Activist Prof Speaks to Students

World-renowned activist, physician, and Harvard Medical School Professor Dr. Paul E. Farmer spoke to a packed auditorium last night to kick off the five-day IMPACT summit sponsored by Harvard International Development Organization (HIDO).

Farmer’s work in Haiti, Rwanda, Guatamala, and Peru guided his speech, “Health and Human Rights: The Role of Student Activism,” which opened the student-run conference on issues of global health, international development, and activism.

More than 300 people listened as Dr. Farmer discussed the need for students to accept guidance from experienced activists.

Farmer is the Presley Professor of Medical Anthropology at the Medical School, where he teaches in the Department of Social Medicine.

“For ten years, I made a mistake,” Farmer said, speaking of his own initial lack of involvement in Haiti with the public sector.

“If I had been guided by someone with experience, I would have done things differently,” he added.

While Farmer praised student activists for their contributions to global health and development, he added that persons not directly involved in these issues can still play an influential role.

He quipped that an investment banker had once described himself as “So-and-so from Hedge Funds Against Malaria.”

“It doesn’t matter what you go into after college,” Farmer said. “You can be effective and an activist in any job.”

Throughout the speech, Farmer advocated the need to critically think about these complex issues.

At one point, Farmer said that the development of a hydroelectric dam in rural Haiti had driven locals out of a fertile valley. These people, the supposed beneficiaries of the project, had neither water nor electricity afterwards, he said.

“Development means radically different things to different people,” Farmer said.

Farmer also charged the audience with a responsibility to guide.

“Some of the speakers invited [to the IMPACT summit] are not critical thinkers. You be critical of them.”

The summit was organized by HIDO was formed in 2005 after the union of two separate student organizations, BHUMI and IMPACT, and will continue to host events throughout the week.

Stephanie U. Hodges ’06, one of the organizers, said the primary goal of the summit is “to educate and inspire students, and to recognize the contributions that activists have made in the past.”

The summit will include panels featuring world experts, professors, advocates, and doctors along with educational and hands-on activities, art exhibits, and film screenings.

According to Sarah M. Lafleur ’06, another organizer of the summit, several university officials, including outgoing University President Lawrence H. Summers, were invited to speak at the summit but declined.