Notes from International Law Weekend @ Fordham Oct. 20-22

I know, I know. Its a little late.

Sovereignty

• Not dead! Internationalism strengthens states…doesn’t detract from them.
• We don’t just ignore states –intervention for human rights and R2P is a unique and limited exception. But for the most part states are still autonomous 
• We question whether the EU will survive 15 or 20 years, we don’t question if Greece will survive.
• 5% of Egyptians on Facebook, 1% on Twitter, effect of social media has been overemphasized

Anti-Sharia Movement in the U.S.

• Background
• Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty.
•  We have freedom of association but we don’t want to divide up like UK –we want to be a melting pot
• No legal movement against fundamentalist Christians –because our system doesn’t allow religious law to dominate –demonstrates that anti-sharia movement is bigatrous
• Sharia law is needed for business transactions-choice of forum, Saudi businesses, has been used to award American companies
• Family law- always necessary, to consider if the marriage is legal (you have to look to where the marriage was made)
• New Jersey case –woman was being sexually abused by her husband, they used religious law to say it was ok, but on appeal they reversed this. This is a typical, but only case that is used to show the problem.
• http://shariahinamericancourts.com/?p=197 –commentary on NJ case (critical matter pending on the other side, judge made a mistake)·      Everything comes back to the Constitution –if its not constitutional, we won’t use religious law
• 10^th circuit case -currently in court. 
• Even anti-sharia movements have backed away from it –saying its unconstitutional.
• Somewhere in OK they said that they want to “save our state” by preserving Christian-judeo roots of our legal system
•   “The Unconstitutionality of Oklahoma Referendum 755 –the “Save our State Amendment” http://www.nycbar.org/pdf/report/uploads/20072027-UnconstitutionalityofOklahomaReferendum755.pdf
• Article on the 10^th Circuit http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_18881457
• Difference between international law and foreign law 
• We are bound by international law!! (But not by foreign law)
• There’s a big question between Scalia and ___ about whether it is constitutional to even consider foreign law (as guidance, etc.)  in domestic case
•   http://shariahinamericancourts.com

Employment

•  It would be good to get an LLM in Arbitration in Paris, it’s the center of arbitration

Access to Justice in MENA

•  Look up examples of how countries are writing legislation about Islamic law –Tunisia, etc. “the chief law;” part of consideration, just a religion, etc. Article 2’s 
• Morocco just passed (June 2011) constitutional reforms to strengthen its formal and informal justice systems
• Major debate in the provisional phase of Article 2 in Egypt (are you voting for Islam or not voting for Islam?
•  Tunisia is forefront of personal status law in MENA
•  Yemen
•  Yemen has no legal age for marriage; in order to get a divorce you have to pay back your dowry
•  Nujood Ali case –7 year old girl walked into court and asked judge to grant her a divorce, she was getting raped by him, but then the judge got scared because legally the man was allowed to marry her, she was his wife, he had the right to do whatever he wanted to her

ICC

• Good site to learn about the ICC -www.amicc.org American Non-Governmental Organizations Coaliton for the International Criminal Court

Occupy Denver

Weta's photo

So I went to Occupy Denver the other day. Some of my co-students had been going down to be legal observers –telling people their rights and keeping watch over the situation.

Sounds like a good idea…

I also wanted to know the answer to the question everyone has been asking. What do they want? They’re there. They’re voicing their grievances. But where do they want Occupy _______ to end up? Surely they don’t want to just camp out in public spaces for the rest of eternity?

I had heard that they had General Assemblies every day, and that they had some kind of Declaration, so I figured that would be a good place to start to get some questions to ask while I was down there. I pictured (and had heard about) the type of crowd that was present at every rally I had been to in my protesting days, 70% about the cause, perhaps 20% of that with various slogans, spray painted demonic pictures, or costumes deriding their chosen official, 20% a mix of pro-gay, pro-fill-in-the-blank immigrant community, pro-animal, pro-choice, and the other staple causes, 10% students and hippies just looking to drink and have fun, and 10% rando, including 1 or 2 signs about legalizing pot. You know, my people. No matter what their witty sign might say, 100% of them would be chock full of opinion and willing and ready to talk.

