The First Annual David Ray Griffin Lecture was held on December 3, 2023, in honor of the eminent 9/11 scholar who contributed immensely to the pursuit of truth and peace during his lifetime.
Entitled “The Ruthless Empire Post-9/11,” the lecture was given by Swiss historian and peace researcher Dr. Daniele Ganser and was followed by a panel discussion.
In the lecture, Dr. Ganser provides a historically rich account of the key deceptions the US government has perpetrated in the past to serve as triggers for launching major wars.
Dr. Ganser’s talk draws from his latest book, USA: The Ruthless Empire, but also touches on two major ongoing conflicts that have developed since the book was written: NATO’s proxy war against Russia in Ukraine and US ally Israel’s brutal war in Gaza.
The lecture was hosted by the International Center for 9/11 Justice and UK Column.
Introduction by Dr. Piers Robinson
Remarks by Elizabeth Woodworth
Lecture by Dr. Daniele Ganser
Remarks by Richard Falk
Panel Discussion
Speaker Bios
Dr. Daniele Ganser is a Swiss historian and peace researcher and head the Swiss Institute for Peace and Energy Research (SIPER). He examines the topics of peace, energy, media, war and terror. Through his lectures and books, his goal is to strengthen communities committed to peace, non-violent conflict resolution, renewable energy and education. He is a Spiegel best-selling author of four books, including NATO’s Secret Armies: Operation GLADIO and Terrorism in Western Europe (2008) and USA: The Ruthless Empire (2020, 2023).
Dr. Richard Falk is an international law and international relations scholar who taught at Princeton University for forty years. Since 2002 he has lived in Santa Barbara, California, and taught at the local campus of the University of California in Global and International Studies and since 2005 chaired the Board of the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation. From 2008 to 2014 he served as UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967.
Elizabeth Woodworth is a Canadian writer who spent her career as a health sciences/environmental research librarian. In 2006 she began working with Dr. David Ray Griffin and over a 15-year period variously provided research assistance, proof-reading, indexing, and reviewing for 12 of his books on 9/11 and U.S. imperialism. In 2011, David and Elizabeth co-founded the 20-member 9/11 Consensus Panel, which used a best-evidence methodology to review 51 official claims regarding the events of 9/11. She is a member of the board of directors of the International Center for 9/11 Justice.
Marilyn Langlois is a longtime member of the Northern California 9/11 Truth Alliance and of TRANSCEND, an international network for peaceful conflict transformation founded by Norwegian peace researcher Johan Galtung. A community organizer and international solidarity activist based in Richmond, California, she is a co-founder of the Richmond Progressive Alliance, member of Haiti Action Committee and board member of Task Force on the Americas. Her writings can be found at TRANSCEND Media Service. She is a member of the board of directors of the International Center for 9/11 Justice.
Dr. Piers Robinson is currently co-director of the Organisation for Propaganda Studies, convenor of the Working Group on Syria, Propaganda and Media, associated researcher with the Working Group on Propaganda and the 9/11 Global “War on Terror,” member of PANDA and BerlinGroup21, and co-editor of Propaganda in Focus. His most recent academic appointment was Chair/Professor in Politics, Society and Political Journalism (University of Sheffield 2016–2019). He is author of The CNN Effect: the myth of news, foreign policy and intervention (Routledge, 2002), lead author of Pockets of Resistance: British news media, war and theory in the 2003 invasion of Iraq (Manchester University Press, 2010), and co-editor of The Routledge Handbook of Media, Conflict and Security (2016). He is a member of the board of directors of the International Center for 9/11 Justice.
