2018 marks a rise of journalists deaths and a century of modern reporting of conflict. From debates on ethics and responsibility, to the impact of changing technology, and the role of propaganda and disinformation… plus ca change, plus c’est la meme chose?

A World Solidarity Forum & Beyond Brussels 
 event at the Press Club of Brussels.

SPEAKERS:

Renate Schröder, Director of the European Federations of Journalists, representing over 320,000 journalists in 44 countries. EFJ defends the right to freedom of expression while also advocating for the social and professional rights of European Journalists.

Alice Musabende, Gates Scholar in Politics & International Studies at Cambridge University. Former Canadian journalist and survivor of the 1994 Rwanda genocide against the Tutsis. She was one of the first women to graduate the Rwandan School of Journalism.

Jesse Rosenfeld, freelance journalist based in the Middle East who’s covered the sectarian war in Iraq, the Israel/Palestine conflict, the Arab Spring and more for The Daily Beast, The Nation and Al Jazeera English. His work in the region is the subject of the documentary Freelancer on the Front Lines.

Dr. Bojan Savic, lecturer at the University of Kent’s Brussels School of International Studies. He’s a passionate and engaging expert on the construction of narratives around conflict and development, bringing in his extension fieldwork in Afghanistan and American/European perspective to the table.

CHAIR:

Allie Elwell, founder of the Beyond Brussels podcast while studying International Political Economy at the University of Kent. A former journalists at CBC News covering Canadian and international politics, she is currently the Senior Publicist on Netflix’s critically acclaimed series The Crown.

ORGANISED BY:

The World Solidarity Forum is a Brussels-based platform for organisations dedicated to promote action on human rights and highlight relevant current situations across the world. We are also delighted to have partnered with Beyond Brussels, an award-winning podcast at the University of Kent.

The Brussels School of International Studies continues their 20th-anniversary celebrations! The lecture series continues with Professor Gerard Toal’s presentation on the imperialism of anti-imperialism by linking the Atlantic Charter to current US policy in Ukraine.

Gerard Toal is Professor of Government and International Affairs and Director of the Government and International Affairs program, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. He is also the author of the book Near Abroad: Putin, the West and the Contest Over Ukraine and Caucasus.

The Brussels School of International Studies is celebrating their 20th anniversary this year! To commemorate this achievement, a series of lectures will be held over the course of the academic year. Beyond Brussels will be recording and releasing all of them, so keep an eye out for the next lecture!

The first is “Pandemic, Pills, and Politics”, presented by Prof. Stefan Elbe from the University of Sussex as he asks can a pill strengthen national security?

Check out his latest book here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Pandemics-Pills-Politics-Governing-Security/dp/1421425580

We’ve come to the end of our first season on Beyond Brussels! Join Allie Elwell, Marissa Diaz, Katrina Coles, Lois McLatchie and Nadira Nasibli as they become the “experts” as the newest members of the team Niki Papadogiannakis, Hattie Schoefield and Zoheb Mashiur explore the topics dearest to them.

From the meaning of democracy, to the effects of digital disruptions, the economy as a weapon of war, the value of life, and what it means to be a better human… it’s a wide-ranging discussion honouring the most important mission of Beyond Brussels: empowering one another as citizens of a global community.

Think about the world 20 years ago… The Internet was just in its public infancy. Nelson Mandela was President. The Euro was still a talking point. It’s also when the University of Kent expanded to Europe with our very Brussels School of International Studies and now includes campuses in Rome, Athens and Paris.

To mark the celebrations, Beyond Brussels is launching a new “Throwback” feature, looking back at how BSIS, Kent and the world has changed over the last two decades. We’ll feature profiles of our fabulous alumni, delve into some of the big headlines of the day and go alongside Kent’s official events. We may even do a few of our own! In this special edition of Campus Connect, Hattie Schofield gets a lowdown from Kent’s EU Administration Head Alastair Ross about the official “20 Years in Europe” celebrations planned, then Katrina Coles checks in with the Rome School of Classical and Renaissance Studies‘ Rachel Crawford. Wrapping up, we spend “90 seconds with” Sydney Lartigue Fameni.

We heard an exploration of what a “state of war” is from three incredible experts. Now, we want to check in with survivors of conflict. In this extended version of interviews, Zoheb Mashiur and Katrina Coles gain deeper insight into the lives of three men who have lived it.

Zaid Mahmood – Born in Bagdad, raised in Mosul, Zaid is an artist who made the difficult decision to leave a home which made it impossible to pursue the life he wanted. This also meant separation from his family. Before 2003, he remembers a military mindset so present, that as a child normalised violence and became a key theme of his artwork. After the fall of Sadam Hussein in the 2003 American-led invasion of Iraq, “one bully turned into countless bullies,” especially as ISIS took over. Zaid is currently the bandleader at Refugees got Talent, an organisation aimed at giving refugees in Belgium a creative voice.

