In a night filled with moving poetry, eclectic music and
poignant remembrances, an audience of some 600 gathered to remember
the life of Edward Said, a renowned and controversial intellectual,
last Saturday at Schoenberg Hall.
Hosted by the United Arab Society, the event was also organized
by the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee and supported by
many groups throughout the state.
Nader Hindelih, a second-year undeclared student and external
vice president of the United Arab Society, expressed gratitude for
the the near-capacity crowd.
“I was personally very happy to see the support from UCLA
and the surrounding community,” he said, adding that the
memorial service may have been the largest memorial gathering for
Said in California.
With two pictures of Said and a famous quotation on the stage,
the nearly three-hour service highlighted the various aspects of
Said’s life.
Loyola Marymount professor Najwa al-Qattan described Said as an
“effective” spokesperson of the Palestinian effort
toward statehood and freedom from Israeli occupation.
“(Said was) a voice that cried for justice, and was so
dangerous because he was so effective,” al-Qattan said,
alluding to the large body of works and influence Said had
throughout his lifetime.
After stirring musical pieces by individual performers and the
UCLA Near East Ensemble, Columbia University professor Joseph
Massad, a former colleague of Said, spoke about his intellectual
life.
Characterizing Said’s life as one of an
“intellectual migrant,” Massad crystallized
Said’s commitment to secular criticism, linking Said’s
criticism of the Palestinian Authority after the acceptance of the
Oslo Accords as an example of Said’s courageousness to
sacrifice solidarity in the name of stating the truth.
Michael Cooperson, a UCLA professor of Arabic language and
literature, spoke about Said’s intellectual independence. He
also addressed the potential of legislative efforts to remove works
like Said’s from universities through passage of the
Education Act, which would create an advisory committee to oversee
the curricula in international studies departments and provide
recommendations to Congress regarding federal funding.
Though Cooperson understood why people would oppose ideas such
as Said’s controversial works, he criticized the possible
impact to students who might pursue further study in such
contentious fields.
“To victimize the students doesn’t make any
sense,” Cooperson said.
After a poetry piece by Shawki El-Zatmah, a graduate history
student at UCLA, Said’s nephew and keynote speaker Saree
Makdisi, a professor of English literature at UCLA, urged the
audience toward greater communication with the world, particularly
Western societies.
“We need to articulate our own vision, our past and our
future. Said stood for justice and peace … for Israelis,
Palestinians and all,” Makdisi said.
After Makdisi’s speech, Ban Al-Wadi, president of the
Arab-American Anti-Discrimination Committee, spoke about
Said’s activism and urged members of the audience to confront
potrayals of Arabs as “terrorists and others” and, like
Said, to “give a voice to the voiceless.”
After a moment of silence led by the United Arab Society of
UCLA, a piano recital ended the evening, a reminder of Said’s
love of music and his contributions to musical criticism.