news
briefs
Ibrahim Gassama
NEW VOICES IN
WORLD LAW
A free public forum at the UO School of
Law will feature three young, female schol-
ars with critical perspectives on U.S. interna-
tional law and policy. The forum, organized
by law professor Ibrahim Gassama, will be
held from 4 to 6 pm Thursday, Jan. 11 at
Room 175, Knight Law Center, 1515 Agate
St.
At the forum, titled “New Voices in
International Law,” Hilary Charlesworth,
Karen Engle, and Ileana Porras will reflect on
the U.S. role in the world and challenges such
as economic and social inequity, nuclear pro-
liferation, AIDS, terrorism and gender vio-
lence.
“We wanted to sponsor some very capa-
ble, younger international scholars to hear
their perspectives on a variety of issues,”
Gassama says. “We refer to them as ‘new
voices,’ although they also could be called
‘feminist’ or ‘critical’ legal scholars or ‘Third
World’ or ‘post-colonial’ scholars.”
Charlesworth, an Australian law professor
and current holder of the Wayne Morse Chair
of Law and Politics, is considered one of the
world’s leading feminist international law
scholars. She wrote the first book-length
work to focus on the role of women’s issues
in that arena and co-authored one of the most
widely used international law texts.
Engle writes and lectures extensively on
identity politics, international law, human
rights and employment discrimination. She
holds a chair at the University of Texas
School of Law and is considered an incisive
and original thinker.
Porras is a law professor and former nun
who focuses on issues of violence, colonial-
ism, trade and the environment. She has
made important contributions to various as-
pects of international law, including interna-
tional environmental and economic law.
“Through their brilliance and dedication
to legal scholarship, these scholars have in-
creased and improved our understanding of
international law,” Gassama says. “I felt that
it was important to hear from these women at
a time when many of us are deeply concerned
about the concerted efforts from one wing of
the Republican Party to undermine interna-
tional law and international institutions.
“Notwithstanding the recent repudiation
by the U.S. Justice Department of a legal
memorandum that provided legal justifica-
tion for torture of terror suspects, there are
plenty of reasons to believe that this adminis-
• We look at the massive devastation
in Southeast Asia and its incredible
cost in lives and money, and we can’t
help but think of our own campaign
of devastation in Iraq and its incredi-
ble costs. Again, we need to change
our nation’s priorities. Bush backers
will be celebrating his inauguration
Jan. 20, but administration critics will
be marking the day in Eugene with a
gathering and march at 4 pm from
UO to the Federal Building. Check our
paper next week for details.
its kind in Eugene’s history. Starting
off the new year with such enthusi-
asm and turnout is a hopeful sign for
positive change in Eugene.
• It was a memorable event for
Eugene. Kitty Piercy took her oath of
office as new mayor Jan. 3 and gave
her first state of the city address — a
message of optimism tempered with
recognition that we still face big chal-
lenges ahead in creating jobs, build-
ing community, improving city gov-
ernment, providing services for the
disenfranchised and confronting big-
otry. The outgoing mayor and coun-
cilors were honored, and new and
returning council members were
sworn in. The event packed the Hult
Center lobby in what is likely the
largest and most diverse ceremony of
8 JANUARY 6, 2005
• Some creative elves gave downtown
Eugene an unlikely gift of decorated
driftwood New Year’s Eve or early
New Year’s Day. Dozens or even hun-
dreds of pieces of wood were left in
doorways, on newspaper boxes,
planter boxes and windowsills along
Willamette. Walt Hunt at New
Odyssey gathered a few from the
front of his juice bar and put them in
his window so they wouldn’t walk
away. The artistically inscribed mes-
sages include: “Be strong as a moun-
tain, gentle as a feather,” “Sneak up
on a flower,” “Justice creates peace,”
and “It takes a long time to grow
young.” Some are still around this
week, waiting to be discovered.
Meanwhile, anonymous posters have
gone up around town with equally
inspiring messages.
• Bonny Bettman’s been raising a lot
of important issues in her bully pulpit
role as chair of the Metropolitan
Policy Committee. She’s been the
lone voice on the MPC in opposition
to spendy, environmentally brown
road projects such as the West
Eugene Parkway. It’s a lonely job
standing up against a panel that
tration lacks an appreciation of the contribu-
tions of international law to our civilization,”
Gassama says. “These distinguished scholars
understand the limits and aspirations of inter-
national law and should help us as we think
about how best to deal with the expanding list
of challenges we face in the world today.”
The forum is part of a two-year inquiry by
the Wayne Morse Center for Law and Politics
into “The Changing Geopolitical Order:
Implications for Peace and Stability.”
appears to value growth and sprawl
over livability. Bettman took advan-
tage of the 65 people in attendance
at the New Year’s Eve emergency
meeting of the MPC to grill state and
local officials on missing data, hard to
retrieve informa-
tion, and budget
inconsistencies. It
was an eye-opener
for many attending
on how decisions
are made in trans-
portation planning.
Former Mayor
Torrey describes
such detailed ques-
tioning as nit-pick-
ing. We consider it
shedding light on a
shadowy process.
SLANT includes short opinion pieces, observations
and rumor-chasing notes compiled by the EW staff.
Heard any good rumors lately? Contact Ted Taylor at
484-0519, editor@eugeneweekly.com