Rabbi Arthur Waskow, founder of The Shalom Center of Philadelphia, received the Peace Award from Germantown Mennonite Church today. He spoke to the congregation on bringing labor and rest into alignment with a healthy quality of life and a healthy planet. His recent book, co-authored with Rabbi Phyllis O. Berman, is titled, Freedom Journeys: The Tale of Exodus and Wilderness across Millennia. Rabbi Waskow once taught a course in the Department of Religion at Swarthmore College.
Author Archives: Lee Smithey
Recap: Sanger, Awad, and Alwadi
We have had a busy and engaging couple of weeks in Peace and Conflict Studies with events on nonviolent resistance in the Middle East, U.S. foreign policy, mountaintop removal, and women and violence in the Congo.
Here are some pictures and video offered as a brief recap:
(click on the thumbnails below for larger images)
David Sanger
David Sanger addressed the college on October 27, 2011
Mubarak Awad
Prof. Mubarak Awad addressed the college and local community on November 7, 2011. Stay tuned for the video of Prof. Awad’s talk, which we will post here on the blog.
Nada Alwadi
Bahraini journalist, Nada Alwadi, spoke on November 8, 2011. She visited with John Meyer of Pendle Hill after the event and posed for a picture with (L to R) Lee Smithey, Jim MacMillan, and Brahim El Guabli. After her appearance at Swarthmore, she moved on to address the International House of Philadelphia on November 11, 2011.
If you missed Nada Alwadi’s talk, you can hear her online. You can see her webinar with the International Center on Nonviolent Conflict.
Ms. Alwadi was also interviewed by Marty Moss-Coane on WHYY’s Radio Times on the morning following her presentation at Swarthmore. You can listen to the interview here.
Women in War Zones: Sexual Violence in the Congo
Women in War Zones: Sexual Violence in the Congo
Thursday, November 10, 2011
7:00 p.m.
Scheuer Room at Swarthmore College
Women in War Zones International is a group of women dedicated to telling personal stories of women in areas of conflict around the world promoting human rights and health, working to prevent war crimes, and helping prevent abuse to women who live in war zones. The actual stories of women will be vividly told through photography and a documentary film screening.
The group seeks to fight injustice against women by education and uniting the audience. Their goal is to empower women by creating programs that promote peace, stability, and opportunities for women.
Sponsored by Peace and Conflict Studies, Gender and Sexuality Studies, and the Africa Consortium.
Nicholas Kristof to speak at Swarthmore on November 14
From our friends at the Lang Center for Civic and Social Responsibility:
“A Call to Action: Encouraging People to join the World’s Fight.”
Nicholas Kristof
Monday, November 14, 2011
7:30 p.m.
Lang Performing Arts Center
Swarthmore College
(maps and directions)A Harvard graduate and former Rhodes Scholar, Kristof is a Pulitzer-prize winning author and one of the New York Times‘ most popular columnists.
Drawing from his experiences as a foreign affairs reporter that have taken him to six continents and 140 countries, Kristof will talk about covering such historic events as the protests in Egypt that led to Hasni Mubarak’s resignation, the genocide in Darfur, the democracy movement in Tiananmen Square.
His talk will also by informed by his most recent best-seller, written with his wife Sheryl WuDunn, Half the Sky: From Oppression to Opportunity for Women World-wide. There they make a brilliantly-argued case that support for global women’s rights should be the human rights movement of our era, and that it will be where we find the solutions to the world’s poverty.
Sponsored by the Cooper Foundation and the Lang Center for Civic and Social Responsibility.
Contact: langcenter@swarthmore.edu (610) 690-5742
Prof. Mubarak Awad, renowned expert on nonviolent resistance to speak on Nov 7
A talk and discussion by Professor Mubarak Awad, School of International Service at American University.
Monday, November 7, 2011
4:30 p.m.
Science Center 101
Mubarak Awad is the founder and national president of the Youth Advocate Program, which provides alternative foster care and counseling to “at risk” youth and their families. He is also the founder of the Palestinian Center for the Study of Nonviolence in Jerusalem. Dr. Awad was deported by the Israeli Supreme court in 1988 after being jailed for organizing activities involving nonviolent civil disobedience. Dr. Awad has since formed Nonviolence International, which works with various movements and organizations across the globe.
Sponsors: Students for Peace and Justice in Palestine
Mountaintop removal event
Monday, November 7 · 7:00pm – 8:00pm
Bond Hall at Swarthmore College
Ken Hechler '35
West Virginian activists Larry Gibson and Swarthmore alumnus Ken Hechler ’35 will speak about the devastating impacts of mountaintop removal coal mining, and the struggles of Appalachian communities to stop the practice.
