Amid concern about the role of military veterans in the January 6 siege of the Capitol and the recruitment of service members by white supremacist groups, this program will feature soldiers who have followed a different path in speaking out against racism and unjust wars from the Vietnam era to the present. The event will commemorate the Winter Soldier Investigation organized by Vietnam Veterans Against the War (VVAW) 50 years ago in February 1971, and similar hearings by Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW) 37 years later in March 2008.
Echoing Thomas Paine’s famous Revolutionary War passage honoring soldiers who stand with their country in time of crisis in contrast to the "summer soldier" who shrinks from duty, these winter soldiers of the past and present will address the atrocities of war and the prevalence of racism within the military and in U.S. foreign policy. The event will emphasize the relevance of these issues to the continuing struggles for racial justice and ending the endless wars of today.
The program will feature military veterans of the Vietnam War and post-9/11 eras and clips from documentary films documenting Vietnam and post-9/11 winter soldier hearings.
CONFIRMED PRESENTERS INCLUDE:
Thomas Baker, Ph.D. Student, Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice, University of Missouri-St. Louis
Francisco Cantú, Former Border Patrol Agent; Author, The Line Becomes a River (Photo credit: David Taylor)
Al Hubbard, Former Vietnam Veterans Against the War Leader
Joshua Houze, Veteran, U.S. Army National Guard
Adrienne Kinne, President, Veterans for Peace Board of Directors
Barbara Kopple, Documentary Filmmaker
Garett Reppenhagen, Executive Director, Veterans for Peace
Susan Schnall, Co-coordinator of the Vietnam Agent Orange Relief and Responsibility Campaign; Assistant Professor, New York University
Margaret Stevens, Associate Professor of History, Essex County College
Joe Urgo, Former Vietnam Veterans Against the War Leader
Hart Viges, Member, Veterans for Peace, About Face: Veterans Against the War, and Sustainable Options for Youth
David Zeiger, President, Displaced Films
This webinar is co-sponsored by the Keough School of Global Affairs, About Face: Veterans Against the War, Veterans For Peace, and the Vietnam Peace Commemoration Committee.
Originally published at kroc.nd.edu.