Hassan El-Tayyab, the lead lobbyist on Middle Eastern policy at the Friends Committee on National Legislation will be joining us for a discussion on the prospects for U.S. relations with Iran and Yemen for the imminent Biden administration. The conversation will cover the following:
1. A brief history of U.S.-Iranian and U.S.-Yemeni relations 2. The current state of affairs 3. How these issues connect 4. Proposed policy recommendations 5. A discussion on how foreign policy relates to living in the state of RI
This event is intended to provide students with the tools needed to understand and influence foreign policy issues. To orient yourself on the topics we will be discussing, we recommend reading this op-ed written by Mr. El-Tayyab featured in Truthout.
Hassan El-Tayyab is FCNL’s (Friends Committee for National Legislation) lead lobbyist on Middle East policy. He is also responsible for representing FCNL with the various coalitions that work on these issues.
Prior to joining FCNL in August 2019, he was co-director of the national advocacy group Just Foreign Policy, where he led their lobbying work to advance a more progressive foreign policy in the Middle East and Latin America. He played a major role in the successful passage of the War Powers Resolution to end US military aid to the Saudi-UAE coalition’s war in Yemen.
His writings and commentaries have been featured in numerous news outlets, including BBC World News, The Hill, Al Jazeera, The Huffington Post, The Intercept, and more. Hassan holds a B.A. in Political Science from the University of Rhode Island.
Please email us at brownwarwatch@brown.edu for a link to this virtual event on Tuesday January 19th at 7PM EST.
How do we transform US foreign policy so that it paves the way for less war abroad and greater social change and justice at home?
Brown War Watch, Brown’s peace/anti-war student group, invites you to join us for a discussion with Stephen Semler, Co-Founder of The Security Policy Reform Institute.
The SPRI is an independent, grassroots think tank that promotes a principled U.S. foreign policy that connects security practices abroad to Americans’ most pressing economic, social, and political needs at home: https://www.securityreform.org
After a short Q & A discussion with Brown War Watch, Stephen will answer your audience questions. We are looking forward to a rich and substantive discussion!
Please reach out to us at BrownWarWatch@brown.edu for a link to this virtual event.
The UAE, along with Saudi and US intervention was responsible for creating the worst humanitarian crises on the planet in Yemen, and furthermore this weapon deal is designed to increase pressure on Iran.
From Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in a statement announcing his authorization of the sales:
“This is in recognition of our deepening relationship and the UAE’s need for advanced defense capabilities to deter and defend itself against heightened threats from Iran”.
Brown War Watch will have our final meeting of the semester Tuesday at 7pm to discuss ongoing conflicts, developments in the military industrial complex, and pathways to peace.
As a graduate student group at Brown University, and in order to comply with university policy, our official meetings will resume in the second week of January. That being said, war and peace and the efforts surrounding them don’t stop for the holidays. If you are curious to learn more about what we’re doing or what we’re talking about always feel free to reach out to us at brownwarwatch@brown.edu or through our facebook or twitter.
All political and spiritual beliefs welcome, united in the quest for a more peaceful planet. End the Endless Wars!
Please email brownwarwatch@brown.edu for the Zoom link.
THIS WEEK’S TOPICS FOR DISCUSSION
On Cuba and the US: One of our members has graciously offered to present a bit on US-Cuba relations and History. Is Cuba a hapless country taken over by communists or an example of revolutionary resistance to American Imperialism? Through the presentation and following discussion we hope to all expand our understanding.
What does the Biden Cabinet mean for war and peace? While there has been some criticism (Business Insider, Jacobin, Scoop, In These Times) the worries of a hawkish cabinet are conspicuously absent from some US media (CNN [1,2], CNBC [1,2], Baltimore Sun). Is the incoming cabinet truly a return to an age of diplomacy that will make the world safer, or a harbinger of war and regime change to come?
Open floor – for any topic of discussion of concern or interest
In February of last year Brown War Watch hosted a film screening of The Nuns, the Priests and the Bombs. This powerful documentary highlights the plowshares movement, and the daring group of Catholic anti-nuclear weapon activists that broke into a nuclear weapons facility in protest against these devastating weapons.
A description of the film from the website:
Are they criminals or prophets sending a wake-up call to the world?
Since 1980, activists in lay and religious life have undertaken dramatic Plowshares protests, derived from the biblical injunction, “They shall beat their swords into plowshares,” incurring long prison sentences in an ongoing campaign to deter nuclear disaster.
A poster that advertised the event
Following the film screening was a panel featuring the film’s director, Helen Young, investigative journalist Alex Nunes, and activist Frida Berrigan. Check out the panel below:
Panel Following the film screening of The Nuns, the Priests, and the Bomb at Brown University in Feb 2019
Brown War Watch meets online every Tuesday at 7pm to discuss ongoing conflicts, developments in the military industrial complex, and pathways to peace.
