Provocate.org

When you check out Provocation #1, you’ll see four pictures that represent the topics of important talks around Indianapolis the evening of April 16th. Outside experts flew to Indy from DC, New York, Berkeley and Nairobi … very generously eager to help Hoosiers view the world more clearly. But if we are fortunate, the outsiders coming to Indianapolis to enlighten us about the world will also help us understand our own community better. If they were fortunate, our guests left with an awareness of some of the new ideas about the world that are percolating out of Indy. Read Provocate’s First Provocation!

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Burma’s rule by an oppressive dictatorship has resulted in an increase in the number of refugees fleeing government violence. Indianapolis has become a major resettlement city for these refugees and IUPUI has become a school of choice for many of the college age refugees. (more…)

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During War World II, civil rights protected by the U.S. Constitution were “thrown out the window” with the imprisonment of Americans of Japanese heritage. This extreme social injustice is an example of the extreme power of racism driving government decisions. Though this tragedy occurred more than 50 years ago, the implications remain current and will be discussed in the post-9/11 context of the imprisonment of Muslim Americans. (more…)

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Says John Hagedorn: “Gangs Aren’t Going Away Soon… No Matter What We Do! This means we better figure out how to reduce the violence and encourage gangs and others in ghettoes, barrios, favelas, and townships to join movements for social change.” (more…)

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Before assuming you know what Catholics think about stem cell research, perhaps you should listen to one of the leading Catholic bioethicists. (more…)

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In Indiana last year, 79 individuals died as a direct result of domestic violence. Almost 10,000 women and children spent over 160,000 days in an emergency shelter resulting from a domestic altercation. Many persons in distress turn to their faith leader for help. This provides a crucial window of opportunity for faith leaders to intervene and provide information and resources that could prevent a violent event in that person’s life. (more…)

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10 million people die each year from diseases with available cures, and nearly 1/3 of humanity does not have regular access to essential medicines. Find out about the challenges facing access to essential medicines in IU-affiliated countries, what IU is doing to address them, and what you can do to help (that doesn’t necessarily involve a $2,000.00 round trip!). (more…)

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Ever wonder who at the White House is figuring out how to address the next complex humanitarian emergency, how to fix the next failed state? The answer: Kara McDonald. She is coming to Indy to discuss the challenges that await us, and how we can be better prepared. (more…)

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The filmmaker of “The Greatest Silence: Rape in the Congo,” Lisa Jackson, was on the Diane Rehm Show today. Hear her interview here. And see her at Landstone Keystone Arts Cinema Tuesday 5:45 PM, where she will discuss her film as part of the Eric Parker Social Justice Award; or at the Lockerbie United Methodist Church Wednesday at noon.

April 26 - May 1 — Help determine the Eric Parker Social Justice Award! The Eric Parker Social Justice Award honors a film that confronts the audience with urgent social problems and provokes innovative solutions. After each screening of the two finalists, Provocate will hold discussions with audience members & local experts. The discussions — your ideas — will determine the winner of the award. check it out

April 29 — Policy analyst Steven Hayward brings his doubts about human-induced climate change. Looking for well-articulated sneers at environmentalists and their anxieties? Steven Hayward is your guy. check it out

April 29 — The Architecture of Nature: A Talk by Maya Lin . Ever since she was an undergraduate and her design was selected for the Vietnam War Memorial, Maya Lin has been one of the most celebrated and controversial sculpture and landscape artists in America. Her work in Indianapolis continues her use of nature as part of art. check it out

April 29 — Provocate presents discussion of “The Greatest Silence” with director Lisa Jackson. Rape is used as a weapon against tens of thousands of women and children in Congo’s civil war: it destroys families, disrupts the economy by crippling breadwinners, contributes to the HIV/AIDS plague … and because of shame the victims feel they cannot speak and thus suffer from “The Greatest Silence.” Filmmaker Lisa Jackson used a horrific event from her past to engage Congolese rape survivors, to get them to speak. Now Lisa comes to Indy to help us understand how we can be part of helping the Congolese solve their problems. check it out

April 30 — US Defense and Security Policy. More military, less military, or smarter military? And who to whack with it? check it out

April 30 — Commemorate the victims of the Holocaust as part of Yom HaShoah יום השואה , יום הזיכרון לשואה ולגבורהmeans “Holocaust Remembrance Day,” a day set aside for remembering the six million Jews who perished in the Holocaust. In Israel, it is a national memorial day; in Indianapolis it is an opportunity for the entire community to come together to reaffirm that we can’t keep letting genocide happen. check it out

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Martha Barnette is co-host of the national show “A Way with Words” … think of “Car Talk” for language, with calls about slang, word origins, grammatical pet peeves, old sayings, regional dialects, neologisms, world languages, and speaking and writing well. Ask her what the word “Provocate” means. (more…)

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