WKTV Staff
ken@wktv.org
The World Affairs Council of Western Michigan’s 2020 Great Decisions series of local discussions will again tackle this year’s “issues of national an international importance” — the India and Pakistan powder keg, China’s power in the Americas, the present and future of American immigration policy, and the human impact of climate change, to name just a few.
The line-up of discussions, to be held Monday evenings at Aquinas College and Tuesday noontimes at Calvin University, will begin Feb. 10-11 with a discussion titled “Kashmir: Flashpoint between India and Pakistan” and will continue through the week of March 30.
All discussions are open to the public, with a $10 admission fee for non-Council members and collegiate partners, but free parking on each campus. No reservations are needed, and discounted series passes are available.
With the 2020 Great Decisions series, the World Affairs Council “continues its mission to empower the people and organizations of West Michigan to engage thoughtfully with the world,” according to supplied material. “Our largest community event, which we have been hosting since the mid-1950s. Diplomats, policy makers and practitioners, think tank specialists and journalists lead the conversation on some of the most pressing global issues of our time.”
The Monday lectures will run from 6 to 7:15 p.m., at the Aquinas College Performing Arts Center. The Tuesday lectures will run from Noon to 1 p.m., at the Recital Hall in the Covenant Fine Arts Center at Calvin University.
The opening lecture, “Kashmir: Flashpoint between India and Pakistan” will be led by Raza Ahmad Rumi, Director of the Park Center for Independent Media at Ithaca (N.Y.) College. Rumi has been living in the United States since 2014, and is editor of Daily Times and founder of the Nayadaur Media digital platform. He is also a visiting faculty at Cornell Institute for Public Affairs.
Drawing on his deep background as a journalist and policy analyst, Rumi will “contextualize the factors that play into India and Pakistan’s actions and the U.S. response to these countries,” according to supplied material. Asking and discussing the questions “How do we de-escalate conflict between these two nuclear powers? India and Pakistan have a long history of conflict. How has escalation within the Kashmir region changed the stakes for the U.S. and the world?”
The other lecture dates, titles and speakers are:
February 17-18, “Mirror to the World: The Philippines under Duterte”, with Julie McCarthy, international correspondent with Manila Bureau of NPR.
February 24-25, “Regional Security in the Red Sea”, with Steve Dalzell, senior defense policy researcher at RAND Corporation.
March 2-3, “Green Peacebuilding: Justice in the face of Climate Change”, with Marisa O. Ensor, Justice and Peace Studies Program & Institute for the Study of International Migration, School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University.
March 9-10, “Human Trafficking: Global and Local Perspectives”, a panel discussion moderated by Rachel VerWys, co-creator of Solutions to End Exploitation (SEE).
March 16-17, “The Future is Now: Artificial Intelligence and National Security”, with Lindsey Sheppard, fellow at the Center for Strategic & International Studies (CSIS).
March 23-24, “China’s Road into Latin America”, with Margaret Myers, director of Asia & Latin America at Inter-American Dialogue.
March 30-31, “Central American Immigration and U.S. Foreign Policy”, with Sonia Nazario, Pulitzer-winning journalist and author of “Enrique’s Journey”.
Of particular interest, for many, will be Ensor’s discussion on world justice in time of climate change. She describes herself, on her website, as “a gender and youth specialist with a background in forced displacement, environmental peacebuilding, humanitarian intervention, and post-conflict justice.”
She holds a PhD in Anthropology from the University of Florida, a Master’s in Law in International Human Rights Law from the University of Essex (UK), and a certificate in Forced Migration Studies from the University of Oxford (UK). She has over a decade of international experience in “the design and implementation of gender- and youth-inclusive projects in conflict-affected and fragile states, and those confronting forced migration and environmental insecurity” in 19 countries so far in Sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America, the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region and Europe.
In her discussion, Ensor “maps the relationship between climate change, conflict and fragile states and the lessons we can learn from those fighting for human rights and peace within their communities,” according to supplied material. Specifically she will discuss “What can young activists teach us about peace and climate change? … Climate change has become one of the defining issues of our time.”
For more information on the Great Decisions 2020 series visit here.
