Former U.S. ambassador to Iraq Joseph Wilson-the husband of outed CIA operative Valerie Plame-will be among the featured speakers at "The War on Terror: A Credible Threat," a daylong teach-in that will take place on Monday, April 24, at UC Santa Cruz in the Quarry Amphitheater.
The 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. public event will feature nationally known speakers for a day of reflection on U.S. international politics and university life. Guest speakers will include U.S. Representative Sam Farr; prominent law professors from UCLA, UC Berkeley, Columbia, and Georgetown University; Santa Cruz mayor Cynthia Mathews; and senior UC Santa Cruz faculty members. Chancellor Denton is also expected to attend and speak briefly. Admission is free.
Wilson is now at the center of a controversy involving the White House, the CIA, and the Iraq war. His wife's identity was disclosed after he asserted in a New York Times op-ed column that the administration twisted prewar intelligence to exaggerate the Iraqi threat from a nuclear weapons program.
The teach-in is designed to address growing concern over warrantless searches of U.S. citizens, confirmed reports of torture in U.S.-controlled prisons, alleged violations of constitutional and international law in the war on terror, and the deteriorating situations in Iraq, Afghanistan, and the Middle East. It was initiated by Faculty Against War-a group of 25 senior UC Santa Cruz faculty members-and a coalition of student organizations, including Students Against War (SAW).
"As educators, we feel an obligation to respond, and so we have chosen to respond with education," noted UC Santa Cruz politics professor Michael Urban, who spoke on behalf of Faculty Against War.
The idea for the event grew out of outrage at the Pentagon's spying on antiwar activities by students and a recent report in which UC Santa Cruz was characterized as being a "credible threat" to national security. Chancellor Denton challenged that designation with members of Congress, and it was subsequently removed from the Pentagon's database.
"This event is an effort to spark a national movement similar to the kind of effective teach-ins that were mounted in the 1960s and 1970s about the war in Vietnam," said feminist studies professor Bettina Aptheker. The organizers aim to "provide a forum for those who want to consider what is being done in their names, and to inform the judgment and discretion of both the academic and civic communities," she added.
The list of speakers slated for the event includes:
. Richard Abel, Professor, UCLA School of Law
. Bettina Aptheker, UCSC Professor, Feminist Studies and History
. Maria Blanco, Executive Director, Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights of San Francisco Bay Area
. Judith Butler, Professor, UC Berkeley Departments of Rhetoric, Comparative Literature, and Gender & Women's Studies
. David Cole, Professor, Georgetown University School of Law
. Sam Farr, Member, U.S. House of Representatives
. Safaa J. Ibrahim, Council on American-Islamic Relations
. Cynthia Mathews, Mayor, City of Santa Cruz
. Eben Moglen, Professor, Columbia University School of Law
. Alan Richards, UCSC Professor, Economics and Environmental Studies
. Miguel Tinker-Salas, Professor, Pomona College, Latin American History
. Neferti Tadiar, UCSC Associate Professor, History of Consciousness
. Daniel Wirls, UCSC Professor, Politics
Major funding for the teach-in has been provided by the Offices of the Chancellor, Executive Vice Chancellor, and Student Affairs, with additional contributions from the Anthropology Department, Center for Cultural Studies, Center for Justice, Tolerance and Community (CJTC), College Nine, College Ten, Cowell College, Equal Employment Opportunity/Affirmative Action Office, Feminist Studies Department, History Department, Institute for Advanced Feminist Research (IAFR), Institute for Humanities Research, Literature Department, Women's Center, the Santa Cruz Chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, and other campus and community organizations. For more information, go to: http://www.thewaronterror.org, or call (831) 459-2663.
