Around campus

AROUND CAMPUS

DARFUR ALERT COALITION

Confronting genocide

From Oct. 1 to 14, McGill will host Imagining the Unthinkable: L'exposition du génocide, a public exhibition that illustrates the realities of genocide by bringing together exceptional international collections representing the human toll of mass extermination. The exhibition includes a collection of drawings by children in Darfur, the Shoah Institute Foundation's visual history archive of 52,000 video testimonies of Holocaust survivors, as well as photographs, graphic art, and other artifacts related to the genocides in Cambodia, Rwanda and Guatemala.

The exhibition will be held in the McGill Faculty of Law's Atrium, 3660 Peel Street; and the Foyer of the McLennan Library Building, 3459 McTavish Street. It is free of charge and open to the public from 9:00 a.m. until 8:00 p.m. on weekdays and 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. on weekends. The exhibition will complement the Global Conference on the Prevention of Genocide, which will be held October 11-13.

Media@McGill presents...the Street Fighting Man

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At the height of the Vietnam war, a young student leader named Tariq Ali sparred on national television with Henry Kissinger, hung out with John Lennon, Marlon Brando and Malcolm X, inspired a Rolling Stones tune and ultimately influenced an entire generation of political activists. On October 4, Media@McGill will welcome acclaimed novelist, historian and activist Tariq Ali as guest speaker at the Beaverbrook Public Lecture. Mr. Ali's talk, "New Wars and the New Media," will shine a critical light on the realities of the West's modern-day media landscape. Though Mr. Ali remains an outspoken anti-war advocate, more recently he's turned his attention to broadcasting, filmmaking and writing books, articles and commentary on social and political matters ranging from American foreign policy in the Middle East and Latin America to the conflicts in Iraq, Afghanistan and the Balkans.

The lecture will be held Thursday, October 4, at 6 p.m., in the Auditorium at the Mount Royal Centre, 2200 Mansfield Street. Admission is free. A Q & A session will follow the lecture. For more information, call 514-398-1894.

The Martian question

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Ever wondered, little green men or not, about ancient life on Mars? If so, don't miss the September 29 Freaky Fridays lecture, "Life on Ice: Artic, Antarctic and Mars." Dr Dale Andersen, a McGill alum (PhD '04) and principal investigator at the Carl Sagan Centre for the Study of Life in the Universe at the SETI Institute, will discuss his research on microbial ecosystems and the history of water in inhospitable Arctic and Antarctic environments and how it provides the tools that may shed light on the history of life forms on the red planet. A screening of The Thing from Another World, the 1951 science fiction classic about a malevolent alien rampage at a far-flung Arctic research base, will precede Dr Andersen's lecture.

Friday, September 29, 4 p.m., Strathcona Anatomy and Dentistry Building, Room 2-36, 3640 University Street, Montreal. Admission is free. For more information, contact Ingrid Birker at 514-398-4086, ext. 4094, or see www.mcgill.ca/science/outreach/freakyfridays.

This Freaky Friday is co-hosted by the Lorne Trottier Public Science Symposium.

Music conference sure to snap, crackle and pop

COURTESY OF POP AND POLICY 2007

You know that any conference that has Patti Smith, punk rock's poet laureate, as one of its keynote speakers is going to rock. Toss in McGill's own mind and music guru, pysch prof Daniel Levitin as the other keynote speaker and you have a conference that's going to roll as well. From Oct. 3 to 6, Pop and Policy 2007: Music Fast Forward, will gather experts in music, law, technology and policy as they debate the challenges and exciting new frontiers facing today's music industry. As well as a series of panel discussions, the conference also offers hands-on, skill-building workshops—free for artists and musicians—on everything from public art and media training to open source and wiki platforms.

Pop and Policy 2007: Music Fast Forward, Oct. 3-6, 2007; Schulich School of Music, 555 Sherbrooke Street W. For information, registration and prices go to http://popmontreal.com/politique. Or contact Geoff Agomba at conference@popmontreal.com or 514-661-1340.

Singapore slavery and typhoons in the Philippines

The Indian Ocean World Centre (IOWC) is pleased to welcome James Warren, internationally renowned scholar of Southeast Asian studies from Murdoch University, Australia. On Sept. 26 and 27, the IOWC will present screenings of the film, 'Broken Birds' Ah Ku and Karayuki-san: Prostitution in Singapore (1870-1940), a 45-minute docudrama-cum-opera and dance production inspired by Warren's book.The following evening, Warren will deliver the public lecture, "Typhoon: Climate, History and Society in the Philippines, 1565-2005—Some Initial Thoughts," about the impact of cyclonic storms and climate change on the Philippine island over five centuries.

Film screening and presentation of 'Broken Birds' Ah Ku and Karayuki-san: Prostitution in Singapore (1870-1940), Sept. 26; 6:00 p.m.; Rutherford Physics Building, Room 118; and Sept. 28; 6:30 p.m., Leacock 232. "Typhoon: Climate, History and Society in the Philippines; Sept. 27; 6:30 p.m. Leacock 232. For more information, www.indianoceanworldcentre.com/events.html.