What I found was much different. Perhaps it was a result of the police raid on Saturday, but I could not manage to find out. It looked like a homeless camp –no judgment –I was actually intrigued. If all the homeless, the unemployed, the mentally ill and others who are not served well by our country got together and advocated for themselves…our country would be a better place.

But that is not what I found. I started out taking pictures –it was a beautiful fall day and my first time seeing the capital –with that as the backdrop and the Occupy Denver denizens at the forefront, with all their primary colors, it was a perfect photo opportunity. The sun was just setting and the light was jagged at the edges of the leaves and bright along the silhouettes of the occupants.

Weta came up to me as I was snapping a picture –“Better get it fast.” She gave me a hug, and smelled of days without a shower, but sweet, not sour. At that point, I was not sure if she was a she, or if she was on drugs, so I was a little scared. But after trying to find out where I was from and not telling me where she was from, she took my hand and began leading me around to introduce me to her “friends.” I couldn’t tell if these people were her friends or thought she was nuts. I couldn’t pick up much of a ‘normal’ clue from any of them. As a matter of fact, at the time I actually mixed up the slogan of the Occupy movement, assuming that these people were part of “the 1%,” the part of society that operates by their own rules.

On the way, we ran into a man, and by means of introduction she tried to put my hand on his crotch. When I balked they both laughed at me. I guess this was a kind of handshake from the 99% that I was not cool enough to know about.

Weta introduced me to the first couple as “the white girl” that she thought “might be a member of the 99%.” This of course made me extremely uncomfortable –the couple was black and themselves didn’t know how to take the introduction. So Weta mitigated…”But she likes black people!” At this point I was trying to free my hand from her grasp, but she was unrelenting. The couple, seemingly trying to change the subject, inquired whether I was a “member.” Flabbergasted, I replied that I had only been there for 10 minutes, and was unsure, did that make me a member or not?!? By this time I had already inquired at least twice whether there would be a GA meeting at 7 (which I had read on the website), and had inquired as to the philosophy behind what they were doing, of course in simpler terms. Now I tried a new approach –something tangible, something they would be connected to.

“So, is everyone ok after Saturday? Did any of your friends get seriously hurt?” To which I got the best bit of information from the whole event. The woman told me that seven people had been taken to jail, and none of them were offered medical attention for the whole night that they were there. No one knew if they still were there, however. Where’s the unity?

Weta kept asking me where I was going to party that night (it was Halloween). Trying to escape from this conversation, and beginning to think I needed to escape Occupy Denver all together, I made a beeline for a woman who had an adorable, and groomed, beagle puppy. By means of introduction, I asked her if I could pet it. (Weta was still holding my hand.) She answered “Do you have a cigarette?” I replied “Is the price of petting your puppy 1 cigarette?” She said yes, I said I don’t smoke, and she begrudgingly let me pet it but turned back to her friend for conversation.

So much for that. Weta moved back in. She wanted me to go visit her Mexican friend. She dragged me over by the hand, and introduced him as the Mexican and me as the white girl. Did I want to sit on his lap? She wanted me to sit on his lap. I looked to him, pleadingly with a touch of humor, to see if he thought she was as nuts as I did. But he didn’t. He wanted me to sit on his lap. So they conspired, asking me “What, do you hate Mexicans?” “Yes,” I answered, “I hate Mexicans.”

I moved away. Weta followed closely, still holding my hand. At some point in that conversation, I had referred to Weta as “he.” Now she laughed, and for the first time I sensed some humanness, some vulnerability. “You called me he!” she said. “I’m not a he! I’m a she! I’m a girl.” At some point she confirmed by putting my hand on her breast. I could not tell if it was a breast or a peck.

“I’m a she!” she repeated over and over. I tried to walk in every direction and engaged every person I crossed paths with. I wanted to know about the movement, the discussion, the Declaration, what they were going to talk about at the General Assembly. One extremely dirty but idealistic looking hippie made an announcement that they were going to start marching lessons in a few minutes so they didn’t look like a bunch of idiots out there. That’s your solution?

