VANCOUVER, Wash. — In collaboration with the Washington State University Center for Social and Environmental Justice, Multnomah Monthly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), Portland Copwatch and 23 other local groups, Desiree Hellegers, associate professor of English at WSU Vancouver is organizing a regional forum “Civil Liberties and Social Justice Movements After 9/11.” The Saturday, Aug. 24, event is planned from 10 a.m. to 1 pm. at the Community Hall of St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church, 330 S.E. 11th in Portland.
The event includes presentations by Cecil Prescod, peace organizing director of the Portland office of the American Friends Service Committee; Andrea Meyer, legislative director, ACLU of Oregon; a representative of Portland’s city government; Laurie Mercier, associate professor of history at WSU Vancouver; Gulzar Ahmed, president of the Oregon Chapter of the American Muslim Alliance; and Chris Preucil, founding board member of the Alliance for Sustainable Jobs and the Environment. The presentations will be followed by breakout sessions in which representatives of local groups working for social and environmental justice will share their concerns and experiences and facilitate discussion of activist responses to the current political climate.
The event is free and open to the public. Light refreshments will be provided and donations up to $5 are welcome.
Co-sponsors include Multnomah Monthly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), the Center for Social and Environmental Justice at Washington State University, Portland Copwatch, St. Francis Catholic Church, KBOO, the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, Ainsworth United Church of Christ, the American Friends Service Committee, Americans United for Palestinian Human Rights, Cascadia Forest Alliance, Dignity Village, East Timor Action Network, Ecumenical Ministries of Oregon, Jobs with Justice, Liberty Hall, Love Makes a Family, the National Lawyer’s Guild, Peace and Justice Works, Physicians for Social Responsibility, the Police Accountability Campaign, the Portland Alliance, Portland State University Faculty Association, Reedwood Friends Church, Southminster Presbyterian Church, St. Andrew’s Catholic Church and “street roots.”
For more information contact Desiree Hellegers at 360/546-9643 or helleger@vancouver.wsu.edu.
