Middle East specialist to speak about ‘Understanding ISIS and Alternatives to War’

NORTH MANCHESTER, Ind. – Manchester University welcomes author, policy analyst and activist Phyllis Bennis as she presents “Understanding ISIS and Alternatives to War” on Thursday, Nov. 19.

This free presentation will be offered at 3:30 p.m. in Cordier Auditorium at the North Manchester campus. It is open to the public.

Bennis will discuss the challenges of dealing with ISIS, also known as the Islamic State in Iraq and al-Sham, Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) or Islamic State (IS). The U.S. response has been an escalating air war, an expanding drone war and U.S. troops on the ground.

Bennis will discuss the alternatives to war in order to deal with extremist violence and provide suggestions for citizens who wish to encourage nonviolent solutions.

Bennis directs the New Internationalism Project at the Institute for Policy Studies, specializing in U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East.  She was a journalist at the United Nations for 10 years, and serves as a special advisor to U.N. officials on Middle East issues.

Bennis has written and edited 11 books including her latest, “Understanding ISIS & the New Global War on Terror: A Primer.” Her other titles include “Before & After: US Foreign Policy and the War on Terror,” “Challenging Empire: How People, Governments and the UN Defy U.S. Power,” and “Understanding the Palestinian-Israeli Conflict.”  Bennis appears regularly on U.S. and international media to provide analysis on events in the Middle East.

The presentation, sponsored by the Peace Studies Institute, is part of Manchester University’s Values, Ideas and the Arts series.

Contact: Katy Gray Brown 
Associate Professor of Philosophy and Peace Studies
Manchester University
klgraybrown@manchester.edu
260-982-5343

Prepared by Lauren Hughes, MU communications assistant.

November 10, 2015