Brazil: Amnesty, Transitional Justice, and the Legacies of the Brazilian Dictatorship Wednesday, October 9, 2013 Wednesday – Thursday, October 9 – 10
Joukowsky Forum Reception to follow Opening Ceremony This conference features a visit by the Brazilian Amnesty Commission (Comissão de Anistia ), which was formed in 2001 under the jurisdiction of the Brazilian Ministry of Justice. Its mission is to analyze the requests for indemnification of those persons who were unable to work or carry out other economic activities for political reasons during the period from 1946 until 1988. The conference will explore the Commission’s activities and provide a forum for discussion with researchers and students who are studying questions related to human rights, transitional justice, and efforts to document and preserve evidence of human rights abuses. The conference will also recognize the contribution of several people—both Americans and Brazilians—who, while living in the United States in the 1970s, were instrumental in denouncing torture and promoting human rights in Brazil.
Wednesday, October 9, 2013
6 – 7 p.m. Opening Ceremony
Chair: James N. Green, History and Portuguese and Brazilian Studies •
Richard Locke, Director, Watson Institute for International Affairs •
Ambassador Cézar Amaral, Brazilian Consultae, Hartford CT • President
Ricardo Lagos, Professor at Large, Brown University, and former president of
Chile • Nelson Vieira, Chair, Department of Portuguese and Brazilian Studies
7 – 8 p.m. Keynote Lecture: “The Human Rights Movement in Brazil”
• José Eduardo Cardozo, Brazilian Minister of Justice (TBC) • Paulo Abrão,
President of the Amnesty Commission
8 – 9 p.m. Reception
Thursday, October 10, 2013
9:30 – 11:30 a.m. Amnesty, Memory, and Human Rights
Chair: Nelson Vieira
• Carla Simone Rodghero, Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul • Rebecca
Atencio, Tulane University • Marcelo Torrely, Brasília University (visiting
researcher at Harvard Law School) • James N. Green and Adam Waters, Brown
University
12 – 2 p.m. Lunch
2 – 4 p.m. The Campaign against the Brazilian Dictatorship in the United
States
Chair: Richard Snyder, Director, Center for Latin American and Caribbean
Studies • Anivaldo Padilha, former editor, Brazilian Information Bulletin,
Berkeley, CA • Marcos Arruda, founder, Committee against Repression in
Brazil, Washington, DC • William Wipfler, former director, Latin American
Department, National Council of Churches • Paul Silberstein, former
collaborator, Brazilian Information Bulletin, Berkeley, CA • Jovelino Ramos,
retired Presbyterian minister, human rights activist
4 – 5 p.m. Honoring Human Rights Activists
Chair: Paulo Abrão
• Five-minute presentations about honorees by Brown students Megan Hauptman,
Lanna Leite, Joaquim Moreira Salles, and Emma Wohl.
• Awarding of certificates from the Brazilian Amnesty Commission to
recognize the participation in human rights campaigns in the United States
during the dictatorship to Marcos Arruda, Anivaldo Padilha, Jovelino Ramos,
Paul Silberstein, Harry Strharsky, Lorreta Sthrharsky, and William Wipfler.
Sponsored by the Comissão de Anistia, Ministry of Justice, Brazil Center for
Latin American and Caribbean Studies