ASAP Brazil will host its 3rd international conference, \”Academic Reflections to Overcome Misery and Hunger\” on August 23rd – 24th at Mackenzie Presbyterian University in São Paulo.

The members of ASAP seek to contribute to the improvement of public policies and debate on the subject, for the subsidy of legislative changes and for the adjustment of procedures. In view of the direct link with the research lines of the UPM\’s Political and Economic Law Graduate Program (1. Citizenship modeling the State and 2. Economic Power and its legal limits), the Event will contribute significantly to the formation as well as in the practical thinking involved in the strategies to build public policies to fight poverty and hunger.

For more information, visit the conference website or brazil.academicsstand.org.

ASAP Brazil Conference Programme

On February 19th, ASAP and the New Economics Foundation organized an exciting panel discussion at King\’s College London with former Prime Ministers from Club de Madrid and other panelists.

Background: We live in an era of division. Many countries around the world are suffering stark inequalities between rich and poor, young and old, metropolitan and rural, settled and newcomer. And this is driving new and potentially dangerous forms of politics to the fore. There is an urgent need for ideas and initiatives to bridge these divides and create a stronger, fairer society.

Academics Stand Against Poverty and the New Economics Foundation were pleased to welcome members of Club de Madrid, Zlatko Lagumdzija, Prime Minister of Bosnia & Herzegovina (2001-2002) and Wim Kok, Prime Minister of the Netherlands (1994-2002) to lead a discussion on what different countries can learn from each other about how to build a more inclusive society. They were joined on the panel by:

• Richard Bell, Head of Policy, Public Affairs and Research at The Challenge
• Henrietta Moore, Director of the Institute for Global Prosperity at UCL, where she also holds the Chair in Culture, Philosophy and Design.

The panel was chaired by Helen Yanacopulos, Professor of International Politics and Development at the Open University.

About Club de Madrid

The Club de Madrid is an independent non-profit organization created to promote democracy and change in the international community. Composed of 95 regular members, the Club de Madrid is the world’s largest forum of former heads of state and government. Its Shared Societies Project aims to challenge social divisions and supports a holistic approach to sustainable development, integrating social, economic and environmental dimensions, with social inclusion at its core.

Documents

• Sharing Our Planet: Today and Tomorrow – Key Insights of Club de Madrid Working Group on Shared Societies and Environmental Sustainability 2017
• Sharing Our Planet: Today and Tomorrow – Policy and practice options to implement key insights from the Working Group on Environmental Sustainability and Shared Societies
• A New Paradigm for Sustainable Development? – Summary of the deliberations of the Club de Madrid Working Group on Environmental Sustainability and Shared Societies
• The Shared Societies Contribution to Agenda 2030 – A message for World Leaders and Governments from the Club de Madrid Working Group on Shared Societies and Environmental Sustainability 2017

From 27 – 29 October, 2017, Academics Stand Against Poverty co-organized a four day conference covering topics related to global justice in partnership with Yale University and Global Financial Integrity. The title of this year’s conference was Onslaughts on the Poor: Corruption, Emissions, Violence.

The conference focused on three themes:

• Illicit Financial Flows (27 October)
• Climate Justice and the new Enterprise Principles (28 October)
• Poverty, Humanitarian Crises, War and Preemption (29 October)

Highlights of the first day included the awarding of the 2017 Amartya Sen Prize, a video address and discussion with Jeffrey Sachs, and a rousing address by special guest speaker Ralph Nader in the afternoon, titled “A Corporate Crime Wave Without Punishment: Can Democracy and Law Fight Back?”. The ever-optimistic Mr. Nader drew attention to the power small organized groups still have to make positive changes in society and encouraged the audience to deepen its involvement in activist activities. After his speech Mr. Nader signed copies of his book Breaking Through Power: It\’s Easier Than You Think

The second day of the conference featured attorneys Julia Olson and Phil Gregory from the landmark case Juliana v. United States, a constitutional climate lawsuit brought by youth against the United States government.

Members from ASAP Chapters participated throughout the conference as guest speakers, including Maykel Ponçoni and Alan Pereira of ASAP Brazil, Francisco Saffie and Nicole Selamé of ASAP Chile, Diana Velica of ASAP Romania, Mladjo Ivanovic of ASAP USA, Maria Ginevra Cattaneo of ASAP Italy, and Pahlaj Moolio of ASAP Cambodia.

