International

The Vermont International Film Festival was born from the anti-nuclear movement in the 1985, making it the world’s oldest environmental and human rights film festival. Founded by two longtime peace and social justice activists, George and Sonia Cullinen, the inspiration for the festival came from the success of their 1981 film, From Washington to Moscow, which documented a Walk for Peace between two rural towns — Washington and Moscow, Vermont. The film won the UNESCO prize at the 1983 Hiroshima International Film Festival in Japan and taught the Cullinens that film and video could motivate people to become involved in their own communities and elsewhere in the world. VTIFF grew out of this vision.  http://www.vtiff.org/about/

Senator Patrick Leahy, chairman of the U.S. Senate Foreign Operations Subcommittee of Appropriations, hosts Peace Corps Director Aaron Williams.  They highlight a business operated by returned Peace Corps volunteer Charles Kerchner, who served in the Dominican Republic 2001-2003. Vermont is nationally ranked on the 2011 Peace Corps Top State list for per-capita volunteer production, with 47 currently-serving Peace Corps volunteers. Historically, Vermont has produced 1,422 Peace Corps volunteers who have helped promote a better understanding between Americans and the people of the 139 countries in which they have served.The University of Vermont ranks No. 5 on the 2012 top Peace Corps volunteer-producing colleges and universities in the medium size category, with 42 undergraduate alumni currently serving overseas. Since the agency was founded in 1961, 801 UVM alumni have served in the Peace Corps.

Cuba Today - Changes, Choices, Challenges, An Evening with Five Cuban Visitors in Vermont. Presented by Vermont Caribbean Institue (VCI). Speakers: Ana Lourdes Soto Perez, President, Office of Patrimony, Community and the Environment, Office of the City Historian of Havana, C. Magda Resik Aguirre, Director of Communications, Office of the City Historian of Havana, Thelma Esnard Escobar, Projects Coordinator in Cuba, Vermont Caribbean Institue, Yusniel Lopez Blancos, Director of Foreign Affairs, Ludwig Foundation of Cuba, journalist, Liatne (Lily) Dosina Acosta, Specialist in Audiovisual Department, Ludwig Foundation of Cuba, photographer.

From http://www.btvconvergence.net/wordpress/about/#convergence . 'July 29th-31st the political and economic elite of the Northeast are meeting in Burlington, VT for the 36th Conference of New England Governors and Eastern Canadian Premiers. In closed door meetings at the golf course and dinner table, greenwashed resolutions for trade, energy, climate change, transportation and infrastructure policies for the region will be developed. The conference will be co-chaired by Vermont Governor Shumlin and Quebec Premier Jean Charest.'

This is a video of the Sunday protest of various groups from New England and northeaster Canada.