RADIO WARS:
BREAKING THE WAVES OF HATE,
TURNING THE TIDE TOWARDS PEACE

13 -15 May 2007

An International Conference at
Concordia University
Montreal, Quebec, Canada

Organized by
Montreal Institute for Genocide and Human Rights Studies
Faculty of Arts and Science, Concordia University

and

Rights & Democracy
The International Centre for Human Rights & Democratic Development

with Support from
The Ruth and Alex Dworkin Fund
Jewish Family Foundation

and

The Concordia-UQAM Chair in Ethnic Studies
Concordia Section

Conference Location
Samuel Bronfman House
The Atrium Hall, Ground Floor
Concordia University
1590, avenue Docteur Penfield
(Corner: chemin de la Côte-des-Neiges)

Conference Hotel
Le Nouvel Hôtel
1740, boulevard René-Lévesque Ouest
1-800-363-6063 or 1-514-931-8841

The Montreal Institute for Genocide and Human Rights Studies (MIGS)
Concordia University – Montreal, QC

The Montreal Institute for Genocide and Human Rights Studies (MIGS) was founded in 1986, based in the departments of History and Sociology/Anthropology at Concordia University. In recent years, Concordia faculty members and graduate students from Communications, English, Geography, and Political Science have joined in its work, as have colleagues from McGill and the University of Quebec in Montreal.

MIGS' approach is comparative and historical, involving scholars in Canada, France, Great Britain, Israel, and the United States. Through its Occasional Paper Series and its web site, it collects and disseminates knowledge created by researchers about the historical origins of the mass killings that have become such a prominent part of our time. MIGS also accomplishes its mission through teaching, workshops, conferences, and publications. Additional information and web links are made available on this Web site. MIGS seeks to encourage research by offering its resources and its hospitality to Concordia students and faculty, as well as post-doctoral fellows and colleagues visiting from other universities and research centres. You are welcome to propose Occasional Papers, new web links, and news items for inclusion on this site. MIGS activities are supported by private donations and outside grants.

The founding co-directors of MIGS are Concordia Professors Frank Chalk (History) and Kurt Jonassohn (Sociology). Assisting them in the work of the Institute are MIGS Research Associates, and the members of the Academic Advisory Board and the Board of Directors. ?MIGS is a an officially recognized Research Centre of the Faculty of Arts and Science of Concordia University.

Contact Information: Professor Frank Chalk, Department of History, Concordia University, 1455 de Maisonneuve Blvd. West, Montreal, Quebec, Canada, H3G 1M8; Telephone: (work) 514-848-2424, ext 2404; Facsimile: 514-848-4538; E-Mail: drfrank@alcor.concordia.ca; Web URL: http://migs.concordia.ca

See biography of Dr. Frank Chalk, Co-founding Director of MIGS, in the Presenters’ Bios below.

 

Rights & Democracy
Montreal, QC

Rights & Democracy (International Centre for Human Rights and Democratic Development) is a non-partisan organization with an international mandate. It was created by Canada's Parliament in 1988 to encourage and support the universal values of human rights and the promotion of democratic institutions and practices around the world.

Rights & Democracy works with individuals, organizations and governments in Canada and abroad to promote the human and democratic rights defined in the United Nations’ International Bill of Human rights. Although its mandate is wide-ranging, Rights & Democracy currently focuses on four themes: democratic development, women's human rights, globalization and human rights, and the rights of indigenous peoples. It also has four Special Initiatives: Urgent Action/Important Opportunities,which responds to human rights crises and seizes important opportunities as they arise; International Human Rights Advocacy,to enhance the work of human rights advocates, in Canada and internationally, in the effective use of regional and international human rights mechanisms of the United Nations and regional human rights systems; Human Rights and Security,which monitors the impact of "anti-terrorist" legislation and other security measures on civil liberties and human rights in Canada and abroad; and Human Rights and Democratic Awareness in Canada, which initiates and supports the activities of Canadian individuals and groups relating to human rights and democratic development around the world.

