The Uniter Speakers Series
Presented by The Uniter, the official student newspaper of The University of Winnipeg, The Uniter Speakers Series is part of the newspaper’s ongoing efforts to enhance its contribution to community life on and off campus.
No upcoming speakers at this time.
Past Speakers
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Wednesday Jan 18th 2012
The Uniter Speakers Series and the CPSSA present David Matas & David Kilgour: Bloody Harvest
- Topic: Bloody Harvest: The Killing of Falun Gong for Their Organs
- Date: Wednesday January 18th, 2012
- Time: 6 p.m.
- Location: University of Winnipeg (515 Portage Avenue)
Internationally renowned lawyer and human rights activist David Matas and the Hon. David Kilgour will speak about Bloody Harvest: The Killing of Falun Gong for Their Organs, the book they co-authored and published in 2009. The book details organ harvesting practices in China.
The lecture will take place Wednesday, Jan. 18 at 6:00 p.m. in Eckhardt-Gramatte Hall at the University of Winnipeg. The event is co-sponsored by the Canadian Political Science Students’ Association.
About the book
Falun Gong is a modern day spiritual/exercise movement which began in China in 1991 drawing on and combining ancient Chinese traditions. The Chinese Communist Party, alarmed at the growth of the movement and fearing for its own ideological supremacy banned the movement in 1999. Falun Gong practitioners were arrested in the hundreds of thousands and asked to recant. If they did not, they were tortured. If they still did not recant, they disappeared. Allegations surfaced in 2006 that the disappeared were being killed for their organs which were sold for large sums mostly to foreign transplant tourists. It is generally accepted that China kills prisoners for organs. The debate is over whether the prisoners who are killed are only criminals sentenced to death or Falun Gong practitioners as well. The authors produced a report concluding that the allegations were true. The book Bloody Harvest sets out the investigations and conclusions of the authors.
About David Matas
David Matas is an internationally renowned lawyer and human rights activist. He received a BA from the University from Manitoba, an MA from Princeton University, a BA (Jurisprudence) and a Bachelor of Civil Law from the University of Oxford. Mr. Matas has served the government of Canada in numerous positions including as member of the Canadian delegation to the United Nations Conference on an International Criminal Court and has been involved in several different organizations including the Canadian Helsinki Watch Group, Beyond Borders, Amnesty International, and the Canadian Council for Refugees.
In 2010 he was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize for his investigation alongside the Hon. David Kilgour of organ harvesting practices in China as detailed in their book Bloody Harvest: The Killing of Falun Gong for their Organs. His other works have included Justice Delayed: Nazi War Criminals in Canada (1987) with Susan Charendoff, Closing the Doors: The Failure of Refugee Protection (1989) with Ilana Simon, No More: The Battle Against Human Rights Violations (1994), Bloody Words: Hate and Free Speech (2000), and Aftershock: Antisemitism and Anti-Zionism (2005). He is currently the Senior Legal Counsel to B’nai Brith Canada.
About David Kilgour
David Kilgour is a vice-president of the Parliamentary Forum of the Community of Democracies, co-chair of the Canadian Friends of a Democratic Iran, past chair of the Latin America and Caribbean policy working group of the Ottawa branch of the Canadian International council, a Fellow of the Queen’s University Centre for the Study of Democracy and a director of the Washington-based Council for a Community of Democracies (CCD).
First elected in 1979, he was re-elected seven times, most recently in 2004, for the south-east part of Edmonton. During his time in Parliament he was Deputy Speaker and Chair of the Committees of the Whole House, Secretary of State for Latin America & Africa, and Secretary of State for Asia-Pacific. He did not stand in the 2006 election.
He continues to be active in issues of human rights and international concern. A recent book, Uneasy Neighbo(u)rs, co-authored with David Jones, a former American diplomat, discusses the relationship of Canada and the USA in the dynamics of state, industry and culture .In 2010, he published with David Matas Bloody Harvest: The Killing of Falun Gong for Their Organs. He and Matas were recently awarded the 2009 Human Rights Prize of the International Society for Human Rights in Switzerland for their work in raising awareness of state-sponsored organ pillaging in China.
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Thursday Nov 24th 2011
Joseph Heath, Philosopher and Author
- Topic: The Myth of the Rebel Consumer
- Date: Thursday November 24th, 2011
- Time: 7:30pm
- Location: University of Winnipeg (515 Portage Avenue)
On the eve of Buy Nothing Day, University of Toronto philosophy professor Joseph Heath will deliver a talk titled “The Myth of the Rebel Consumer,” based on The Rebel Sell, the 2004 book he co-wrote with Andrew Potter.
