A dynamic series of speakers will share their views on the impact of globalizing corporations during Iowa State’s Annual Institute World Affairs.

A presentation by Adolfo P‚rez Esquivel, a Nobel Prize Laureate in 1980, marks the beginning of the lectures series, which runs until mid-November and is in its 33rd year at ISU.

This year’s theme is “Globalization: Prospects for Peace and Democracy.”

Esquivel’s speech will be given tonight at 8 in the Sun Room of the Memorial Union. He was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina and received his education at the National School of Fine Arts and the National University of La Plata.

During the 1960s, Esquivel became active in various non-violent movements in Latin America, and in 1976, he was taken prisoner and tortured for his beliefs when the right-wing military took control of the Argentinean government.

“His basic historic background was instrumental in working to end the Argentina dictatorship during the late 1980s,” said Wayne Osborn, peace historian and Latin American scholar. “He helped return Argentina to democracy.”

Currently, Esquivel serves as president of the International League for the Rights and Liberation of Peoples.

Other speakers coming to Ames for the ISU Institute on World Affairs include a congressman, world-renowned authors and Pulitzer-Prize winners.

All presentations are free and open to the public. The speakers are scheduled as follows:

• Saskia Sassen, sociology professor at the University of Chicago, will address the topic of “Women and Power in the Global City,” on Nov. 1 at 8 p.m.

• The panel discussion “Social Conflict, Trade Disputes and Genetically Modified Organisms” will be held in the Pioneer Room on Nov. 2 at noon.

The moderator will be ISU faculty member Colin Scanes. Panel members will include Richard Ross, veterinary medicine; John Obrycki, entomology; Charlotte Bronson, plant pathology; Clare Hinrichs, sociology; and Dermot Hayes, economics.

• Seymour Hersh, Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative reporter, will discuss “U.S. Foreign Policy and the Media.” The presentation will be held in the Sun Room on Nov. 4 at 8 p.m.

• David Smith of the University of Kansas will present “The Causes of Genocide,” in the Pioneer Room on Nov. 10 at noon.

• Vladimir Makanin, 1998 winner of the International Pushkin Prize, will deliver “News from the Underground Russian Literature” in the Pioneer Room on Nov. 10 at noon.

• Iowa Congressman Jim Leach will talk about attempts to relieve the debt burden of the world’s poorest countries in the Pioneer Room on Nov. 11 at noon.

• Nariman Behravesh will talk about the Asian economic crisis in the Sun Room on Nov. 11 at 8 p.m.

• Rosemarie Tong of the University of North Carolina will present “Globalizing Feminist Medical Ethics: Women’s Healthcare Concerns Worldwide” in the Oak Room on Nov. 12 at noon.