Past CLASA speakers and events 2015

CLASA
Past
Events
Winter
and Fall
2015

Winter 2015
See
http://www.orbo
oks.com/catalog/
it-runs-in-the-
family/ about the
book. Visit this
site for updates
on Guantanamo
actions:
http://www.witn
esstorture.org.
CLASA, MCHR, Women’s and Gender Studies Program, St. Peter’s, and Word and
World invite you to the McNichols Campus of UDM (at Livernois in Detroit) for:
FRIDA BERRIGAN, IT RUNS IN THE FAMILY:
ON BEING RAISED BY RADICALS AND
GROWING INTO REBELLIOUS MOTHERHOOD
Monday, February 2, at 7 pm, Life Sciences 113
Parenting is hard. So is being a peacemaker in a violent world. It Runs in the Family is a
book about how parents can create lasting and meaningful bulwarks between their kids
and the violence endemic in our culture. It posits discipline without spanks or slaps or
threats of violence, while considering how to raise thoughtful, compassionate, fearless
young people committed to social and political change — without scaring, hectoring or
scarring them with all the wrongs in the world.
Frida Berrigan is a mother and stepmother, wife and daughter. Her parents, Phil Berrigan
and Elizabeth McAlister, were a former priest and nun who became nationwide icons for
their prophetic witness against war and nuclear weapons, which sometimes resulted in
long jail sentences. Berrigan grew up in the community they helped found, Jonah House in
Baltimore, and becoming a parent herself has forced her to come to terms with her own
upbringing in new ways.
Expanding on the stories in her popular column for the website Waging Nonviolence,
Berrigan has crafted a welcome antidote to the various parenting fads currently on offer
from French moms and tiger moms and mean moms. She offers a unique perspective on
parenting that derives from hard work, deep reflection, and lots of trial and error.
Biography of the speaker: Frida Berrigan serves on the
board of The War Resisters League, a 90-year-old pacifist
organization, and helped to found Witness Against Torture, a
nonviolent direct action group focused on shutting down
Guantánamo and ending torture. She long served as a
researcher at the New America Foundation’s Arms and Security
Initiative in New York City, writing and speaking on the topic of
militarism. She lived at the New York Catholic Worker before
moving to New London, CT with her husband Patrick Sheehan-
Gaumer. Patrick is a social worker, second-generation peace
activist and father to their 7-year-old daughter Rosena Jane.
Their son Seamus Philip was born in July 2012 and Frida
became a stay-at-home mom. Their daughter Madeline Vida
was born in February 2014. While the baby naps or plays, she
writes the “Little Insurrections” blog for Waging Nonviolence,
tends a few plots at the community garden and helps keep a
busy household on its toes.
ORBIS BOOKS 2014

WINTER
2015
History
Department
Phi Alpha Theta
Eben Levey
Organizing for
Democracy and Justice
in Oaxaca, Mexico
Monday, March 16
11 A.M. in Briggs 317
In the early morning hours of June 14th, 2006, Oaxacan state and
municipal police advanced upon the twenty-seventh annual teachers
union plantón (encampment) in an attempted desalojo (eviction).
However, what followed caught everyone by surprise as multitudes
of Oaxacan civil society came forth in support of the striking teachers
union, occupied the public buildings of the capital city, and
transformed a labor issue into a broad-based, cross-class social
movement.
In meetings convened by the teachers union, existing
activists and organizations formed a horizontally organized umbrella
social movement organization aptly named la Asamblea Popular de
los Pueblos de Oaxaca (Popular Assembly of the Peoples of Oaxaca,
APPO). Under the central demand for the resignation of the
Oaxacan Governor, the APPO controlled the streets of Oaxaca City
until the movement was crushed by federal police forces in
November, 2006. This project examines the growing body of
literature on the 2006 movement, supplemented by participant
interviews, to interrogate the inner workings of a diverse social
movement.