Rights & Democracy enjoys partnerships with human rights, indigenous peoples' and women's rights groups, as well as democratic movements and governments around the world with whom it cooperates to promote human rights and democracy. It is therefore uniquely placed to facilitate dialogue between government officials and non-governmental organizations in Canada and abroad. It is one of the very few organizations with the necessary credibility on both sides to play this bridge-building role. 

It initiates and supports projects that advocate the protection of human rights and the strengthening of democratic development and facilitates the capacity of its partners to do the same.

Rights & Democracy has consultative status (Category II) with the United Nations Economic and Social Council and is on the International Labour Organization's Special List of NGOs. It also has observer status with the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights.

See biography of Dr. Razmik Panossian, Director of Policy and Planning at Rights & Democracy, in the Presenters’ Bios below.

MIGS & Rights and Democracy, the conference co-organizers, would like to acknowledge financial support provided to “Radio Wars” by the following Concordia University administrative offices:
The Office of the President
The Office of the Vice-President for External Relations
The Office of the Vice-President for Services
The Office of the Dean of Arts & Science

As well as:
The Ruth and Alex Dworkin Fund of the Jewish Family Foundation
The Concordia-UQAM Chair in Ethnic Studies (Concordia Section)

Radio Wars would also like to thank the following:

A great group of interns and researchers:

Ariela Fish (McGill University)
Chiara Fish (Georgetown University)
Daniella Kelton (McGill University)
Richard Pilkington (Concordia University)
Max Skudra (Concordia University)
Tara Tavender (Concordia University)
Scarlett Trazo (Concordia University)

Hard working friends and advisors:

Agnes Archaud
Erin Baines
Dana-Lori Chalmers
Marc Drouin
Brenda Fewster
Mike Gasher
Andy Ivaska
Norman Ingram
Erin Jessee
Darleen Robertson
Lara Rosenoff
Donna Whitaker
Wilson Jacob and Warren Wilson (the Wilsonians)

And conference volunteers:

Nelly Bassily
Nathalie Cortez
Alex Heggie
Jordi Montblanch
Victoria Shaddick
William Tayebwa
Stefanie Wlodarczyk

FOR A 5-MINUTE VIDEO INTRODUCTION TO THE
CONFERENCE ON "RADIO WARS," PLEASE CLICK HERE

PROGRAM

DAY ONE: SUNDAY, 13 MAY

5:00 p.m. Conference Opening and Refreshments

5:30 p.m. Welcome from Concordia University and Rights & Democracy
Dr. Razmik Panossian (Director, Policy and Planning, Rights & Democracy)
Dr. Frank Chalk (Director, Montreal Institute for Genocide and Human Rights Studies)

5:45 p.m. Introduction of Conference Presenters

6:00 p.m. - 7:15 p.m.  Key Note Address
Jeffrey Herf (Department of History, University of Maryland), “The Jewish War: Nazi Domestic Radio Broadcasts and the Holocaust”

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DAY TWO: MONDAY, 14 MAY

Session 1: 9:00 a.m. - 10:30 a.m.
Radio Broadcasting in the Incitement and Prevention of Mass Atrocity Crimes: Rwanda and Iran

1. Josias Semujanga (Department of Literature, Université de Montréal), “The Discourse of Hate in the Rwanda Genocide”
2. Monique Gasengayire (Université de Montréal), “Decoding Hate Radio: The Case of Rwanda”
3. François Bugingo (Reporters sans frontières, Canada), “Reality on the Ground: The Power of Radio in Conflict”
4. Jeffrey Herf (Department of History, University of Maryland), “Incitements to Genocide and Other Crimes against Humanity in Contemporary Iranian Discourse: The Case of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad”

Coffee/Tea Break: 10:30 a.m. – 11:00 a.m.

