History Professor to Join Leading Expert and Commentator on Civilian Resistance Nov. 25 at UA

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – The director of the International Center on Nonviolent Conflict and executive producer of the Emmy-nominated Public Broadcasting Service television series “A Force More Powerful” will lead a Nov. 25 film screening and discussion at The University of Alabama on the power of nonviolent resistance to thwart and overthrow dictators.

The 7 p.m. session, held in UA’s ten Hoor Hall, room 30, and entitled “A Force More Powerful: Non-Violent Action and Regime Change,” will be led by Jack DuVall, a former PBS producer and director of the International Center for Non-Violent Conflict, and Dr. Scott O’Bryan, assistant professor of history in UA’s College of Arts and Sciences.

Following the screening of the award-winning PBS documentary “Bringing Down a Dictator,” DuVall and O’Bryan will lead a discussion on successful cases of civilian-led nonviolent insurrections against dictators, and the potential for such nonviolent action against Iraq.

The event is sponsored by the department of history, the Blount Undergraduate Initiative, UA’s Asian studies program and its department of religious studies.

DuVall is a television executive and veteran writer who is also co-author of a companion book that shares a name with the PBS series. For 16 years DuVall has helped develop, market, executive-produce and promote non-fiction television programming for past clients including the Turner Broadcasting System, The Learning Channel, KCET/Los Angeles, the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, The Christian Science Monitor and more than 30 other commercial television and non-profit organizations.

His writing includes speeches for presidential candidates in four national campaigns and poems and articles that have appeared in literary journals and major newspapers.

For more information on the television series, see the PBS web site www.pbs.org.