The lecture will take place at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 24 in Eckhardt-Gramatte Hall at the University of Winnipeg.
Do you hate consumer culture? Angry about all that packaging? Irritated by all those commercials? Well, join the club. Anti-consumerism has become one of the most important cultural forces in North American life. Strangely, it has also become one of the most powerful marketing tools.
What can we conclude from all this? How can we all denounce consumerism, and yet still find ourselves living in a consumer society?
The answer is quite simple. Popular anti-consumerism is not actually a critique of consumerism; it’s merely a restatement of the “critique of mass society” that has been around since the 1960s. The two are not the same. In fact, the critique of mass society has been one of the most powerful forces driving consumer spending for more than 50 years.
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From countercultural rebellion to financial derivatives, Joseph Heath is an expert on what makes the market tick. He preaches the science of economics, but without the graphs and equations.
As a philosopher, he revels in the surprising and the unexpected. He enjoys nothing more than finding out that things he once thought true are in fact false.
Always opinionated, invariably controversial, he would be more than happy to tell you why everything you think you know about the economy is wrong.
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Wednesday Oct 19th 2011
Charles Taylor, Philosopher
- Topic: Solidarity and Diversity in a Secular Age: Managing Belief and Unbelief in the Public Square
- Date: Wednesday October 19th, 2011
- Time: 7:30pm
- Location: University of Winnipeg (515 Portage Avenue)
Free Admission. Talk takes place in the U of W’s Eckhardt-Grammate Hall.
Globally renowned Canadian philosopher Charles Taylor will deliver a lecture titled “Solidarity and Diversity in a Secular Age: Managing Belief and Unbelief in the Public Square,” which is based on his 2007 magnum opus, A Secular Age.
Dr. Taylor is Professor Emeritus of Political Science and Philosophy at McGill University. He was the co-chair of the Taylor-Bouchard Commission on Reasonable Accommodation in Quebec. Dr. Taylor was the recipient of the 2008 Kyoto Prize in arts and philosophy and the 2007 Templeton Prize for progress towards research or discoveries about spiritual realities, which included a cash award of US$1.5 million.
Highly respected sociologist of religion Robert Bellah has called A Secular Age “one of the most important books to be written in my lifetime.”
“The change I want to define and trace is one which takes us from a society in which it was virtually impossible not to believe in God, to one in which faith, even for the staunchest believer, is one human possibility among others,” Dr. Taylor writes in the book.
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Wednesday Oct 5th 2011
Jeff Chang, Hip-Hop Journalist, Author and Historian
- Topic: Can't Stop Won't Stop: A History of the Hip-Hop Generation
- Date: Wednesday October 5th, 2011
- Time: 7:30pm
- Location: University of Winnipeg (515 Portage Avenue)
Free Admission. Talk takes place in the U of W’s Eckhardt-Grammate Hall.
Jeff Chang will speak about Can’t Stop Won’t Stop, his book that shows how hip-hop came to crystallize a multiracial generation’s worldview.
How does it define the lives of millions around the world? How has it transformed politics and art? And how did it redefine the portrayal of race in popular culture?
Chang draws on economics, social theory and demographics to trace the tumultuous period in which hip-hop came to life – a time when the post-civil rights generation moved from out of the margins and into the mainstream.
Jeff Chang has been a hip-hop journalist for more than 15 years and has written for Vibe, Spin, The Village Voice, URB and Rap Pages. He is currently the executive director at Stanford University’s Institute for Diversity in the Arts + Committee on Black Performing Arts.
Read an interview with Jeff from the Thursday, Sept. 29 issue of The Uniter right here: http://uniter.ca/view/6491
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Wednesday Mar 9th 2011
Gwynne Dyer, Journalist and Author of Climate Wars
- Topic: Gwynne Dyer's book, Climate Wars
- Date: Wednesday March 9th, 2011
- Time: 7:00pm
- Location: Ellice Theatre (587 Ellice Avenue)
Please Note: Due to the potential UofW faculty strike, the event has been moved to the Ellice Theatre, 587 Ellice Ave.
