Kalamazoo — Great Lakes PeaceJam this year will welcome 2003 Nobel Peace Prize winner, Shirin Ebadi of Iran, to the 6th Annual Great Lakes PeaceJam Youth Conference on April 19 & 20, 2008 at Western Michigan University (WMU).  Ebadi won the Nobel Peace Prize for her efforts for democracy and human rights, especially for the rights of women and children.  More than 200 high school-aged youth from Michigan, Illinois, Indiana and Ohio will join Ebadi, who is the only Middle Eastern woman to have won the Nobel Peace Prize. 

 Ebadi will be the honored guest at the two-day youth conference and will also give a public address on April 20th at 7:30 p.m. at the Bernhard Center ballroom on the campus of WMU.  The address, entitled Defending the Rights of Women and Children, will provide the public with an opportunity to hear Ebadi’s thoughts on advocating for democracy and human rights.  A question and answer session will follow.  No tickets are necessary.  There is a suggested donation of $10 per person ($5 for students) taken at the door.

 In preparation for Ebadi’s public appearance on the 20th, Great Lakes PeaceJam is also hosting two additional community-wide educational events.  On April 17th, 2008, a panel discussion entitled “Culture or Religion?  Women’s Rights and Islam,” from  7 – 9 p.m. in the Lee Honor’s College on the WMU campus.

 Panelists will include Muslim female members of the local community, as well faculty from area colleges who specialize in women’s issues, religion and the Middle East. The panelists will comment on the status of women’s rights in the East, and discuss the influence of both religion and culture.  The event is framed around the following quote by Shirin Ebadi, “Nowhere in the world is there a place where women are treated as they should be…women are suppressed both in Islamic countries and in the West. But the reason they are more suppressed in Islamic countries is not because of religion but because of the patriarchal culture in Eastern countries.”

Also, from April 18th – 20th, the film “Persepolis” will be showing at  various times at WMU’s Little Theater, Kalamazoo; this is being sponsored by the Kalamazoo Film Society.

 Nominated for the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature for 2007, “Persepolis” tells the story of a young girl coming of age against the backdrop of the Iranian Revolution.  This wonderfully creative film will provide a unique educational opportunity for community members prior to hearing directly from Shirin Ebadi and the status of rights in Iran today.

 All three events honoring Shirin Ebadi are open to the public and media. The events will provide the greater Kalamazoo community with perspectives on Ebadi’s life and work, the rights of women and children in Iran and throughout the world, achieving democracy within an autocratic governmental system, and perspectives on growing tensions between the U.S and Iran.

PeaceJam (www.peacejam.org) is an international education program built around 11 Nobel Peace Prize winners including Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Màiread Corrigan Maguire and the Dalai Lama.  These laureates work personally with youth to pass on the spirit, skills and wisdom they embody.  PeaceJam’s goal is to inspire a new generation of peacemakers who will transform their local communities, themselves and the world.  Since 1996, more than 500,000 teenagers worldwide have participated in PeaceJam.  Participants have developed and implemented over 300,000 community service/peace projects as a result of their involvement in PeaceJam.

 Great Lakes PeaceJam, based in Kalamazoo, is administered by the Greater Kalamazoo United Way (GKUW) and serves the youth of Indiana, Illinois, Ohio, and Michigan. Over 2,000 young people have participated in Great Lakes PeaceJam programs since its inception in 2002. Funders of Great Lakes PeaceJam include the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, Fetzer Institute, Kalamazoo Community Foundation, and the Irving S. Gilmore Foundation.