CONFERENCE 2007 - EMPIRE

“How to Think about Empire: A Return to Some Basics”

Michael Parenti (Ph.D. Yale University) has taught political and social science at a number of colleges and universities, and now devotes himself full time to writing and lecturing throughout the United States and abroad. He is the author of over twenty books, including Contrary Notions: The Michael Parenti Reader; The Culture Struggle; Superpatriotism; and The Assassination of Julius Caesar (which was selected as Book of the Year, 2004 by Online Review of Books). Portions of his writings have been translated into over twenty languages. His books are read and enjoyed by both lay readers and scholars, and have been used extensively in college courses. His various talks and interviews have played widely on community radio and public access television in North America and abroad. More than 270 articles of his have been published in various magazines, newspapers, and scholarly journals. For more information, visit his website.

 

“Empire, After Iraq”

Michael Hardt received his Ph.D. in Comparative Literature from the University of Washington, 1990. His main interests are the modern novel and poetry, and literary and cultural theory. He has written Gilles Deleeuze: An Apprenticeship in Philosophy. Also, he has co-written, with Antonio Negri, Labor of Dinonysus: A Critique of State-form and Empire, 2000. The New York Times quoting eminent professors described Hardt’s recent text as ‘nothing less than a re-writing of the communist manifesto for our time’ and the first ‘great new theoretical synthesis of the new millennium’. Empire is a sweeping history of humanist philosophy, Marxism and modernity that propels itself to a grand political conclusion: that we are a creative and enlightened species, and that our history is that of humanity’s progress towards the seizure of power from those who exploit it. His website.

 

“Empire & Religion: The Second Coming of God in the Age of Terror”

Arthur Kroker is Canadian Research chair in Technology, Culture and Theory with the Department of Political Science at the University of Victoria. Dr. Kroker’s research interests include: Technology, culture and theory; contemporary French and German political theory; Canadian political and social thought; ethics and biotechnology. His list of publications is very lengthy and includes: The Will to Technology and the Culture of Nihilism: Heidegger, Nietzsche & Marx; Digital Delirium, co-edited with Marilouise Kroker; Data Trash: the Theory of the Virtual Class (with Michael A. Weinstein, Purdue University). More information about Arthur Kroker may be found at his website.

 

War Resisters Support Campaign

The War Resisters Support Campaign is a broad-based coalition of community, faith, labour and other organizations and individuals that have come together to support U.S. soldiers seeking asylum in Canada because they refuse to fight in the illegal war in Iraq. The Campaign works on two fronts: we support the material needs of war resisters when they arrive in Canada; and we campaign to persuade the Canadian government to provide sanctuary for U.S. war resisters.

Lee Zaslofsky is the Coordinator of the War Resisters Support Campaign. His interest in the war resister issue s natural – he deserted the US Army himself during the Vietnam War and came to Canada in 1970. He has been involved with the Campaign almost since its inception in early 2004, and began working part-time as its only staff person in September of that year. Lee has a long background of political and community involvement. He was educated at the State University of New York at Stony Brook and at the University of Toronto.

Phil McDowell is an Iraq war resister who came to Canada in October 2006. He currently lives in Toronto with his wife Jamine, also an American. Phil was stationed in Iraq, and came home in 2006 to receive his discharge from active duty. Soon afterwards, he received an order to report for duty again, in spite of the discharge. He went to Ft. Hood, Texas, but soon decided to desert the Army and come to Canada. Phil has a degree from Marist College, in New York State.

Chuck W. served for several years in the US Marine Corps before switching to the US Navy. He was trained as a specialist in nuclear propulsion and assigned to an aircraft carrier, where he rose to the rank of Master Petty Officer and worked as a Nuclear Propulsion Supervisor. Chuck and his friend Jamie H., who was also involved in nuclear work, arrived in Canada in February 2007. Chuck is the highest ranking member of the US military who is known to have come to Canada because of his opposition to the Iraq War. As well as being a specialist in things nuclear, Chuck is a talented cartoonist.

For more information please visit the War Resisters Website.