TCDS HIGHLIGHTS

State of Denial

On April 29, 2004 TCDS in collaboration with the New York Friends of the Treatment Action Campaign at the New School (FoTAC at the New School) will present State Of Denial, a movie by Elaine Epstein, at the Parsons Auditorium 101, 66 Fifth Avenue between 12th &13th Streets.

South Africa's triumph over decades of apartheid, and the nation's subsequent social enlightenment, has been compromised in recent years by the "state of denial" in which President Thabo Mbeki chooses to reside. As carefully pointed out in this probing documentary, Mbeki and his associates have convinced themselves that the HIV virus does not necessarily leads to AIDS -- and have held firm in this conviction despite the sobering fact that South Africa has the highest number of HIV-positive citizens in the world. The film contrasts the government's official stance with poignant interviews of six AIDS victims, and with the tireless activities of Zackie Achmat, the rebellious co-founder of the Treatment Action Campaign. Produced and directed by South African native and AIDs activist Elaine Epstein, State of Denial was first shown theatrically at the Sundance Film Festival January 20, 2003, then made its TV debut as an episode of the PBS anthology POV.

For furthure information please click here

"Yuyanapaq: To Remember"

The Transregional Center for Democratic Studies is pleased to host "Yuyanapaq: To Remember," a traveling photography exhibit commissioned by the Peruvian Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which will be on display in the lobby of the Graduate Faculty building (65 Fifth Avenue) through Friday, April 16th, 2004.

In conjunction with a guest lecture by Dr. Salomon Lerner, former president of Peru's Truth and Reconciliation Commission, who spoke on "Evil, Justice, and Responsibility: How the Peruvian Truth Commission Examined a Legacy of Violence," the exhibit adds an important dimension to Peru's efforts to heal the country's wounds by remembering the past in order to learn valuable lessons for the future.

The images on display were selected from an archive of over 2,000 photographs taken during the two decades of violence in Peru, between 1980 and 2000, which claimed the lives of over 60,000 people.

Dr. Lerner states, "These photographs document the resistance of thousands of men and women in terrible circumstances. The desolation and perplexity written on their faces is the most powerful testimony about Peru's tragedy. At the same time the photographs give us an urgent mandate: to ensure that the past is never forgotten, either on purpose or through indifference. And it compels us to write our recent history with an understanding of the causes, integrating into this knowledge the memory of those who suffered in silence. By showing these images, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission wishes to acknowledge those professionals who, in spite of the heat of the violence, looked at the victims with eyes of compassion and solidarity. The commission is also offering all Peruvians the visual evidence of a history that we must not only understand, but also identify as our own. Only then can we build a more peaceful and humane country. "

Call for Applications in the New Social Science Training (NSST) Program

TCDS Fellowships: Up to twelve Transregional Center for Democratic Studies (TCDS) Fellowships will be offered in the Fall of 2004 to Graduate Faculty students able to demonstrate serious commitment to the comparative study of current social, political, and economic transitions taking place in different regions of the world. The Fellowship will offer a $3,000 tuition fellowship or a similar-amount research grant (depending on individual circumstances) for the Fall 2004 semester.
NSST application for GF students
NSST application for International students

TCDS co-sponsors FoTAC-NS

On February 26, 2004, Transregional Center for Democratic Studies and the Students of Color Network at the New School University will come together to form a community coalition of the New York Friends of Treatment Action Campaign at the New School (FoTAC-NS).

Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) is a major grassroots campaign organization and innovative social movement in South Africa, working on HIV/AIDS issues. Through mass mobilization, civil disobedience, legal action, extraordinary personal sacrifice, and visionary leadership, TAC and its leader Zackie Achmat, a 2004 Nobel Peace Prize nominee, have helped to galvanize a global movement to provide hope and gain access to treatment for those with HIV/AIDS.

The New York Friends of TAC at the New School (FoTAC-NS) aims at setting up a network of interested members of the New School community as part of the independent U.S.-wide FoTAC network, to join in and support forthcoming TAC initiatives and campaigns in the U.S. and internationally.

TCDS invites those interested - in civic activism, new social movements, global action networks, health and social justice issues, HIV/AIDS policies and politics, welfare politics, solidarity work, and campaigning on global issues - to attend the founding meeting on Thursday, February 26, at Wolff Conference Room, 65 Fifth Avenue between 13th and 14th Streets.

