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Tonight’s federalization forum to feature forthright speakers
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Posted on Sep 15 2008
Several notable and outspoken individuals will be leading the discussion at tonight’s roundtable discussion, which will take on the impact of federalization on local culture.
Panelists will include Rep. Tina Sablan, Gregorio Cruz, Irene Tantiado, NMC president Dr. Camen Fernandez, Edwin Propst, Oscar Rasa, Viola Alepuyo and Sam McPhetres. Lawyer Robert Torres will be moderating the discussion as well as collecting questions from the community through the audience members._
The discussion will be held tonight, Sept. 16, 2008, from 7pm to 8:30pm at the American Memorial Park Auditorium. Those not able to personally attend the roundtable session can view and participate in the dialogue by logging on to www.wethepeoplecnmi.com, where the discussion will be streamed live.
The discussion will center on the federalization’s impact on local culture, particularly in light of other globalization trends: the widespread use of the Internet, the ease of travel restrictions around the world, the advancement of technology, and an economy that commands an international supply chain, and other agents of change.
The CNMI is certainly not immune to what is happening in the global arena. Residents need only to look at the meteoric rise of the price of gasoline to see how events in other parts of the world are impacting life here. Given all these, what of the local culture? How will the CNMI’s inevitable integration into the larger global structure impact local culture? And more specifically, given the agents of change mentioned above, what role would the recent federalization of labor and immigration play? As the CNMI becomes more a part of the bigger U.S. family, could federalization be the saving grace of local culture? Or, could it hasten its disappearance? These are only some of the questions that will be discussed at the roundtable discussion.
Participants will be using some literary material as a basis for the thought provoking discussion. The material can be downloaded from www.wethepeoplecnmi.com.
NMI Council for the Humanities is hosting the roundtable discussion as part of the Council’s We the People project. It is being organized by Taro Leaf, Inc. [B][I](PR)[/I][/B]
