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Social Justice
  Leadership Series 

The Schuster Institute for Investigative Journalism and The International Center for Ethics, Justice, and Public Life are jointly hosting the 2009-10 Social Justice Leadership Series. To enrich Brandeis life, we are bringing to campus inspiring, informed speakers who have forged work lives that are driven by a commitment to social justice and human rights, in the U.S. and around the globe.

Calendar of Events

"International Criminal Justice: Developments and Reflections on the Future," Hassan Jallow, chief prosecutor, International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda
Monday, November 30, 2009, 5:30 p.m.
International Lounge, Usdan Student Center

The inaugural Distinguished Lecture in International Justice and Human Rights, to be delivered by Hassan Jallow, Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda. Informal meetings will also be arranged for students who would like to discuss the work of international justice with Mr. Jallow while he is on campus.

Gloria White-Hammond, My Sister's Keeper, humanitarian activist
Thursday, April 15, 2010, Time & Venue: TBD

A talk by one of the co-founders of My Sister's Keeper, humanitarian activist Gloria White-Hammond. My Sister's Keeper is a faith-inspired, multiracial, collective of women who lend humanitarian assistance to communities of women globally, with a focus on Sudan.

"Free the Slaves," Kevin Bales, abolitionist

Wednesday, September 2, 2009, 7:00 - 8:30 p.m.
Rapaporte Treasure Hall, Goldfarb Library

A lecture and discussion with Dr. Kevin Bales, one of the world's leading experts on modern slavery and human trafficking. Bales estimates that at this moment, twenty-seven million slaves—more than twice the number of people taken from Africa during the 350 years of the African slave trade—toil in rich and poor countries around the world, their forced labor providing consumers with dozens of ordinary products. In this Social Justice Leadership Series inaugural event, Bales will share the ideas and insights that can finally lead to slavery’s extinction. He will engage the Brandeis community in an enlightening discussion not only about his groundbreaking work in the antislavery movement, but also about the unique path that led him to be an outspoken abolitionist. Bales is president of Free the Slaves, the U.S. sister organization of Anti-Slavery International (the world's oldest human rights organization). He is the winner of numerous international humanitarian awards, and his book Disposable People: New Slavery in the Global Economy was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize.

Cosponsors for this event are: Brandeis Interfaith Chaplaincy, Feminist Sexual Ethics Projects, Gen Ed Now, Journalism Program, Legal Studies Program, Office of the Provost, Peace, Conflict, and Coexistence Studies, Social Justice and Social Policy Program.

"Talk to an Iraqi," Haider Hamza, journalist
Tuesday, October 20, 2009, 7:00 - 8:30 p.m.
Rapaporte Treasure Hall, Goldfarb Library

Twenty-four-year-old Iraqi journalist
Haider Hamza lived through the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of his country with his family near Babylon, south of Baghdad. Since then, he covered all the major events that took place in his country. These events include live coverage of all 40 trial sessions of his former president Saddam Hussein, the killing of Saddam's sons, the bombing of the holy shrines in Samara, elections, establishment of his country's new governments, the killing of al Qaeda leader Abu Mussab al Zarqawi, and the daily sectarian violence.

As life became more and more dangerous in Iraq, Hamza was arrested, shot at, and held captive. Deciding it was better to live for a cause than to die for one, he left Iraq to live in the United States. He traveled through 35 states talking to people about the war in his country. To engage people in conversation, he set up a sidewalk mobile booth with a sign that said to passersby "Talk to an Iraqi." Part of his journey was filmed and aired on Showtime's "This American Life" and broadcast on NPR.

In this SoJust speaker event, Hamza will discuss his personal journey talking about the war with Americans—along with his thoughts about and pictures of the conflict in his country.

Cosponsors for this event are: Brandeis Democrats, Brandeis Interfaith Chaplaincy, the Crown Center for Middle East Studies, Gen Ed Now, the International Center for Ethics, Justice, and Public Life, the Office of the Dean of Arts & Sciences, the Office of the Provost, the Journalism Program, and Peace, Conflict, and Coexistence Studies.

"Pray the Devil Back to Hell," documentary
Wednesday, October 21, 2009, 6:30 p.m.
Wasserman Cinematheque, International Business School

Screening of the documentary film “Pray the Devil Back to Hell,” about a group of women in Liberia who were instrumental in bringing peace to their country after decades of civil war.  Janet Johnson Bryant, one of the film's protagonists—a Liberian journalist now living in Massachusetts—will be on hand to respond to questions following the screening.  

Convened by Coexistence International, with support from Brandeis International Business School; Cooperative Metropolitan Ministries; Facing History and Ourselves; GenEd Now; the Girl Effect; the Heller School for Social Policy and Management; the Intercultural Center; International and Global Studies; the Journalism Program; the Legal Studies Program; Library and Technology Services; the Peace, Conflict, and Coexistence Studies Program; the MA Program in Coexistence and Conflict; the Office of the Dean of Arts and Sciences; the Office of Graduate Student Affairs; the Pluralism Project at Harvard University; the Program in Social Justice and Social Policy; Women’s and Gender Studies Program; the Women’s Studies Research Center; and the Slifka Program in Intercommunal Coexistence. Learn more at Coexistence International>

For more information about the Social Justice Leadership Series, please contact: Leigh Swigart of the Ethics Center or Lindsay Markel of the Schuster Institute.