The conference was preceded by a day of networking and workshops for ASAP Chapters on 26 October.

Nita Mishra, PhD scholar at University College Cork and Convenor of ASAP Ireland, will speak at two events in Dublin this month.

The Poverty of Lives: Women and Abuse across India and Ireland at Kimmage Development Studies Centre, 18 May 2017

Lucy Kurien, a Catholic nun from Kerala in India, will deliver the keynote address, joined by Nita Mishra of ASAP Ireland and author Catherine Dunn. The event is supported by Ireland-India Institute and Gender Study Group, Development Studies Association Ireland.

More information

India and Europe: Debating the Challenge of Climate Change at Dublin City University, 25 May 2017

DCU Ireland India Institute will host an international conference on the challenge of climate change for India and Europe on Thursday 25 May 2017 in DCU\’s All Hallows campus. This conference takes place against the backdrop of an uncertain global context that challenges the progress of recent years, including the 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change. The conference will bring together Indian and European experts to analyse the respective perspectives of the European Union and India climate change and sustainable development. The conference is supported by a grant from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

Nita Mishra will speak on \”Critical perspectives on climate change and development in India\”.

More information

Global Climate Change Week (GCCW) aims to encourage academic communities – including academics, students, and non-academic staff at universities – to engage with each other, their communities, and policy makers on climate change.

What could you do for GCCW 2016 (Oct 10-16)? Some activities are very simple and require little preparation. For example, you can simply make a time to talk with your colleagues and students about climate change and how you can contribute to tackling it.

Other activities require a little more preparation. Here are a few suggestions, with links to examples universities organised for the first GCCW last year.

• Panel discussions on one or another aspect of climate change (like this one at the University of California Berkeley, or this one at University College London)
• Special seminars or lectures on climate change (like this lecture series at the University of Bath or this lecture series at Heythrop College London)
• Divestment events (like this one at the University of New South Wales or this one at the University of East Anglia) (for information about divestment see 350.org’s website)
• Student competitions, like this climate change video contest at Arizona State University
• World Climate Simulation, a role-playing exercise of the UN climate change negotiations, using an interactive computer model to analyze the results of the mock-negotiations during the event

For more examples of activities see here and here.

If you would like to register for GCCW 2016, please do so here.

And please help to spread the word about GCCW 2016!

Academics Stand Against Poverty co-hosted the conference \”The New Philanthropy: Effective Altruism and Beyond\” held at Yale University on May 6 and 7. The event featured a keynote address by Angus Deaton, recipient of the 2015 Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences, in which he presented a critical analysis of effective altruism. Renowned philosopher Peter Singer also joined the conference via Skype. The full recap is available on the Yale Global Justice Program website. Videos will be posted in the coming weeks.

Academics Stand Against Poverty will be co-hosting the conference \”Effective Altruism and Beyond\” on May 6th and 7th at Yale University. The conference will explore the philanthropic movement known as effective altruism with talks from several prominent academics including Angus Deaton and Peter Singer.

The full conference description is available on the Yale Global Justice Program website. For more information, please contact newphilanthropyatyale@gmail.

If you are in DC on the evening of April 14 and are interested in Tax Justice, here’s an event you might want to attend:

Thursday, April 14, 2016
5:30 – 8:30 PM
Harry Harding Auditorium, 2nd Floor
Elliott School of International Affairs
1957 E Street NW, Washington, D.C.

The Institute for International Economic Policy at the George Washington University is pleased to host a film screening, book release, and panel discussion on Thursday, April 14. The program is being supported by former IIEP Director James Foster, a renowned authority on development, inequality, and poverty, and by Professor Thomas Pogge, Professor of Philosophy at Yale University.

This event is open to the press and advance copies of Global Tax Fairness are available to the press upon request. Please contact James Henry at (516)-721-1452 with additional questions.

More information including the panel is available here.

Below are videos from the recent Global Justice Post-2015 Conference held at Yale University, from October 30th to November 1st. The conference was co-hosted by ASAP, the Yale Global Justice Program (GJP), and Global Financial Integrity. Special thanks to Yale GJP Fellow Alexandre Sayegh for filming the videos.

ASAP is working with the Yale Global Justice Program and Global Financial Integrity to co-host the conference entitled \”Global Justice Post-2015\” from October 30th to November 1st. Read more about the conference here. The program is available here.