Farah Pandith to discuss countering violent extremism

Farah Pandith, foreign-policy strategist, former diplomat and world-leading expert in countering violent extremism, will close the 2019-20 E.N. Thompson Forum on World Issues with “How We Win: Mobilizing Youth in the Fight Against Violent Extremism” at 6 p.m. Oct. 8 at the Lied Center for Performing Arts.

The lecture is free and open to the public. To order tickets, click here or call the Lied Center box office at 402-472-4747. The forum is general admission, with seating on a first-come, first-served basis.

A frequent media commentator and public speaker, Pandith served as a political appointee under Presidents George H.W. Bush, George W. Bush. and Barack Obama. Most recently, she was the first-ever special representative to Muslim communities, serving under Secretaries of State Hillary Clinton and John Kerry. Pandith has served on the National Security Council and at the U.S. Department of State and U.S. Agency for International Development in various senior roles. She has also served on the Department of Homeland Security’s Advisory Council, chairing its task force on countering violent extremism.

Pandith is a senior fellow with the Future of Diplomacy Project at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs in the Harvard Kennedy School, as well as an adjunct senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations. She divides her time between Washington, D.C.; London; and Cambridge, Massachusetts. Her book is “How We Win: How Cutting-Edge Entrepreneurs, Political Visionaries, Enlightened Business Leaders and Social Media Mavens Can Defeat the Extremist Threat.” The Rev. Eric Elnes, senior minister at Omaha’s Countryside Community Church, will give a pre-talk at 5:30 p.m. in the Lied Center’s Steinhart Room. The church is the Christian partner of the city’s Tri-Faith Initiative, which also includes the American Muslim Institute and Temple Israel.

The E.N. Thompson series opened with a lecture by human rights activist and 2018 Nobel Peace Prize recipient Nadia Murad on Sept. 17. It continues with a talk by Leymah Gbowee, Liberian peace activist, social worker and women’s rights advocate, at 6 p.m. Oct. 2. A pre-talk will take place 30 minutes before Gbowee’s lecture in the Steinhart Room.

Events are streamed on the Thompson Forum website. All events will also be livestreamed on NET, LNKTV City and LNKTV Education. Gbowee’s lecture will be broadcast on ALLO channel 23, Charter Spectrum 1303 and Windstream Kinetic 1080. Pandith’s lecture will be available live on ALLO channel 2, Charter Spectrum 1300 and Windstream Kinetic 1005. Both events will also be accessible on campus channel 4 and KRNU radio 90.3 FM. All talks are interpreted for people who are deaf and hard of hearing.

The E.N. Thompson Forum on World Issues is a cooperative project of the Cooper Foundation, Lied Center and the university. It was established in 1988 with the purpose of bringing a diversity of viewpoints on international and public policy issues to the university and people of Nebraska to promote understanding and encourage discussion.