Videos filmed by Les Solomon.
The Charlottesville Forum on Preventing a U.S. Attack on Syria was held in Charlottesville VA at the Friends Meeting House on September 4, 2013. Speakers included: David Swanson, John Whitehead, Helena Cobban, Roy Hange, and Dave Norris, with lots of public discussion. Congressman Robert Hurt’s Director of Outreach was present, and in Video #8 a member of the audience asks him to respond to what he’s heard. Congressman Hurt himself agreed the next morning to meet with the organizers of this event at his Charlottesville office at 11:30 a.m.
Sponsored by WarIsACrime.org, Charlottesville Center for Peace and Justice, Amnesty International Charlottesville, Students for Peace and Justice in Palestine.
David Swanson is the author of books including War Is A Lie and When the World Outlawed War. He is the host of Talk Nation Radio. Swanson blogs at DavidSwanson.org and WarIsACrime.org and works as Campaign Coordinator for the online activist organization RootsAction.org. Swanson also works on the communications committee of Veterans For Peace, of which he is an associate (non-veteran) member. Swanson is Secretary of Peace in the Green Shadow Cabinet.
John Whitehead is an attorney and author who has written, debated and practiced widely in the area of constitutional law and human rights. He is president of the Rutherford Institute, a nonprofit civil liberties and human rights organization. He authors a widely syndicated column and hosts a national public service radio campaign. His most recent book is A Government of Wolves. See Rutherford.org.
Helena Cobban is the founding owner of Just World Books, a Charlottesville-based book publisher. Previously, she had a long career as a writer and researcher on world affairs, focusing on the Middle East. She speaks Arabic and has reported and written extensively about Syria for nearly 40 years. Her 2000 book on the Syrian-Israeli peace talks of 1992-96 was published by the U.S. Institute of Peace. From 2008 through 2011 she was a member of the U.S.-Syria Working Group of Search for Common Ground. She is a member of Charlottesville Friends Meeting (Quakers) and sits on the board of Virginians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty.
Roy Hange is a Mennonite pastor who has spent 30 years studying Western Asia (the Middle East). He has lived for 3 years in Egypt, 6 in Syria, and 1 in Iran. Hange has taught peace building at Eastern Mennonite University and the University of Virginia. See CharlottesvilleMennonite.org.
Dave Norris has served as a Charlottesville City Council Member or Mayor since 2006. He’s executive director of the Charlottesville Institute. Norris has served as Executive Director of Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Central Blue Ridge, Executive Director of PACEM, Associate Director of Madison House, and Interim Director of the Public Housing Association of Residents. He is founder of the Charlottesville Vegetarian Festival. He has been a leading advocate for anti-war resolutions on Charlottesville City Council and in the U.S. Conference of Mayors, spoke at the Military Industrial Complex at 50 conference and will be MCing the Charlottesville Center for Peace and Justice’s 30th anniversary celebration on September 21st. See CvilleDave.Blogspot.com.