Session 2: 11:00 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.
Sudan Radio and the Needs of Civilians in Darfur

1. Gordon Adam (Managing Director, Media Support, Scotland), “Assessing Darfur’s Radio Needs: Opportunities and Challenges”
2. Tanya Churchmuch (Senior Media Relations Advisor, Concordia University; former president and national spokesperson of Reporters Without Borders, Canada), “Sudan’s Reporters: Darfur’s Forgotten Actors”
3. Frank Chalk (History Department, Concordia University, and Director, MIGS), “Sudan Government Domestic Broadcasting, the Darfur Crisis, and the Comprehensive Peace Agreement for the South: Radio Clues to Khartoum’s Future Policies”
4. Tara Tavender (Executive Director of Save Darfur Canada), “Canada’s Darfur Challenge: Stepping Out of the Shadows”

Lunch Break: 12:30 p.m. - 2:00 p.m.

Session 3: 2:00 p.m. - 3:30 p.m.
More on Incitement and Prevention: Somalia, the DRC, East Timor and Haiti

1. Gordon Adam (Managing Director, Media Support, Scotland), “Somalia: Radio as the Loyal Opposition and Training Journalists for Peacebuilding”
2. Lena Slachmuijlder (Country Director, Search for Common Ground, DRC), “Seeking Common Ground through Broadcast Programming in the DRC”
3. David Wimhurst (UN Public Affairs Officer/Port au Prince, Haiti), “The UN Mission in East Timor (UNAMET), Public Information and the Lessons of the East Timor Experience”

Coffee/Tea Break: 3:30 p.m. - 4:00 p.m.

Session 4: 4:00 p.m. - 5:30 p.m.
From Conflict Reporting to Radio Programs Empowering Youth

1. Nadia Kherif (Media Relations Advisor, Concordia University; former reporter and newscaster with Algerian Television and Radio Beur FM in Paris), “Living with Terror and Reporting the News: A Short Memoir”
2. Christine Crowther (Journalist, CBC), “Building Journalism Institutions Post-Conflict: Possible Lessons From Cambodia”
3. Dominique Payette (Département d'information et de communication, Université Laval), “Youth Radio and Civil Society”
4. Mimi Brazeau (Regional Media Programmes Advisor, Plan, Dakar-Ponty, Senegal), “Youth Media and the Rights of the Child”

Conference Presenters’ Dinner: 7:00 p.m.
Restaurant Essence, 2001 rue University (enter from Blvd. de Maisonneuve Ouest).

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DAY THREE: TUESDAY, 15 MAY

Practical Techniques for Conflict Radio in the Field

Session 5: 9:00 a.m. - 10:30 a.m.
Contemporary Trends in Conflict Radio: Uganda

1. Betty Bigombe (Fellow, U.S. Institute of Peace and Mediator, Northern Uganda), “Opening Peace Negotiations with Joseph Kony and the LRA: Radio and Communicating in a Void”
2. Boniface Ojok (Project Director, Justice & Reconciliation Project, Northern Uganda), “Amnesty Radio in Northern Uganda: Rhetoric and Reality”
3. Carol McQueen (Conflict Prevention and Peacebuilding Group, Foreign Affairs and International Trade, Canada), “Canadian Support for Peace Radio in Uganda”

Coffee/Tea Break: 10:30 a.m. - 11:00 a.m.

Session 6: 11:00 a.m.-12:30 p.m.
Future Trends in Contemporary Uses of Radio

1. David Wimhurst (UN Public Affairs Officer/Port au Prince, Haiti), “UN Public Information and Peacekeeping in Haiti: What Has the UN Learned since East Timor? What Needs to Be Done?”
2. Jamie Little (CBC Northern Service, Montreal), “Women’s Rights in Afghanistan and Chad: The Role of Radio”
3. Gordon Adam (Managing Director, Media Support, Scotland), “Emerging Problems Sustaining Conflict Radio Expertise: Development Funding and New Challenges to NGO Funding”

Lunch Break: 12:30 p.m. - 2:00 p.m.

