Hi Everyone,
We are excited about our morning workshops including In the afternoon session we will have Community Talk Back! Please read on!
Workshops - Saturday, August 21, 2010 Morning Session 10:30 - 11:30 AM
We are presently developing and adding more workshops. Please check back soon.
Inside Gaza by Elliot Adams
Location Museum auditorium (downstairs)
The conflict in Gaza (sometimes called the Gaza Strip, which is part of Palestine) is central to all conflict in the Middle East and beyond. Citizens of the United States have a key role to play in bringing peace to the region. But we will never fulfill that role as long as we, the citizens, do not know what is happening there.
It is rare for anyone to get into Gaza. For example: the media is not allowed in; when US Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney tried to deliver relief supplies her boat was seized in international waters, she was taken into custody and arrested by Israeli officials; an official delegation for the European Union had their permission to enter revoked just 3 hours before their scheduled border crossing. But Adams was fortunate to have been part of a Washington Physicians For Social Responsibility delegation that did successful enter Gaza in October 2009. He was able to travel the length of Gaza and meet with government officials, NGOs, medical associations, cultural groups, university officials and, ordinary people.
No person can have the whole truth of a complex situation such as Gaza. Adams brings audiences one truth, which he presents as pictures and stories from inside Gaza.
The conflict in Gaza (sometimes called the Gaza Strip, which is part of Palestine) is central to all conflict in the Middle East and beyond. Citizens of the United States have a key role to play in bringing peace to the region. But we will never fulfill that role as long as we, the citizens, do not know what is happening there.
It is rare for anyone to get into Gaza. For example: the media is not allowed in; when US Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney tried to deliver relief supplies her boat was seized in international waters, she was taken into custody and arrested by Israeli officials; an official delegation for the European Union had their permission to enter revoked just 3 hours before their scheduled border crossing. But Adams was fortunate to have been part of a Washington Physicians For Social Responsibility delegation that did successful enter Gaza in October 2009. He was able to travel the length of Gaza and meet with government officials, NGOs, medical associations, cultural groups, university officials and, ordinary people.
No person can have the whole truth of a complex situation such as Gaza. Adams brings audiences one truth, which he presents as pictures and stories from inside Gaza.
Elliott Adams , past national President of Veterans For Peace, was a paratrooper in the infantry serving in Viet Nam, Japan, Korea, and Alaska. He has served his local community in upstate New York in a variety of capacities such as: President of the School Board, Mayor, Committee Chair of BSA Explorer Post 17, President of Rotary, Chamber of Commerce, and Master of the Masonic Lodge. He has done organizing work for United For Peace and Justice, War Resisters League, School Of Americas Watch, Peace Has No Borders, Veterans For Peace and many other organizations.
Adams has transformed himself from soldier to nonviolent warrior. He has also done nonviolence and social movement trainings for Fellowship Of Reconciliation, School Of Americas Watch, Peacemakers of Schoharie County, Student Environmental Action Coalition, War Resistors League, and other groups. He is currently Nonviolent Training Coordinator of Veterans For Peace.
He is dedicating his life to stopping the war in Iraq and Afghanistan and abolishing all war. This work has taken him from the Atlantic to the Pacific and from the Mexico border to Canada. For this works he has testified before the US Congress Judiciary Committee, attended Parliament in Canada, and been arrested numerous times.
"Selling Your Future for Quarterly Profits: Corporate Realities; Climate Change and the Coming Epidemic of War" By Rudyard Edick
Location: Dinning Hall
The basic points are of this talk are:
1) The profit motive for large corporations drives our energy and foreign policy.
2) An epidemic of war over dwindling oil supplies is already under way.
3) Climate change induced catastrophes (famine, economic deterioration, natural disasters) will only amplify the amount of world-wide war and non-conventional conflict to come.
4) A primary emphasis for limiting future war should be addressing climate change and ocean acidification from greenhouse gas emissions – to include changes to our world-wide economic system, which, as currently conceived, is inconsistent with survival.
Rudyard Edick
Rudyard Edick is 23 year veteran military officer and a former intelligence analyst who also has over two decades of professional expertise in environmental science. His interest is in warning of the all but inevitable collapse of our global economic system as it washes up against natural resource constraints, climate change and ocean acidification. He is an alumnus of the Cornell Natural Resources and Environmental Toxicology graduate program, the Syracuse University LC Smith College of Engineering and the US Air Force School of Aerospace Medicine bioenvironmental engineering program. His talk will address the geopolitical implication of climate change and natural resource depletion.
TAKING HEART IN TROUBLED TIMES Joyce Reeves and Diane Reiner
Location - Pavilion
Our Earth and all of her inhabitants are in trouble. We know it, we feel it, but what can we do about it? How will we respond? There are no easy answers, but there are some things we can all do. Joyce and Diane will offer guided exercises to help us listen with our hearts and speak our truth so our actions flow from a centered and open heart.
Afternoon Session 2:30 - 3:30 PM
Community Talk Back
There are so many issues and concerns deeply held by our community which are very important and heart felt yet may not be talked about because of time limitations. Life is always a trade off. If we are doing one thing we are not doing another. In any case the first 25 individuals to sign up on the day of the conference will be given 2 minutes to speak on the issue of their concern. So if you would like 2 minutes to address your issue, this is an opportunity for you! And believe me, a lot can be said in 2 minutes when time is taken for preparation. So come prepared and be a voice in our first Community Speak Out! Announcements and thoughts about the conference are welcomed also!
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