The plight of imprisoned American Indian activist Leonard Peltier. The U.S Patriot Act. The anarchist movement. Ongoing violence in Congo.
Special guests will probe these and other contentious issues that impact the U.S. and world during a two-day speaker series on Wednesday and Thursday at Washington State University Vancouver.
“(Law and Disorder) ‘Freedom of speech now!’: Political prisoners, political repression and the prison industrial complex,” is the primary theme for invited speakers who bring decades of frontline experience.
Sponsored in part by the Associated Students of WSUV and WSUV’s Social and Environmental Justice Club, the event is part of a joint effort with Portland State University and Mount Hood Community College in Gresham, Ore., under direction of the Northwest Student Coalition.
Sessions will run 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. both days at the Firstenburg Commons on the Salmon Creek campus, at 14204 N.E. Salmon Creek Ave.
The events are free and open to the public, with complimentary food available. For more information, see http://www.nwstudentcoalition.net.
Wednesday
o11 a.m., “Tribal voices for Leonard Peltier,” features a four-person panel that includes Peltier’s son, Chauncey, Dakota tribal elder Dorothy Ackerman and Darrelle Dino Butler, a Siletz, Ore. tribal member who joined Peltier’s standoff with federal agents in 1975.
o12:30 p.m., Jeff Luers, recently freed environmental activist imprisoned for setting afire three trucks in Eugene, Ore., in 2000.
o1 p.m., Stephanie Boston, Portland Animal Defense League.
o1:30 p.m., panel/audience discussion.
Thursday
o11 a.m., Peter Bohmer, political economy and cultural studies professor at The Evergreen State College, and at various times jailed, shot and terminated from a faculty post for his activism.
o11:30 a.m., Ashanti Alston Omowali, a leader of the National Jericho Movement and former member of the Black Panther Party and Black Liberation Army.
o12:30 p.m., Congo-born academic and activist Jaques Depelchin.
o1 p.m., Kent Ford, founding member of the Portland chapter of the Black Panther Party, whose son, Lumumba, was convicted for conspiracy to join the Taliban fight against U.S. troops in Afghanistan.