anan Alexandrowicz, The Law in These Parts

Robin Barnwell, China Undercover

Michael Bluemel, Once Upon A Time in Iraq

Mstyslav Chernov, 20 Days in Mariupol

Peter Cohn, Holy Land: A Year on the West Bank

Adam Curtis, TraumaZone

Medyan Dairieh, The Islamic State

Ari Folman, Waltz With Bashir

Fernando Frías, Ya No Estoy Aquí

Matthew Heineman, A Private War

Matthew Heineman, Cartel Land

James Jacoby, Netanyahu, America and the Road to War in Gaza

Jessica Kingdon, Ascension

Los Zetas – Most Ruthless and Dangerous Cartel in Mexico

Daniel McCabe, This Is Congo

Dror Moreh, Corridors of Power

Dror Moreh, The Gatekeepers

Joshua Oppenheimer, The Act of Killing

Chris Oxley, Dangerous Straits

Rithy Panh, S-21

Gillo Pontecorvo, Battle of Algiers

Gillo Pontecorvo, Burn!

Daniel Roher, Navalny

Martin Smith and Marcela Gaviria, The Quake (Frontline)

Oliver Stone, Salvador

Michael Ware, Only the Dead

Syllabus

January 22, 2024 – Foreign Reporting in the Shadow of Ukraine

Covering Ukraine. Ukraine and how it changes things. Afghanistan. The historical moment and the plan of the course. The Biden Administration and the reshaping of US foreign policy. The end of the “forever wars.” The tilt toward Asia. Where we start and where we’ll finish. Being a foreign correspondent. Reading your colleagues. Doing the job. Dividing the world. War and peace. Looking at the present world. Afghanistan: the end of the forever war. Covering Afghanistan. Foreign policy and domestic politics. Goals of the course: Learning the hot spots. Judging foreign policy. Mastering the trade. Course requirements. Presentations.

January 29 – Dying to Get the Story: Marie Colvin in Syria

Read

  • Selections from Marie Colvin, On the Front Line: The Collected Journalism of Marie Colvin (Harper, 2012)
    • Syria Coverage pg. 514-529
    • Jenin: the bloody truth pg. 224-233
    • Chechnya & East Timor pieces 137-167
  • Paul Conroy, Under the Wire: Marie Colvin’s Final Assignment (Weinstein, 2013)

Watch:

  • Matthew Heineman, A Private War
  • Gillo Pontecorvo, Battle of Algiers

Read (Recommended):

  • Lindsey Hilsum, In Extremis: The Life and Death of the War Correspondent Marie Colvin (2018)

February 5 – Central America, Haiti and the Cold War

Read

  • Mark Danner, The Massacre at El Mozote: A Parable of the Cold War (Vintage, 1994)
  • Mark Danner, Stripping Bare the Body: Politics Violence War (Nation, 2009), “Beyond the Mountains,” Part 1
  • William Wheeler, State of War: MS-13 and El Salvador’s World of Violence (Columbia Global Reports, 2020)

Read (Recommended)

  • Mark Danner, Stripping Bare the Body: Politics Violence War (Nation, 2009), “Beyond the Mountains,” Parts 2 & 3

Watch

  • Oliver Stone, Salvador
  • Martin Smith and Marcela Gaviria, The Quake (Frontline)

February 12 – Ukraine and the Return of History

Read

  • Luke Harding, Invasion: The Inside Story of Russia’s Bloody War and Ukraine’s Fight for Survival (Vintage, 2022)

Watch

  • Evgeny Afineevsky, Winter on Fire
  • Mstyslav Chernov, 20 Days in Mariupol (Frontline)

February 19 – President’s Day – No Class

February 26 – Russia and the Ukraine War

Read

  • Owen Matthews, Overreach: The Inside Story of Putin and Russia’s War Against Ukraine (Mudlark, 2023)

Read (Recommended)

  • Alexander Etkind, Russia Against Modernity (Polity, 2023)

Watch

  • Adam Curtis, TraumaZone Part 1
  • Adam Curtis, TraumaZone Part 2
  • Daniel Roher, Navalny

March 4 – Americanization: Indonesia and Sixties Genocide

Read

  • Vincent Bevins, The Jakarta Method: Washington’s Anticommunist Crusade and the Mass Murder Program that Shaped Our World (Public Affairs, 2020)

Watch

  • Joshua Oppenheimer, The Act of Killing
  • Gillo Pontecorvo, Burn!
  • Dror Moreh, Corridors of Power

