Perhaps a free wine reception post-event’s essential for an event with this sanguine title: The Curse of Oil. After all, I’m sure the organizers want people to both show up to the event and not jump off a bridge afterwards….

Depressing title aside, this Zocalo Public Square lecture sounds like a timely and engaging one. From Zocalo’s website:

Every unhappy oil-producing nation is unhappy in its own way. But each is touched by what’s known as the resource curse — the power of oil to harm rather than help the countries that possess it. Oil extraction in Nigeria has led to village poverty and mass protest. In Venezuela, Hugo Chavez’s campaign to nationalize oil stirred controversy. In Angola, oil has driven separatist conflict. Around the world oil vastly enriches small ruling classes, degrades the environment, and destabilizes political and economic institutions as prices fluctuate. Peter Maass, New York Times Magazine writer and author of Crude World, visits Zócalo to explore the consequences of gas-guzzling, the paradox of plenty, and how to cure our addiction to oil.

By the time this event rolls around, The Age of Stupid — an excellent movie that weaves in a story showing exactly how little the people of Nigeria have benefited from their oil-rich country — will be screening around the U.S. Yes, I know the event’s quite a ways away — but since the free Zocalo events often fill up early, and since there’s free wine involved, I thought you’d want to know right away.

The Curse of Oil happens Wed., Oct. 7 at 7:30 pm at Skirball Cultural Center, 2701 N. Sepulveda Blvd., Los Angeles. RSVP now!

Image via randomhouse.com

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