International

Special Representative fo the Great Lakes Region of Africa, US Ambassador Barrie Walkley, speaks on US Policy in Post-Election Congo.  Ambassador Walkley has extensive experience as a US foreign service officer.  He served as ambassador to Guinea and to Sao Tome and Principe.  He was Charge d'Affaires for South Sudan at its independence in July 2011.  Public and student panel (Ashley Lincoln, Caitlyn Burke, Cleophace Mukeba, Erika Bodin) pose questions to the Ambassador after his remarks. Sponsored by SMC Edmundite Center for Peace and Justice and the Dear Hillary Campaign for the Congo.

Senator Patrick Leahy Leahy, Champlain College student activists and a representative of Invisible Children discuss the KONY 2012 campaign, aimed at bringing African war criminal Joseph Kony to justice. A documentary on the issue, KONY 2012, has gone viral on the internet, netting nearly 50 million hits on YouTube since Monday, March 5. Leahy, chairman of the Senate’s budget panel for the State Department and Foreign Operations, is a longtime U.S. leader on issues relating to war crimes and criminals and the innocent victims of war and conflict. He recently included funding in the U.S. foreign aid budget to help Kony’s victims – many of them children -- and he has long supported efforts to capture Kony, the leader of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), which has terrorized the people of northern Uganda, the Congo and elsewhere in Central Africa for more than two decades. The victim assistance funding secured by Leahy will be discussed in Leahy’s annual budget hearing for the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), which will implement those efforts. Kony and his forces have kidnapped children and forced them to become soldiers and to kill and mutilate members of their own families. Adonga Quinto, a northern Ugandan who was kidnapped by the LRA, discusses his experiences. Also speaking, Sadie Stone, a Champlain College student who has joined the effort to bring Kony to justice.

Since war broke out in 1998, more than five million people have been killed in the Democratic Republic of Congo and tens of thousands of women and girls have been raped and tortured. A cease-fire was declared in 2002, but foreign militias have continued to terrorize the Congolese population. We believe that ending the violence in East Congo, which is greater than any conflict since World War II, should be a foreign policy priority for the United States. As the most powerful woman in the world, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton must use her influence to stop the suffering and slaughter. Specifically, the “Dear Hillary” Campaign calls for a U.S. Special Envoy to the Greater Lakes Region of Africa. The Dear Hillary Campaign for the Congo aims to create a public outcry to pressure Secretary Clinton and the United States to an active role in establishing peace and security in the DRC. Guests discussing this effort include: Cleophace Mukeba, St. Michael’s student, Kirsten Wilson, St. Michael’s student, Leah Ziegler, St. Michael’s grad, 2011 and Laurie Gagne, Director, Edmundite Center for Peace and Justice, St. Michael’s College; Peace and Justice faculty. More information at: Dearhillarycampaign.wordpress.com

Ben & Jerry’s hosts members of New York City’s Occupy Wall Street movement to share their experiences, what the group is doing, and where the movement is currently headed. Ben & Jerry’s will also briefly share why they support the OWS movement and why they feel it is good business to do so. WHO: Nelini Stamp – Occupy Wall Street activist (NYC), Jonathan “Matt” Smucker – Occupy Wall Street activist (NYC), Sam Corbin – Occupy Wall Street activist (NYC), Jostein Solheim - Ben & Jerry’s CEO, Jerry Greenfield - Ben & Jerry’s Cofounder.