The Airspace Tribunal: Toronto Hearing
The Airspace Tribunal: an international public forum to consider the case for and against a new human right to protect the freedom to live without physical or psychological threat from above
The following are the dates for the Toronto Hearing – all times are EST
Sunday, 1 November 2020, 2 – 4 PM
Wednesday, 4 November 2020, 2 – 4 PM
Saturday, 7 November 2020, 2 – 4 PM
Saturday, 14 November 2020, 2 – 3 PM
(all times are Toronto – Eastern Standard Time)
FREE
Online (via Zoom)
The Toronto hearing of the Airspace Tribunal is co-presented by The Power Plant and the Master of Visual Studies program at the Daniels Faculty, University of Toronto. Speakers from a broad range of expertise, disciplines and lived experience – including Climate Change, Human Rights, Artificial Intelligence, Geopolitics, Contemporary Warfare, Biopolitics and Psychology – will consider whether we need increased protection from threats from above through the recognition of this proposed new human right.
The hearing will take place over three 2-hour online panel discussions followed by a one 1-hour online summative session. The Power Plant’s Director, Gaëtane Verna,will be the Chair, introducing each session and all speakers. Counsel to the Tribunal, Kirsty Brimelow QC of Doughty Street Chambers (London, UK), will pose questions to the Experts. Members of the audience – our judges – will also be able to ask questions.
The Airspace Tribunal invites representations from experts across a broad range of disciplines and lived experience, such as human rights, geopolitics, contemporary warfare, new media ecologies, environmental change, mental health, conflict and forced migration, to discuss the challenges and consider the case for and against the recognition of a new human right to protect the freedom to exist without physical or psychological threat from above.
Programme
Sunday, 1 November 2020, 2 to 4 PM Eastern Standard Time
- Shona Illingworth, Artist and Reader in Arts, University of Kent, UK
- Nick Grief, Emeritus Professor of Law, University of Kent and Associate Tenant, Doughty Street Chambers
- Derek Gregory, Peter Wall Distinguished Professor, Department of Geography, University of British Columbia, Canada
- Gbenga Oduntan, Reader in International Commercial Law, Kent Law School, University of Kent
Wednesday, 4 November 2020, 2 to 4 PM Eastern Standard Time
- Jairus Grove, Associate Professor, Department of Political Science, University of Hawaii at Manoa, USA
- Jack Penashue, Director of Social Health for Sheshatshiu Innu First Nations, Sheshatshiu, Newfoundland & Labrador, Canada
- Gabriele Schwab, Distinguished Professor, Comparative Literature with joint faculty appointments in Anthropology, English, European Languages and Studies, and Gender and Sexuality Studies; School of Humanities, University of California — Irvine, USA
Saturday, 7 November 2020, 2 to 4 PM Eastern Standard Time
- Anthony Downey, Professor of Visual Culture in the Middle East and North Africa within the Faculty of Arts, Design and Media at Birmingham City University, UK
- Kwame McKenzie, CEO of the Wellesley Institute; Director of Health Equity, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health; and, Professor, Department of Psychiatry, University of Toronto, Canada
- Renata Salecl, senior researcher, Institute of Criminology, Faculty of Law, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia; and Professor of Psychology/Psychoanalysis and Law, School of Law, Birkbeck College, University of London, UK
Counsel to the Tribunal:
- Kirsty Brimelow QC, head of Doughty Street Chambers’ International Human Rights Team and a member of the Doughty Street Equalities Team. Former chair of the Bar Human Rights Committee, Kirsty specialises in international human rights law, criminal law, public international law, constitutional law and international criminal law
Saturday, 14 November 2020, 2 to 3 PM Eastern Standard Time
This final session will include final statements by the Experts and Counsel, followed by questions and then a vote by the audience (the Tribunal) in favour of or against the proposed new human right.
IMPORTANT NOTE: It would be ideal if our audience could attend all of the panels, either live or by viewing the recorded sessions in advance of our final session, so that they have an opportunity to pose questions to the Experts and consider the case for and against the proposed new human right.
The Airspace Tribunal hearing in Toronto will be recorded and transcribed. Documentation will be incorporated in a special issue of the Journal of Digital War and contribute to Illingworth’s Fall 2021 exhibition at The Power Plant. It will also contribute to the drafting history, helping to build and refine the case for the proposed new human right to be submitted to the United Nations and other bodies.
