Zimbabwe Human Rights Activist to Speak Dec. 2

Contact: Jim Settele, (207) 581-1835

“Political Violence in Zimbabwe: A Curse or An Age Old Culture” is the topic of the next Bangor Foreign Policy Forum, supported by the UMaine School of Policy and International Affairs, Thursday, Dec. 2 at 7:30 a.m. at the Bangor Public Library lecture hall and at 11 a.m. in the Bangor Room of the UMaine Memorial Union.

The speaker is Jestina Mukoko, 2010 Human Rights Fellow, The Oak Institute for the Study of International Human Rights at Colby College. A former Zimbabwe radio broadcaster, Mukoko is the national director of the Zimbabwe Peace Project (ZPP), an NGO that monitors human rights abuses throughout the country. A long-time leader in the human rights and activist communities in Zimbabwe, Mukoko was abducted from her home in December 2008 by state security agents for her work monitoring the brutality of the Mugabe government. During her 21-day abduction, she was tortured, beaten and forced to confess to a crime she did not commit. She was detained until March 2, 2009.

Biographical and other details are available on the SPIA website.

Please RSVP for the 7:30 a.m. talk at the Bangor Public Library by email to admin@bangorforeignpolicyforum.org, or call (207) 581-1835. The 11 a.m. presentation at UMaine is free, open to the public, and requires no registration.