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About the Event
The draft resistance movement during the Vietnam War, which drew inspiration from the Civil Rights movement, provides us with a rich historical example of the potential of nonviolent forms of resistance, yet it is often overlooked in popular histories of the era.
You are cordially invited to attend a FREE screening of The Boys Who Said No! Draft Resistance and the Vietnam War, (2020) to learn about the Vietnam War draft resistance movement, followed by a discussion with draft resister Michael Ferber (who is also featured in the film) alongside changemakers and activists, Jamila Raqib (Executive Director of the Albert Einstein Institution ) and Isaac Cudjoe (CEO of Peace First, an organization with student activist roots here at Harvard). The discussion portion of this event will invite active participation from all attendees. Our guests are especially eager to hear from students and community members about how we might draw lessons from the past that can inform social and antiwar movements in the present.
Registration is FREE and open to the public. Registration includes morning coffee/tea and an informal lunch. Please register by April 3rd.
Schedule
9:00-9:15am | Arrival and Coffee/Tea
9:15-9:25am | Introductory Remarks
9:25-11:00am | Film Screening (95 minutes)
11:00-11:20am | Informal Lunch Break
11:20am-1:00pm | Interactive Discussion
About the Film
THE BOYS WHO SAID NO! is the first documentary film to profile the young men and women who actively opposed the military draft in order to end the Vietnam War. The film shows how their personal and collective acts of nonviolent resistance, risking arrest and imprisonment for up to 5 years, were a critical part of the antiwar movement, intensifying opposition to the war and eventually forcing an end to both conscription and the war.”
Drawing on original interviews with more than thirty male and female nonviolent activists and historians, THE BOYS WHO SAID NO! explores the influence of Gandhian nonviolence and the impact of the civil rights movement on Resistance members, a connection illustrated in footage of Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. visiting and supporting Joan Baez and others jailed for blocking the Oakland Induction Center in 1967.