Public seminar programme 2007-8
Cuba: Revolution in flux
A series of public seminars providing cutting edge insights into the
situation in Cuba as it approaches the fiftieth anniversary of its
revolution and the transfer of power from one generation to the next.
10 October: Launch event:
Fidel Castro: Life and legacy
Speaker: Ignacio Ramonet, editor of Le Monde Diplomatique and co-author
with Fidel Castro of My Life. (to be published in English on 1st November
by Allen Lane)
14 November: After Castro: An American Perspective
Philip Peters, Vice President and Chief Cuba Policy Analyst at the
Lexington Institute, Washington DC.
12 December: The Scientific Revolution
Professor Luis Alberto Montero-Cabrera, Presidente del Consejo Cientifico,
Universidad de La Habana
All the events will take place at 7pm in:
The Henry Thomas Room,
Tower Building,
London Metropolitan University
Holloway Road
N7 8DB
(Entrance is in the main Tower Building almost opposite Holloway Road tube
station)
Admission is Free. But please rsvp [log in to unmask] if you wish to
attend. If the event is oversubscribed we will inform you.
Future dates
There will be three more seminars in the New Year on the 9th January; 6th
February and 12th March. Details will be released in due course. Please
contact us if you would like to receive this and other information of IISC
activities.
FULL DETAILS:
Cuba: revolution in flux
Seminar series 2007-8
1. Fidel Castro: Life and legacy
Ignacio Ramonet, editor of Le Monde Diplomatique and co-author with Fidel
Castro of My Life. (to be published in English on 1st November by Allen
Lane)
"Castro: Life and Legacy"
As the Cuban leader approaches the end of his life, the man who made the
latest and most comprehensive interview with Castro talks about his
impression of the Cuban president and how he will be remembered both inside
the island and out.
Wednesday 10th October, 2007.
7.00pm.
Ignacio Ramonet (born May 5, 1943, Galicia) has been editor-in-chief of Le
Monde Diplomatique since 1991. In addition, he is one of the founders of
the NGO Media Watch Global, and is currently its president. Ignacio
frequently contributes to the Spanish Daily newspaper El Pais and
participates in an advisory council to Telesur, the new alternative TV
channel for Latin America.
An editorial by Ignacio published in December 1997 resulted in the
launching of ATTAC: The Association pour la taxation des transactions pour
l'aide aux citoyens (Association for the Taxation of Financial Transactions
for the Aid of Citizens) which is an activist organization that lobbies for
the establishment of the TOBIN tax on foreign exchange transactions.
Ignacio studied engineering at Rabat, and semiotics with Roland Barthes at
the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales (EHESS) in Paris.
He has published 16 books including Silent Propaganda, Wars of the 21st
Century and The Geopolitics of Chaos.
His latest book, My Life to be published in the UK on 1st November by Allen
Lane, is the edited transcript of a series of long interviews with the
Cuban leader. Published in Spain under the title ‘Biografia a dos voces’
(Biography in Two Voices), and in Cuba under the title ‘Cien horas con
Fidel’ (‘100 Hours with Fidel’) it has already become a huge best seller.
This seminar will be in Spanish with English interpretation.
2. After Castro: An American Perspective
Philip Peters, Vice President and Chief Cuba Policy Analyst at the
Lexington Institute, Washington DC.
"Prospects for change in Havana and Washington"
As the Fidel Castro era closes in Cuba, is a successor government likely to
change longstanding policies on the socialist island? Is Washington likely
to change its nearly five decades old policy of attempting to isolate Cuba
through its economic embargo, travel prohibitions, and diplomatic standoff?
A leading Washington analyst gives his insight.
Wednesday 14thNovember, 2007.
7.00pm.
Philip Peters has traveled throughout Cuba to monitor the market-based
changes in Cuba's economy. He has published studies on small business,
foreign investment, information technology, historic preservation, state
enterprise reform, and other topics.
He is also an analyst of US policy oward Cuba whose articles have
been published in The Wall Street Journal, The Chicago Tribune, The
Christian Science Monitor, Barron's, The Miami Herald, National Geographic
Traveler, and specialized publications.
He regularly provides interviews and commentary on CNN, NBC, Fox News
Channel, Univision, and numerous radio programmes. Philip also runs an
extremely informative blog on Cuba issues which he updates almost daily.
Philip is an advisor to the Cuba Working Group that formed in January 2002
in the House of Representatives and has testified before Congress and the
U.S. International Trade Commission.
Prior to joining the Lexington Institute, Philip served as a State
Department appointee of Presidents Reagan and Bush (six years), and as a
senior aide in the House of Representatives.
3. The Scientific Revolution
Professor Luis Alberto Montero-Cabrera. Presidente del Consejo Cientifico,
Universidad de La Habana
"Scientific research in Cuba highlights and future prospects: A view by a
Cuban scientist"
Wednesday 12th December 2007
7.00pm.
Professor Luis Montero is an award-winning and internationally renowned
physical chemist whose research into the quantum molecular processes in the
retina has broken new ground in the understanding of the chemistry and
physics of vision.
He has published 125 articles and held visiting professorships at
universities throughout the world. Most recently he taught at the Dep. de
Química Física Aplicada, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Madrid, Spain; the
Institut für Organische Chemie in Bremen, Bremen, Germany, and the
Institute of Chemical Sciences and Engineering (ISIC), EPFL, Lausanne,
Switzerland.
As Chairman of the Scientific Council of the University of Havana he is
uniquely placed to be able to explain the achievements of Cuban scientific
research and its prospect for future development.
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