Amnesty International’s Josh Rubenstein speaking in Second Life on Thursday

This Thursday, July 23, the Second Life talk show "Virtually Speaking" will be doing an entire show on the work of Amnesty International.  Starting with at 3:45pm PST, the show will feature interviews with millay Freschi, Virtual Worlds Coordinator for Amnesty International, and Josh Rubenstein, NE Regional Director of Amnesty International.  About Josh:

As the Northeast Regional Director of Amnesty International USA
since 1975, Josh Rubenstein oversees Amnesty's work in New England, New
York and New Jersey. He has been professionally involved with
human rights and international affairs for 30 years as an activist,
scholar and journalist with particular expertise in Soviet affairs. As
a long-time Associate of Harvard's Davis Center for Russian and
Eurasian Studies, Josh has made many research trips to Moscow and other
Russian cities. He has lectured and written widely on the Soviet human
rights movement, including a series of lectures in Russian at the
Mendeleev Institute in Moscow in the fall of 1990 and in the spring of
1991.

Sounds like a really interesting discussion.  I'd love to hear about how Amnesty International thinks about using social media tools for promoting human rights around the world. 

Head to the New InWorld Amphitheater to be a part of the live avatar audience (click here to teleport.) The complete event announcement after the jump…

You are invited ….

Virtually Speaking welcomes
Amnesty Int'l NE Regional Director Josh Rubenstein, Live in SL
Thursday, July 23 – times are SLT

3:45pm – 4:45pm PST – Pianist Tomofumi Mayako (19 yrs old!) plays selected classical pieces.
4:45pm – 5:00pm PST – millay Freschi, Virtual Worlds Coordinator for Amnesty International
5:00pm – 6:00pm PST – Acoustic guitarist Shannon Oherlihy, winner of the Second Song for Amnesty Contest
6pm – 7:15pm PST – Josh Rubenstein and Jay Ackroyd (Jimbo Hoyer) discuss Amnesty International's past, present and future.

Locale  – New InWorld Amphitheater
http://slurl.com/secondlife/InWorld%20Studios/36/54/23

As the Northeast Regional Director of Amnesty International USA since 1975, Josh Rubenstein oversees Amnesty's work in New England, New York and New Jersey.

He has been professionally involved with human rights and international affairs for 30 years as an activist, scholar and journalist with particular expertise in Soviet affairs.

As a long-time Associate of Harvard's Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies, Josh has made many research trips to Moscow and other Russian cities. He has lectured and written widely on the Soviet human rights movement, including a series of lectures in Russian at the Mendeleev Institute in Moscow in the fall of 1990 and in the spring of 1991.

http://www.law.harvard.edu/conferences/nuremberg_legacies/rubensteinbio.php

"The Unknown Black Book: The Holocaust in the German-Occupied Soviet Territories," edited by Joshua Rubenstein and Ilya Altman, provides a revelatory compilation of testimonies from Jews who survived these massacres and other atrocities enforced by the Germans and their allies.

Previously, Josh authored "Soviet Dissidents, Their Struggle for Human Rights" (1980) and Tangled Loyalties: The Life and Times of Ilya Ehrenburg, a biography of the controversial Soviet writer and journalist. His book, Stalin's Secret Pogrom: the Postwar Inquisition of the Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee, was awarded the National Jewish Book Award in 2001-2002. Mr. Rubenstein has also contributed articles and reviews on Russian and international affairs to many publications including The New Republic, The Wall Street Journal, The Nation, The Columbia Journalism Review, The New York Times, and The Boston Globe.

Research Interests: history of Soviet Jewry; history of the Soviet human rights movement; the Holocaust on German-occupied Soviet territory.

Sample Publications:

    * Rubenstein, Joshua. Soviet Dissidents, Their Struggle for Human Rights. Beacon Press, 1980, 1981, 1985.
    * Rubenstein, Joshua. Tangled Loyalties, The Life and Times of Ilya Ehrenburg. Basic Books, 1996, 1999.
    * Rubenstein, Joshua. Stalin's Secret Pogrom: The Postwar Inquisition of the Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee. 2001.
    * Rubenstein, Joshua and Alexander Gribanov, Eds. The KGB File of Andrei Sakharov Yale University Press, 2005.

    Review of The Unknown Black Book
    http://newsinfo.iu.edu/news/page/normal/7377.html

Coming in July & August  – (6pm SLT unless otherwise noted)

July 25 – Bookstacks Kghia Gherardi co-hosts a discussion of Jessica Valenti's "The Purity Myth: How America's Obsession with Virginity is Hurting Young Women" (4pm-6pm)
July 30 – Purity Myth Author Jessica Valenti
Aug 6  – FutureMajority.org blogger Mike Connery
Aug 13 – DailyKos Founder Markos Moulitsas, Author 'Crashing the Gates' (9:45pm – 10:30pm)
Aug 20 – Evolutionary Biologist Lynn Margulis
Aug 27 – Josh Knauer and Dr. Greg Dworkin (DemfromCt) discuss flu, pandemic and the global response.

Virtually Speaking with Jimbo Hoyer is a regular public affairs program of Inworld Studios, featuring live, in-depth, intelligent conversations with opinion leaders before a virtual studio audience. Programs are simulcast on Blog Talk Radio. CS Kappler is the alternative show host. Widget Whiteberry dresses the set and promotes Virtually Speaking on the net. Dorie Bernstein created Josh Rubenstein's avatar. Dire Lobo  manages sound. Lillie Yifu is developing the built environment.

Bookem Streeter stocks the books at Jackson Street Books online <http://tinyurl.com/df6r7h>, Pb Recreant provides back up support – and DJs afterwards.

Help us spread the word –
1. Follow the schedule and post pictures,  questions/comments to the forum at
http://virtuallyspeaking.ning.com/

2. Join the Virtually Speaking group inworld and on FaceBook
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=6626186145&ref=ts

3. Follow Jay on Twitter
http://twitter.com/jayackroyd

4. Follow VirtuallySpeak and find Twitter accounts for past and scheduled guests.

Contact: Widget Whiteberry