For further information please click here or visit our Events page

TCDS Associate Martin Butora runs for Presidency of Slovakia

Martin Butora, an active associate of the TCDS at the GF and a member of its International Steering Committee, has been officially confirmed as a registered candidate for the Presidency of Slovakia. He was certified as a candidate after he collected 28,000 signatures - almost twice the minimum requirement of 15,000.

Dr. Butora, who will run as an independent, recently completed an extraordinarily creative and successful tour as Slovakia's Ambassador in Washington.

Dr. Butora's connection to the Graduate Faculty dates back to Spring of 1990, when he chaired the Slovak chapter of the GF-coordinated Democracy Seminars. At that time, he was a human rights advisor to Vaclav Havel. He and his wife, the well-known sociologist Dr. Zora Butorova, were also leaders in the grass-roots movement that eventually defeated former Primer Minister Vladimir Meciar - described by some as having an autocratic style of administration, and who allegedly was involved in the kidnapping of a former president's son. Martin and Zora have frequently guest-lectured at the GF. They live in Bratislava

The Partnership project at New School is co-directed by Jonathon Veitch, Dean of Eugene Lang College, and Elzbieta Matynia, Director of TCDS.

The Freedom Support Educational Partnership project is funded by the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, U.S. Department of State.

Toward the Union of Europe-Cultural and Legal Ramification Conference

Professor Elzbieta Matynia, Director of the Transregional Center for Democratic Studies and Senior Lecturer in Liberal Studies, will give a presentation at the Toward the Union of Europe-Cultural and Legal Ramification Conference, to be held in New York on March 5, 2004.

Following a keynote address by Professor Gesine Schwan, European University Viadrina, Professor Matynia is scheduled to open the panel on the European Political Culture with her presentation A Kidnapped Europe - The Odds of Rescue.

The conference is organized by Professor Sigrid Meuschel, New School University and Professor Detlef Pollack, New York University. Sigrid Meuschel, is Theodor Heuss Visiting Professor of Sociology at New School University; and Professor of Political Science, at Leipzig University. Detlef Pollack is Max Weber Visiting Professor, at New York University, and Professor of Comparative Sociology of Culture, European University Viadrina, Frankfurt-Oder.

Other participants and presenters will include Professor Andrew Arato, New School University; Professor Volker Berghahn, Columbia University; Adam Michnik, Editor-in-Chief of Gazeta Wyborcza, Warsaw; and John Richardson, Ambassador of the European Union to the United Nations.

For furthure details on the conference click here

TCDS is preparing for its 13th annual Democracy & Diversity Summer Institute in Krakow, which will be held in July 2004 at the Przegorzaly Castle, in collaboration with the International Cultural Center of Krakow. The Institute will welcome up to fifty junior scholars from Central and Eastern Europe, Central Asia and the Caucasus, the United States, Sub-Saharan Africa, and other parts of the world for an intensive three-week program of study in democratic theory, politics, and culture.

Offering the equivalent of a full semester's graduate study at an American university, this year's curriculum will offer courses on Democratic Culture: Societal Inclusion, Public Deliberation, and Difference; Memory, Trauma, Genocide, Evil; Sustaining Democracy? Boundaries, Conflict, and Agreement in Democratic Politics;and Theories of Gender in Culture.

Classes at the Democracy & Diversity Institute are conducted as intensive seminars meeting daily during weekdays. Each participant is required to enroll in two seminar courses of their choosing, and take active part in the evening sessions and study tours.

Widely known as an intimate international forum for lively but rigorous debate on key challenges of democracy today, the Institute emphasizes interdisciplinary, comparative, and interactive approaches in the classes, by bringing together an international group of civic-minded young scholars and postgraduate students, who will work closely together to address social, political, and cultural challenges to democracy and democratization in the host region and beyond.

Application and detailed program information are now available online. For further information, please contact Timo Lyyra.

DIRECTOR DR ELZBIETA MATYNIA
ASSISTANT DIRECTOR TIMO LYYRA
65 Fifth Avenue. Room 405
New York. NY 10003
Tel 1 212 229-5580/5115
Fax 1 212 229-5894
Email: lyyra@newschool.edu