The Dreyfus Case: Human Rights vs. Prejudice, Intolerance and Demonization

Georgetown University Centennial Conference, February 1998:

The Centennial of "J'Accuse...!," with Zola's subsequent trial which decided the fate of the Dreyfus Case, is being celebrated in early 1998. In concert with a Colloquium at Columbia University directed by Prof. Henri Mitterand, Prof. Jean-Max Guieu organized a one-day conference at Georgetown University. The New York Colloquium took place on the week-end of February 13-15 1998. Since Monday February 16 was a holiday, the Georgetown Colloquium took place on Tuesday the 17th, which could also make it easier for scholars to attend the two conferences and travel from NYC to DC.

The New-York Colloquium stressed the historical aspects of the Dreyfus Case: "The Dreyfus Case: Memory and History, in France and the United States". The theme of our Georgetown conference, which celebrated the founding of the Ligue des Droits de l'Homme, addressed ethical issues: "The Dreyfus Case: Human Rights vs. prejudice, intolerance and demonization."

Through the example of the Dreyfus Case, our goal was to explore issues such as what is the logic of demonization of the "other" and its implications; what makes an artist or a writer decide to get involved in polemics; can fanaticism be fought effectively without using unethical weapons; how far or how low may political adversaries go in order to make their point in a battle to the finish; how responsible can the partisan media be and what are the risks of extremist positions and manipulation of public opinion for a democracy.

Learn more about the papers presented at the

Georgetown University Centennial Conference, February 1998:

"The Dreyfus Case: Human Rights vs. prejudice, intolerance and demonization"

and additional documents about the Dreyfus Affair

Most of these papers have been published with papers presented at

the Columbia University colloquium February 1998,

"The Dreyfus Affair: Memory and History in France and the USA",

in "Intolerance et Indignation: L'affaire Dreyfus"

available from les éditions fischbacher.

This colloquium was free and open to all

This conference was organized by Jean-Max Guieu, French/SFS, who wishes to express his gratitude to:

The E.Joseph McCarthy Fund, The French Department, The Georgetown Audio Visual Electronic Library Project for the Study of Emile Zola & the Dreyfus Case, The School of Foreign Service; Randy Hagan, our website builder; Keith T. May, Graphic Communications, our poster designer; Lauren Creecy, SFS 98, our administrative coordinator. Volunteer students: Asad Husain, Evan Kohlmann, Jacqueline Wohlers, Rifat Yalman. Special thanks to Brigitte Asfour, Annick Buchanan, Diedre Dawson, Paul Gordon, Kurt Jankowsky, Pascal Kokora, Maureen Gavel, Chris Martin, Dzung Nguyen, Susan Pinkard, Joel Siegel, Guy Spielmann, Meryl Steigman, Shelly Temchin, Mary Radnofsky, Jean-François Thibault, Monique Timsit.

For information: Contact

Professor Jean-Max Guieu

202 687 6160 Phone

202 687 7083 Fax

guieuj@georgetown.edu