FIFTH ANNUAL PEACE & JUSTICE GATHERING

FIFTH ANNUAL PEACE & JUSTICE GATHERING

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SATURDAY, JANUARY 30, 2010

10:00 AM TO 2:00 PM

South Texas College, Weslaco,

Student Services F-Building

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Keynote Speaker: Sarwat Husain

President, San Antonio Council of American-Islamic Relations"

The War, Islamophobia, and the Aftermathof the Fort Hood Shootings"

Dear Peace and Justice Friends,

The Fifth Annual Peace and Justice Gathering is shaping up pretty well. There is some real interest in hearing Sarwat Husain’s speech, “The War, Islamophobia, and the Aftermath of the Fort Hood Shootings.” Although I am finding that students I speak to do not spontaneously understand the importance of the topic, with a bit of explanation, they do get it. I am really glad she is the keynote. We had a little scare last week that she was going to cancel, but she got the schedule worked out well.

More news: Jay Johnson Castro from the Border Ambassadors will be here. Scott Nicol is coming and will have a table set up…he has just joined an important committee on the Sierra Club and has some very interesting things on the Border Wall he told me about. David Anshen of Pan Am is coordinating a two-person panel on U.S. Imperialism -- I’m hoping there will be questions on Honduras and Haiti as well as Iraq and Afghanistan -- for one of the breakout sessions. Georgiana Duarte of UT Brownsville Education Department, besides coordinating the Children’s Play Day for Promoting Peace, will be doing a breakout session on the National Convention on the Rights of the Child.

And another bit of news, Sylvia Garza of the local Texas Coalition Against the Death penalty has a speaker coming down from Houston. Gloria Rubac from a sister organization, Abolition Movement, will be giving a workshop session in Spanish and another one in English. (Jay will also be giving one in Spanish and one in English and I think Georgiana Duarte will do one session in each language on the Rights of the Children.)

I hope to see everybody there Saturday, January 30, 2010.


Nick Braune
Associate Professor, Philosophy
South Texas College/Mid-Valley Campus
(956)973-7629
nbraune@southtexascollege.edu