A public forum on "Free Trade and Military Interventionism" will be held from 1 to 3 p.m. Sunday, January 11, at the First Unitarian Society, 900 University Bay Dr., across from the University Hospital Emergency Room.

The forum, which has been organized in response to Oliver North's visit to Madison on January 13-14, will feature Atty. Ed Garvey, Sister Marge Eilerman of the Colombia Support Network, Steve Braunginn of the Madison Urban League, and Donna Vukelich, a longtime resident of Nicaragua during 1980's and 90's.

North, a Lt. Colonel in the Marines, was convicted of three felonies for illegally financing and arming the Contra War in Nicaragua, in defiance of a Congressional ban on any U.S. involvement there. He will be honored as the keynote speaker at the "Business Day in Madison" event sponsored by the Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce (WMC). The WMC is publicly promoting North as "a leading proponent of free market policies" and is paying him $30,000 to deliver the keynote luncheon address at the Monona Terrace Convention Center on January 14.

There will also be a peaceful demonstration to protest North's presence at 7 p.m. Tuesday night, January 13, outside the Madison Club, where the WMC is holding a fundraising dinner in honor of North. Another peaceful protest will occur at E. Wilson St. and Martin Luther King Blvd. at 11 a.m. Wednesday, January 14, before North gives his noon keynote address at the Monona Terrace Convention Center.