NEW PALTZ — Former U.S. Attorney General, author and human rights activist Ramsey Clark will speak at the State University of New York at New Paltz on Wednesday, April 28 at 7:00 p.m. His topic will be “Sanctions and State Terrorism: The Continuing U.S. War on Iraq.” Throughout the day, video documentaries of Clark’s fact-finding and humanitarian aid missions to Iraq, between 1991 and 1998, will be shown. Both the videos and the lecture will be in Lecture Center 100.
Clark was Assistant U.S. Attorney General under President John F. Kennedy. In 1965, he was appointed Deputy Attorney General, and later Attorney General, under President Lyndon B. Johnson. As Attorney General, Clark supervised the enforcement of federal court orders requiring the admission of James Meredith to the University of Mississippi and protecting the civil rights march from Selma to Montgomery.
During his career, Clark has championed numerous issues at home and abroad. As general counsel of the Alaska Federation of Natives, he secured the largest settlement of native land claims in history. He argued or briefed the first Freedom of Information Act case and various First Amendment, peace movement, civil rights and criminal cases in the United States Supreme Court. He has been an opponent of U.S. military interventions in Vietnam, Grenada, Panama, Nicaragua, Libya and Somalia.
Individually, and on behalf of various organizations, Clark has attempted to end political repression, violation of human rights, the use of the death penalty, torture, and violence around the world through litigation and other forms of advocacy .
Clark went to Iraq during the 1991 bombing, and since that time, has frequently traveled there on fact-finding and humanitarian missions. Following his return from one fact-finding mission, he founded the Commission of Inquiry for the International War Crimes Tribunal to gather testimony from survivors and eyewitnesses from around the world. As a witness to the devastation inflicted upon the Iraqi population, including hunger, malnutrition, sickness and death, Clark has led a campaign to end the sanctions against Iraq. In 1992, he founded the International Action Center to establish a permanent response network for global crises. He is also a founder of the Medicine for Iraq Campaign.
Ramsey Clark is the author of Crime in America, The Fire This Time, and The Role of Supreme Court (with Senator Sam J. Ervin, Jr.).
The schedule for the showing of video documentaries on Wednesday, April 28 is:
“Let Iraq Live” (1998) – 2:30 p.m. and 6:10 p.m.
“Nowhere to Hide” (1991) – 3:00 p.m. and 5:40 p.m.
“The Children Are Dying (1996) – 3:30 p.m. and 4:35 p.m.
“Challenge to Genocide (1997) – 4:00 p.m. and 5:05 p.m.
