[URBANTH-L]Civil Liberties after 9/11 lecture - invitation

[Liz Grefrath]

Dear Friend,

You are cordially invited to the two public lectures hosted by the 2008
Summer Institute of the Columbia University Oral History Research Office is
proud to offer two public lectures on the themes of oral history, advocacy
work and the law.

The 2008 Summer Institute lectures will explore the parallel uses of oral
history and legal testimony in the classical definition of advocacy as
"finding and giving" voice. Relationships between human rights commissions,
tribunals and oral history documentation will be explored – as well as
specific uses of oral history in legal advocacy work in capital crimes
proceedings, land claims work involving oral memory in indigenous
communities and the documentation of vulnerable communities in transition
generally.

Lectures will be held in 501 Schermerhorn Hall (
http://www.columbia.edu/about_columbia/map/), located on Columbia
University's Morningside Heights Campus. All lectures are free and open to
the public.

Hope to see you at the event. Please forward this announcement to anyone who
might be interested.
Best,

Liz Grefrath
Program Coordinator, Summer Institute

*Monday, June 16**
7:30 - 9:00pm*

*Michael Ratner, "War on Democracy: Civil and Human Rights Post-9/11"
Response: Gara LaMarche, "The Importance of Philanthropic Advocacy in the
Post-911 Era"*

*Michael Ratner* is President of the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR),
a non-profit legal organization dedicated to advancing and protecting the
rights guaranteed by the United States Constitution and the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights. Over the last four decades CCR has lent its
expertise and support to virtually every popular movement for social and
racial justice. Since 9/11 CCR has spear-headed the struggle to restore the
fundamental right of habeas corpus and continues to combat the illegal
expansion of executive power and the American torture programs that have
undermined fundamental rights in the name of the so-called "war on terror,"
by representing victims of torture, rendition and domestic spying. Michael
Ratner was co-counsel in representing Guantanamo Bay detainees in the United
States Supreme Court in 2004. His leadership in the arena of human rights
continues to strengthen the role of the international rule of law to promote
justice and oppose armed aggression. He is the author of many books and
articles, including *Against War with Iraq* and *Guantanamo: What the World
Should Know* and the textbook, *International Human Rights Litigation in U.
S. Courts*. He has taught law at Yale Law School and Columbia University Law
School. Ratner is also the co-host of the popular radio program "Law and
Disorder." The recipient of many honors, he was also included in The
National Law Journal's list of "100 of the Most Influential Lawyers in
America."

*Gara LaMarche* is President and CEO of the Atlantic Philanthropies. Before
joining the Atlantic Philanthropies in April, 2007, Gara LaMarche was vice
president and director of U.S. Programs for the Open Society Institute.
Prior to joining OSI in 1996, LaMarche served as associate director of Human
Rights Watch and was director of its Free Expression Project (1990-1996) and
the Freedom-To-Write Program of the PEN American Center (1988-1990). From
1976 to 1988, he served in a variety of positions with the American Civil
Liberties Union, including associate director of its New York branch
(1979-1984) and executive director of the Texas Civil Liberties Union
(1984-1988). In 1988-1989, he was a Charles H. Revson Fellow on the Future
of the City of New York. He is a graduate of Columbia University.

*Tuesday, June 17
**7:30-9:00pm*
*Winona** Wheeler, "Indigenous Oral Histories under the Gun: Bamboozled
Methodologies"*

*Winona Wheeler* (Cree/Assiniboine/Saulteaux/Irish/English with a dab of
Scot) is a member of the Fisher River Cree First Nation, Manitoba. She has
taught Indigenous Studies since 1988 and is currently an Associate Professor
in the Centre for World Indigenous Knowledge and Research at Athabasca
University. Dr. Wheeler has successfully petitioned the Canadian government
for land claims rights using oral history as a form of evidence.

For more information, please contact Liz Grefrath at
ecg2109 at columbia.edu<summerinstitute.2008 at gmail.com>