WINTER
2015
To learn more, see the Immigrant
Worker Project at
http://www.iwpohio.org/.
The Unaccompanied Migrant
Children Resource Kit from the US
Conference of Catholic
Bishops, available at
http://www.usccb.org/about/migra
tion-policy/unaccompanied-
migrant-children-resource-kit.cfm.
Also see: 10 Ways to welcome the
Children at our border from the
Catholic Legal Immigration
Network at
https://cliniclegal.org/resources/10
-ways-welcome-children-our-
border-0; and a Toolkit for
advocating for the rights of
unaccompanied children from the
Jesuit Refugee Service at
http://ignatiansolidarity.net/toolki
t-advocating-rights-
unaccompanied-children/.
CLASA, HASA and the Ad Hoc Committee for Hispanic Latino Studies at UDM invites you to...
Jeff Stewart, Coordinator of the Immigrant Worker
Project
Speaking on: Unaccompanied Children
Crossing the
U.S. – Mexico Border: A
Humanitarian Crisis
Friday, March 20, 2015
Noon, in Briggs 13
In 2014, over 50,000 children arrived crossing the U.S. from Mexico, fleeing persecution from
the organized crime activities in their countries. They have been sent to the Office of
Refugee Resettlement (ORR) of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Jeff
Stewart coordinates the Immigration Worker Project that provides legal representation,
social services and advocacy for the new wave of young refugees. These talks will provide
the background on what drives these young people to leave their families and countries to
seek safe harbor of the United States.
The Immigrant Worker Project is dedicated to the struggle for justice and human dignity for rural immigrant workers
from Latin America. We are an organization that is working toward a future where Economic Democracy and
Communities of Solidarity are achieved for rural immigrants in Ohio. By Economic Democracy we mean a participatory
system in which workers have a meaningful voice in all structures of their economic existence. By Communities of
Solidarity we mean communities where cultural diversity is embraced by institutions of faith, education, social
services and health care. To obtain these goals the Immigrant Worker Project (IWP) empowers community leaders,
creates structures for global education, and advocates for workplace justice. Find out more about the Immigrant

WINTER
2015
Ismael Moreno
Coto, S.J.
a.k.a. “Padre
Melo”
Pictured here in front of the
Detroit Art Institute, special
exhibit on Diego Rivera and Frida
Kahlo

While in Detroit, Padre Melo experienced
some art treasures at the Detroit Art Inst.

WINTER
2015
For more info on Padre
Melo and his work:
http://www.americamag
azine.org/content/all-
things/padre-melo-
pastoral-and-
transformational, plus
http://www.bc.edu/conte
nt/bc/centers/humanrig
hts/Videos/melo.html,
https://www.youtube.co
m/watch?v=tSpafaC_0F0
and http://www.eric-
sj.org.
CLASA and HASA invite you to hear...
“Padre Melo” – Ismael Moreno Coto, S.J.
“Consequences of the violence and
insecurity in the psyche of the
Honduran population.”
Tuesday, April 7
4 p.m. in C&F 138
Radio Progreso has been in existence for 50 years, and is
a part of the Catholic Network of Radio Stations, but is
also well known for its independent, progressive and stand
for social justice in Honduras. Padre Melo, the Director of
Radio Progreso, is an outspoken critic of the coup d’etat
of June 28, 2009 and an active participant in the anti-coup
resistance. Radio Progreso has been threatened and was
raided by military troops. Padre Melo and other staff have
been personally threatened. In April 2014, a Radio
Progreso staff member Carlos Mejía Orellana was killed.
At this talk, Padre Melo will describe the crisis and stress
that today's situation of violence, delinquency and misery
provokes in society. From this contemporary crisis he’ll
explore the work that went on in social psychology
regarding the ’80’s in El Salvador, and reflect upon the
need for such a psychology for our time.
Padre Melo with Honduran political prisoner Chavelo.
See: http://freechavelo.wordpress.com/