Daniel López – Born in Bogotá, Daniel loves Colombia and adores his hometown. Daniel describes life in his home country, mirred in a decades long conflict over drugs, as an accepted chaos where the pressure is constant. Trapped in an endless class struggle, he is politically active and determined to understand the complexity of this life. Daniel is currently pursuing his PhD at the Brussels School of International Studies.

Nanar Hawach – From Homs, Syria, as the uprising against Basar Al-Assad took hold, he recalls how things escalated quickly. Within a matter of months, Nanar understood war had broken out in Homs. Peaceful protests turned violent and dishonest reporting signififed that life was changing from one with a positive future to one filled with uncertainty and violence. For Nanar,  it became important to write down the names of the lives that were lost. Nanar, a BSIS graduate, is pursuing a PhD at Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB).

What IS a State of War? Is it only limited to armed conflict?

Allie Elwell, Marissa Diaz and Hattie Schofield discuss with Col Mario Diaz, I Corps Chief of Staff, a Colonel in the US Army with over 25 years of experience with a particular focus on Asia-Pacific, working closely with senior team at the Pentagon; Dr Daniel Fiott from the European Union Institute for Security Studies, who advises the EUropean Commission on security and defence policy issues; Alice Musabende, Cambridge University scholar researching peace building in post-conflict societies with a specific focus on Africa, informed by her personal experience of the 1994 Genocide Against the Tutsis in Rwanda.

HELPFUL DEFINITIONS

“State of War”: a state of actual armed hostilities regardless of a formal declaration of war

“Peace”: freedom from civil disturbance Peace and order were finally restored in the town.

Types of war:

Intrastate: Political violence between a state-backed armed group and one or more non-state groups, usually confined to a single state… i.e. civil war

Interstate: Conflict between two or more states

Extrastate: Conflict between a state and non-state (or non recognised state) actors/groups 

Hybrid: Conflict utilising mix of conventional and unconventional means of warfare including cyber and information warfare 

Assymetric: warfare that is between opposing forces which differ greatly in military power and that typically involves the use of unconventional weapons and tactics (such as those associated with guerrilla warfare and terrorist attacks)

Source: Contemporary Security Studies, Alan Collins/Oxford University Press/Merriam Webster Dictionary

Types of power:

Hard: use of force or financial means for a desired end

Soft: use of persuasion, focus on building relationships 

Sharp: new term coined to reflect disinformation campaigns that “pierce” or “penetrate” political & media environments of targeted countries 

Source: National Endowment for Democracy

Officially, it’s armed conflict. But is it time for an update? Has the end goal changed? And, who gets to decide?

There’s a lot of rhetoric today about whether or not we are in, or on the brink of, some kind of new global war.  While this may feel unprecedented for many in the West, conflict is still commonplace in many parts of the world. But what exactly IS a state of war? Has it changed? And what does it feel like to experience being in a war? We explore these questions and more in this episode

We start off with a panel discussion hosted by Allie Elwell, with Marissa Diaz, and Col. Mario Diaz, US Army; Alice Musabende, Cambridge University & Dr. Daniel Fiott, European Institute for Security Studies as well as a lecturer at BSIS .

Then Katrina Coles and Zoheb Mashiur spoke with three survivors of conflict about the impact of living in conflict: Nanar Hawach (Syria), Daniel López Pérez (Colombia) and Zaid (Iraq)

PLUS Hattie Schoefield previews Kent University’s “20 Years in Europe” with Alastair Ross, Katrina meets Rachel Crawford from University of Kent’s Rome  campus and Lois McLatchie tees up Brussels’ hottest summer events with Visit Brussels

Thank you to our wonderful editor Niki Papadogiannakis, contributor Nadira Nasibli and Kimberley Attard-Owen for her additional support.

Hosts: Allie Elwell and Marissa Diaz

Theme music: Royalty Free Music: http://www.soundotcom.com

Instrumentalising Blockchain: Humanitarian Aid and Technology Regulations 

Moderator: Juan David Mendieta – Keyrock

Panelists: 

Niall Dennehy – AID:Tech, @DennehyNiall 

Ben Joakim – Disberse, @BenJoakim

Source: SPECIAL – Digital Disruptions: Blockchain & Development Panel

Cyber Radicalisation: The Effects of Modern Technology on Political Extremism Panel

Moderator: Dr. Yvan Guichaoua

Panelists: Adeline Hulin –  UNESCO,  David Ibsen – Counter Extremism Project, and Tommaso Virgili – European Foundation for Democracy 

Listen online  iTunes  Spotify 

Online Platforms: Power Hierarchies in a Digital Society 

Interview with panelists Maryant Fernandez Perez – European Digital Rights, Gerald Hensel – Fearless Democracy 

Listen online  iTunes  Spotify 

*Note: due to the invocation of Chatham House Rules, we hosted a separate panel discussion with two of the participants

Instrumentalising Blockchain: Humanitarian Aid and Technology Regulations 

Moderator: Juan David Mendieta – Keyrock

Panelists: Niall Dennehy – AID:Tech, Ben Joakim – Disberse

Listen online  iTunes  Spotify