Session 7: 2:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m.
A Round Table on Needed Future Research and Programs with a View to the Book or Special Journal Issue to Emerge from the Conference

1. Gordon Adam
2. Mimi Brazeau
3. Francois Bugingo
4. Christine Crowther
5. Jamie Little
6. Boniface Ojok
7. Dominique Payette
8. Lena Slachmuijlder
9. David Wimhurst
and possibly others.

For further information about the conference, please contact:
Prof. Frank Chalk
Department of History
Director, Montreal Institute for Genocide and Human Rights Studies
Concordia University
Office tel: 514 848-2424 ext. 2404
drfrank@alcor.concordia.ca

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GORDON ADAM

Gordon Adam is co-founder and Managing Director of Media Support. A recognised specialist in media and development, he has written widely on the subject, including co-authoring the UK’s Department for International Development (DFID) handbook Working with Media in Conflicts and other Emergencies (with A. Skuse), and Radio and HIV/AIDS: making a difference (with N. Harford). He has worked on consultancies for DFID, UNESCO, UN Drug Control Programme, Centers for Disease Control (CDC), The Commonwealth Institute, and various international NGOs, which have ranged from evaluations (Darfur, Cambodia, Nepal, DRC) and media trainings (Eritrea, Uganda, Botswana, Madagascar, Sri Lanka, Cambodia) to developing communications strategies (China, DR Congo, Mozambique, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Cambodia). He has set up long-term communications for development projects in Cambodia, Botswana, Mozambique and Afghanistan, and has trained national broadcasters in many countries. Gordon’s first job was teaching in Afghanistan; later be became a radio journalist, working in the BBC for almost 20 years, for the last eight as head of the BBC Pashto Service. Here he launched a three times weekly educational radio soap opera New Home New Life in Pashto and Persian which marked its 13th anniversary on air in April 2007. In 2003 Media Support set up the radio-based teacher-training component of the Afghan Primary Education Programme with Creative Associates, which is expanding to build capacity amongst Afghan ministry of education broadcasting staff. Another capacity building project amongst Somali journalists has just been completed, with a follow-on project currently setting up a voluntary code of conduct to help protect the media from government intimidation.

BETTY BIGOMBE

Betty Bigombe has been involved in peace negotiations in Uganda to end the Lord’s Resistance Army’s (LRA) insurgency since the early 1990s. Prior to taking on these negotiation initiatives, she was appointed cabinet minister in Yoweri Museveni’s government for pacification of North and Northeastern Uganda, resident in the North. She also was tasked with seeking a peaceful means to end the war in north and northeastern Uganda. Following the failure of a military solution, Bigombe initiated contact with rebel leader Joseph Kony. This initiative gave birth to what would become known as the "Bigombe 1 Initiative." Bigombe returned in 2004 for the "Bigombe 2 Initiative" that for the first time brought the LRA and government ministers face to face.
In 1994 Bigombe was named "Uganda’s Woman of the Year" for her efforts to end the violence. She spent time providing technical support to the Carter Center in the peace efforts between the governments of Uganda and Sudan. She then held a fellowship at Harvard University’s Institute for International Development in Public Policy in 1997. Bigombe joined the World Bank in 1997 as a senior social scientist at the Bank’s newly created Post-Conflict Unit and also worked with the Social Protection and Human Development Units.
Bigombe holds a Master’s in Public Administration from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.

MIMI BRAZEAU

Born in Montreal, Canada, Mimi Brazeau is the Regional Media Program Advisor for Plan in West Africa where she concentrates her efforts in designing new media programs using videos, radio, television, music and other media to promote the Rights of the Child and involving children and youth in the process. She directed in 2006, in Mali, the Youth Media Development Forum (YMDF’06) which gathered more than 400 delegates from more than 60 countries.
Mimi Brazeau worked for several years as the Regional Media Programs Coordinator for Plan Region of West Africa. She conceived and produced the radio project for and by children called “Radio Gune Yi” in Senegal. She is the designer, producer and art director of the regional radio campaign “I’m a child but I have my rights too!” implemented in eight countries. The project won international awards. She created the Kids Waves radio show implemented in 10 West African countries since 2004.
Brazeau is the author and editor of booklets on Health, Habitat, Education, and of two cartoon books promoting the rights of the child in West Africa. She participated to the creation of a teachers' guide on the rights of the child, a series of training manuals for radio hosts and radio producers; and published articles worldwide on media in the developing world and child participation. She participated as speaker in multiple International Conferences to promote the rights of the child, media and child participation, and youth empowerment through the media.

