Delphine Hagland, Washington DC Director of Reporters without Borders
"Is the internet a vector of freedom or an instrument of repression? Lessons from the Arab Spring, China, Mexico, the USA”
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.
Delphine Hagland, Washington DC Director of Reporters without Borders
"Is the internet a vector of freedom or an instrument of repression? Lessons from the Arab Spring, China, Mexico, the USA”
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.
Yomi Durotoye, Director of the African Studies program, Wake Forest University in North Carolina
Description: The constructed image of Africa as a luckless and helpless continent forever in need of foreign aid unjustly ignores the strong tradition of self-help and self-reliance that is found across African societies. Drawing from specific cases from his home community, Okemesi, in the Yorubaland of Nigeria, the speaker will describe the processes, practices, and enabling values of traditional agencies of self-help and explore how these can be adapted to foreign aid to make the effort more effective, respectful, and enduring.
Emmanuel Brunet-Jailly, Ph.D Associate Professor of Public Administration at the University of Victoria, BC Jean Monnet Chair in European Urban and Border Region Policy.
From Hadrianís 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 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 US/Mexico wall, the Canada/US 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 what are new ways to understand borders.
Robert Hackett, Ph.D School of Communication at Simon Fraser University, BC
What kind(s) of journalism are appropriate to help global society address our era's fundamental challenges ñ of environment and climate, conflict and governance, human rights and mass migrations, globalized poverty and inequality ñ challenges so interlinked and profound that they constitute a crisis of global civilization? Criticisms of hegemonic (American) journalism abound ñ 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"
4:00pm, Communications Rm 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…
Iduvina Hernandez, Guatemalan activist, journalist and human rights defender.
Since the election of General Otto Perez Molina to the presidency in Guatemala, the country has seen disturbing trends toward re-militarization and repression of social movements. Iduvina Hernndez, a Guatemalan journalist and human rights defender, 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.
The World Issues Forum of Fairhaven College of Interdisciplinary Studies is dedicated to providing thought provoking educational opportunities to the campus and Bellingham community that support an informed and engaged global citizenry.
The World Issues Forum occurs weekly during each Academic quarter on Wednesdays.
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