Needs No Introduction

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Part One of the readings at PEN Canada's annual fall gala benefit held on Friday, October 20 at the University of Toronto. It featured Nigerian Nobel laureate Wole Soyinka. Also appearing will be Azar Nafisi (Reading Lolita in Tehran) along with acclaimed Canadian writers Miriam Toews, Wayson Choy and MG Vassanji. The host is writer and actor Ann-Marie McDonald. The PEN Canada/Paul Kidd Courage Prize was presented to Vancouver Sun journalist Kim Bolan.

IMPERIAL BLUES: Afghanistan, Lebanon, Iraq and Palestine. A Public Lecture by TARIQ ALI. Tariq Ali spoke in Toronto on October 15th on the topic of "Imperial Blues" Afghanistan, Lebanon, Iraq and Palestine", and on the subject of his new book: "Pirates of the Carribean - an Axis of Hope". The event was organized by CUPE 3903 ... and recorded for rabble.ca by Kim Elliott. TARIQ ALI was born in Lahore (then British India) in 1943. He was educated in Pakistan and later at Oxford. His opposition to the military dictatorship in Pakistan prevented his return to his native country and forced him to become an unwilling exile in Britain. A leading figure of the European left during the 60's and 70's, Ali debated Henry Kissinger and others in one of the first TV debates organized by CBS. He edited two seminal radical magazines of the periodThe Black Dwarf and The Red Mole, which combined politics and culture and whose contributors included John Lennon and Mick Jagger. Tariq Ali has written over a dozen books on history

Veteran White House bureau chief, Helen Thomas, speaks out against the Bush government and the press at the Media Giraffe Conference in Amherst, Mass. Learn more about the Media Giraffe here: http://www.mediagiraffe.org/artman/publish/article_487.shtml

This is the second in a three-part series of talks from the Social Change Institute, held at Hollyhock on Cortes Island in early May. This time out, Van Jones, an environmentalist, social justice advocate and social entrepreneur who Judy Rebick believes might become a greater leader than Martin Luther King. Van Jones, 37, is the founder and National Executive Director of the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights. Headquartered in Oakland, CA, EBC is a national organization that challenges human rights abuses in the U.S. criminal justice system.

Kenny Ausubel and Nina Simmons of the Bioneers (www.bioneers.org) address the Social Change Institute conference Kenny Ausubel and Nina Simons - The Bioneers Story Kenny Ausubel and Nina Simons are respectively the founder and co-executive directors of Bioneers. One year after Kenny founded the organic biodiversity seed company Seeds of Change, where he and Nina served as CEO and President until 1994, he founded the Bioneers conference to highlight practical solutions for restoring the Earth and human communities. Together they have co-produced Bioneers for the past sixteen years. Kenny is an award-winning journalist, author, filmmaker and radio producer. Nina is also an leader in community-based marketing. The two were named ?Utne Visionaries? in 1996, and in 2006 received the Global Green Award for Community Environmental Leadership from Green Cross International, founded by Mikhael Gorbachev, for their work with Bioneers. For more information about Hollyhock, visit http://sci.hollyhockleadership.org

Dr. Michael Geist is a professor of law at the University of Ottawa, where he holds a Canada Research Chair in Internet and E-Commerce Law, and is a leading authority on internet-related legal issues in Canada. Dr. Geist is a member of Canada's National Task Force on Spam and is a syndicated columnist for the Toronto Star and Ottawa Citizen. Dr. Geist is also the editor of In The Public Interest: The Future of Canadian Copyright Law (2005, Irwin Law). The Hart House Lecture Series was inaugurated in 2001, with the aim of initiating discussion about identity and society. Organized by students, the Lecture brings issues raised by students to a national audience. Thanks to Dray Perenic of Hart House and CIUT for their help in producing and recording the lecture.

Flora MacDonald has been active in Canadian politics since the 1970s. She served as an MP and Cabinet Minister, and in 1979 she became the first woman to be appointed Secretary of State for External Affairs. Since leaving politics in 1989, Flora has been involved in a range of human rights and environmental activities around the globe, and is currently working in Afghanistan and India. She has received numerous honours in her life, including the Order of Canada, the Pearson Peace Medal, India's Padma Shri Award, and the EVE award from Equal Voice. Equal Voice is a national multi-partisan advocacy organization committed to promoting the election of more women to every level of government, and to raising awareness about the under-representation of women in Canadian politics. Equal Voice has chapters in every province, as well as youth chapters. The Canadian Club of Toronto was founded in 1897, and is one of the premier public affairs forums in North America. Over its 109 year history, many distinguished leaders

Dr. Arne Kislenko in an Associate Professor of History at Ryerson University in Toronto, Ontario, and an Adjunct Professor in International Relations at the University of Toronto's Munk Centre. Dr. Kislenko has experience in foreign affairs and Canadian Intelligence. He was recently named Ontario's Best Lecturer by TV Ontario's Big Ideas competition. http://www.ryerson.ca/mgroup/arteries/kislenko.html http://www.tvo.org/bi/arneQA.html

Dr. Charles Burton is Associate Professor of Political Science at Brock University in St. Catharines, Ontario. He has worked at the Canadian Embassy in Beijing, and has been a consultant at the Canadian Department of Foreign Affairs. He has also written several books about China and the Koreas.  http://www.brocku.ca/politicalscience/people/Charles_Burton.html

The Future of the Forum session was recorded by Kim Elliott at the 5th annual World Social Forum, held in Caracas in February 2006. Speakers included Marco Berlinguer, John Holloway, François Houtart, Francine Mestrum, Thomas Ponniah, Boaventura de Sousa Santos, Teivo Teivainen, Virginia Vargas and Hilary Wainwright. The session was organized by the Network Institute for Global Democratization For more commentary on the future of the World Social Forum, see: http://www.yachana.org/research/dollarsandsense.pdf http://www.thenation.com/doc/20060306/blanding/2 http://www.forumsocialmundial.org.br

Robert Fisk is Middle East correspondent for The Independent. he spoke about his new book, The Great War For Civilisation: The Conquest of the Middle East (Harper Collins), his experiences as a foreign correspondent, and the role of journalists in contemporary conflicts. http://www.independent.co.uk/ note: the question and answer segment of the lecture was not recorded by request of the lecturer.

Jeff Halper is the Coordinator of the Israeli Committee Against House demolitions (ICAHD) and a Professor of Anthropology at Ben Gurion University. He has lived in Israel since 1973. Jeff has researched and written extensively on Israeli society and he has been active in the Israeli peace movement for many years. As the Coordinator of ICAHD, he has forged a new mode of Israeli peace activity based on non-violent direct action and civil disobedience to the Israeli Occupation authorities and in close cooperation with Palestinian organizations. (courtesy www.jewishpeacefellowship.org) A Call for Morally Responsible Investment: A Non-Violent Response to the Israeli Occupation is an international conference for CROs (Church Related Organizations) and NGOs (Non-governmental organizations) presented by Canadian Friends of Sabeel (http://www.sabeel.ca) and numerous co-sponsors dedicated to a peaceful resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

A campaigner for peace and economic justice, Walden Bello is professor of sociology and public administration at the University of the Philippines. He is also executive director of the Bangkok-based research and advocacy organization, Focus on the Global South. Professor Bello is the author of many books including, Dilemmas of Domination: the Unmaking of the American Empire and The Future in the Balance: Essays on Globalization and Resistance. For more information: Focus on the Global South: http://www.focusweb.org/  Political Science at York U: http://www.arts.yorku.ca/politics/index.html

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