Calendar Archives: 2003
The Cafés Diplomatiques (Café Diplo)
Cumulative Archive of Cafe Topics for the year 2003
Entrance fee: £3
(£2 concessions) FREE TO MEMBERS
Archive of Events - 2002 to 2003
Sat 14 September HOW CAN YOU RELY ON WHAT YOU READ?
with Harry Hilton
Harry Hilton is a Writer and International Freelance Investigative Journalist
Today information is abundant, but it is often mixed with misinformation and a sprinkle of disinformation. So beware of the teller of the tale and ask yourself are there any missing “bits”. Harry has worked on many publications including The Silent Conspiracy (Stephen Dorril) and In the Public Interest
(Gerland James).
Sat 21 September: CIRCLES OF SUPPORT & ACCOUNTABILITY
with Helen Drewery
Assistant General Secretary, Quaker Peace & Social Witness
Circles of Support and Accountability works with released sex offenders to help them not to re-offend. It is a Canadian scheme which Quakers and others are promoting in the UK. Pilot projects are being set up in the form of partnerships between voluntary and statutory agencies with funding from
the Home Office. The idea was developed in 1994 in Ontario and is spreading in Canada and parts of the USA.
Sat 5 October: A NEW HOPE - MICRO FINANCE
with Matthieu Chemin
Matthieu Chemin has spent time worked at The World Bank recently and is now back in London completing his Phd at the London School of Economics
The presentation will centre on whether Micro Finance may provide a solution to the problems of development encountered in the Third World today.
A new type of financial institution would aim to lend very small amounts to very poor people that don't have access to credit. In 1976, the Grameen Bank lent the first micro-loan and they realized that the repayment rate was very good. A new hope emerged: and what if the poor can save, borrow, invest and repay? What if a microfinance institution could be sustainable and socially profitable? Could microfinance be the solution to problems encountered by the Third World whereas other poverty-fighting tools often come under attack these days?
Special Event! (following the Café Diplo)
Film Video Showing of:
“The Wire Mountain” by Puppet Power Films
A Satirical Puppet video about Globalisation: “A home video with a difference”, New Internationalist
Sat 30 November: “SHOULD WE BE SCARED OF NEW TECHNOLOGY?”
with Dr Stuart Parkinson
Stuart Parkinson is Chair of Scientists for Global Responsibility, an independent UK organisation promoting ethical science and technology.
He will talk on ethics in science. There's a lot of concern currently about the risks of new technologies. For example, will the introduction of genetically modified crops lead to 'superweeds' and new viruses? This talk will look at whether the threats of new technologies are likely to outweigh the benefits, and will propose away of dealing with those risks.
Dr Parkinson has degrees in engineering and environmental science, and has published over 20 scientific papers on issues ranging from climate science to the misuse of mathematical models.
Sat 14th December: "The rise of the extreme Right in Europe"
with Dr Jim Wolfreys
Dr Wolfreys will look at how modern fascist parties have adapted to contemporary society and assess the prospects for confronting the revival of the far-right.
Dr. Wolfreys is lecturer in French politics at King's College London and his research has focused on fascism, the left and political corruption.
He is also a member of the editorial board of International
Socialism and co-author of "The Politics of Racism".
He is currently working on the history of the French labour
movement and on the historiography of revolution.
Sat 11 January .
with Robin Blackburn, and Tom Collinge
Robin Blackburn, author of the excellent “Banking on Death: The History & Future of Pensions” Robin has studied and taught Sociology at the LSE and Oxford in the sixties. In subsequent work he has explored the institutional shaping of the market, the dynamic of capitalist development, and the historical selection of structures of power and ideology. One strand of his work concerns 20th century attempts to suppress or control the market, and the workings of today's financial institutions.
Recent academic appointments have been at King's College, Cambridge
(1998-9), FLACSO (Latin American Social Science Faculty), Quito, Ecuador
(1994-5) and the Woodrow Wilson Centre, Washington D.C., US (1993-4). Member of the editorial committee of New Left Review since 1962 and Editor
(1981-99); consulting editor, Verso since 1970.
Tom Collinge is a pensions lawyer with solicitors Hammonds Suddards Edge and author of Tolleys "Stakeholder Pensions - a practical guide". Tom has also contributed articles and comment for the specialist pensions and national press. He has worked on pensions in the UK and overseas and is a Chartered Insurer.
