Anti-war line up reflects wide dissent

This Saturday's conference organized by the anti-war group at the University of Southampton will include speakers from many different backgrounds and areas of expertise.

The event, entitled a 'Thinking and Doing' conference, comes out of widely expressed dissent to post-11 September government policies. Its aim is to build upon this through the creation of a broad network of informed experts and activists, especially on university campuses up and down the country.

Speakers on the day will include Paul Ingram, an Oxford-based researcher and local Green Party politician who has made a study of recent Government defence policies, and Professor Laurence Lustgarten of the Law Faculty at Southampton, who will be challenging the recent anti-terrorist legislation.

There will be other speakers from the Stop the War coalition, anti-arms trade groups, enviromentalist and women's groups and other NGOs. Workshops will include one on the issue of academic freedom on campuses and another on how to build grass-roots bridges between different ethnic and religious communities.

A (provisional) line-up of events is as follows:

Opening Plenary (11.15-12.30)

Paul Ingram, Oxford Research Group, leader Green group and deputy leader, Oxford City Council, the British government and its policies, post-11 September; Professor Laurence Lustgarten (University of Southampton Law Faculty), human rights and the anti-terrorist legislation; Helen Salmon (Stop the War Coalition), Building the anti-war movement; Sian Jones (Amnesty and peace activist), the culture of militarism; Mike Taylor (Economist Intelligence Unit), 'the war on terrorism': repercussions in the Balkans

Workshops (1.30-3.15)

John Theobald (media specialist, Southampton Institute) and David Cromwell (Media Lens and Southampton University), 'The media under the spotlight'; Bob Brecher, Gill Scott (Brighton university), Tony Campbell (Southampton University) et al. 'Academic Freedom and Social Responsibility: The role of universities'; Chris Bambery (Socialist Workers Party) and Nick Chaffey (Socialist Alliance) 'Did the left lose the war? : Or how to build a successful anti-war and anti-globalisation movement'; Ruth Doniach-Durant (refugee worker and educational specialist) 'How to build bridges across ethnic communities: a grass-roots response'; Women against Fundamentalism, 'Women against fundamentalism'; Tony Twine (environmental activist), 'Ecological footprints - mapping the environmental crisis post-11 September'

Final plenary 3.45-5.15