WINTER
2015
For more
information on the
UCA Jesuit Martyrs
scholarship fund,
see:
http://www.uca.edu.sv/becas
-martires/index.php?lang=en
Join CLASA, University Ministry, HASA, the Dean of Students Office,
Jesuit Community at UDM, and Gesu Peace and Justice Committee for
these special events in memory of Rev. Dean Brackley, S.J.:
Tuesday, April 7, 2015
Fundraiser Dinner, 6:45 – 9:10 p.m., Fountain Lounge, Student Center
6:30 p.m.: Find your seats.
6:45 pm Music: Mariachi Juvenil
7 p.m. Pre-dinner talk on the UCA Jesuit Martyrs by
Ismael Moreno Coto, S.J.
“Padre Melo,” Honduran
Human Rights advocate
8:00 p.m. dinner and more music; 8:30 p.m., Report by UDM
and UD Jesuit HS students who went on service trips to El
Salvador; 8:45 p.m., Sharing memories of Dean Brackley, S.J.
Fundraiser dinner for
Dean Brackley S.J.’s
UCA Jesuit Martyrs
Scholarship Fund
To enable Salvadoran
students to attend
Universidad
Centroamericana (UCA),
the Jesuit University in
El Salvador
Music performers Mariachi Juvenil
Led by Denis Newhouse,

About Padre Melo
Padre Melo (Ismael Moreno Coto, S.J.)
has been (since 2001) the Director of
E.R.I.C. (Equipo de Reflexion,
Investigacion y Comunicacion -
Team for Reflection, Investigation
and Communication) and since
2006 has been the director of Radio
Progreso. He was born in Progreso,
Yoro, Honduras in 1958. Fr. James
“Guadalupe” Carney played a major
role in encouraging Padre Melo to
join the Jesuits. He was ordained in
1989. Since then he has held
different posts in Central America
including in the Parish of Tocoa in
Honduras , and Ixcan in Guatemala
. He was the Director of the Office
of Apostolic Planning and Secretary
of the Provincial Apostolic Council
in El Salvador.

Dean Brackley, founder of the UCA
Jesuit Martyrs Scholarship Fund
Dean Brackley, S.J., b. Aug. 9, 1946, d. Oct. 16, 2011, was a Jesuit and
theologian committed to social justice. He volunteered to help take the places
of the slain Jesuits of UCA in 1990, leaving a teaching position at Fordham
University. He had earlier completed his doctorate in theology at University
of Chicago in 1980, and spent ten years working with a church-sponsored
community group called South Bronx People for Change, before teaching at
Fordham. Author of The Call to Discernment in Troubled Times: New
Perspectives on the Transformative Wisdom of Ignatius of Loyola (2004), Fr.
Brackley taught this book and others at the UCA and, on weekends,
ministered in his first years to a rural parish, later to an inner city parish, and
finally to the UCA community, serving as pastor of the UCA parish. He was
the main supporter of this scholarship fund to enable Salvadoran students to
attend UCA.
Dean Brackley, S.J.

Mariachi Juvenil performed, and Padre
Melo shared his memories of the UCA
martyrs and Dean Brackley

Students shared their first-hand
experience of El Salvador

Fr. Rick Cassidy at the fundraiser, with other
important supporters of the event, including Si
Hendry, S.J., Mary Anne Perrone, Padre Melo…

HASA students whose support and hard work
(bringing and serving pupusas) make the
fundraiser possible! We raised $5,000 in 2015!

FALL 2015
The James Carney Latin American Solidarity
Archive (CLASA) and Gesu Peace and Justice
Committee is proud to present the following
exhibit of :
"Paintings of Latin
America"
By artist Don Voelker
"Donaldo"
(Michigan, USA and
Costa Rica, Central America)
Estero de Puntarenas no. 2, Costa Rica
University of Detroit Mercy Library, September 2-30, 2015
Reception with the artist, Sunday, Sept. 20, 1-3 p.m. Refreshments.
Library hrs: Mon-Thurs 8 am-10 pm; Fri 8 am-5:30 pm; Sat 9 am-5 pm; Sun 12:30-7 pm. Closed Sep 5-6-7
Free and open to the public. For more info/directions: http://liberalarts.udmercy.edu/clasa/events/
Seller of wooden angels, Guatemala
Artist's website:
www.donaldopaintings.com
Donald Voelker, a former
Michigan resident and
former processing archivist
for CLASA, has lived in Costa
Rica since 2004, where he
has devoted himself to
painting scenes from his
various travels in Central and
South America. This exhibit
and sale of the artwork, due
to generosity of the artist, is
a benefit for CLASA and for
Sr. Peggy O'Neill's Centro
Arte para La Paz in Suchitoto,
El Salvador. For more
information contact Gail
Presbey, 313-993-1124.
Venue: Library, 4001 W.
McNichols, Detroit 48221.
Finca du Guachapala, Ecuador
Centro Arte para La Paz:
http://capsuchitoto.org
"Van Gogh meets Diego Rivera" – Jance Lentz

