2021 Book Talk Series
Discovering the World of Humanitarian Aid
About the Event
“What’s Wrong with Humanitarian Aid” is the second event in VCWA’s three part Book Talk Series: Discovering the World of Humanitarian Aid. This all women’s series will explore the complexity of international humanitarian aid, assess its impacts – for better or worse – on local communities, and share strategies for increasing its effectiveness. Authors include researchers, journalists and humanitarians who will share from their unique on-the ground experiences around the world.
This second event will feature special guest, Linda Polman, an Amsterdam-based journalist as she discusses the wrongdoings of humanitarian aid in her book "The Crisis Caravan".
This series is free to all VCWA members. We encourage individuals to purchase and read the book prior to the talk, however it is not required in order to participate. This event will be via ZOOM.
We look forward to welcoming you to this discussion on the vast and complex industry of humanitarian aid. VCWA Board Member, Denise Johnson, will moderate.
About the Book
In her controversial, no-holds-barred exposé Linda Polman shows how a vast industry has grown up around humanitarian aid. The Crisis Caravan takes us to war zones around the globe, showing how aid operations and the humanitarian world have become a feature of military strategy. Impassioned, gripping, and even darkly absurd, journalist Linda Polman "gives some powerful examples of unconscionable assistance...a world where aid workers have become enablers of the atrocities they seek to relieve" (The Boston Globe).
About the Author
Linda Polman
Author
Linda Polman is an investigative journalist based in Amsterdam. She has worked in various war zones and developing countries such as Somalia, Rwanda, Haïti, Sierra Leone, Congo and Afghanistan.
She is the author of, among other titles, The Crisis Caravan, which was translated into nine languages. Polman’s work has been discussed internationally, including on John Stewart’s The Daily Show and in The New Yorker. For Death Row Dollies, about European women who link their fates to inmates on death row in the US, she spent an extended period in Texas. When in the Netherlands, Polman lectures for university journalism programs.
In 2020 Linda published a book about how Europe deals with refugees coming its way. The title is 'Nobody Wants Them", which sums up the migration policies of the EU member states. The book has not been translated yet.
Moderator
Denise Johnson
Vermont Supreme Court, ret.
The Honorable Denise R. Johnson was the first woman to be appointed a justice of the Vermont Supreme Court. She served on the Court for 21 years. She participated in historic decisions regarding public school funding, gay marriage, and the right to privacy in one’s home, as well as numerous decisions reviewing criminal trials and procedure.
She was a leader in improving access to justice and was active in the field of continuing judicial education for appellate judges nationwide. In international work, Justice Johnson lectured on criminal procedure at the Universita di Trento, Trento, Italy, and on property rights and employment at-will at the Universita degli Studi di Udine, Udine, Italy. From 2012 – 2014, she was a Legal Specialist for the American Bar Association’s Judicial Reform Program in Yerevan, Armenia, and its Criminal Defense Capacity Programs in Belgrade, Serbia and Skopje, Macedonia. In 2016-2017, she was the Director of Judicial Education in Cairo, Egypt for the American Bar Association Rule of Law Initiative.