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COLUMBIAN MURDERER AT LSE

LSE anti-murderers | 12.03.2003 01:07

The vice presedent of Columbia will be speaking at LSE this thursday as part of a day long conference on the war in Columbia. As you may be aware, his government has escalated the civil war in Columbia that costs over 30,000 lives per year and has led to over a million people becoming refugees. Columbia also has one of the worst human rights records in the world with the highest murder rate of trade unionists, human rights activists and journalists.

The plan is to try and deter him from speaking, in the same way as we did with Lord Robertson by staging a protest before his arrival, as LSE should not be used as a platform for war mongers. What is particularly bad about this case is that the Columbian Vice-President is sharing a platform with the director of LSE, Tony Giddens, giving legitimacy to a government that is killing more of its people than Saddam Hussein.

We are planning to demonstrate outside Clement house at 9am this Thursday, please try to be there.

If you do not want to see a university used as a platform for murderers then be outside Clement House on Thursday at 9am!

Colombia’s Unfinished Battles
- Armed Conflict and Narco-trafficking -
Date: Thursday, 13th March 2003.
Venue: LSE, HOUGHTON ST, OFF KINGSWAY, NR HOLBORN TUBE London, U.K.
Expected attendance: 250 people
Attendance features: Open and free
Programme
9:30-10:00 - Presentation (Hong Kong Theatre, Clement House, LSE)
1. Anthony Giddens. Director, London School of Economics and Political Science.
2. Francisco Santos. Vice-president of Colombia.
3. Cristhian Lizcano. President, Colombian Society LSE.
10:00-11:30 - History, economics and politics of the conflict (Hong Kong Theatre, LSE)
1. “Historical overview of the Colombian conflict”. Dr. Malcolm Deas, Oxford University.
2. "Colombian conflict since 1980s". Cr. Christopher Abel. UCL.
Discussant: Dr. James Putzel. Director of Development Research Centre, DESTIN (LSE)
1:15-2:45 - The transformation of the conflict in the 1990s (New Theatre, East Building, LSE)
1. “The costs of the Colombian war”. Dr. Juan Carlos Echeverry, Universidad de los Andes.
2. “Transformation of the political system and the role of civil society”. Dr. Eduardo Posada, Oxford University.
3. “Conflict resolution strategies: from practice to theory”. Mr. Tomas Gonzalez, Former Vice-minister of Planning.
Discussant: Mr. Colin Harding, Former Latin America editor The Independent.
5:00-7:00 - Global dimensions of the conflict (New Theatre, East Building, LSE)
1. “Colombia in the global context post 9/11”. Mr. Michael Reid, Americas Editor, The Economist.
2. “The drug legalisation debate”. Sir Keith Morris, Former UK Ambassador to Colombia.
3. “Human rights and international law”. Susan Lee, Amnesty International.
Discussant: Professor Jenny Pearce, Chair of Latin American Politics, Dept. Peace Studies, University of Bradford.
7:00-8:00 - Roundtable (New Theatre, East Building, LSE)

LSE anti-murderers