| FOR 
IMMEDIATE RELEASE:   
 
  
  
    | IN THE AFTERMATH OF 9/11 
 |  
    | A Public Forum Series |  |
 
  
  
    | ;) | Thursday January 31 2002, 7:00 
PM 
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    | RELIGION, PROTEST, AND HUNGER: FREE TRADE SOLUTIONS AFTER SEPTEMBER 11TH
 |  
    | A Special Evening with the 
      World Trade Organization |  
    | Herri Baatasuna, LL.D. Agriculture, 
      International Relations, & Public Relations Counselor
 Percival 
      Fress, M.D. Agriculture, Pharmaceutics, & Public Relations 
      Counselor
 
 Both WTO speakers will 
      be in New York City to attend the World Economic Forum, Jan 31- Feb 4. 
      Previously, the WEF has been hosted in Davos, Switzerland. This is the 
      first time it has been held in New York City, and a significant number of 
      anti-globalization protests are expected. Drs. Baatasuna and Fress intend 
      both to explain the program of the WTO and to address the concerns of 
      opposing viewpoints. A lively though civilized debate is expected at this 
      first Public Forum of the series.
 Herri 
      Baatasuna has served as a legal counsel to the World Trade 
      Organization for the past five years, where he has been directing a new 
      program which aims to understand and address faith-based opposition to 
      free trade. He holds an LL.D. from Stanford Law School, and he previously 
      worked for the AS Agency for International Development in Nepal and in 
      Washington, DC.
 Percival Fress is a 
      specialist in the relationship of international trade to human health. He 
      has been with the press office of the World Trade Organization for the 
      past three years, fulfilling a mandate from the WTO to address the 
      relationships of social needs to global trade. Dr. Fress has an M.D. from 
      Columbia University, and has held previous posts with Novartis, 
      Cargill-Dow, and Monsanto.
 Following the 
      program, coffee and sandwiches will be served in the Parish 
Hall.
 |  
    | Planning to attend this event? Please RSVP 
      so we can estimate attendance. |  
  
  
    | Additional Forums in this 
    Series
 
 
 |  
    | ;) | U.S.FOREIGN POLICY BEFORE AND 
      AFTER SEPTEMBER 11TH |  
    | Sunday February 10, 2002 1:00 PM Phyllis 
      Bennis
 Author, editor, journalist, and Fellow at the Institute 
      for Policy Studies, Washington, DC..
 Ms. Bennis has covered Middle East and United Nations issues for 25 years. 
      She led the first US congressional staff delegation to Iraq to investigate 
      the impact of US-led sanctions on the civilian population. She has written 
      and and edited numerous books on Palestine, Iraq and the New World Order, 
      The topic of her presentation comes from the title of her new book, due to 
      be published in March or April.
 
 
 |  
  
  
    | ;) | AFGHANISTAN TODAY AND 
      TOMORROW: AN EYE-WITNESS REPORT |  
    | TBA, probably Sunday February 17, 1:00 
      PM Sarah Zaidi, Research Director, or Roger Normand, 
      Director,
 Center for Economic and Social 
      Justice.
 Established in 1993, the Center 
      for Economic and Social Rights is one of the first organizations to 
      challenge economic injustice as a violation of international human rights 
      law. Through its projects abroad and in the United States, CESR has 
      developed an effective strategy that combines research, advocacy, 
      collaboration, and education. CESR believes that economic and social 
      rights -- legally binding on all nations -- can provide a universally 
      accepted framework for strengthening social justice 
      activism.
 Roger Normand and Sarah 
      Zaidi have been visiting Afghanistan firsthand for some time before 
      September 11th. Their first-hand reports are certain to be very 
      informative.
 |  
  
  
    `| ;) | THE WAR AND THE 
      MEDIA |  
    | Sunday February 24, 1:00 PM Stanley 
      Aronowitz
 Director, Center for Cultural Studies, The 
      Graduate Center, City University of New 
      York.
 A leading American social critic, 
      Professor Aronowitz has for decades focused on the relationships between 
      science, technology, education, labor, art, and culture. Among his books: 
      False Promises (1973); Science as Power (1988); The 
      Politics of Identity (1992); Education Under Siege (1993); 
      Roll Over Beethoven (1993); Dead Artists, Live Theories 
      (1994); The Death and Rebirth of American Radicalism, (1996); 
      (with William DiFazio) The Jobless Future: Sci-Tech and the Dogma of 
      Work (1995); (editor, with Michael Menser and Barbara Martinsons) 
      Technoscience and Cyberculture (1996); The Knowledge Factory 
      (2000.)
 In this presentation Dr. Aronowitz will 
      focus on the relationship between the media and the government and how 
      this has shaped public perception of the War on Terrorism.
 
 
 |  
  
  
    | ;) |  PATRIOTISM, PROPHECY, AND 
      PEACE | 
    | Sunday March 3, 2002 1:00 PM 
 |  
    | Rev. Daniel Berrigan Poet, author, 
      activist, beater of swords into plowshares, jailbird for peace and 
      justice.
 In 1968 Rev. Berrigan traveled to 
      Hanoi with professor Howard Zinn of Boston University to assist in 
      obtaining the release of three American pilots. Later that year, with his 
      brother Philip Berrigan, he destroyed draft registration files in 
      Catonsville, MD. For this act of civil disobedience he was sentenced to 
      three years in prison in 1970. He went underground for several months 
      until federal authorities arrested him on Block Island. After serving 18 
      months in prison, he was paroled in 1972. But he was not silenced. In 1980 
      he participated with his brother in the first Plowshares Action (1980), a 
      protest at the General Electric Plant at King of Prussia, PA. Living among 
      Jesuits, writing and conducting retreats, and "speaking truth to power," 
      he has been arrested regularly for his protest actions at weapons 
      manufacturers and other sites. Rev. Berrigan has written over 50 books and 
      appeared in at least four films.
 
 
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    | ;)  | SAME OLD WORLD ORDER: STARVING 
      MILLIONS |  
    | TBA Oliver Ulich
 Director, United 
      Nations Office of Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
 Mr. Ulich is one of the most knowledgeable 
      sources in the world on humanitarian relief efforts, not only in 
      Afghanistan but across the globe.
 
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