Program: Thursday, May 30, 2024

7:30  PM EDT

Tara Vassefi
Welcome and Introduction

Tara Vassefi is honored and humbled to serve as the local WILPF branch contact in dc,maryland,virginia aka Occupied Piscataway and Nacotchtank Territories aka Chocolate City. She likes to introduce her 3rd dimensional self as someone with the brain of an archivist whose favorite language of love is infinitely-long, heavily-cited legal memos. Though she's a human rights attorney by trade and continues to practice pro bono through her firm Solidarity Law Cooperative, her full-time job is at a rEvolutionary ChildCare Center called CentroNía. Should you have the bandwidth for what she calls proFound Orthogony (~exploration without destination), she would love to journey with You toward Water and Food Sovereignty, Tech-no-Logy as a Public Good, and Spiral Economics. 

7:30  PM EDT

Lydia Gambacini
Land Acknowledgement

Lydia is a 2023 Howard University graduate with degrees in International Affairs and Africana Studies. Born in Connecticut, she has been a proud DC resident for the past five years. She has a passion for human rights advocacy work and is working towards a career in community-centered, sustainable international development. Lydia started her work with WILPF in the Domestic Prisoners of War committee and is incredibly excited to be a part of this year’s Congress!
 

7:45  PM EDT

Video Message: Mr. Pedro Arrojo-Agudo
UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Water & Sanitation
Spain & Geneva, Switzerland, Welcome Message from UN

Mr. Pedro Arrojo-Agudo is the Special Rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation. He was appointed by the Human Rights Council in September 2020 and started his mandate on 1 November 2020. From 2016 to 2019, Mr. Arrojo-Agudo served as an elected member of the Spanish Parliament. He was Professor in the Area of Fundamentals of Economic Analysis at the University of Zaragoza from 1989 to 2011, and has been professor emeritus since 2011. During the last three decades, he has focused his research on economics and water management, publishing his work in more than 100 scientific articles and in 70 books.

8:00 PM EDT

R.I.S.E. Coalition
Resilient Indigenous Sisters Engaging 

Co-founding Sisters: Debra Topping, Sherry Couture, Karen Durfee & Dawn Goodwin
Four Women were brought together through their passion to protect the balance of the four sacred elements - the nibi, aki, noodin, & ishkode. The sisters in RISE Coalition met one another during the Line 3 Minnesota Public Utilities Commission (MNPUC) public commentary hearings, where Debra Topping of Nahgahchiwanong (Fond du lac) took note of the positive qualities of each of her newfound sisters. Our determination to protect Treaties, the lands, and our inherent rights was our inspiration to co-found RISE Coalition during a 2019 retreat in a little cabin located near lake Gitchi gami. As we sat around a fire, our discussion led to the development of this coalition of sisters protecting all that is sacred.