Spring World Issues Forum includes discussion of Internet freedom

Western Washington University’s Fairhaven College of Interdisciplinary Studies has announced the spring slate of presenters for its 10th Annual World Issues Forum, with subjects ranging from netizens’ struggles for freedom of the Internet to militarization and human rights in Guatemala.

The following forums are free and open to the public, and are from noon to 1:20 p.m. every Wednesday in the Fairhaven College Auditorium, unless noted otherwise:

Wednesday, April 4: “State of the Unions: The Labor Movement under Attack in North America”

Presenter: Thomas Collombat, a post-doctoral fellow at the Centre for the Study of Integration and Globalization at the Université du Québec, visiting professor in Québec Studies, Center for Canadian-American Studies, WWU.

The economic and financial crisis experienced since 2008 has shed new light on the difficulties faced by the labor movement since the early 1980s. Unions have been confronted by three main challenges: a loss of bargaining power toward the employers; a sometimes dramatic decrease of membership; and a crisis of progressive politics in industrialized economies. Thomas Collombat will map the current situation of the labor movement in North America by focusing on attacks from governments and businesses in the last few years. He will also show how the economic crisis represents both a challenge and an opportunity for organized labor to react and rebuild itself in this era of economic and political uncertainty.

Wednesday, April 11: “Sustainable Cacao Farming in Ecuador”

Presenter: Felipe Grepa, Ecuadoran farmer, delegate of the Kallari Association of cacao growers, experienced chocolatier.

Chocolate lovers, enjoy the rich, regional tastes of Ecuadoran cacao beans as you gain familiarity with the production of chocolate. Felipe Grepa will address the economic and political importance of defending their raw materials, especially cacao beans. His commitment to human rights led him to collaborate with members of the Kichwa communities in producing cacao with the dream that chocolate would be recognized internationally as an Ecuadoran product, and that the profits would not remain in the hands of others, but in the hands of the true Amazonian cacao farmers.

Wednesday, April 18: “Embracing Israel/Palestine” A Strategy to Heal and Transform the Middle East”

Presenter: Michael Lerner, Rabbi of Beyt Tikkun synagogue in Berkeley, editor of Tikkun, chair of the interfaith Network of Spiritual Progressives

Rabbi Lerner will examine how Israel and Palestine’s mutual demonization and discounting of each other’s legitimate needs drives the antagonism and explore the underlying psychological dynamics fueling the seeming intransigence on both sides. He argues that additional peace talks would be “virtually pointless” unless they are preceded and accompanied by a sustained campaign to change the way each side demeans and dehumanizes the other. Lerner’s approach focuses on the pernicious effects of post-traumatic stress among Israelis and Palestinians. He takes inspiration from past movements to change public consciousness and argues that a fundamental transformation in consciousness is needed. How can we in the West help shape a global transformation in consciousness (and changes in foreign and domestic policies) that is needed to provide security, justice, and mutual compassion necessary for a lasting peace?

Wednesday, April 25: “Militarization, Human Rights and Threats to Justice in Guatemala”

Presenter: Iduvina Hernandez, Guatemalan activist, journalist and human rights defender

Since the election of General Otto Pérez Molina to the presidency in Guatemala, the country has seen disturbing trends toward re-militarization and repression of social movements. Iduvina Hernández will discuss the impact of powerful retired military officers implicated in crimes against humanity on national security policy as well as the recent moves to criminalize indigenous activists defending their right to their ancestral lands.

Thursday, April 26 at 4 p.m. in Environmental Sciences 100: “The Deadly Connection: Endless War and Economic Crisis”

Presenter: Bruce Gagnon, coordinator, Global Network against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space, Member of Veterans for Peace

Having just returned from demonstrations in South Korea protesting the construction of a huge U.S. Navy base on Jeju Island, Bruce Gagnon will speak on U.S. expanding militarism, as well as the impact of militarism on the economic crisis here at home; and the need to promote the conversion of the military industrial complex to sustainable production if we hope to have the slightest impact on climate change. These and similar issues are contained in his book “Come Together Right Now: Organizing Stories from a Fading Empire.”

Monday, April 30 from 4:30-5:30 p.m. in Communications Facility 105: “We refuse to be enemies”

Presenters: Daoud Nassar, Palestinian and Mark Braverman, American

The speakers will discuss the “Tent of Nations,” an educational and environmental center that brings people together from different countries with the goal of building bridges of trust and hope. The Center is located on an organic farm outside of Bethlehem in the West Bank of Palestine. NOTE: Nassar will also give the talk at 7:30 p.m. at the Saint James Presbyterian Church.

