In response to the events of the G20 weekend in June, WIDEN (Workshops for Inter-Discipline Exchange and Novelty) is pleased to announce its first meeting of 2010:
G20 WIDEN: On Civil Liberties
curated by Morgan Vanek & Jessica Duffin Wolfe
Wednesday, September 22, 4:00-6:00 pm, Gradroom at Grad House, 66 Harbord St.
http://www.widentoronto.com/on-civil-liberties/
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=108804849178704
All are welcome. No advance registration is required.
Presentations:
Civil Liberties in Comparative Perspectives: G20 Under the Lens of Global South Studies
Hicham Safieddine, Near and Middle Eastern Civilizations
The G20 events shed an extremely critical light on our understanding of the rule of law, the upholding of civil liberties, the perimeters of policing, and the right to freedom of expression in a free country. These pillars of liberal democracy were shaken in the minds of many yet remained a point of reference for both state and society, including dissenters. While much was said about the violation of the norms of liberal democracy, little was said about the implications of what happened on our understanding of the same concepts in relation to countries in the global south. I will explore this relationship and reflect on the lessons we can draw about our Canadian society and how it frames questions of security, democracy, rule of law, as well as violent versus peaceful means of change in the global south.
Making Civil and Political Rights Real: Issues, Tactics, and Concerns
Aditya Badami, Law
Provisions aimed at advancing equality are entrenched in laws, constitutions and international agreements, but individuals experience large gaps in the enjoyment of these provisions and have vastly unequal political voice to claim them. My presentation investigates how the gap between legal rights on paper and their equitable implementation in practice can be bridged. More specifically, we shall explore how the civil and political rights guaranteed in constitutions and legislation can be made real on the ground. What are some of the background factors that make the rights they guarantee meaningful?
What are the mechanisms that can increase their impact? What civic action needs to be taken in order for these rights to be claimed? In sum, my presentation will seek (provisional) answers to these questions by examining the evidence in the literature of what it takes to get the civil and political rights that are outlined in legislation and constitutions implemented in practice.
How to Do Things with Words: “Unlawful Combatants,” and Civil Liberties
Michael Donnelly, English
Loaded phrases such as “enhanced interrogation techniques,” a favourite of the Bush administration and Post-9/11 media establishments, or “refined interrogation,” the preferred term for the Waffen-SS, destabilize the distinction between lawful persuasion to reveal and unlawful coercion under duress–or “torture.” I argue that since the late eighteenth century an increasing degree of semantic play has been employed to violate agreed upon rights conferred by exploiting the definitional incompleteness of “torture.” In my talk, I shall direct Post-9/11 discussions of democratic torture towards the influences of semantics, and excavate how phrasing has shaped administrative procedures and redefined the limits of civil liberties in the supposed “new paradigm” that George Bush claims we live.
Directions: To get to Grad Room in Grad House, enter through the coffee shop on the North-East corner of Spadina and Harbord and then go down the stairs at the back. An elevator to the room is accessible through the main entrance of the Grad House Residence.
WIDEN Website & Forum
WIDEN (Workshops for Inter-Discipline Exchange & Novelty) has a new website & forum! Please look for us at www. widentoronto.com. A WIDEN forum is available for inter-disciplinary connections and discussion through our Find Accomplices tab.
Call for WIDEN Presenters
WIDEN (Workshops for Inter-Discipline Exchange & Novelty) is currently soliciting proposals for its 2010-2011 season. The series aims to reveal the shared projects and symbiotic insights emerging from the inquiries of graduate students in Toronto. Each workshop consists of three 10- to 15-minute presentations of research on a common theme by graduate students working in three different disciplines, followed by a half-hour of discussion.
Though WIDEN welcomes all proposals on an ongoing basis, at the moment we are especially hoping to fill the final spots on our fall panels on Pain, and Death (our Halloween edition). Proposals need only describe an idea in brief, and announce the discipline or program in which the student is working. Presentations may consist of original research, or may address how a particular discipline responds to the theme at hand.
Please contact Jessica Duffin Wolfe at j.wolfe@utoronto.ca to submit a proposal, or to join our mailing list.
Other panel themes currently under consideration for 2011 include Blood, Green Energy, Piracy, Copyright, Allies, Inheritance, Perception, Evidence, Love, Property, the Moon, Smallness, Place, Autism, Orientation, Reproduction, Manners, Sex, Israel-Palestine, Citizenship, Propriety, Heat, Waste, Reality, Home, and Virtues. In addition to or instead of submitting presentation ideas, please feel free to suggest other themes, or dates that might be worth commemorating with a workshop--we're always eager to program events that coincide with pertinent anniversaries.
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