Paintings arrive from Costa Rica…

The artist, Don Voelker, discusses
his artistic process (Sept. 20, 2015)

Fr. Gilbert explains that the funds from selling
the artwork will go to CLASA and Sr. Peggy’s
Centro Arte para la Paz in Suchitoto, El Salvador

We were able to raise $3,000
The remaining artworks will be sold in upcoming exhibits

FALL 2015
Hear Fr. Mulligan’s talks on you
tube at these addresses:
Pope Francis part one
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=qaR83Msx4g4
Pope Francis part two
v=k6qo-5Z2c2M
Pope Francis Part Three
v=n2YIua161wE
Pope Francis part Four
v=5eeUlRuU4Vs
Oscar Romero’s Beatification
v=JiWKZrlXQHA
Romero continued at
v=wt1XSD-XLs0
Come hear…
Joe Mulligan, S.J.
Wed. Sept. 30, LIB 324
MEGA-EVENTS OF
2015:
1. POPE FRANCIS’
VISITS TO THE
AMERICAS 10 a.m.
2. THE
BEATIFICATION OF
ARCHBISHOP OSCAR
ROMERO OF EL
SALVADOR
11 a.m. Fr. Mulligan will present an
introduction to the life and prophetic
teachings of Blessed Oscar Romero and will
also discuss the significance and impact of his
beatification.
ABOUT THE SPEAKER: Fr. Mulligan is a
Jesuit priest of the Chicago-Detroit Province
who has been working with the Christian Base
Communities of Nicaragua since 1986. He
also has a ministry to the sick and to people
with disabilities. He is the author of The
Nicaraguan Church and the
Revolution (1991) and Jesuit Martyrs of El
Salvador (1994).
Programs are free and open to the public, and are held at UDM’s McNichols Campus, 4001 W McNichols (at Livernois),
Detroit, MI 48221. This event is sponsored by the James Carney Latin American Solidarity Archive (CLASA), the Jesuit

FALL 2015
Jesse
Freeston
Film maker

FALL 2015
See the film
trailer at:
http://jessefree
ston.com/resist
encia/
HONDURAS EVENTS
Wed., September 30, 7 p.m.
Film, “Resistancia: The Fight for
the Aguan Valley” (2014)
Briggs 317, UDM McNichols campus
Talk by the filmmaker,
Jesse Freeston
In 2009, the first coup d'etat in a generation in Central
America overthrows the elected president of Honduras.
A nation-wide movement, known simply as The
Resistance, rises in opposition. Resistencia: The Fight for
the Aguan Valley centers on the most daring wing of the
movement, the farmers of the Aguan. Not satisfied with
just marching and blocking highways, 2000 landless
families take possession of the palm oil plantations of
Miguel Facusse, the country's largest landowner and a
key player in the coup. The camera follows three farmers
over four years as they build their new communities on
occupied land, in the face of the regime's violent
response, while waiting for the elections The Resistance
hopes will restore the national democratic project.
Follow Blanca Espinoza, a leader of the
campesino Resistance movement, who
has worked to reclaim land stolen from
her community.
Meet Orvelina, who has challenged the
rich large landowner, Miguel Facusse,
asking, whose land is it, really?!

