The Scandinavian Peace Organisation, Lay Down Your Arms, invites you to an intimate 90-minute conversation featuring Canadian journalist Dimitri Lascaris and Professor Glenn Diesen. Lascaris will speak to Glenn about his recent travels in Venezuela and Iran, as well as his experiences as part of the Global Sumud Flotilla to Gaza last year. A Q&A session with questions from the audience will follow the conversation.

Dimitri Lascaris is a lawyer and journalist who divides his time between Montreal, Canada and Kalamata, Greece. He began his legal career on Wall Street and later became a plaintiffs-side class-action lawyer in Canada. Canadian Lawyer Magazine named him as one of the 25 most influential lawyers in Canada. In 2016, he retired from class-action law to become an independent journalist and to offer pro bono legal services to the indigent. He is now the host of the Reason2Resist podcast. In 2020, Dimitri ran to be elected the leader of the Green Party of Canada. While advocating for an eco-socialist platform, he finished second of eight candidates, with 45% of the vote on the final ballot. Dimitri’s work as a journalist has taken him on multiple journeys to South America and the Middle East. In both 2018 and 2024, Dimitri sailed with the Gaza Freedom Flotilla. In the last three months, he has travelled to and reported from Venezuela, Colombia, and most recently, Iran.

Glenn Diesen is a professor of political science and of geoeconomics at the University of South-Eastern Norway (USN). He is an expert in Russian foreign policy and Eurasian integration. Diesen is an internationally recognised speaker and author, and is published by well-respected international publishers. Glenn’s podcast has more than 1.1 million subscribers.