Description
This political memoir reveals how Richard Falk became prominent in America and internationally as both a public intellectual and citizen pilgrim. Interwoven and enriched with personal accounts of his living, learning and loving in many parts of the world. Falk’s journey began with a comfortable, yet troubled, childhood in New York City that included a conservative political and secular background, leading on to an Ivy League education. From there, Falk built a life of progressive commitment, highlighted by visits to North Vietnam during the Vietnam War, to Iran during the Islamic Revolution, to South Africa at the height of the struggle against apartheid, and frequently to Palestine and Israel. This led to his enduring many defamatory attacks launched by militants defending U.S. foreign policy, and especially in reaction to his expressions of solidarity with the Palestinian struggle to achieve basic rights and a just peace. The assault reached its height during the six-year period when Falk served as UN Special Rapporteur for Human Rights in Occupied Palestine.
Along the way, while a professor of international law at Princeton University, he has published more than 50 books on many scholarly topics, including studies of the profound dangers now facing humanity, the relevance of international law and the UN, and prospects for transforming world order in the direction of peace, justice, and ecological viability. 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. In the course of his travels, teaching, and writing, Falk has dealt with many leading personalities around the world. Aside from a life of travel, commitment, and personal intimacy two themes have dominated his public roles—engaging with the controversies of the present and envisioning a future of world order that is humane and sensitive to ecological limits. To find coherence, he has published a book of poems, Waiting for Rainbows.
RENE WADLOW –
“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
HAZEL HENDERSON –
“…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
JOSEPH M. SIRACUSA –
“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, President Emeritus of Australia’s Council for the Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences, Australian Outlook. Australian Institute of International Affairs.
JEREMY BRECHER –
“Falk suffered from a peculiar obstruction of moral vision. He was unable to understand why it was ok for one part of humanity to go hungry, suffer from treatable diseases, die young, and face #police, #paramilitary, and #military #repression when they tried to do something about it…” JEREMY BRECHER, Labor Network for Sustainability
PETER WALLENSTEIN –
“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 WALLENSTEEN, Journal of Peace Research
DANIELE ARCHIBUGI –
“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
ALFRED DE ZAYAS –
“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
WALDEN BELLO –
“Richard Falk is universally regarded as one of the top minds when it comes to international law. Yet his views are not only not welcome in establishment circles, but even among most left-leaning liberals. He was once the darling of liberals, someone whose left-of-center views were seen as important in “balancing” conservative and centrist views in debates, seminars, and TV programs. He was, in short, one of the establishment’s favorite critics of American foreign policy. That is until he crossed several red lines. The most consequential of these red lines was moving from abstract legal critiques of Israel’s policies in the Middle East to one of active sympathy with the Palestinian people’s struggle, and especially when he had the temerity to call Israel’s fundamental strategy of governance by its name: “#apartheid.” WALDEN BELLO, Foreign Policy in Focus/em>
FREDRICK S. HEFFERMEHL –
“The account of Richard Falk and his life is a gift to the world! The 90 years of pilgrimage from New York to Turkey
is full of riveting experiences, reflection and choices, a truth-seeking love story with life and the world. It should inspire
us all to see that law, used in honest service to fairness and justice, is a tool for peace both at the national level
and among nations. No wonder Prof. Falk has received multiple nominations for the Nobel Peace Prize.” FREDRICK S. HEFFERMEHL, Lawyer
DAVID RAY GRIFFIN –
“The most interesting memoir I have ever read.” DAVID RAY GRIFFIN
ERIC WALBERG –
“The real takeaway from Falk’s memoirs is what the life of an honourable man looks like as the world around him crumbles, who at 90 believes we can still take joy from our life long beliefs, which must be burnished constantly, wiping away dirt and the deeper rust. Israel represents the great, final betrayal of western civilization, our Titanic. Falk is one of the crew, and prefers to go down listening to Mozart, rather than compromise to stay afloat for a few more ‘happy hours’.” ERIC WALBERG
TRT Magazine –
“In his memoir, Richard Falk, one of the most prominent yet controversial experts on international law and relations, unravels many secrets of both the academic world and global affairs. It’s a rare privilege to publish a memoir at the age of 90. Richard Falk, an American-Jewish scholar and one of the top experts on international law, is among the blessed ones. A fierce member of academic discipline, Falk has earned a reputation for speaking on behalf of victims and the weak. He believes in the idea of being a ‘citizen pilgrim’, which means taking up a “life journey to build a better future by addressing the injustices of the present wherever encountered.” TRT Magazine, Turkey