World Affairs Council first speaker will discuss Brexit on Oct. 3

It is hard to keep up an informed opinion about all the world events and understand how they will impact daily life. That is why many Daniel Island residents joined the World Affairs Council, to learn more about current world issues and impact on the United States.

The mission of the group is to spread education and awareness of international affairs, said Slade Metcalf, president of the Charleston chapter.

Each season, starting October, ending in May, has six formal events at the Citadel Alumni Center with speakers who focus on an international topic, Metcalf said. Each meeting brings in about an audience of 200 people.

“World Affairs gives people the opportunity to focus on international issues which they either know about or want to,” Metcalf said, “and they can do so in an academic environment.”

These speakers enable people to gain non-partisan background knowledge on world events and issues, Metcalf said.

The World Affairs Council of Charleston, originating in 1980, is the Charleston Chapter of the larger organization of World Affairs Council of America that is headquartered in Washington, D.C. In the past, the speakers have discussed issues such as France after the Charlie Hebdo shooting and the ramifications of the Syrian Crisis, Metcalf said.

This year, the first event will be on Monday Oct. 3, and there will be two speakers, a husband and wife— Dr. Samuel Wells and Dr. Sherrill Brown Wells— discussing Brexit, Metcalf said.

Dr. Samuel Wells said the discussion will start with explaining an analysis of how the Brexit vote broke down. Then will look at what Britain has as options to do to recover from the referendum. The discussion will not be about what they will be doing since the country does not have concrete plan.

“The British public was never completely convinced it was part of Europe,” Dr. Samuel Wells said.

But he does mention despite this feeling, the referendum should have never been held because it had tremendous flaws. Looking how it will impact both the United States and Britain, the results of Brexit will be mostly negative, he said.

The speakers will analyze the media’s influence over this event, and how the vote was manipulated by badly informed voters.

The second event will be on Monday Nov. 7, the topic being discussed will be North Korea and the challenge is has and will pose for the United States, Metcalf said.

The speakers are not planned too far in advance in order to keep the topics timely, said Albert Thibault, Jr., program chair of the Charleston branch.

“My criteria is how topical is this subject,” said Thibault.

Each speaker is scheduled about two months before the actual event, Thibault said. This is an advantage so that the topic is current.

Thibault looks for experts in the field who can also explain and relate the subject to non-specialist audience in a comprehensive and interesting way while being non-partisan.

Each event starts at 5:15 p.m. with a reception with hors d’oeuvres and drinks, all covered by membership fees, Metcalf said, then the speakers begin at 6 p.m. and talk for about 40 minutes before ending with a question and answer segment.

In the time between the speaking events, there are about six smaller groups within the Charleston Chapter, called the “Great Decisions,” that meet at people’s homes to discuss and debate other international topics, Metcalf said. These groups, with about 10 people each, are given reading material to study on their own before meeting to discuss it.

To attend an event without being a member is $20. To become a member, it is $100 a season for an individual, $170 for a couple. To learn more about the World Affairs Council check out its website: http://waccharleston.org/index.php.

Daniel Island Publishing

225 Seven Farms Drive
Unit 108
Daniel Island, SC 29492 

Office Number: 843-856-1999
Fax Number: 843-856-8555

 

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