Weta persevered. She got me back over to her Mexican friend. Then the record was broken. “Sit on his lap.” “Sit on my lap.” No matter what argument I (shockingly) confidently put forth, they would not relent. Finally, Weta pushed me onto his lap. “See,” she said “Isn’t that nice?” “What part of me looks comfortable right now?” I asked, because even if they didn’t care about my mental or emotional state, my physical state, after being pushed, was not comfortable at all. With that, the Mexican grabbed my boob.

Well, now I had, if not my escape route, my escape motivation. I stood up and marched directly to my bike. “Looks like he pushed the wrong button!” Weta could barely contain herself amidst peals of laughter. “What button was the right button?” I attempted to ask ironically. Wrong question. “This one!” She exclaimed, overjoyed, as she grabbed my other breast. She completely lost it among waves of giggles interspersed with repeating my stupid question.

“Where’re we goin?” Weta asked when she finally tired. “I am going to study,” I answered. “I don’t know where you are going.” I got on my bike. She was holding my hand, my arm, even wrapping me in a full body hug. When I refused to acknowledge her, she pulled the hair tie out of one of my braids and replaced it with her own filthy sandy colored one. Complete with knots of sandy colored hair. Her sweet dirty smell now wafted directly up my nose.

“You’re mean.” I said. “What do you mean I’m mean?” she asked. “You’re mean,” I said again. “You pushed me, over there. You made me sit on someone’s lap that I didn’t want to. And then, you stole my hair tie.” With that, I hopped on my bike. “When are you coming back? Where are you going?” she asked. When I left her she had a look of bewilderment, not remorse. She was still smiling. I stuck my arm up straight in the air and waved goodbye.

The whole event lasted about 10 minutes. 

The List

v.

1.   Music –NY is the TESTING ground for music. There’s a misconception that that’s where all the good music is. There’s TONS of crap. And while you’re looking for a gig to see on Friday night, there’s too much for the average person with a job to peruse through and decide on something good. And, there’s too many hipsters corrupting the mix. Just because a hipster says you gotta see X band, doesn’t mean objectively they’re good. It could likely mean the opposite-that they are so obscure, with one good riff, to make them hipster-worthy. Since coming here, I have discovered more good music than my two years in NY. What makes it out of NY is prescreened by normal, non-self obsessed members of society as decent tunes. Its also an amount significantly cut down to let working people get a handle on it. Think of music discovery as the converse of job apps in NYC –we need a filter. If it made it out of hipster-land, similar to if it says NYU or Columbia grad under Education, we can start to consider it.

2.   Smell –Here has smells. Actual good ones. Not ones that we have to convert to good based on inference-what they mean. Here smells like woodsmoke, like spices from chai tea, like pine, like unbelievable fresh air, so fresh its dense and heavy, like mountains, like crispness in the cold (not bitterness). That’s at least what I smelled tonight on my bike ride home (see below). I’m sure there’s more. I used to love the smells of NY. And I was nostalgic for them this weekend. But they really aren’t good smells. They’re people smells. Smells of cells, of bodily secretions, of dirt, but not good dirt, grimy dirt. People dirt, not nature dirt. And of course, LOTS and LOTS of smells of smoke. Car exhaust, bus fumes in your face in the bike lane, heavy, heavy, smog, cigarette smoke. Everyone’s smoking. Subway exhaust blowing up your nose from the grates even if your not walking on them but next to them. And industry smells. Metal, rust, sweat on metal, creaking, grinding, squeaking, welding smells, construction smells, road work smells. And trash. And subways. Which is all of the above, condensed, and not aired out for a hundred years. No, NY does not have good smells. They actually give me a headache, which I don’t notice as much because the stress of everyday life gives me more of a headache. I converted them, inferring from them a city alive with the best people on the planet. A city with layers of stories, people living on top of each other for hundreds of years. A city where some of the most significant history, some of the most poignant vignettes have occurred. All this is true. But the smells are not actually that good.

3.   Feel –In addition to smells, here has a tangible feel. Of course, so does NY. NY has

4.   Biking –People here like us bikers. We are the children of this city. They protect us, they usher us, they foster us and guide us in the right direction. They stop for us WHEN THEY DON”T HAVE TO. They are constantly aware, in the back of their mind, of our presence. They look for us before they move, they turn, they stop. We are part of their every consideration. Most importantly, they don’t want to kill us like the Hasidic Jews do. There’s no equivalent of the East Williamsburg death run in my daily ride home from work. In NY we are the enemy. We are the nuisance. We are the crazies. No one seems to remember that we are there –and they spew profanities at us at the mere suggestion that they should. Cabs use our lane as an extra one for their personal use. No one uses blinkers. Emergencies allow veering into our direct path as an option-as if knocking off a biker is a consequence not even worthy of registering for consideration.