Sat 25 January : ISLAM IN BRITAIN
with Dr Fatma Aamer
Dr Fatma Aamer is Head of Education and Interfaith Relations at Regents Park Mosque and also lectures at Markfield Institute of Higher Education.
This knowledgeable speaker will take us through a history of Islam in Britain. She will also discuss the key issues affecting the community today, as well as presenting her vision of the Muslim community in Europe in the future.
Sat 8 February: DO WE REALLY NEED MORE AIRPORTS?
with John Stewart
John Stewart is chairman of the UK noise association. He will be questioning the need for more airports explaining that chief sites may only last a few more years and indicating how new airports could bring environmental, social and economic problems.
Mon 10 Feb: EMPIRES IN THE 21st CENTURY
Prof. Robert Wade Professor of Political Economy & Development, LSE
Serge Halimi, Editorial Board Member of Le Monde diplomatique
Philip S Golub, Contributing Editor of the Le Monde diplomatique and Associate Professor of International Relations at the University of Paris 8
Chair: Prof. Mary Kaldor (Programme Director, The Centre for the Study of Global Governance, LSE)
What are Empires? How do they dominate? Professor Robert Wade will discuss financial empires, Serge Halimi will analyse media empires and Philip Golub will discuss the century long cycle of American empire
This event is part of the Creating a Sustainable Society lecture series in association with: Schumacher Society, Positive News, LSE ATTAC, Le Monde Diplomatique, & Earth Emergency. There are two other events scheduled and further events planned on the same series:
www.attac.org.uk or
www.sustainable-society.co.uk/creating1.htm
Websites:
www.attac.org.uk
www.earthemergency.com
www.positivenews.org.uk
www.schumacher.org.uk
www.mondediplo.com
www.sustainable-society.co.uk
Sat 22 February: VENEZUELA IN THE NEW WORLD ORDER
with Richard Gott
Richard Gott is a writer and historian, formerly Latin American correspondent for the Guardian. He has written several books on Latin America, including "In The Shadow of the Liberator: Hugo Chavez and the Transformation of Venezuela" Verso publisher.
Sat 8 Mar: INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY: WOMEN ASYLUM SEEKERS IN BRITAIN
with Roya Ebrahimi and Julie Cornes (tbc)
The talk will focus on the impact of the new Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act 2002 on employment, training and education of women asylum seekers in Britain.
The speakers will illustrate how the latest changes have effectively taken away the permission to work from asylum seekers and how this will further impact their access to vocational training. Roya Ebrahimi will also talk about how a stigmatising media and press coverage on asylum seekers has affected the employment opportunities for those who already hold a work permit.
Roya Ebrahimi is the Educational and Employment outreach adviser of the Refugee Women's Association.
Julie Cornes is solicitor at Bindmans.
Sat 22 Mar: REPORTING AFRICA
with Ahmed Rajab
Ahmed Rajab is Director and Editor of Africa Analysis, an authoritative fortnightly bulletin on economic, financial and political trends in Africa. Formerly a journalist at the BBC World Service, he also contributes on a freelance basis to the BBC and CNN on African affairs. Ahmed Rajab is also a member of an advisory group at the Africa department of the Foreign Office.
He will be talking about the problems of Africa and how it is portrayed in the media, the way forward for a positive representation of Africa and the role of the independent media in that process.
Sat 5 April: GLOBAL NUCLEAR DISARMAMENT: UTOPIA OR NECESSITY? with Bruce Kent
It is clear today that to guarantee genuine security for future generations we have to move towards the global abolition of nuclear weapons. Bruce Kent will talk about the prospect of global nuclear disarmament focusing on nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction present in various countries and in particular in the UK.
Bruce Kent is founder and Vice President of Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, Chair of the Movement for Abolition of War and VP of Pax Christi.
Sat. 26 April. EXPLOITING CONSERVATION AND CONSERVING EXPLOITATION IN A REFORMED WORLD BANK
with Zoe Young
Zoe Young is a London-based researcher, writer and film-maker with Conscious Cinema and author of 'A New Green Order? The World Bank and the Politics of the Global Environment Facility' (Pluto Press, 2002).
The talk will focus on the quiet role of the GEF-billions of dollars of aid from Western governments for the World Bank and United Nations to 'green' international development- in sustaining (neo-liberal) business as usual. The discussion will also feature an extract from the documentary:
'Suits and Savages - Why the World Bank Won't Save the World'.