FRANÇOIS BUGINGO

Francois Bugingo is the host of the geo-political program Points Chauds on Télé-Québec. He has vast experience covering both international issues and conflicts and was the founder of the first francophone newspaper in the Rwandan post-genocidal era L’arc-en-ciel. As a reporter he also covered the majority of the large-scale conflicts of the end of the 20th century. He is the founder of Reporters Without Borders Canada, and has completed numerous missions in countries across the world to defend and promote press freedom and advocate for increased security for journalists. He is the author of three different works, the most recent being Rebel Without Borders, Boreale Editions : 2005. He also simultaneously works as a journalist or analyst for different forms of media.

DR. FRANK CHALK

Professor Frank Chalk (Ph.D., History, University of Wisconsin) is the co-author, with Prof. Kurt Jonassohn, of The History and Sociology of Genocide: Analyses and Case Studies (Yale University Press, 1990). Prof. Chalk’s chapters and articles have appeared in a number of books and journals, including Holocaust and Genocide Studies. Professor Chalk served as President of the International Association of Genocide Scholars (June 1999-June 2001), and is a past president of the Canadian Association of African Studies. He is Director of the Montreal Institute for Genocide and Human Rights Studies at Concordia University, where he teaches undergraduate and graduate courses on the history and sociology of genocide, the Holocaust, and the history of United States foreign relations. Professor Chalk’s current research focuses on radio broadcasting in the incitement and prevention of gross violations of human rights, including genocide. His most recent publications include chapters on “Hate Radio in Rwanda,” published in The Path of A Genocide: The Rwanda Crisis from Uganda to Zaire, Howard Adelman and Astri Suhrke, editors (New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Press, 1999) and “Radio Broadcasting in the Incitement and Interdiction of Gross Violations of Human Rights, including Genocide,” in Genocide: Essays Toward Understanding, Early Warning, and Prevention, Roger Smith, editor (Association of Genocide Scholars, 1999). Together with Dinah Shelton, Howard Adelman, Alexander Kiss, and William Schabas, he was an editor of the three-volume Macmillan USA (Thomson Gale) Encyclopedia of Genocide and Crimes Against Humanity, which was published in January 2005.

Contact Information: Professor Frank Chalk, Department of History, Concordia University, 1455 de Maisonneuve Blvd. West, Montreal, Quebec, Canada, H3G 1M8; Telephone: (work) 514-848-2424, ext 2404; E-Mail: drfrank@alcor.concordia.ca; Web URL: http://migs.concordia.ca

TANYA CHURCHMUCH

Tanya Churchmuch joined Concordia¹s Media Relations Department in March, 2006, returning to her alma mater (Journalism Graduate Diploma, 1995) after nine years of reporting and anchoring at Global Television Quebec. Prior to her work at Global, she was reporter/anchor at the Weather Network in Montreal, and newsroom researcher at MIX96 FM ­ Montreal. She has also worked as a freelance journalist, producer and consultant and holds a B.A. (Political Science, With Distinction) from McGill University. Tanya also served five years as president and national spokesperson for Reporters Without Borders Canada, promoting freedom of the press. She remains a member of the Administrative Council of RWB Canada. At Concordia she primarily works towards increasing the university¹s visibility in the media.

CHRISTINE CROWTHER

Christine Crowther is a journalist with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. She has recently returned to Canada after a posting as a television producer at the CBC’s London bureau. While based there, she covered stories in several countries – including Iraq and Lebanon.  Christine became involved in radio training while working as a freelance journalist in South East Asia in the 1990s. She has worked with the Indochina Media Memorial Foundation (IMMF), and with the Institute for Media Policy and Civil Society (IMPACS.) These sessions have given her the opportunity to train working journalists from Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, and Vietnam. In 2004, Christine received a masters degree from the London School of Economics and Political Science. Her research is focused on the role of media in post-conflict development, and uses Cambodia as a case study.

