VIRTUAL DISCUSSION OF MARIA RESSA '86’S BOOK "HOW TO STAND UP TO A DICTATOR" - MARCH 7, 2024
Join the Princeton Club of Chicago in a Book Club-style virtual format to discuss the book: How to Stand Up to a Dictator: The Fight for Our Future.
From Maria Ressa '86, the recipient of the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize, an impassioned and inspiring memoir of a career spent holding power to account.
Join Carol Obertubbesing '73 in conversation to discuss Maria’s book. Journalist Maria Ressa ’86 has received the Nobel Peace prize for her efforts to safeguard freedom of expression in the Philippines. She also received Princeton University's Woodrow Wilson Award and this book is the Pre-Read selection for the Class of '27. Other members of the University community, including alumni, are also encouraged to read it.
It can be purchased here or at your local bookstore to be read prior to
Thursday, March 7, 2024
7:00 - 8:30 PM Central
Virtual Via Zoom
Link will be e-mailed to registered guests prior to the event.
CLICK TO RESERVE BY 3/7 @ 3 pm!
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Questions? Contact the PCC Programs team at programs@princetonclubofchicago.org.
Maria Ressa is one of the most renowned international journalists of our time. For decades, she challenged corruption and malfeasance in her native country, the Philippines, on its rocky path from an authoritarian state to a democracy. As a reporter for CNN, she transformed news coverage in her region, which led her in 2012 to create a new and innovative online news organization, Rappler. Harnessing the emerging power of social media, Rappler crowdsourced breaking news, found pivotal sources and tips, harnessed collective action for climate change, and helped increase voter knowledge and participation in elections.
But by their fifth year of existence, Rappler had gone from being lauded for its ideas to being targeted by the new Philippine government, and made Ressa an enemy of her country’s most powerful man: President Duterte. Still, she did not let up, tracking government-seeded disinformation networks which spread lies to its own citizens laced with anger and hate. Hounded by the state and its allies using the legal system to silence her, accused of numerous crimes, and charged with cyberlibel for which she was found guilty, Ressa faces years in prison and thousands in fines.