FALL 2015
Join CLASA to hear a talk
…on the McNichols
Campus of UDM
Paige Shell-Spurling
Jorge Parra(President of ASOTRECOL, The
Association of Injured Workers & Ex-Workers of General
Motors Colmotores)
with Paige Shell-Spurling (Portland Central
America Solidarity Committee Board Member)
Thurs. Oct. 1, 10 a.m.,
Commerce & Finance Rm. 228
Jorge Parra (above, left) is among hundreds of former GM workers in
Colombia who were illegally dismissed from their jobs after suffering
work-related injuries. For the past four years he has led fellow workers
in nonviolent protests, including fasting and a tent occupation in front
of the U.S. Embassy in Bogota. His organization, ASOTRECOL, is one of
ten finalists for the Arcus Center at Kalamazoo College’s 2015 Global
Prize for Transformative Social Justice Leadership. Solidarity activist
Paige Shell-Spurling will accompany Jorge Parra to translate for him,
and to talk about the movement. She’ll describe making the 10 minute
video she created for the Arcus Center Social Justice Award.
To see the video created by organizer Paige Shell-Spurling, click here: http://bit.ly/1L9XoHC To
learn more about the award click here: https://reason.kzoo.edu/csjl/ prize/. See a one hour
documentary about ASOTRECOL at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8mqxX5KIl9o
This event is sponsored by the James Carney Latin American Solidarity Archive (CLASA), co-
sponsored by Gesu Peace and Justice Committee. Programs are free and open to the public, and are
held at UDM’s McNichols Campus (4001 W McNichols at Livernois). For more info call Director Gail

Jorge Parra and Paige Shell-Spurling

FALL 2015
Prof. Dana Frank
"The Disaster of Human Rights
and U.S. Policy in Post-Coup
Honduras"
Thurs., October 22, 2015
11:20 a.m. in Pres Dining Rm
Dana Frank is Professor of History at the University of
California, Santa Cruz. Her books include Bananeras:
Women Transforming the Banana Unions of Latin
America which focuses on Honduras; and Three Strikes:
Miners, Musicians, Salesgirls, and the Fighting Spirit of
Labor's Last Century, with Robin D.G. Kelley and Howard
Zinn. Since the 2009 coup she has published articles on
human rights and U.S. policy in Honduras in the New York
Times, Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, Politico
Magazine, Miami Herald, Los Angeles Times, The Nation,
World Politics Review, The Baffler, and many other
publications; been interviewed by the Washington Post,
Associated Press, ABC/Fusion, BBC World News, National
Public Radio, and other outlets; and testified before the
U.S. House of Representatives, the Canadian Parliament,
and the California State Assembly. She has worked very
closely with the Sisters of Mercy in Washington, D.C. on
Honduras policy in Congress, and with Radio Progreso and
Since the 2009 military coup that deposed democratically
elected President Manuel Zelaya, Honduras has
degenerated into a human rights disaster. Security forces
commit vast human rights abuses with impunity.
Indigenous and Afro-Indigenous communities have their
land rights and labor rights threatened. Current President
Juan Orlando Hernández backed the coup, and has
overthrown part of the Supreme Court and illegally
named his own attorney general. His National Party stole
tens, perhaps hundreds of millions of dollars from the
national health service to pay for his election, while
thousands of Hondurans have died as a result of the
health system's bankruptcy. People are taking to the
streets en masse to demand his resignation; yet the
Obama Administration continues to celebrate Hernández
as a virtuous strongman, and sends funds to the country's
security forces, under the pretext of addressing the issue
of immigration of undocumented children to the U.S.
This talk will analyze current dynamics in Honduras,
including the human rights crisis, U.S. policy, and social
movements seeking to restore the rule of law and bring
social justice to Honduras.
Prof. Dana Frank reporting from Honduras

FALL 2015
Berta
Esperanza
Alvarez
Martens

Prof. Berta on our campus…
With student, Joseph
Jordan
With faculty, Ann Eskridge
and Rosemary Weatherston