MONIQUE GASENGAYIRE

Monique Gasengayire did her doctoral work at the University of Montreal on “Writings of Genocide in African Novels: Recounting the Indescribable.”  Her Masters thesis at Queens University analyzed media during the Rwandan genocide, and her published works include: “Witnessing the (Im)possible” in Reflection on the Rwandan Genocide (2005) and “Murekatete” in Africa in War by University of Laval Press.  She has presented on aspects of the 1994 Rwandan genocide at a variety of Canadian conferences, including on imagery of women in propaganda, women survivors, and media propaganda leading into the genocide.  She is currently working with the Community University Research Allaince (CURA) at Concordia University, on Life Stories of Montrealers Displaced by War, Genocide and Other Human Rights Violations, preparing interviews with genocide survivors and conducting narrative studies of collected histories.

JEFFREY HERF

Professor Herf's research and publications examine Europe and Germany's political culture over the breaks and continuities of the twentieth century. In spring 2006, Harvard University Press published his fourth book, The Jewish Enemy: Nazi Propaganda During World War II and the Holocaust. His first book, Reactionary Modernism: Technology, Culture and Politics in Weimar and the Third Reich (Cambridge University Press, 1984) has become a standard work and was published in Greek, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese and Spanish translation. War By Other Means: Soviet Power, West German Resistance and the Battle of the Euromissiles (The Free Press, 1991) examined the intersection of political culture and power politics in the last major European confrontation of the Cold War. Divided Memory: The Nazi Past in the Two Germanys (Harvard University Press, 1997) was the co-winner of the Fraenkel Prize of the Institute of Contemporary History and Wiener Library in London in 1996. In 1998 it received the George Lewis Beer Prize of the American Historical Association. Jeffrey Herf has lectured widely in the United States, Europe, and Israel, and has been the recipient of fellowships from the Institute for Advanced Studies in Princeton, National Endowment for the Humanities, the German Marshall Fund, the German Academic Exchange Service, the Max Planck Gesellschaft, the Fulbright program, the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum and the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. His current interests include work on varieties of opposition to and debates about communism in Weimar Germany, Nazi Germany and West Germany during the Cold War and in unified Germany covering the period from 1919 to the 1990s; and the diffusion of national Socialist and fascist ideas and propaganda beyond Germany, within Europe and outside Europe from the 1930s to the 1950s. He is also working on a collection of essays on ideas and politics in twentieth century German history.

NADIA KHERIF

Nadia Kherif joined the Media Relations Department in November of 2001. As a member of the team, her primary responsibility is working with the French language media. Nadia worked as a journalist and television newscaster in Algeria for 4 years until, like so many of her colleagues, she was forced to leave Algeria for France in 1994 following the tragic events which shook the country. While in Paris, she worked as a reporting journalist for many French radio stations. After moving to Quebec in 1996, Nadia studied the media¹s portrayal of the Algerian crisis while pursuing her Masters in Communications at l¹Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM) ­ which she achieved with great distinction. Her thesis pertains to the power of images and their influence on the daily lives of Algerians living in Quebec, with a focus on the images from Radio-Canada television. Being from a culture distinctly different from the local dominant culture, Nadia is often consulted by journalists on issues related to Islam, as well as the integration of immigrants.

