On this edition of Parallax Views, international laws scholar and activist Richard Falk joins us once again, this time to discuss his new political memoir Public Intellectual: The Life of a Citizen Pilgrim. Richard has dedicated a lifetime to fighting for peace, justice, and global cooperation as well as challenging the status quo, often from within the very elite institutions that many times uphold that status quo. This has led him to such places as Hanoi during the Vietnam War and South Africa during apartheid. All in the service of being what Richard calls a “Patriot of Humanity”. Or a “Citizen Pilgrim”. In this conversation we discuss:
– Richard’s apolitical youth and early adulthood and how he was raised by a conservative anti-communist father.
– The unusual conservatism of academia
– The experience of being an academic during the Cold War and specifically the era of McCarthyism and the Red Scare
– How Richard’s views of international relations and international law differs greatly from those of Henry Kissinger, John Mearsheimer, and the RAND Corporation
– Taking a dialogic approach to international relations
– Experiences in Vietnam and South Africa
– The influence of religion and philosophy on Richard’s intellectual development
– And much, much more!
Source: Public Intellectual: The Life of a Citizen Pilgrim w/ Richard Falk
