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PDFMonday, March 22 – 12:00 p.m. to 1:00 p.m. Democracy in Ukraine: Are We There Yet? – , Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center, One Woodrow Wilson Plaza, 1300 Pennsylvania Ave., NW. – Featuring Nadia Diuk, Senior Director, Europe & Eurasia, National Endowment for Democracy. Seating for this event is available on a first come, first served basis-no reservations required.
Tuesday, March 23. Human Rights and Religious Freedom in Vietnam. Despite the recent release of famed religious and political dissident, Father Ly, the human rights situation in Vietnam remains bleak. The State Department’s Human Rights Report on Vietnam for 2009 states that “during the year the government increased its suppression of dissent” and “the government severely restricted freedom of association.”
Additionally, reports indicated that mobs which included undercover police officers and Communist Party officials terrorized and assaulted monks and nuns at Phuoc Hue pagoda in Lam Dong province for three days in December. Montagnard Christians and Catholics have also come under increased pressure over the past year. These instances are indicative of a troubling pattern of abuses of human rights and religious freedom.
Panel I: The Honorable Anh “Joseph” Cao, member of Congress, 2nd District of Louisiana; Panel II: Michael Cromartie, commissioner, US Commission on International Religious Freedom; Y Hin Nie, Montagnard Christians; Sister Dang Nghiem, Deer Park Monastery; Sophie Richardson, Asia advocacy director, Human Rights Watch; Dr. Binh Nguyen, founding chair, International Protection for Prisoners of Conscience; Dr. Quan Nguyen, director, Internet Radio Broadcasting to Vietnam: Rallying for Democracy.
Venue: Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission 2-4 p.m. B-318 Rayburn HOB, Capitol Hill, Washington, DC.
Tuesday, March 23 – 11:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Russian Anti-Americanism: A Priority Target for U.S. Public Diplomacy – The Heritage Foundation, 214 Massachusetts Ave NE – Featuring Daniel Kimmage, Senior Fellow, Homeland Security Policy Institute, Independent Consultant, Former Senior Correspondent/Geopolitics Analyst, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty; Svetlana Babaeva, Bureau Chief, RIA Novosti, Russian State Information Agency; Ariel Cohen, Ph.D., Senior Research Fellow, Russian and Eurasian Studies and International Energy Security, The Heritage Foundation. Host: Helle C. Dale, Senior Fellow for Public Diplomacy, Douglas and Sarah Allison Center for Foreign Policy Studies, The Heritage Foundation.
Wednesday, March 24 – 12:00 p.m. to 1:00 p.m. Reality Television and Arab Politics: Contention in Public Life – Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center, One Woodrow Wilson Plaza, 1300 Pennsylvania Ave., NW. – Featuring Marwan Kraidy, Associate Professor, Annenberg School for Communication, University of Pennsylvania and Former Fellow, Woodrow Wilson Center. What does it mean to be modern in the Arab world? Against the backdrop of dramatic upheaval in the Middle East, Kraidy’s Reality Television and Arab Politics offers an original approach to the “Arab Street.” The book shifts attention away from a narrow focus on al-Jazeera and news, towards a vibrant pan-television industry whose entertainment programs are heavily politicized by rival social, political and economic actors. RSVP here.
Wednesday, March 24- 3 to 4 p.m. Why There Is No ‘European Islam’: Contrasting Contours of Islam in England and France. Elliot School of International Affairs: 1957 E Street NW, Room 214. Professor John Bowen of Washington University in St. Louis will consider contrasting histories of migration, church-state relations, and political philosophies that account for the sharp divergences in Muslim experiences in England and France. He will discuss the possibility of Muslims ‘shari’a councils’ in England, paralegal mediation or arbitration bodies dealing with family law, and increasingly, commercial disputes, and the contrasting styles of Islamic normative reasoning in the two countries. RSVP here.
Wednesday, March 24- 4 to 6p.m. Global Internet Freedom: A Foreign Policy Imperative in a Digital Age. U.S. Capitol Visitor’s Center, Room SVC-203/202, E Capitol St NE & 1st St NE Washington, DC. The Center for a New American Security (CNAS) will hold an event to mark the public launch of the U.S. Senate Caucus on Global Internet Freedom, which will provide bipartisan leadership and serve as a resource in the Washington policy community on this important issue. The event will feature remarks from caucus co-chairs Senators Ted Kaufman (D-DE) and Sam Brownback (R-KS), in addition to other Senate caucus members and a panel of experts including: Michael Posner (invited), Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor; Ambassador Mark Palmer, former Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for European Affairs; Richard Fontaine, Senior Fellow at CNAS; Daniel Calingaert, Deputy Director of Programs at Freedom House; and a representative of Google. Caucus members and panelists will take questions from the audience and press. General Public RSVP here. Media RSVP here. Or call: 202.457.9427
Friday, March 26- 7 to 8:30 p.m. Shifting Political Visions in Modern Iran: Islamism and Neo-secularism. George Washington University: 2201 G Street, NW Washington DC- Funger Hall, Room 108. Annual Noruz Lecture by Distinguished Scholar of Iranian Studies Mohamad Tavakoli-Targhi of the University of Toronto. To RSVP email FIS@fis-iran.org or call (301) 657-1990.