Wednesday, May 2: “Occupy the Media! Journalism for a world in crisis"

Presenter: Robert Hackett, professor of Communication at Simon Fraser University, BC

What kind(s) of journalism are appropriate to help global society address our era’s fundamental challenges – of environment and climate, conflict and governance, human rights and mass migrations, globalized poverty and inequality – challenges so interlinked and profound that they constitute a crisis of global civilization? Criticisms of hegemonic (American) journalism abound – it legitimizes unjust power, trivializes public discourse, foments division and conflict. This talk moves beyond the critiques to outline positive alternatives, arguing for journalism as a crisis discipline, and paying particular attention to the contested concept of journalistic objectivity.

“Peace Journalism: A New Approach to Reporting Conflict” at 4 p.m., in Communications Facility 120

Drawing on the field of conflict analysis, especially the work of Johan Galtung, peace journalism has emerged as a coherent ‘challenger’ paradigm since the late 1990s. It purports to offer both a critique of conventional conflict coverage (which peace journalism proponents consider tantamount to conflict-escalating war journalism), and a toolkit of practical alternatives. Drawing from Hackett’s recent co-edited book, “Expanding Peace Journalism,” this talk sketches some basic concepts of peace journalism, critiques of it, and directions for future research and practice.

Monday, May 7 from noon to 1:20 p.m. in Environmental Sciences 100: “Arab Spring – The Egyptian Revolution”

Presenter: Ellis Goldberg, professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of Washington specializing in the study of Middle Eastern politics.

The massive demonstrations that toppled Hosni Mubarak from the Egyptian presidency and the complicated and sometimes violent political situation in the year since then fit with difficulty into our standard accounts of both revolution and democratization. Ellis Goldberg, who spent the first six months of 2011 in Cairo, will discuss why we should think of these events as revolutionary and how they compare to the classic case of the French revolution. He will also discuss the nature of revolutionary upheaval in terms of moral emotions rather than either rational calculation or irrational feelings.

Wednesday, May 9: “Borders, Boundaries and Frontiers in the 21st Century” 

Presenter: Emmanuel Brunet-Jailly, associate professor of Public Administration at the University of Victoria, British Columbia Jean Monnet Chair in European Urban and Border Region Policy

From Hadrian’s Wall in Roman England and the Great Wall of China, to walls on the U.S./ Mexico border as well as in Jerusalem—Emmanuel Brunet-Jailly asks why nations build walls and how human communities border themselves. He will discuss what borders, borderlands, boundaries and frontiers are, and how these words help us understand contemporary issues such as the U.S./Mexico wall, the Canada/U.S. Beyond the Border dialogue, or the European Schengen Agreement and the idea of a “fortress Europe.” Taking examples from around the world, this presentation asks if borders are vanishing and if there are new ways of understanding borders.

Wednesday, May 16: “The Sikh Diaspora and its Long-Distance Nationalism in 21st Century”

Presenter: Harpreet Kaur, lecturer and assistant director, Centre for Study of Social Exclusion and Inclusion, Guru Nanak Dev University, India; Fulbright-Nehru post-doctoral Fellow, University of California, Berkeley

This presentation will reconstruct the Sikh diaspora in North America to order to understand its linkages with the homeland in the 20th century. In particular, it will address the impact of the right of People’s Representation (Amendment) Bill 2010 on the Sikh diaspora. With this act, the Indian state has granted the right to vote to non-resident Indians. What might be the response of the local Sikh community to this act?

“Canadian American Border Colloquium: No Man’s Land? A Study of Exclusion Along the Indo-Pak Border” from 3-4:30 p.m., in Biology 212

This talk will present the research undertaken in 10 villages in the two border districts of Indian Punjab: Amritsar and Ferozepur. After interviews with 500 people, the study reveals the state of exclusion of the residents in this border area. When compared to the rest of Punjab, the border villages lag behind economically due to war or a warlike situation on the border. The militarization of the border has caused a crisis of livelihood for farmers denied free access to their agricultural lands.

Wednesday, May 23: “Is Internet a vector of freedom or an instrument of repression? Lessons from the Arab Spring, China, Mexico and the USA.”

Presenter: Delphine Halgand, Washington, D.C. director of Reporters Without Borders

The fight for online freedom of expression is more essential than ever. The Arab Spring has clearly shown that the Internet is a vehicle for freedom. In countries where the traditional media are controlled by the government, the only independent news and information are to be found on the Internet, which has become a forum for discussion and a refuge for those who want to express their views freely. However, governments are realizing this and are trying to control the Internet and stepping up surveillance of Internet users. Netizens are being targeted by government reprisals. More than 120 of them are currently detained for expressing their views freely online, mainly in China, Iran and Vietnam.

For more information on the World Issues Forum speaker series presented by Western Washington University’s Fairhaven College of Interdisciplinary Studies, call Shirley Osterhaus at (360) 650-2309 or visit the World Issues Forum website at http://www.wwu.edu/depts/fairhaven.

WWU's Fairhaven College of Interdisciplinary Studies, established in 1967, is nationally recognized for innovation in teaching and learning, intensive advising, student-designed majors, narrative assessment, experiential and independent learning and a commitment to social justice.