[Mitai-announce] An exciting week of events at MIT

[Elan Pavlov]

Our friends in MIT's Technology and Culture Forum are hosting a week long series
of events focused on violence against women. Some of these events are held in
conjunction with Amnesty but all of them are worth attending. Details are
below.


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Join us for upcoming events centered on violence against women. The End Violence
project is spearheaded by MIT's Technology and Culture Forum and will run this
entire academic year (to start with). We're also working with MIT Amnesty
International, among other organizations on and off campus. This event series
partly funded by the ASA's Large Events Fund.

For more information, go to our website: http://web.mit.edu/end_violence or
email end_violence at mit.edu

Event Details:


MONDAY OCTOBER 26th
Film Screening: Holly
7:15pm-9:00pm
MIT Room 66-110

Free screening of "Holly" to raise awareness about sex trafficking in
Southeast Asia. Info about "Holly": "Set in Cambodia, depicts child
prostitution through the non-sexual, complex relationship between Holly, a
beautiful 12-year-old Vietnamese girl, and Patrick, an obsessive 40-year-old
American stolen artifacts dealer. "

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TUESDAY OCTOBER 27th
Film screening: Making Waves, Saving Lives
Location: MIT campus Room 6-120
Event starts at 7 PM
Event is free and open to the public. Donations for Dolphin Anti-Rape are
encouraged and appreciated.

Making Waves, Saving Lives tells the story of Dolphin Anti-Rape, an organization
that teaches Kenyan women and girls rape awareness and self-defense. With no
government funding, a 1985 Toyota that?s constantly in the shop, and
unreliable public transportation, four dedicated volunteers find a way to
overcome adversity to get into the classrooms of Nairobi to empower young
women. These girls learn that they have the right to say no to unwanted
advances and they gain the courage to fight back and run away. Ten years since
the founding of Dolphin Anti-Rape, its volunteers are affecting not only
students but also a whole generation of young Kenyans, giving them confidence
filling them with empowerment, and helping them preserve their innocence.
Witness how the dedicated volunteers of Dolphin Anti-Rape enable young women to
walk the streets of Nairobi with pride instead of fear.

Filmmaker Golzar Selbe (from Dolphin Anti-Rape, VDay) will be in attendance for
a discussion afterwards.

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WEDNESDAY OCTOBER 28th
Film screening: A Walk to Beautiful
Location: MIT Campus Room 6-120
Event starts at 7 PM
Co-sponsored by MIT Amnesty International
Event is free and open to the public.

The award winning feature-length documentary A Walk to Beautiful tells the
stories of five Ethiopian women who suffer from devastating childbirth injuries
and embark on a journey to reclaim their lost dignity. Rejected by their
husbands and ostracized by their communities, these women are left to spend the
rest of their lives in loneliness and shame. They make the choice to take the
long and arduous journey to the Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital in search of a
cure and a new life.

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THURSDAY OCTOBER 29th
Malalai Joya Visits MIT
Location: MIT Campus Room 10-250
Event starts at 7 PM

Malalai Joya comes to MIT to talk about women's rights, her work, and the
struggle for women's rights in Afghanistan.

Called "the bravest woman in Afghanistan", Joya is a member of the Afghan
parliament who has repeatedly stood up to the warlords, for women's rights and
democracy. Despite having had four assassination attempts against her, she
refuses to remain silent and continues to fight for women's rights.

Event is free and open to the public. Donations for the costs of bringing Joya
here and for the Defense Committee for Malalai Joya are encouraged and
appreciated.

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Fri OCTOBER 30th
Violence and impunity in Guatemala
Location: MIT Campus Room 4-231
Event starts at 7 PM
Speaker: Gladys Monterroso
Co-sponsored by Amnesty International Local Group 133 of Somerville.

Gladys Monterroso is a Guatemalan lawyer, university professor, secretary for
the Encuentro por Guatemala political party, and wife of the Guatemalan Human
Rights Ombudsman, Sergio Morales. Gladys was kidnapped and tortured in March
2009.

Gladys is touring various U.S. cities with the Guatemala Human Rights
Commission/USA to speak out on violence and impunity in Guatemala especially
against women, and the need for immigration reform here in the U.S. "I speak
out in order to break the silence and impunity, to put an end to the
uncontrollable violence in Guatemala that forces thousands to migrate to the
US," she said.

Event is free and open to the public. Donations encouraged and appreciated.