Students in the global studies course Religion, Peace and Protest
in Southeast Asia attended an international ecumenical conference
in Manila, the Philippines, recently, titled "Terrorism in a Globalized
World: The Philippines in the Expanding Front of the War on Terror."
Among the speakers addressing those gathered was Philippine Vice
President Satur Ocampo.
Led by Assistant Professor of Global Studies Kathryn Poethig, conference
attendees included Jeffrey Campbell Graduate Fellow in History Mary Jane
Smith, Nicole Armbruster '05, of Bedford, NY; Maria Bayona '04, New York;
Erin Cianchette '03, Falmouth, ME; Kelly O'Ryan '05, Clarkston, MI; and
Sarah Post '04, Hingham, MA. The conference was organized by the National
Council of Churches of the Philippines and co-sponsored by the World
Council of Church and Christian Conference of Asia. Presenters came from
India, Pakistan, Malaysia, the United States, Canada, Germany and
South Korea, as well as from Muslim non-governmental agencies.
In addition, Poethig, Post and O'Ryan attended a pre-conference international
women's solidarity mission to Central Luzon to listen to women's experiences
of militarized violence related to the renewed U.S. intervention in the
Philippines. It included a Muslim Bangladeshi lawyer working to combat violence
against women; an Indonesian woman pastor who participates in a national gender
violence commission; an Indian woman who is in charge of gender issues at
the World Council of Churches in Geneva; a Filipino woman working for migrant
women in Hong Kong; and others, representing various religious organizations.
The three women from St. Lawrence were the only participants who were
U.S. citizens.
The group also visited a variety of sites related to former U.S. military
bases in the Philippines.