5.   In shape people –People here are healthy. Healthy-looking. Tan –but not excessively so. Toasted by the sun. Muscles but not like the Situation. Muscles that show days outside –not at the gym. Those natural type muscles I honed my ability to love in Senegal. Even their hair, their skin, their smell, seems to give off the natural, not the chemical. Fuck those skinny ass white hipsters. Starving because their art doesn’t make enough to give them a decent meal. And because nature is not their drug.

6.   The mountains –Duh. Heaven on earth. Unbelievable moments of surreality that unwaveringly will give you an experience that will affirm anything positive and usurp anything negative. Depending on your natural bent, they will make you believe in God, save you from suicide, clear your brain of clutter, restore you after a bout of stress, detox your body, mind and soul, remind you that your life is insignificant and assure you that it is ok not to care, demonstrate the highest form of art, awe you to tears, humble you…I could go on, but I meant to write nothing here at all.

7.   Skiing, hiking, biking, sports, rafting, kyacking, climbing –Networking. Didn’t think that one was coming, did you? But this city offers incredible opportunities to network. People get bored talking about the same old shit. And they like skiing. Or if they don’t, they like some other idealistic outdoor sport. Or if they don’t, they harbor a respectable awe of those sports, or the people that do them. It’s a part of our culture, its part of being American, and perhaps more importantly, it is an important ID card for upper class, largely white society. CEOs go on ski trips to Stowe. So it’s a great way to strut your prowess, and to make people jealous that you have somehow found a way to work hard, but play just as hard and in a more authentic and awesome way than people who just party hard every weekend. Because we definitely party hard (arguably harder), but only after we’re done skiing.

8.   Art –Just to let you know, there is a legitimate art scene here.

9.   S* –While I was studying for the LSATs in NY, my brain almost bled from frustration of not being able to find a good coffee shop to study at. Really. My motto is that you can find absolutely anything your mind can contrive in NY. Minus the above mentioned. I biked to literally every viable candidate sans Inwood. NY is just too crowded. And its coffee shops are trying to be too hip –offering music, bars, and other crazy noise-inducing activities that, although awesome (I hailed the advent of being able to drink wine at a coffee shop while doing my hw), do not allow for good studying. Small places where the door opening in winter causes shivering convulsions. Heat turned off in hipster Williamsburg. Coffeehouse turned into bar past 11. Closing early because they don’t make enough money in the late nights. Too many schools and libraries to study at that don’t offer access to non-students. NY apartments are just too small, and people to poor, to be able to have adequate study space in their personal living space. Coffee shops for non-students who need to study are essential. But lacking. S* is my sanctuary.

10.        Human rights –NY does not have too much for human rights anyway. Would have to go to DC for that.

11.        Money –Rent is cheap! You can pay for yourself (Jameson!) and your friends, and still have your bill be under $25 on a Friday night! No cabs! (Or, less cabs.) Less temptation to eat out or eat snacks at atleast 5 stops during your walk from point A to point B. (My ATM statement confirms this…just as many charges in a weekend as in a couple of weeks in this city.) NY made me depressed, stressed, and have a headache trying to survive financially. Sometimes, I didn’t eat. For weeks and months I ate only pasta, ramen, and rice and onion sauce. Ask my room mates. I constantly felt pulled in too many directions and unable to fulfill my obligations in any one of them. I also always felt bad about my reliance on others. I felt it this weekend. I should have stayed in a hotel. I wanted to pay for our whole dinner as Annemarie did. How many times could I afford to pay for cab rides if we took on to each place we went? In sum, I think NY is only a place for me mid-career. I don’t want to start my career there. I don’t want to ever be that poor again. Its not health for me or my relationships.