Mr. Gibson is the founder of Keeper of the Mountains Foundation and an icon in the movement against mountaintop removal. He has bravely resisted intimidation from the coal industry and inspired thousands of people across the country to join the movement.
Mr. Hechler represented West Virginia in the U.S. House of Representatives for nearly 20 years, and also served as the West Virginia Secretary of State. Since 2004, he has also tirelessly campaigned to end mountaintop removal.
Larry Gibson
A photography exhibit by Mark Schmerling documenting the impacts of mountaintop removal will accompany the speakers.
This is the first of several events this year with activists who are fighting on the frontlines of fossil fuel extraction. Keep your eyes open for more!
Sponsored by Swarthmore Mountain Justice, Forum for Free Speech, the President’s Office, Political Science, Sociology/Anthropology, Peace and Conflict Studies, Biology, Environmental Studies, and the Alumni Relations office.
Human altruism and aggression
Check out this upcoming faculty lecture:
David Huffman (Economics)
“Understanding the link between human altruism and human aggression: A behavioral economics approach”
Thursday November 17
4:30-5:30, Scheuer Room, Kohlberg Hall
Lucretia Mott Symposium – November 4
Lucretia Mott Symposium, Swarthmore College
Friday, November 4, 2011, 2:00 – 5:30
Scheuer Room, Kohlberg Hall, Swarthmore College
Free and Open to the Public (maps and directions)
Lucretia Mott (1793-1880), Quaker minister, abolitionist and feminist, a founder of the American Anti-Slavery Society, the Philadelphia Female Anti-Slavery Society and the “guiding spirit” behind the First Woman’s Rights Convention at Seneca Falls in 1848, spent sixty years of her long life working for reform. This symposium marks the publication of historian Carol Faulkner’s new book, Lucretia Mott’s Heresy: Abolition and Woman’s Rights in Nineteenth Century America. The symposium also commemorates the contributions of Margaret Hope Bacon (1921-2011), author of Lucretia Mott: Valiant Friend and numerous books on Quakers and reform.
2:00 – 3:30 Lucretia Mott, Margaret Hope Bacon and the Rediscovery of the Early Woman’s Rights Movement and Radical Reform.
Presenters: Beverly Wilson Palmer, Nancy Hewitt, Judith Wellman and Christopher Densmore.
4:00 – 5:30 Lucretia Mott: Truth for Authority, Not Authority for Truth
Presenters: Carol Faulkner, Ellen M. Ross and Bruce Dorsey.
Questions? contact cdensmo1@swarthmore.edu
Bahraini journalist, Nada Alwadi, to speak on nonviolent resistance and the media
Bahrain: The Current Political and Communication Challenges, A View From the Inside
Nada Alwadi
Bahraini Journalist
Tuesday, November 8, 2011
4:30 p.m.
Science Center Room 101
Swarthmore College (maps and directions)
Nada Alwadi was a reporter for Alwasat, the most popular newspaper in Bahrain, a monarchy on a small island in the Persian Gulf. Alwadi covered the pro-democracy protests this spring for several media outlets including USA Today Newspaper.
US backed Saudi Arabia sent troops to help shore up the Bahraini monarchy and suppress the popular uprising. Ms. Alwadi was detained in April while reporting on the pro-democracy movement and was forced to sign a statement saying that she would not write on or engage in any political activities, and was fired from her job.
In her presentation, Alwadi will discuss the Bahraini experience of strategic nonviolence and the importance of Bahrain in building a new Middle East. She will address the media blackout in Bahrain, and the current political and communication challenges facing the country as well as the region. She will relate the untold story of a struggle which was forgotten and abandoned by the world and the international media.
Ms. Alwadi is co-founder of the Bahrain Press Association which seeks to defend Bahraini journalists from government repression.
Sponsors: The President’s Office, Peace and Conflict Studies, the Lang Center for Civic and Social Responsibility, History, Sociology and Anthropology, Political Science, Islamic Studies, the Intercultural Center, Gender and Sexuality Studies, and the Arabic Section of Modern Languages and Literatures
David Sanger of the New York Times to speak on Obama, war, and tech
Obama in Iraq, Libya and Afghanistan: How a Decade of War and New Technology Have Changed American Strategy
Come join us for a talk by David Sanger
Chief Washington Correspondent
Author of The Inheritance: The World Obama Confronts and the Challenges to American Power
Thursday, October 27, 2011
4:30 p.m.
Science Center 183
Swarthmore College (maps and directions)
Sponsored by the President’s Office, Peace and Conflict Studies, and War News Radio