March 11 – China vs. Taiwan: The Gates of World War III

Read

  • David Lague & Maryanne Murray, “T-Day: The Battle for Taiwan,” Reuters Investigates, November 5, 2021
  • Dexter Filkins, “A Dangerous Game Over Taiwan,” The New Yorker, Nov 14, 2022
  • International Crisis Group, “Preventing War in the Taiwan Strait,” Report No333, 27 October 2023
  • Task Force on US-China Policy, “Avoiding War Over Taiwan,” Asia Society, Oct. 13, 2022
  • Thomas J. Christensen, M. Taylor Travel, Bonnie S. Glaser, Andrew J. Nathan, Jessica Chen Weiss, “How to Avoid a War Over Taiwan,” Foreign Affairs, Oct. 13, 2022
  • Orville Schell, “The Tragedy of Taiwan’s Success,” The Wire China, Oct. 9, 2022
  • John Culiver, “How We Would Know When China Is Preparing to Invade Taiwan,” Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Oct. 3, 2022
  • Michèle Flournoy, Michael Brown, “Time Is Running Out to Defend Taiwan,” Foreign Affairs, Sept. 14, 2022
  • Sarah Topol, “Is Taiwan Next?” The New York Times Magazine, Aug. 4, 2021
  • Piers M. Wood and Charles D. Ferguson, “How China Might Invade Taiwan,” Naval War College Review, 2001

Watch

  • Chris Oxley, Dangerous Straits (Frontline)
  • Taiwan vs. China – The rocky road to democracy, DW Documentary, Dec. 12, 2021
  • Taiwan conflict – Facing the threat from China, DW Documentary, Sep. 16, 2022

March 18 – Israelis and Palestinians: On Contested Ground

Read

  • Nathan Thrall, A Day in the Life of Abed Salameh (Metropolitan, 2023)
  • Joe Sacco, Palestine (Fantagraphics, 2001)
  • Mohammed Haddad, “Palestine and Israel: Mapping an annexation,” Al Jazeera, Jun. 26, 2020
  • Ben Birnbaum & Amir Tibon, “The Explosive, Inside Story of How John Kerry Built an Israel-Palestine Peace Plan – And Watched It Crumble,” The New Republic, July 20, 2014
  • Nathan Thrall, “The Past 50 Years of Israeli Occupation. And the Next,” The New York Times, Jun. 2, 2017

Watch

  • Ari Folman, Waltz With Bashir, 2008 (on Amazon Prime)
  • Ra’anan Alexandrowicz, The Law in These Parts, 2011 (on Amazon Prime)
  • Dror Moreh, The Gatekeepers, 2012 (on Amazon Prime)

March 25 – Spring Break; no class

April 1 – “Managing the Conflict”: The Struggle for Gaza

Read

  • Gideon Levy, The Punishment of Gaza (Verso, 2010)
  • Joe Sacco, Footnotes in Gaza (Metropolitan, 2009)
  • David Schulman, “A Bitter Season in the West Bank,” NY Review, 21 Dec 2023
    Yuval Abraham, “’A mass assassination factory’: Inside Israel’s Calculated Bombing of Gaza,” +972 Magazine, November 30, 2023

Watch

  • Peter Cohn, Holy Land: A Year on the West Bank
  • James Jacoby, Netanyahu, America and the Road to War in Gaza (Frontline)

April 8 – China & Human Rights: Today’s Concentration Camps

Read

  • Darren Byler, In the Camps: China’s High-Tech Penal Colony, 2021
  • Ben Mauk, “Inside Xinjiang’s Prison State,” The New Yorker, Feb 26, 2021
  • Raffi Khatchadourian, “Surviving the Crackdown in Xinjiang,” The New Yorker, Apr. 5, 2021
  • Nicole Kobie, “The complicated truth about China’s social credit system,” Wired, Jul. 7, 2019
  • Ross Anderson, “The Panopticon is already here,” The Atlantic, 2020
  • Megha Rajagopalan, Alison Killing, Christo Buschek “Built to Last,” Buzzfeed News, Aug. 27, 2020
  • Megha Rajagopalan, Alison Killing, “What They Saw,” Buzzfeed News, Aug. 27, 2020
  • Megha Rajagopalan and Alison Killing, “China Can Lock Up A Million Muslims In Xinjiang At Once,” Buzzfeed News, Jul. 21, 2021

Watch

  • Jessica Kingdon, Ascension, 2021
  • Robin Barnwell, China Undercover (Frontline)
  • The New Yorker, Reeducated, 2021

April 15 – Congo’s Struggle: Resources and Strategy

Read

Watch

  • BBC, Congo: A journey to the heart of Africa (BBC Africa, 2019)
  • Daniel McCabe, This Is Congo
  • The Vice Guide to Congo
  • A Silent War, Stories of Human Suffering and Resilience in Congo

April 22 – Iraq Then and Now: Invasions and Forever Wars

Read

  • Dexter Filkins, The Forever War (Vintage, 2009)
  • Mark Danner, “Delusions in Baghdad,” New York Review, February 12, 2004
  • Mark Danner, “Iraq: The War of the Imagination,” New York Review, December 21, 2006

Watch

  • Michael Ware, Only the Dead
  • James Bluemel, Once Upon A Time in Iraq (Frontline)

April 29 – Mexico, South America, and the US Border

Read

  • Azam Ahmed, Fear Is Just A Word (Random House, 2023)
  • Alma Guillermoprieto, “Forty-three Mexican Students Went Missing…,” The New Yorker, March 14, 2024
  • Strongly recommended: Charles Bowden, Murder City (Nation, 2011)

Watch