Journalist, columnist, broadcaster and international affairs expert Gwynne Dyer will speak at the University of Winnipeg on Wednesday, March 9, 2011. The lecture, titled “Climate Wars,” is based on Mr. Dyer’s 2008 book of the same name. The lecture takes place in the Ellice Theatre at 7:00 p.m. The event is open to the public and admission is free. Published in 2008, Climate Wars is based on Mr. Dyer’s two years of climate change research, during which he interviewed scientists, military officials, diplomats and politicians. The book has been described as “a terrifying glimpse of the none-too-distant future, when climate change will force the world’s powers into a desperate struggle for advantage and even survival.” Dwindling resources, massive population shifts, natural disasters, plummeting agricultural yields and crashing economies are just some of the expected consequences of runaway climate change in the decades ahead, and any of them could tip the world towards conflict. “This is a very big crisis, but there is a way through it,” Mr. Dyer says. His lecture will elaborate on the crisis as well as possible solutions.
Mr. Dyer has worked as a freelance journalist, columnist, broadcaster and lecturer on international affairs for more than 20 years, but he was originally trained as an historian. Born in Newfoundland, he received degrees from Canadian, American and British universities, finishing with a PhD in Military and Middle Eastern History from the University of London. He served in three navies and held academic appointments at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst and Oxford University before launching his twice-weekly column on international affairs, which is published by over 175 papers in some 45 countries. In addition to Climate Wars, Mr. Dyer’s recent books include Ignorant Armies: Sliding into War in Iraq (2003), Future: Tense (2005), The Mess They Made: The Middle East After Iraq (2007), and Crawling from the Wreckage (2010).
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Thursday Feb 3rd 2011
Adria Vasil, Author of Ecoholic
- Topic: Being Green in 2011
- Date: Thursday February 3rd, 2011
- Time: 7:00pm
- Location: University of Winnipeg (515 Portage Avenue)
Eckhardt-Gramatté Hall, University of Winnipeg
515 Portage AvenueFree Admission
Adria Vasil has written the practical and humour-filled Ecoholic advice column for Toronto’s NOW Magazine since the spring of 2004 and has covered environmental and social justice issues for NOW’s news section for nearly a decade. Vasil has a degree in political science and cultural anthropology from the University of Toronto and a degree in magazine journalism from Ryerson. An advocate for the earth, women’s issues and human rights since her teens, Vasil is the author of the book Ecoholic - a practical guide to doing your part for the earth.
Check out her interview with Managing Editor, Aaron Epp here.
Presented as part of Grass Routes: A Sustainability Festival
Monday, January 31 to Saturday, February 5 at the University of Winnipeg -
Thursday Nov 19th 2009
Sandy Tolan, Author of The Lemon Tree
- Topic: Restorative Justice in Israel
- Date: Thursday November 19th, 2009
- Time: 7:30pm
- Location: West End Cultural Centre (586 Ellice Avenue)
Sandy Tolan, author of the 2006 bestseller The Lemon Tree: An Arab a Jew and the Heart of the Middle East, is a journalist, teacher, and documentary radio producer. He is associate professor at the Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism at USC. He has reported in more than 30 countries, especially in the Middle East, Latin America, the Balkans and Eastern Europe. He has produced dozens of documentaries for National Public Radio and Public Radio International, and has written for more than 40 newspapers.
Tolan’s visit is part of a series of Restorative Justice Week events being presented by a coalition of organizations under the auspices of Mediation Services, the John Howard Society and the Elizabeth Fry Society. He will speak about the prospects for peace in the Middle East.
Here’s part one of Sandy’s speech:
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Monday Nov 16th 2009
Malalai Joya, MP Afghanistan
- Topic: A Woman Among Warlords
- Date: Monday November 16th, 2009
- Time: 7pm
- Location: University of Winnipeg (515 Portage Avenue)
Enraged by Taliban oppression, Malalai Joya became a women’s rights activist in Afghanistan, and after the US-led invasion, took on the new regime as an MP. University of Winnipeg, Convocation Hall (located in Wesley Hall). Free Admission. Donations encouraged. Hosted by Peace Alliance Winnipeg.
Malalai Joya’s Message to Canadian Military Families
Part One of Malalai Joya’s talk
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Thursday Nov 12th 2009
Chris Walter, GFY Press
- Topic: Independent publishing
- Date: Thursday November 12th, 2009
- Time: 8pm
- Location: {REL[4068][ss_location]unSTXMBIREL}
All of you writers and would-be writers won’t want to miss this. Chris Walter, independent book publisher, punk historian and author of Punch the Boss, will speak about his journey from junkie to entrepreneur. Musical guests: Kato Destroy. (Facebook link.)
Below: video of Chris Walter reading from Punch the Boss. Inaugural Mouseland Press Speakers Series event presented by The Uniter. Videographer: http://paulsgraham.ca. Note: strong language!
