If you want to grapple with global issues, “Aid or Interference” may be for you. War Child @ U of T, in partnership with the Hart House Music and Debates Committees, will host “Aid or Interference?,” a free forum about the roles of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in foreign countries. The forum, which will be held on Nov. 18 at 7 p.m. in the Hart House Debates Room, will feature six panelists including George Roter, president, CEO, and co-founder of Engineers without Borders; Joan Simalchik, U of T professor of Immigrant and Refugee Women; Ben Peterson, president and co-founder of Journalists for Human Rights; Dr. Dieter Misgeld, human rights researcher and coordinator of the OISE Office for Public Education; and Dr. David Zakus; director for the U of T Centre for International Health.
The forum will focus around the resolution that “NGOs should pursue humanitarian efforts regardless of whether they impinge on state sovereignty” and will allow for moderated discussion both between panelists and between the audience and panelists. The moderator will be Dr. Louis W. Pauly, professor of Political Science and director of the U of T Centre for International Studies.
The idea for the forum came from Music Committee Program Advisor Zoe Dille but evolved as it emerged. The forum now revolves around four main concerns: the well-being of war-affected individuals-particuarly youth-effective humanitarian aid, music as a means of global interconnectedness, and the role of youth in bettering society. War Child @ U of T hopes that the forum will draw in students from various disciplines-music, visual arts, political science, peace and conflict studies, international relations, medicine, and education-and establish the idea that people share common interests. War Child @ U of T Co-President Victoria Long said, “At the end of the day, respective disciplines aren’t the primary concern-the commonality rests in our real concern for those in need, and we have to listen to each other to know how we can best address that concern.” Alice Tien, War Child @ U of T’s other Co-President, wants the forum to cultivate “opinion clashes” through scholarly disputation and to bring some youth out of their apathy towards global issues.
Sol Guy, founding member of hip hop group Rascalz and War Child Canada ambassador, will be another of the forum’s six panellists. Long credited Guy as a “prominent, creative artist, and an intelligent, socially-conscious musician” and “a powerful speaker” with a “hands-on grasp of issues due to his travels.” Those travels included a trip to Sierra Leone for the documentary “Musicians in the War Zone” by MuchMusic and War Child Canada. Furthermore, Long believes Guy “exemplifies the idea that addressing these topics is not exclusively a job for academics. Artists, students, individuals, communities…are all able to tackle the issues in [their] own ways.” By using a musician to interest and engage people in global issues, War Child @ U of T is paralleling War Child Canada, which uses the music industry to connect to youth.
War Child @ U of T was officially recognized as a campus group on Oct. 6 of the current school year, and the executive was formed in September.