Monday, March 29 – 12:00noon to 1:00 p.m. Russia’s Underground Fire: Politics, Security and Human Rights in the North Caucasus. Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center, One Woodrow Wilson Plaza, 1300 Pennsylvania Ave., NW. – Featuring Tom Parfitt, Correspondent, The Guardian, Moscow, and Public Policy Scholar, Woodrow Wilson Center. In April 2009, the Russian government announced it was ending “counter-terrorism operations” in Chechnya, effectively declaring victory over separatist rebels in the troubled republic. A closer look, however, reveals that in recent years the insurgency has spilt over Chechnya’s borders, radicalized and spread across the whole North Caucasus region of Russia, between the Black Sea and the Caspian. This “underground fire,” as Kremlin officials have called it, is now one of Russia’s gravest internal threats. Tom Parfitt, a reporter who has visited the North Caucasus regularly for the last seven years, gives an assessment of the situation on the ground and discusses the policy implications for Moscow and Washington.
Monday, April 5, 12:00 p.m. to 1:00 p.m. Assessing the Reset: The First Year of the Obama Administration’s Russia Policy – Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center, One Woodrow Wilson Plaza, 1300 Pennsylvania Ave., NW. – Featuring Samuel Charap, Associate Director, Russia and Eurasia Program, Center for American Progress. Seating for this event is available on a first come, first served basis-no reservations required.
Wednesday, April 7 2010, 9:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. The Legacy of President Lula and Brazil’s 2010 Presidential Race – Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center, One Woodrow Wilson Plaza, 1300 Pennsylvania Ave., NW. – Clifford Young, Executive Director, IPSOS Public Affairs Brazil; Chris Garman, Director, Eurasia Group; David Fleischer, Professor Emeritus, Universidade de Brasília and President, TCC-Brazil (Transparency, Consciousness and Citizenship); João Augusto de Castro Neves, Founding Partner and Political Analyst, CAC Consultoria; and more to be announced. RSVP here.
Monday, April 12 – 12:00 p.m. to 1:00 p.m. Challenges in Building Russian Democracy - Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center, One Woodrow Wilson Plaza, 1300 Pennsylvania Ave., NW. – Featuring Robert Orttung, President, Resource Security Institute, and former Title VIII-Supported Short-Term Scholar, Kennan Institute. Seating for this event is available on a first come, first served basis-no reservations required.
Wednesday, April 28 – 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. U.S. Relations with the Muslim World: One Year After Cairo – Ronald Reagan Building Amphitheater, 1300 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW – This all day conference will discuss many pressing issues, such as Muslim Perceptions & Public Opinion, Islam, Human Rights, and Development, and keynote speech, Prospects for Improved Relations and Understanding Between the U.S. and the Muslim World from Tariq Ramadan, Oxford University. View tentative schedule here.
July 25 – 30, 2010. Islam and Religious Freedom at the Princeton Theological – Princeton University – The Witherspoon Institute presents a seminar on Islam and Religious Freedom at the Princeton Theological Seminary. The Islam and Religious Freedom Seminar is a week-long program for graduate students and professionals in Islam-related fields of study and work. In a small seminar setting, led by scholars, religious leaders, and experienced policy makers, participants will explore the intersection of Islam and religious freedom. This will include Muslim perspectives on faith and religious freedom, U.S. government policies on religious freedom abroad, modern social science research about the relationship of religious freedom to societal and individual well being, and perspectives on religious freedom in philosophy and among other faiths. The seminar will address religious freedom issues facing Muslim minorities, Muslim dissenters in Muslim-majority areas, and non-Muslims living in Muslim-majority areas.
The seminar is open to graduate students or professionals in Islam-related fields. If accepted, a seminar registration fee — $100 for students, $300 for non-students — will be required. The seminar will provide room, board, and seminar materials. Travel expenses are not included. A limited number of travel scholarships will be available. To apply, please send the following by April 1, 2010 via e-mail to islamproject@winst.org. Applicants can expect to be notified of admission decisions no later than April 15, 2010. Full details here.
