Daily Herald the Brown
vol. cxliv, no. 69 | Tuesday, September 22, 2009 | Serving the community daily since 1891
Campus prepares for visit from controversial strongman Musharraf By Mitra Anoushiravani Senior Staff Writer
Pervez Musharraf, the former president of Pakistan who resigned last year as opposition parties threatened to impeach him, is set to deliver a lecture tonight to what may be a skeptical American audience. Musharraf, who took power in the South Asian nation in a nonviolent military coup in 1999, will speak at 7 p.m. in the De Ciccio Family Auditorium at the Salomon Center. The former leader, whose controversial policies on fighting terrorism and attempts to maintain his hold on power in the unstable country led to his ouster, has already attracted enormous interest. Tickets for the lecture, distributed last week, ran out, though those without passes can try to grab a seat at a simulcast in Sayles Hall. The Brown Lecture Board, which is sponsoring the address, hopes Musharraf’s appearance will be “enriching to the Brown experience,” said Andrew Chapin ’10, one of the presidents of the board.
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“Bringing him isn’t any political statement, and it isn’t trying to send a message by any means,” he said. “We aren’t trying to get him to talk about some specific issues. He has a unique perspective and interesting experiences,” Chapin said. Musharraf’s talk will be followed by a question-and-answer moderated by Nina Tannenwald, associate professor of international relations. Security is one of the main concerns with hosting a high-profile political figure on campus. The Department of Public Safety, the U.S. State Department and Musharraf’s own security detail from Pakistan are working together to make sure the event runs safely, according to Chapin. Unlike with most major speakers who come to campus, a recording of the event will not be made available online because of the terms of the contract with Musharraf. Moreover, the Lecture Board will not allow media into Salomon. continued on page 3
Kim Perley / Herald
The twice-monthly mainstay of Providence’s cultural life requires the effort of more than 100 volunteers.
WaterFire: a festival from the ashes
By Ben Schreckinger Senior Staf f Writer
It’s 5 a.m., more than 12 hours before WaterFire’s first brazier is set ablaze, and Director of Events and Operations Paul Kochanek — or PK, as the ID card clipped to his belt identifies him — is already on site, beginning the hundreds of manhours that go into a lighting.
quick stump for slow change
More than 20 East Side businesses have signed up to promote the 3/50 Project, a national grassroots organization that encourages consumers to spend $50 a month at three of their
METRO favorite independent retailers, restaurants or other local businesses. “It’s an excellent movement, and we’ve been doing our part to bring light to it,” said Asher Schofield, co-owner of Hope Street’s Frog & Toad, a novelty gift shop and one of the numerous businesses on Wickenden and Hope Streets and in Wayland Square to have joined the cause. According to the organization’s Web site, if half the United States’ employed population spent $50
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News.....1-4 Higher Ed....3 Metro........5 Editorial.....6 Opinion......7 Today.........8
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FEATURE fires that dot the Woonasquatucket, Moshassuck and Providence rivers downtown. The simple idea — lighting fires
Kim Perley / Herald
Students organized a “flash mob” for climate change awareness Monday.
on the waters of downtown Providence — was conceived by artist Barnaby Evans ’75 in 1994. Initially intended as a one-time installation, WaterFire was brought back for a second lighting in 1996. The next year, the event expanded to several lightings. Since then it has grown in frequency and size, attracting continued on page 2
Capitalism linked to sexual oppression, activist says By Sydney Ember Senior Staf f Writer
By Lauren Fedor Senior Staf f Writer
continued on page 5
Three hours later, Kochanek is out on Memorial Boulevard enjoying coffee and doughnuts with the volunteers who build the 100 or so
President Obama may not like being called a “socialist,” but Sherr y Wolf does. Spor ting a gray T-shir t emblazoned with the words, “Tax the Rich,” the author and activist spoke Monday night to an eclectic audience in List 120 about sexual oppression and the histor y of the LGBT liberation movement. During Wolf’s hour-long talk, peppered with a potpourri of sarcastic quips about topics ranging from the economy to sex, she shared her views on capitalism’s role in sexual oppression. She also touched on what she called the “new posture” of the LGBT movement in light of the samesex marriage battle and the recent challenge to the militar y’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy. Wolf said sexual oppression stems largely from capitalism and its materialistic influence on family structure. The struggle over gay rights — and gay marriage
— results from the concept of a traditional family structure held by a capitalist society, which she said “privatizes things that ought to be social needs.” “The nuclear family,” she said, “is a means for a capitalist system.” Wolf said the constant rush of today’s professionals is not conducive to sexual experimentation. “We actually lead lives that materially constrain us,” she said. “As a result, many of our sex lives suck.” But she said this repression could be alleviated under a socialist structure, which she said would solve the interplay between a desire for ideological change and what she called a constant material struggle. She also spoke about her detestation of the “biological argument” pertaining to sexuality, eliciting audience approval when she asked about the merits of searching for a “gay gene.” continued on page 4
Higher Ed, 3
Metro, 5
Opinions, 7
suspect in yale murder Police have arrested a lab technician suspected in a grad student’s murder
the middle party? An alum is elected the new head of the state’s Moderate Party
against ‘hegemony’ Jonah Fabricant ’10 says students should shy away from useless jargon
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