Sat 10 May: LONDON TRANSPORT: PUBLIC SERVICE OR PRIVATE BUSINESS?
with Cynthia Hayes and Bill Hamilton
(in collaboration with London Social Forum-Transport)
Cynthia Hayes is Coordinator of Capital Transport Campaign, Bill Hamilton is Head of Public Affairs, Transport For London. The talk will explore the current situation and possibilities for Transport in London.
CTC was set up 20 years ago to support transport at the abolition of the GLA, and is a forum of trade unions and users. They have been involved in the campaign against PPP, have worked on issues of crowding and the future
for rail passengers.
TfL was set up in July 2000 by the government to take over the running of the capital's transport at the time when the Mayor was reinstated; Ken Livingstone is its first Chair.
Sat 24 May: "BREAKING THE BANK'S BOND"
with Dr Vineeta Gupta (Insaaf Int.) and World Bank Boycott co-ordinators
Dr. Vineeta Gupta is General Secretary of Insaaf International, a Punjab-based human rights group committed to social justice, where she works on efforts to disclose the harmful effects of World Bank user fees on health care. Dr. Gupta and members of the WBBoycott will discuss the social, economic and environmental impact of the WB and explore means of effective local resistance to its destructive economic policies.
The Boycott is an international coalition of grassroots groups which seeks to increase financial and political pressure on the World Bank by discouraging local institutions from investing in its bonds, from which it raises 80% of its money. Since its launch in April 2000, over 75 institutional investors have joined the Boycott, including trade unions such as The International Brotherhood of Teamsters, religious groups such as Pax Christi (USA), banks such as the Co-operative Bank UK, and SRI firms such as the Calvert Group.
(For further information: www.wbbeurope.org)
Sat 7 June: "ZIMBABWE THE PRESENT AND THE FUTURE"
with Dr Brighton Chireka
(Dr Brighton Chireka is Chairman of the Zimbabwe Association in London)
This café aims to give a general overview of the economical and social issues Zimbabwe is going through and the consequences it can have to a wider scale in Africa. Dr Brighton Chireka, Chairman of the Zimbabwe Democracy Trust organisation in London, will discuss and answer your questions regarding the political actions of President M. Robert Mugabe.
Cancelled Event:
Sat 24 May & Sat 14 June
"THE CORPORATE TAKEOVER OF DEMOCRACY"
with Greg Palast (Journalist)
The famed investigative journalist tackles some of the subjects in his book: "The Best Democracy Money Can Buy". He is famous in the USA as one of the three angry men, the other two being Noam Chomsky and Michael Moore. His career began as undercover agent for trade unions and legal investigations
into corporate frauds. He later applied his techniques to journalism, with explosive effects. He manages to land classified documents from WTO and IMF files, and has publicised the connections between the Bush and Bin Laden families.
LE MONDE DIPLOMATIQUE at the ICA
Saturday 14 June 2003 (14-18.30pm)
at the ICA, The Mall, London SWI
AFTER THE WAR
The second in a collaboration between the ICA and Le Monde diplomatique on the war on Iraq... leading experts discuss post-war Iraq and the implications of pax americana for its immediate neighbours (Syria and Jordan, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Turkey) and the Middle East region.
Speakers include: Charles Tripp (SOAS, author of A History of Iraq), Sami Zubaida (Birkbeck, author of Islam, The People and The State), Toby Dodge (Warwick, ed Globalization and the Middle East. Islam, economy, society and politics), Gareth Stansfield, (Exeter, author of Iraqi Kurdistan: Political
Development and Emergent Democracy), William Hale, (SOAS, author of Turkish Foreign Policy 1774-2000), Mai Yamani (Royal Institute of International Affairs, author of Changed Identities: The Challenge of the New Generation
in Saudi Arabia) and Ali Ansari (Durham, author of Modern Iran since 1921: the Pahlavis and after)
Lindsey Hilsum, diplomatic correspondent of Channel 4 News, is in the chair.
Sat 21 June: "THE NHS REFORM: PUBLIC HEALTH OR PRIVATE PROFIT?" with Prof. Allyson Pollock
Prof. Pollock is head of the Public Health Policy Unit at UCL and director of Research and Development at UCL Hospitals at UCL Trust. Her work on PFIs has been a major intervention and she has written on globalisation and Health. She will be speaking on whether the NHS Plan and Foundation Hospital Trust lead to greater privatisation of health care funding and
delivery. She has written reports on the PPP (Private Public Partnership) and the agenda for privatisation of the Welfare State. (For further information: www.ucl.ac.spp)
(March 2005 conference) 
