Webinars
INTERNATIONAL SOLIDARITY. Its changing face: how to harness the best from the new equality and social justice movements?
September 17 2020, 3pm CET
Language: English (French simultaneous interpretation).
During the last 30 years, globalisation has brought new social, environmental and economic realities worldwide. Traditional forms of solidarity have evolved too and new movements advocate to place the idea of human solidarity on the agenda of global politics. These new forms of solidarity include long and short term movements that strive for greater equality and social justice. Recently, in the context of the COVID-19 global pandemic and in response to it, we are witnessing a tipping point of these new forms of international solidarity. This is indeed the right time to come together and take action to support the urgent need for solidarity.
Moderated by Cathie Burton and with an introduction by Ambassador Manuel Montobbio, this debate opened a conversation with three experts: Ms Avril Benoit, Mr Giuseppe Palmisano and Dr Raúl Acosta, for the first-ever #SOLIDACTION campaign webinar.
Avril Benoît
Avril Benoît is the Executive Director of the humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders / Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) in the United States. She has worked with the independent NGO since 2006 in several roles including leading medical teams in South Sudan, Mauritania, Democratic Republic of the Congo and South Africa – working primarily with refugees, asylum seekers and migrant workers. Assignments have taken her to Borno, Nigeria; Darfur, Sudan; and Port-au-Prince, Haiti; amongst other hotspots during times of crisis. She was director of communications and fundraising at MSF's operational center in Geneva. Prior to joining MSF, Benoît was a journalist for 20 years, mostly working with the public radio service of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.
Giuseppe Palmisano
Raúl Acosta
Raúl Acosta is an anthropologist who has studied activism and advocacy for almost two decades. He is currently project manager at the Institute of Social and Cultural Anthropology of the Ludwig Maximilian University in Munich. He was awarded his doctoral degree at the University of Oxford, and has worked teaching and doing research in universities in Mexico, Spain, and Germany. His latest book, “Civil becomings: performative politics in the Amazon and the Mediterranean”, analyses transnational advocacy networks as political innovators. His first monograph was an anthropological investigation of the World Social Forum. In his current project, he studies ethical conjunctures in networks of activism and advocacy to improve the quality of life in Mexico City.
Manuel Montobbio
Chair of the North-South Centre’s Executive Committee, Ambassador Manuel Montobbio is a Spanish diplomat since 1987. After studying Law and Economics at the University of Barcelona, he postgraduate in Advanced European Studies at the College of Europe (Bruges, Belgium) and got a PhD in Political Science at the Autonomous University of Barcelona.
Cathie Burton
Cathie Burton works at the Council of Europe's Directorate of Communication. A former journalist, Cathie has a wealth of experience in international organisations, including leading communication for the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe in Vienna, heading the campaigns team in the Council of Europe and working as Spokesperson for the British Labour Party in the European Parliament.
INTERNATIONAL SOLIDARITY. Which paths to guarantee long lasting changes?
November 19 2020, 3pm CET
Language: Bilingual (french-english / simultaneous interpretation in both languages).
Central to the #SolidAction campaign is the understanding that one powerful way to ensure international solidarity is to develop resilient and critical societies of self-motivated and well-informed citizens; reason why this second series’ webinar will merge with another flagship initiative of the North-South Centre: the Global Education Week. The webinar will be one of the multitude of activities that the North-South Centre and the Global Education Network promote from the 16 to the 22 of November to valorise global education and global citizenship education.
Moderated by Cathie Burton, this interactive debate will open a conversation with three audiovisual, media literacy and civic engagement experts.
Join us, follow the debate and ask your questions!
To watch the Webinar, click on this link.
João Marecos
João Marecos is a tech lawyer, qualified in New York and Portugal, and an activist who co-founded "Os Truques da Imprensa Portuguesa", a social media-based Portuguese press watchdog that crowdsources information to review the work of traditional press and push for more transparency and ethics in journalism. He has a Masters in Information Law from the New York University, where he studied fake news, anonymity and the role of digital platforms in speech control.
He is working as an external consultant for the WHO-Europe in topics ranging from pricing policies to digital marketing. João is currently leading a WHO-project on health misinformation concerning NCDs risk factors.
João led the creation of the 100 Opportunities (www.100oportunidades.pt) initiative, a platform to promote media opportunities for young experts. He is the author of a children's book that is currently on Portugal's official Reading Plan for kids.
Latifa Akharbach
Latifa Akharbach is a journalist, politician and diplomat from Morocco. She started her career as a journalist for several medias and obtained a PhD in Information and Communication Sciences from the French Press Institute. In 2003, she became the head of the Higher Institute of Information and Communication of Morocco and, later on, Director of he Moroccan National Radio. In 2007, she was appointed as Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs and Cooperation until 2013, when she was appointed as Ambassador of Morocco to Bulgaria and Macedonia, and later on to Tunisia. Since 2018, she is the President of the High Autority for Audiovisual Communication (HACA), an independent constitutional institution in charge of the regulation of the audiovisual communication sector in Morocco. Latifa Akharbach is the co-author of two books, “Women and Media” and “Women and Politics”, and of numerous articles and studies on media and communication.
Mbuki Mburu
Mbuki Mburu is a Public Policy and Youth Development advocate with significant experience in participatory development strategies, public policy research and analysis underpinned by a deep commitment to social justice.Mbuki is a 2020 Laureate for Top 35 Under 35 Change makers in Africa under the Advocacy and Community Action Category for creating platforms and avenues where young people speak out and engage. She is the Convener of the Youth Serving Organizations Consortium, Kenya Coordinator, Youth For Tax Justice Network and Civic Engagement Officer at PAWA 254.
Cathie Burton
Cathie Burton works at the Council of Europe's Directorate of Communication. A former journalist, Cathie has a wealth of experience in international organisations, including leading communication for the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe in Vienna, heading the campaigns team in the Council of Europe and working as Spokesperson for the British Labour Party in the European Parliament.