In an effort to empower the community to speak against war in Afghanistan and seek peaceful solutions to terrorism, several organizations are sponsoring a teach-in tonight in Dane Smith Hall.
UNM student Carson Metger, who works with the community organization Voices for Peace and the University's Progressive Student Alliance, helped organize the event to provide better information for those attending peace marches.
"I've been working with organizations, planning protests every Friday and the group really wanted to do something to inform people, so we decided to plan this teach-in on foreign policy," he said. "We wanted to discuss the history of U.S. intervention in hot spots around Latin America and Central Asia that sort of put the current action into perspective."
The event will be held in three rooms, with one focusing on a panel discussion with feedback from the audience and the other two offering films and literature about Afghanistan and Muslim culture.
Karen Bradley, a political science professor at the Technical-Vocational Institute, will moderate the discussion.
The scheduled panelists are:
Get content from The Daily Lobo delivered to your inbox
l Abdullah Ayazi, an engineer from Afghanistan who works at UNM, will speak about political and cultural themes regarding his country.
l Nelson Valdes, a professor in the Sociology Department and associate director of the Program of Academic Research on Cuba, will speak about Latin America.
l Lamia Faruki, a woman of Palestinian descent, will comment on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.
l Tony Khoury, an economist from Santa Fe, will speak about the Middle East.
l UNM instructor Bob Anderson will speak about the media's role in the war.
Metger said the panelists will speak for 15 minutes, then will answer audience questions. He said the event will conclude with both panelists and audience members offering peaceful solutions and ideas about how to address the war.
"Everyone will have an opportunity to speak because we want to have an open discussion and a really free exchange of ideas," he said. "We want people coming to the event to bring ideas with them because we'd really like to hear them."
The event will be in Rooms 125, 126 and 127 in Dane Smith Hall and begins at 6:30 p.m.
"I just hope that people walk away feeling empowered and know what is really going on in the world around them, because they have been fed so many false images of what is happening," Metger said. "We also want to develop ways to make sure our voices are heard in Washington and that our leaders represent them on a global stage."