JAMIE LITTLE

Jaime Little grew up next to the Atlantic Ocean. She studied at the University of King's College in Halifax and started making radio at the local campus/community station, CKDU, where she fell in love with the immediacy and impact of low-budget, do-it-yourself community radio. Jaime now splits her time between CBC North and international community radio projects. With CBC she has covered many fascinating stories including the birth of the Nunavut territory, the Inuit ceremonial bowhead whale hunt, the impacts of residential schooling, and women's access to reproductive health services in remote northern communities. Jaime then spent the better part of a year and a half in Afghanistan, working for a Canadian non-governmental organisation called IMPACS (the Institute for Media, Policy and Civil Society) to help establish four independent community radio stations managed and operated entirely by women. These stations provided daily coverage, in local languages, ofAfghanistan's first democratic elections, as well as other news and information. Jaime recently spent six months in Chad, near the border with Darfur. There she worked with Chadian journalists and Sudanese refugees to produce radio programs about gender based violence, including such taboo subjects as genital cutting, domestic abuse and rape as a weapon of war. Last week she drove around the inland Cree communities of northern Quebec, preparing radio stories about the spring goose hunt for CBC radio's northern service. She is trying to learn a proper goose call.

CAROL McQUEEN

Dr. Carol McQueen has joined the Centre for Security and Defence Studies, Carleton University, as Research Associate. Carol is a graduate of Concordia and Oxford University (Ph.D.), where she was a Rhodes Scholar. She currently works with Foreign Affairs Canada as a Policy Analyst with the Peacebuilding and Conflict Prevention Group, focusing mainly on the African Great Lakes Region. Carol arrived in Ottawa after serving several years as a Political Affairs Officer with the UN Peacekeeping Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Her book, Humanitarian Intervention and Safety Zones: Iraq, Bosnia and Rwanda, was published last spring by Palgrave/Macmillan. Her article on MONUC and the Democratic Republic of Congo appears in the Annual Review of Global Peacekeeping (Lynne Rienner, 2006). Carol will be giving a talk at the Centre on Nov. 1: "Making the Democratic Republic of Congo Safe: MONUC and the robust use of force in UN Peacekeeping Operations."

BONIFACE OJOK

Ojok Boniface is the Project Officer and Lead researcher on the Justice and Reconciliation Project in northern Uganda. JRP conducts grass-roots level, action-oriented research including dialogues and cultural activities to involve communities and the media in discussions on justice. JRP then produces policy relevant reports and networks with a wide variety of justice actors (nationally and internationally) in order to bring local voices into on-going discussions and debates on how to realize both peace and justice in the country.
Boniface leads a team of 11 researchers on leading edge issues related to accountability, reintegration and transitional justice related to war crimes committed during the conflict in northern Uganda. He has conducts research, advocacy and together with the Liu Institute for Global Issues writes reports on local justice mechanisms as they are being used to promote social healing and justice. In recognition of his work and contributions, he was appointed the Minister of Culture and Antiquities by the cultural leaders in 2006.  He works to promote local knowledge in national and international forums, having presented in South Africa and Uganda extensively.

DOMINIQUE PAYETTE

Dominique Payette has been a journalist for numerous years, principally on the radio with Radio-Canada, but also on television with Radio-Canada and Télé-Québec.  Recipient of numerous awards, she is currently known as the host of shows for youth 275-Allô and Ados Radio, as well as À toi l’Afrique!, a radio show giving a voice to young African francophones.
Dominique Payette has been teaching radio journalist for 10 years at Certificat.  She holds a Master’s Degree in Communications from UQAM, her thesis entitled ‘L’approche phénoménologique en communication appliquée aux pratiques professionnelles des journalistes.’  She also holds a Doctorate in Sociology, under the thesis ‘Analyse et interprétations du génocide rwandais.’  Dominque Payette is the author of the book ‘La dérive sanglante du Rwanda (Écosociété, 2004).’