FALL 2015
LCT
We invite you to attend these two
presentations in anticipation of International Education Week
“Fernando
Ortiz and
the Afro-
Cuban
movement”
Tuesday, Nov. 3, at 7:30 p.m.
in the Presidents Dining Room
Fernando Ortiz Fernández (1881-1969) is
considered the third discoverer of Cuba. He
popularized Cuban cultural identity as based
on a wide variety of ethnicities. He introduced
the term “transculturation” (merging cultures)
as an alternative to “acculturation”. His book
“El engaño de las razas” (“The deception of
races”) emerged as a classic for the struggle
against racism.
Dr. Berta Esperanza Álvarez Martens
“The role of Cuban
women during the last 50
years of Revolution”
Wednesday, November 4, 2015
7 p.m., President’s Dining Room
Cuban women played leading roles throughout
Cuban history, such as during the national
independence war, as well as in different spheres
such as education and culture. From 1959, Cuban
women became involved in social transformations.
Being socially active became part of women’s
gender identity. This emphasis on praxis modified
the political, familial and professional contexts of
women’s lives. Cuban women became transformed
and revolutionized their way of thinking.
Our speaker, Dr. Berta Esperanza Álvarez Martens has taught for over fifty years, with thirty of those years being at University of Havana. Her PhD
is in History and Philosophy, and she has taught and given public lectures on Cuban historiography, with a focus on women’s issues. She has a

The Wed. afternoon panel discussed cultural exchange.
Lara Wasner described UDM’s educational programs in
Cuba, while Alan Kaufman discussed involving Cuban
chess players in the Michigan Chess tournament.

The panel discusses the situation in Cuba
today and how U.S. students can benefit by
experiencing and studying Cuba

FALL 2015
Join CLASA,
Language and
Cultural Training
Department and the
International Services
Office to hear a talk
…
…on the
McNichols
Campus of UDM,
“Second
Wednesday series
Jason LaFay Prof. Berta
"The Importance of U.S. – Cuban
Cultural Exchange Programs,"
Wednesday, November 4, 2015, at
noon, in Library 324.
Dr. Berta Esperanza Álvarez Martens has taught for over fifty years, with
thirty of those years being at University of Havana. Her PhD is in History and Philosophy, and she has
taught and given public lectures on Cuban historiography, with a focus on women’s issues. In addition to
offering courses on Cuban historiography at the University of Havana and in the major College San
Geronimo branch of the Havanian City Historian Office, she has also offered courses in Mexico and lectures
in Spain and Venezuela. She has also taught American students from 2001-2004. She has earned the Frank
Pais medal (for education) and has been recognized for collaborating more than 15 years with Casa de Altos
Estudios Don Fernando Ortiz.
Jason LaFay teaches English and Sociology at DeWitt High School. He is co-
founder of the DeWitt Creativity Group (www.dewittcreativitygroup.org). The DCG’s goal is to change the
culture of high schools in America by promoting student creativity, in connection with public service,
lifelong learning and entrepreneurism. They are seeking K-12 level cultural and academic exchanges with
Cuba, so that more U.S. students can honestly and fairly evaluate the Cuban revolution. He will speak on the
role of youth during Cuba’s Mass Literacy Campaign and the Great Sugar Cane Harvests. He wants to
encourage the mobilization of young people for economic development purposes, and will discuss what this
mobilization might look like in the United States and how a US-Cuba exchange may tie into this.
Alan Kaufman is the organizer of the Michigan Chess Festival “Friendship
Games,” held in Dearborn earlier this month. He was instrumental in bringing star chess players
from Cuba to compete in the event, including Yuniesky Quesada-Preez, Cuba's #3 player, and in the top 100
chess players in the world; Isan Ortiz, Cuba's #4 player and the current champion; Lisandra Ordaz-Valdez,
the #1 woman chess player, and grandmasters Carlos Hevia, Sandro Pozo and Reinaldo Vera. Until recently
the participation of Cuban players would have been impossible. Kaufman will give a report of the
experience he had organizing the Friendship Games.

Past CLASA speakers and events 2015

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Past CLASA speakers and events 2015