Following the crisis created by Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro refusing two U.S. military planes carrying Colombian migrants, we SPOTLIGHT Mariana Ardila Trujillo to discuss how the incident was perceived in Colombia. Ardila is the Transitional Justice Director of the Ministry of Justice and Law in Colombia and an expert in women’s rights and litigation as a platform for social change. In Colombia, Ardila has successfully litigated various human rights cases before the Constitutional Court. Media includes: The New York Times, Al Jazeera, BBC, CNN, NPR.
Thousands of Palestinians returned to the north of Gaza after the Netzarim corridor, which connects North and South Gaza, was reopened following a ceasefire agreement. To discuss, we FEATURE Noura Erakat. Erakat is a human rights attorney and an Associate Professor at Rutgers University, New Brunswick Department of Africana Studies. Her research interests include humanitarian law, refugee law, national security law, and critical race theory. She is a co-founding editor of Jadaliyya e-zine and an Editorial Committee member of the Journal of Palestine Studies. Erakat's pedagogical project on the Gaza Strip and Palestine includes a short multimedia documentary, "Gaza In Context," that rehabilitates Israel’s wars on Gaza within a settler-colonial framework. Media includes: Al Jazeera, Democracy Now, CBS News, CNN, Fox News, NPR.
During his first week of presidency, President Trump sent large numbers of ICE agents to major cities including Chicago, Los Angeles, and Atlanta. To discuss, we FEATURE Amanda Baran. Baran is an attorney who engages in policy analysis and advocacy for immigrant and women's rights. She worked at the Department of Homeland Security for almost ten years where she held a number of significant positions including chief of public engagement at U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services and worked with the Department of Homeland Security Agency Review Team for the Biden-Harris Transition Team. Media includes: The Hill, Los Angeles Times, VOA Noticias, Rewire.News.
Donald Trump’s executive order to stop DEI initiatives led the U.S. Air Force to remove training materials highlighting the historical contribution of the Women Air Service Pilots and the Tuskegee Airmen. To discuss, we FEATURE Graciela Tiscareño-Sato. Tiscareño-Sato is a bilingual Latina military veteran (former aviator), keynote speaker, feminist and ten-time award-winning author and publisher. As a globally-mobile bilingual professional, she has a special interest in using her military and professional adventures to raise expectations for young Latino students, while helping all Americans see the positive economic and social contributions of Latinos in the USA. Media includes: Redbook, The New York Times, Costco Connection, Fox News Latino, La Opinión.
launched its latest AI models with claims that they are as good or better than their American equivalents and a fraction of the cost. Stocks in American AI companies like Nvidia plummetted. To discuss, we FEATURE Elsa B. Kania. Kania is a visiting scholar at Daniel K. Inouye Asia Pacific Center for Security Studies. Previously she was an adjunct senior fellow with the Technology and National Security Program at the Center for a New American Security. Her research focuses on Chinese military strategy, military innovation, and emerging technologies. She is author Fighting to Innovate: National Security and Technology in China's New Era. At CNAS, Ms. Kania has contributed to the Artificial Intelligence and Global Security Initiative and the “Securing Our 5G Future” program, while acting as a member of the Digital Freedom Forum and the research team for the Task Force on Artificial Intelligence and National Security. Media includes: The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, The Financial Times,The Economist
January 27 was the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz. To commemorate this day, we FEATURE Belinda Cooper. Cooper is an adjunct professor at New York University’s Center for Global Affairs and Columbia University’s Institute for the Study of Human Rights, where she teaches courses in human rights law, women’s rights, and transitional justice. Her family background as the daughter of a Holocaust survivor and her experiences in Communist and post-Communist Eastern Europe contributed to Cooper’s expertise in the areas of historical memory and “transitional justice,” including war crimes tribunals, truth commissions, and other methods of coming to terms with past violence or dictatorship. Media includes: The New York Times, Time, World Policy Journal, Christian Science Monitor, Forward, LA Weekly.
February is Black History Month. To commemorate, we FEATURE Camille Bennett. Bennett founded Project Say Something in December 2014 a nonprofit organization with a mission to confront racial injustice through Black history using direct action, community empowerment and education to reconcile the past with the present. Project Say Something, initially a local grassroots effort, mobilized regionally and nationally through coalition building, sustained protests and advocacy for the political power and equity Black Alabamians deserve. Media includes: Reuters, The Daily Show, The Washington Post, The New York Post.
Liz Theran