JOSIAS SEMUJANGA

Josias Semujanga holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Arts from the University of Burundi (1986), a Master’s (1989) and Doctorate (1992) from the Laval University.  He completed post-doctoral research at CRELIQ at Lavel University and CIEF at the University of Paris IV-Sorbonne (1992-1994), and subsequently taught at L’Université nationale du Rwanda and the University of Western Ontario.  He has been teaching since June of 1999 at the University of Montreal in French literature of Africa and the Antilles.
Professor Semujanga’s research interests include African culture and literature, “la théorie des genres,” and analysis of social narratives and their reception.  His over 30 published works, include ‘Configuration de l’énonciation interculturelle dans le roman francophone’ (1996), ‘De paroles en figures’ (a collection with C. Ndiaye) (1996), ‘Récits fondateurs du drame rwandais,’ ‘Discours social, idéologies et stéréotypes’ (1998), ‘Dynamique des genres dans le roman africain,’ and ‘Éléments de poétique transculturelle’ (1999).  He also edited or co-edited the following published volumes: Études françaises, vol. 31, no. 1, (1995), "La représentation ambiguë: configuration du récit africain,” Tangence, no. 49, (1995), "L'enseignement des littératures francophones de l'Afrique et des Antilles,” Présence francophone, no. 52, (1998), "Sony Labou Tansi"; Protée, vol, 27, no 2, (1999), "La réception" - et à Études françaises, vol. 37, no. 2 (2001): "La littérature africaine et ses discours critiques".
Dr. Semujanga currently researches reception of Francophone literature in Africa and the Antilles (FCAR 2002-2005).

LENA SLACHMUIJLDER


Lena Slachmuijlder is the Country Director for Search for Common Ground in the DRC. SFCG's work in the DRC focuses on various conflicts related to the building of lasting peace, including DDR, SSR, repatriation, governance, youth and inter-community conflicts. SFCG’s work in DRC includes media, dialogue, theatre and training activities. SFCG’s 15 weekly radio programmes are broadcast on 100 radio stations in DRC and neighbouring countries. These include radio drama, youth programmes, talk shows and magazine programmes. Common Ground media trainings are offered to partner radio stations, particularly those operating in conflict-prone zones. SFCG’s other projects include the use of participatory theatre for conflict transformation in refugee return zones, a training and capacity building project with the Congolese army on human rights and conflict transformation, and joint activities between communities divided because of the war. Lena has lived and worked in Africa for the last 17 years, and has been based in the Great Lakes with SFCG since 2001. She has a degree in international relations from Stanford University and has worked as a journalist, media trainer, project manager, human rights activist, editor, performing artist and cultural facilitator.

TARA TAVENDER

Tara Tavender is the Executive Director of Save Darfur Canada, a bilingual national coalition of more than 50 organizations undertaking Darfur advocacy.  The group coordinates national Darfur campaigns, hosts events, lobbies Canadian decision-makers, advises government agencies and acts as a resource to media reporting on Darfur.  She sits on the international Globe for Darfur committee coordinating Global Days for Darfur in more than 40 countries, on the American Save Darfur Coalition as an international delegate, and on the Steering Committee of the Sudan Inter-Agency Research Group (SIARG) advising Canadian Government agencies such as CIDA and DFAIT on Sudan policy.  Tara holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science and History from Concordia University, and is a former intern of the Montreal Institute for Genocide and Human Rights Studies (MIGS). where she researched the use of radio programming in conflict zones under Dr. Frank Chalk, and where she co-coordinated a full-day five-panel conference entitled “Canada and the Darfur Crisis.”  Tara is currently organizing a seminar for Canadian media outlets on the logistical and political considerations of reporting on Darfur, among other projects.  For further information on Save Darfur Canada, email her at Tara@SaveDarfurCanada.org or see the website at www.SaveDarfurCanada.org.

DAVID WIMHURST

David Wimhurst worked in Canadian media for fifteen years before joining the UN in 1996. He has been spokesman for UN peace operations in Angola, East Timor and Sierra Leone. He has also worked as an associate spokesman and as acting deputy spokesman for the secretary-general. He has worked in the Department of Peacekeeping Operations headquarters in New York, where he was a political affairs officer. David Wimhurst is now UN Public Affairs Officer in Port au Prince, Haiti with MINUSTAHthe United Nations StabilizationMission in Haiti. Although born in Canada, and now making his home in Montreal, David Wimhurst was raised and educated in the United Kingdom. He has a master's degree from the Graduate School of Journalism at Columbia University in New York.

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