Upcoming Events for The Protest Study Project at QC

You are INVITED to be a part of The Protest Study Project at Queens College!

The Protest Study Project at Queens College has planned two events on the QC Campus to begin the discussion around Pittsburgh, Protest and the numerous challenges to Civil Rights stemming from those events in late September. 

On 11/11, there will be a screening of the film "Battle in Seattle" in Powdermaker Hall room 118 at 12:30.  This film is a hollywood depiction of protest and police action in Seattle in 1999.  We hope to begin the conversation around protest at this event.

On 11/16, there will be a panel discussion in Library Room 230 at 12:30.  The panel brings together several articulate experts on issues of protest, the history of American protest, the legal landscape around protest, and civil rights.  These panelists will be available for comment and question and answer.  Please come and invite as many people as you can.  A thorough consideration of these issues is of great importance to all of us. 

Details regarding the panel are outlined below:

Professor Justin Rogers-Cooper has been my mentor and collaborator on The Protest Project at Queens College. Justin is a Writing Fellow at LaGuardia Community College, an adjunct faculty at Queens College and Skidmore College, and a Ph.D. Candidate in English at the CUNY Graduate Center. The title of his dissertation is "Revolutionary Affects: Literature, Crowds, and the Crisis of American Nationality, 1860-1935." Justin will also serve as moderator during the panel.


The panel will include four participants:

Jeffery Rothman represents James and Irina Weiss in their efforts to have their property returned that was taken in the raid in Queens on the home owned by Elliot Madison. He is also one of the lawyers (along with Martin Stolar and numerous others) pressing the civil rights litigation against the City and the NYPD stemming from the mass arrests made during the 2004 Republican National Convention, and can comment on general concerns surrounding the suppression of First Amendment activity in the context of demonstrations.

Martin Stolar represents Elliot Madison and Michael Wallschlager. Madison and Wallschlager were arrested in Pittsburgh on 9/24 and all charges against them were dropped last week, but a federal grand jury investigation is still pending. Martin can also provide legal perspective and experience on issues surrounding challenges to the First Ammendment stemming from demonstration and dissent.

Dr. Premilla Nadasen is an historian who writes and teaches about grassroots organizing and social protest. Her book Welfare Warriors: The Welfare Rights Movement in the U,S. won the John Hope Franklin Prize. She is a regular contributor to the Progressive Media Project and has written for numerous journals and magazines. She currently works with Domestic Workers United, a domestic worker rights group here in NYC, and is writing a book on the history of domestic worker activism.

Among other issues, the one hour panel will focus on these questions:
1) Why protest the G20?

2) Is protesting the G20, or protest in general, effective?

3) Why was the legal response to the Pittsburgh protest so extreme?

4) Is there a recent escalation of police and legal response to protest in America or are there historical precedents?

- Was there something unique about Pittsburgh that created this particular set of events?

5) Will protesters continue to organize against the G20/WTO/IMF/Davos despite harsh crackdowns?