Hello Umberto and all
it was an absolutely terrific conference I think! I don't think I enjoy any conference as much as WAC. I must admit though that I somehow ended up in sessions, panel discussions and Assembly meetings that did not address very many issues to do with immediate social justice questions.
At the same time, there was some informal talking about various issues... It may have been my own fault that I chose not to attend the especially convened Tara session (because I wanted to be somewhere else at the same time). Others can comment on how successful that was.
But I was certainly disappointed that the highly controversial Rio Tinto issue never seems to have come up anywhere in the official proceedings. (I could not attend the final Plenary and Assembly meetings, so you may ignore the following comment if it featured on those occasions.) Given WAC's profile and history, especially its commitment to bring political and ethical issues out into the open and seek appropriate positions that do not disadvantage but support indigenous communities or other minorities (or indeed majorities!) I think that a full debate about that issue would have been to WAC's credit. Even if it had been a complete mess and ended with a huge unresolved controversy. To me, that is what WAC has been about in the past, what it still should be about today, and - dare I say it - what it may be best at (the debate, not the mess, although I would accept the mess if it was created by a full and frank debate in a democratic spirit of mutual respect and with the best
political and ethical intentions).
So that is my response to your question, Umberto! And no, I am in no position to enlighten others what I mean by "the Rio Tinto issue" as I have only heard about it in a very indirect way myself. But I am hopeful that there are others on this list who would be able to inform all of us. Maybe we can get a discussion going on this list...?
best, Cornelius
-----
Cornelius Holtorf
School of Human Sciences, University of Kalmar *and*
Department of Archaeology and Ancient History, University of Lund
http://web.comhem.se/cornelius
----- Original Message -----
From: Umberto Albarella <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Tuesday, July 8, 2008 11:13 pm
Subject: [ARCH-JUSTICE] WAC-6
> Dear All,
>
> It would be nice to hear from people on this list who took part to
> WAC-6 of any
> impression they had of the conference or comments they may have on
> specificpoints. There was plenty of discussion of issues relevant
> to social justice and
> it would be interesting to hear what people made of that. I
> certainly have at
> least one point I would like to raise, concerning the conference
> sponsors,which I will do soon on this list.
>
> Cheers,
> Umberto
>
>
> --
> Umberto Albarella
> Department of Archaeology
> University of Sheffield
> Northgate House
> West Street
> Sheffield S1 4ET
> United Kingdom
> Telephone: (+) 44 (0) 114 22 22 943
> Fax: (+) 44 (0) 114 27 22 563
> http://www.shef.ac.uk/archaeology/staff/albarella.html
> For Archaeologists for Global Justice (AGJ) see:
> http://www.shef.ac.uk/archaeology/global-justice.html
>
> "There is no way to peace. Peace IS the way".
>
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