All political and spiritual beliefs welcome, united in the quest for a more peaceful planet. End the Endless Wars!
Please email brownwarwatch@brown.edu for the Zoom link.
THIS WEEK’S TOPICS FOR DISCUSSION
The human costs of “the war on terror” War crimes (WSJ, NBC, NYT), civilian casualties (Intercept, Airwars), and displaced peoples (NYT)
Discussion question: To what extent are we as citizens responsible for the war crimes committed by our governments, intelligence agencies, and militaries?
A Trump phenomenon or the status quo? On the Trump administration relationship with Israel (NYT, Washington Post) and Saudi Arabia (The Nation, PBS). On the Obama administration relationship with Israel (Reuters) and Saudi Arabia (Reuters, Politico)
Discussion question: Is the portrayal of the uniqueness of Trump’s support for violent governments fact, fiction, or something in between?
Open floor – for any topic of discussion of concern or interest
What could be done if federal funds were diverted from the US war machine? About a year ago Brown War Watch along with the Watson institute at Brown hosted Co-chair of Massachusetts Peace action and MIT Molecular biology Professor Jonathan King to discuss exactly that. Check it out below:
Great news from Bolivia! Despite strong arm intimidation and apparent voter suppression by the violent self appointed interim government, democracy has prevailed as Louis Arce wins the election.
In rough chronologically here are some sources and info on how we got to where we are now:
With unsettling signs emerging from Bolivia on election day (10/18/2020) – including militarized streets & intimidation of international observers – we encourage the international community to keep their eyes steadfast on events there as democracy hangs in the balance.
If you’re wondering what you can do we’ve put together an action sheet that may help.
The action sheet contains info on who you can donate to, who to follow (on twitter) to keep up to speed with what’s happening, some sources to learn more, and a helpful tool to help you find the contact info for your reps in the house and senate. You can download a pdf that that includes hyperlinks below. Feel free to download and share!
If you just want the links without downloading the file they can be found below the download button.
Join Brown War Watch, The Watson Institute, and the Center for Latin American and Caribbean studies for a panel on Tuesday, October 13, 2020 at 1PM EST for a zoom panel about the upcoming Bolivian election.
This panel, Bolivia on the Brink: Natural Resources, the War on Drugs, and the Future of Democracy, aims to spotlight the upcoming October 18th elections in Bolivia. Following the November 2019 coup, and multiple postponements of the election by the current unelected government – democracy in Bolivia is now in a precarious position. Hosted by CLACS at the Watson, BWW will moderate a discussion with experts on both the War on Drugs, and Bolivia’s vast natural gas resources – sites and motivation of long-term American interventionism and militarism. The panel will explore how US intervention has contributed to the current and tenuous state of democracy. The panel will discuss the social and economic contestations that led to the election of the Morales government in 2005, its 14 years in power, and the high stakes of the upcoming elections.
More info on the amazing panelists:
Bret Gustafson is Associate Professor of Sociocultural Anthropology at Washington University in St. Louis. Gustafson’s work focuses on the anthropology of politics and the political, with a particular interest in Latin American social movements, state transformation, and the politics of development. His research has engaged Indigenous movements in both Bolivia and Guatemala. He is the author of, Bolivia in the Age of Gas, recently published by Duke University Press (September, 2020). In this new book, Gustafson explores how the struggle over natural gas has reshaped Bolivia, along with the rise, and ultimate fall, of the country’s first Indigenous-led government. Though grounded in the unique complexities of Bolivia, the volume argues that fossil-fuel political economies worldwide are central to the reproduction of militarism and racial capitalism. His first book, New Languages of the State: Indigenous Resurgence and the Politics of Knowledge in Bolivia (2009) was also published by Duke University Press. He is the co-editor of, Remapping Bolivia: Resources, Territory and Indigeneity in a Plurinational State (SAR Press, 2011), and Rethinking Intellectuals in Latin America (Vervuert, 2010). He has published in Latin American Perspectives, Anthropological Quarterly, Journal of Latin American and Caribbean Anthropology among other peer review scholarly journals.
Kathryn Ledebur is the director of Cochabamba-based policy think-tank, the Andean Information Network (AIN), and a visiting fellow at the University of Reading, UK. She is an expert on international drug policy, human rights, alternative coca and drug control strategies. Ledebur has written extensively for the Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA) and North American Congress on Latin America (NACLA), and published in Stability: International Journal of Security & Development. AIN provides information and analysis to NGO colleagues, the media, and international policymakers on developments in Bolivia and the impact of U.S. government and European policies. Working closely with civil society organizations in Latin America and in the United States, AIN promotes policy dialogue and the development of pragmatic alternatives that address the underlying economic, social, political and cultural needs of Bolivia.
Les Robinson is a PhD Candidate in the Department of History, and Co-President of Brown War Watch.
If you have questions feel free to email us at Brownwarwatch@Brown.edu