12.        Time spent at first few jobs –Not to mention, the time expected in your first few jobs. I would be the equivalent of “yenoo”-ing in NY for my first few jobs. Though I don’t doubt that I will work ridiculous hours anywhere else, I think it will be significantly more tolerable than NY. I would almost not survive. And I’m too old for that.

13.        Too much to do –I would have been so torn in school. I would always have the feeling of not giving enough to school and not giving enough to my social life. Here, life comes in a much more swallowable dosage. It’s a good retreat for school.

14.        The International School

15.        More my style of dress

16.        More my style of people

17.        Guys, not metrosexuals.

I am perturbed...

So some d-bag, sniveling NY lawyer told me I should transfer from this school to a NY school if I had any hopes of getting a job in NY. I am too harsh –he apologized profusely for seeming cynical. And I told him I completely understood what he said –I knew it when I left NY. It scares me that I may never be able to return home or to my beloved city. I cried on my way out of Brooklyn.

But I say sniveling because there’s something to be said for the individual. This experience just emphasizes that I need to develop myself, just as I am doing but even more so. I need to attend every conference, make sure that I sleep so I can talk to every person I need to, read and study civpro to make sure I am at the top of my class, review my notes and work on my outline after class, maximize my time, work on my art and my blog.

There’s also a lot of room for personal action to make sure that this school gets its name up there in the international law arena. This is a good pitch –they would get more students and more recognition if they developed their already strong IL program. This is something I can do personally but also for this school. So this school offers me opportunities to be a leader in my field that a school with a more established program would not. If I was around all these amazing international law students, I would be poor in comparison. But here, I have an opportunity to leave my mark. This school’s IL students are also not obnoxious.

It makes me really sad and I just want to document that this will be a period of intense self-reflection, option-considering, and growth. Is this where I really want to be? And if it is, what do I have to do to ensure that my options for the future are still open? I have to talk to Professor G, to Professor N, to my fellow students, to the admissions office and anyone else at the International school, to dual-degree contacts, to my professional mentors and anyone else I can meet in this city’s legal community that can tell me about IL opportunities in the city, to IIE, to the Peace Corps crowd, maybe to other ILS members.

And is NY where I want to end up?

The one thing I do have to say that is legit is that I definitely felt out of place among the NY crowd. Whether this has to do with me, or them, is important to distinguish as opposed to whether or not this is a real situation and what I have to do about it. Is it me? Have I not spent the appropriate amount of time learning about the ICC, the other tribunals, international criminal cases, histories of conflict, history in general, current events, the Arab spring, Arab and Islamic culture, Islamic law, movers and shakers in IL, etc.? Should I know more at this point in my career or did the other students just know more because they were 2Ls and 3Ls? How do I know that this is even what I want to do or is it another situation like development where I have an idealistic view and once I actually practice I will figure out its not what I want to do? No matter what the answer is, I know that if I want to be competitive, I need to step up my game and start researching in my free time. I need the internet.

Is it them? Are they typical gunners in that they make themselves appear to know more than they actually do? Are they wrong for their relative sneering or blank looks of boredom when I tell them I am from here and not from NYU or Columbia? (Am I even imagining their reactions…or is my overly-cheerful answer indicative that there is some problem, that they’re reacting to?)

Or is it real? I feel like NYU and Columbia students are surrounded by an environment of incredibly unbelievable students –the best students with the most insight, working the hardest, with the best experiences from around the world. The international mix at the conference worried me –we don’t have a lot of international, or even diverse, students at this school. I think we are disadvantaged because of that. They also get the most amazing teachers –retired members of the ICC, of the U.S. gov, of the UN, etc. Impassioned teachers, with excellent classroom presence, unlike some of our teachers here. Should I tolerate subpar teachers? They also get a lot more opportunities, both through their school, and through being in NY. Events, visitors, conferences, etc.  Can I do enough personal work to keep up with what just comes to them effortlessly? (Their effort already being previously exerted on the LSATs.) Oh, why couldn’t I have done well on the LSATs? And was senior year worth it? Damn climatology.

Anyway, in the coming days/weeks/months as I sort through this in my head, I have decided to compile the following list about the benefits of this city over NY. I will continue to add as I go along. This I think will be a fun project for readers from here, readers from the ponderance of the meaning of life, etc., but also useful to me in deciding where I belong.