History

"An American Story by Daniel Bullen tells the history of the 1786 “Shays' Rebellion” from the protesters’ perspective, as thousands of farmers protested flagrant injustices in the state of Massachusetts’ economic policies by keeping courts from hearing foreclosures. Through five months of nonviolent demonstrations, they faced down threats from the government, till finally Governor James Bowdoin sent an army to arrest them. Even so, the people won reforms in an electoral landslide."

For more information: ethanallenhomestead.org

From the organizers:

Keynote Speaker: Tim Wise returns to Burlington for another Martin Luther King Jr. Day celebration. Tim Wise is among the most prominent anti-racist writers and educators in the United States. He has spent the past 25 years speaking to audiences in all 50 states, on over 1,500 college and high school campuses, at hundreds of professional and academic conferences, and to community groups across the country. 

Panel Guests:

Tim Wise - Anti-Racist Activist, Author; TJ Donovan - Vermont Attorney General; Moise St. Louis - Director of Multicultural Affairs & Service, St Michael's College; Chol Dhoor - Founder and Executive Director of the Sudanese Foundation of Vermont; Bor Yang - Director of the Vermont Human Rights Commission; H. Sparks - Director of Equity Burlington School District

Music is from the Montpelier Community Gospel Choir. Remarks are from U.S. Rep. Peter Welch, D-Vermont, and young people read excerpts from King’s speeches. Special thanks to St. Joseph’s Cathedral.

For more information: gbmrc.org

"Mazin Qumsiyeh is a Palestinian scientist, author, and organizer who followed a career in college teaching and research in the United States-- at Yale and Duke Universities-- with a return to his homeland in 2008 where he teaches at Bethlehem University. In 2014, he and his wife founded an institute which promotes sustainability in human and natural communities in the West Bank. The author of more than 150 scientific papers, he is best known for his books on the Israeli/Palestinian conflict: Sharing the Land of Canaan and Popular Resistance in Palestine. Topics to be covered in the interview include Palestinian life under the Occupation today; the work of the institute; Palestine in US foreign policy; and the future of Palestine."

Interviewer-- Laurie Gagne, Retired Director, Edmundite Center for Peace and Justice, St. Michael's College and Professor of Peace and Justice

Sandy Baird and Kurt Mehta lead a discussion about Julian Assange and Wikileaks.

From VICII:

Julian Assange, a journalist, editor, publisher and activist was born in Australia in 1971. In 2006, he founded Wikileaks, an international journal which publishes well-researched political information and commentary often involving confidential information from confidential sources.

In 2010 Mr. Assange and Wikileaks published leaks provided to them by Chelsea Manning, an intelligence analyst working in the US military. Those leaks revealed serious human rights and possible war crimes committed by the United States in its wars across the globe particularly in the Middle East. Assange also published confidential and embarrassing emails of the Democratic Party sent during the election in 2016 indicating that the Party preferred Clinton in the primary campaign over candidate Bernie Sanders.

Based on this release of classified documents, the United States sought the arrest of Julian Assange and his extradition to face charges of violations of the Espionage Act and possible Treason. Mr. Assange sought asylum in the Embassy of Ecuador in 2012 in London which was granted by the then left government of President Correa. With a new election and a new unsympathetic government in Quito, that asylum was withdrawn and Assange was expelled from the embassy. He was arrested in England where he has been held in Belmarsh Prison since 2019. Now, with declining physical and mental health, Assange is facing extradition to the United States which indicted him for publishing classified information which allegedly caused serious harm and death to American troops. For these charges Assange could face life imprisonment or worse in the United States.

The United States is now demanding the extradition of Mr. Assange from the United Kingdom. Mr. Assange and his supporters in response are demanding that Assange be released as he has committed no crime and that he has only done what the best of journalists have always done, that is to report the truth.

Mr. Assange and his supporters assert that all their journalistic activities are protected under the First Amendment of the US Constitution which guarantees freedom of the press. Julian Assange and his supporters further demand his immediate release from his years of confinement to reunite with his friends and family and to continue the important role of upholding the best of tradition of a free press, to disseminate the truth to the citizens of the world.

For more information: vicii.org