The War on Journalists in the War in Gaza: Connections Between Attacks on the Free Press Abroad and Domestically, 10/23
Thursday, October 23
12:20-1:20 p.m.
Laurence E. Hirsch ’71 Classroom (Room 101)
John F. Scarpa Hall
In the last two years, more than 240 Palestinian journalists have been killed while reporting in Gaza. Western news organizations have been mainly silent in covering these unprecedented attacks. As one of the few journalists reporting on this conflict in an in-depth manner, will speak with Michelle Dempsey, professor of law and Harold Reuschlein Scholar Chair, about how this war has impacted journalism and how it relates to broader attacks against the free press. Jeremy will also address what this war has revealed in terms of uncomfortable truths about the role of news organizations in disseminating propaganda narratives.
Joining Jeremy after the moderated discussion will be Catholic peace activists and . They will speak to how free speech connects to their shared Catholic tradition, and what it means to be a voice of conscience in a time of speech suppression.ÌýLunch will be provided in limited quantities.
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SPEAKERS
Jeremy Scahill is an independent journalist, author and filmmaker. He is co-founder of the investigative news organization . He is also the co-founder of the investigative news organization, The Intercept. Scahill is author of the international best-selling books Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army and Dirty Wars: The World is a Battlefield. His film, Dirty Wars, won widespread acclaim and was nominated for an Academy Award in 2013 for Best Documentary Feature. Scahill has won some of the top prizes in journalism, including two George Polk Awards, and has reported from war and conflict zones around the world, including Iraq, Afghanistan, Yemen, Somalia and the former Yugoslavia.Ìý
His work has appeared in many publications, including The New York Times, The NationÌýand The Guardian. He is a longtime contributor to the radio and TV program Democracy Now!, where he got his start in journalism in the 1990s. Scahill's books have been translated into many languages and he frequently appears on international radio and TV programs. He is the creator of the podcast Intercepted.
Frida Berrigan lives in New London, CT, with her husband and three kids. She is an urban farmer and community activist, organizing around affordable home ownership with the Southeastern Connecticut Community Land Trust, and against the ever-stretching shadow of militarism with the Connecticut Committee on Nuclear Prohibition. She serves on the board of Kirkridge Retreat and Study Center in PA and organizes locally with the People’s Budget Coalition. She writes periodically for WagingNonviolence, TomDispatch.com and In These Times, and is the author of the 2015 book,ÌýIt Runs In The Family: On Being Raised By Radicals And Growing Into Rebellious Motherhood (OR Books). Last year, she authored Our Fast Matters, a booklet of 40 Lenten reflections for Pax Christi USA.
Martha Hennessy, seventh grandchild of Dorothy Day, divides her time between the family farm in Vermont and practicing the works of mercy at Maryhouse Catholic Worker in New York City.
She is 70, a retired occupational therapist and grandmother of nine. She has been imprisoned protesting war and nuclear power/weapons, the use of drones and the torture of prisoners in Guantanamo and US prisons.
She has traveled to Russia, Egypt, Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Korea and Palestine to understand the impact of United States foreign military policy and the effects on countries around the world.
Martha travels and speaks on the topics of her Catholic faith, family life, work in community, Catholic Social Teaching, war and peace, nuclear abolition and peacemaking efforts in the tradition of the Catholic Worker movement.
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