Thursday, March 1, 7 pm

Rinku Sen speaks on “Creating Spaces of Belonging: Reflections on Community, Culture and Conflict”

Rinku Sen, a national leader in the racial justice movement, will speak on “Creating Spaces of Belonging: Reflections on Community, Culture and Conflict.”

Sen is president and executive director of the Applied Research Center and the publisher of Colorlines.com. She is a columnist at the Huffington Post and a frequent commentator in print and broadcast media.

Sen is the author of Stir It Up: Lessons in Community Organizing, a primer on best practices in community organizing; and The Accidental American, a book about Moroccan immigrant Fekkak Mamdouh, who co-founded the Restaurant Opportunities Center in the aftermath of September 11.

Prior to ARC, she held various leadership roles at the Center for Third World Organizing and was named one of Utne Reader’s “50 Visionaries Who Are Changing Your World” in 2008. Sen is a native of India who grew up in the northeastern factory towns and learned to speak English in a two-room schoolhouse.

The suggested $5 donation at the door (no one turned away for lack of funds) will benefit 5604 Manor, a progressive community center.

The event is sponsored by St. James’ Episcopal Church, St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church, and the University of Texas Division of Diversity and Community Engagement.

For more information, contact Robert Jensen at (512) 471-1990 or rjensen@uts.cc.utexas.edu.

Location: St. James’ Episcopal Church, 1941 Webberville Road, Austin, TX, 78721

Monday, March 5, 7 pm

Raymond Bonner on “Anatomy of Injustice: A Murder Case Gone Wrong”

Raymond Bonner shines a light on the shortcomings of the justice system in his new book on a mishandled murder case in South Carolina that left an innocent man facing execution. In his talk about his book, the former New York Times reporter will provide an account of the prosecutorial misconduct, inept defense lawyers, and injustice in Edward Lee Elmore’s case. Anatomy of Injustice illustrates the widely acknowledged inequality and moral failings of the death penalty, while illuminating the less understood details of a criminal justice system deeply compromised by race and class.

Bonner is one of two journalists who broke the story of the massacre of 900 villagers at El Mozote by the Salvadoran army in 1981. Bonner’s reporting was attacked by the Reagan administration, which was backing the repressive Salvadoran government. Under pressure, the New York Times moved Bonner to the business desk and Bonner resigned soon after. He eventually returned to the Times staff and also has been a staff writer at The New Yorker. Bonner is also the author of Weakness and Deceit: U.S. Policy and El Salvador and Waltzing with a Dictator: The Marcoses and the Making of American Policy.

The event is sponsored by the Third Coast Activist Resource Center to benefit 5604 Manor. The suggested donation is $5; no one turned away for lack of funds.

For more information, contact Robert Jensen, rjensen@uts.cc.utexas.edu.

Location: 5604 Manor, 5604 Manor Road, Austin, 78723

Monday, March 19, 7 pm

Seymour Hersh on “U.S. Policy and the Crises in the Middle East”

Journalist Seymour Hersh will offer reflections on the multiple crises in the Middle East and the role of the United States in the region. In an onstage conversation with University of Texas journalism professor Robert Jensen, Hersh will talk about his most recent reporting on Iraq, Iran, and Israel, as well as discussing career as an investigative reporter.

Since winning the Pulitzer Prize in 1970 for his reporting on the My Lai massacre in Vietnam, Hersh has been one of the America’s most relentless critics of abuses of power. His 1983 book The Price of Power remains the most incisive study of the former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger and the consequences of his failed policies. As a reporter for The New Yorker, Hersh has over the past decade broken a series of important stories about U.S. abuses in Iraq, including the Abu Ghraib prison scandal. His most recent reporting has focused on the dangers posed by U.S. policy toward Iran.

In recent years, Hersh has been a frequent guest on Democracy Now! His reporting regularly rankles the powerful; Richard Perle, a lobbyist and policy adviser to politicians, has called Hersh “the closest thing American journalism has to a terrorist.”

Hersh will be in Austin as a guest of the University of Texas’ Humanities Institute.

This event is sponsored by the Third Coast Activist Resource Center to benefit 5604 Manor. Seating is limited on a first-come, first-seated basis.

For more information, contact Robert Jensen, rjensen@uts.cc.utexas.edu.

Location: 5604 Manor, 5604 Manor Road, Austin, 78723

Friday, April 27, 7 pm

Gary Dorrien on Ethical Responses to Economic Crisis

Theologian and social critic Gary Dorrien will speak on “Breaking the Oligarchy” to keynote a weekend gathering on economic justice and faith.Dorrien, an Episcopal priest and professor at Union Theological Seminary and Columbia University, is a frequent speaker and commentator on programs such as “Bill Moyers’ Journal”. Described by Cornel West as “the preeminent social ethicist in North America today,” Dorrien is the author of 14 books, including Economy, Difference, Empire: Social Ethics for Social Justice; Imperial Designs: Neoconservatism and the New Pax Americana; Social Ethics in the Making: Interpreting an American Tradition; and The Making of American Liberal Theology.The event is sponsored by University United Methodist Church, St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church, and the Third Coast Activist Resource Center.The event is free; donations will be accepted for the progressive community center 5604 Manor. For more information, email Mardi Wareham at mwareham@uumc.org.

Location: University United Methodist Church, 2409 Guadalupe St., Austin, 78705 (free parking available; see map)

Saturday, April 28, 8 am – 2 pm

Faith in Action: Economic Justice in the Age of Inequality

Many people look to faith traditions for principles of justice, and then struggle to find the most effective ways to contribute to building a more equitable world. These sessions will outline the contributions theology can make to our understanding of social justice and highlight organizing efforts in the community that are putting principles into action.
Coffee and informal conversation will begin at 8 a.m.
The featured speaker at 8:30 a.m. will be Southern Methodist University professor Joerg Rieger on “Empire and Economics: The Difference Christianity Makes.” Rieger is the author of Globalization and Theology and No Rising Tide: Theology, Economics, and the Future.
Beginning at 9:45 a.m., representatives of the Workers Defense Project and Cooperation Texas will speak about their organizing projects.
Lunch at noon will feature a conversation on faith and justice between Rieger and Gary Dorrien, the Friday night keynote speaker.
Box lunches will be available for $10.
The event is sponsored by University United Methodist Church, St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church, and the Third Coast Activist Resource Center.
For more information, contact Robert Jensen, rjensen@uts.cc.utexas.edu.

Location: 5604 Manor, 5604 Manor Road, Austin, 78723