GRASSROOTS ADVOCACY TRAINING & LOBBY DAY
March 7-8, 2010 · Washington, DC
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Presenters and Workshop Leaders:
(For a schedule of events, click here)
Naeem Baigis currently serving as the Vice President for Public Affairs of the Islamic Circle of North America (ICNA). He is also Executive Director for ICNA Council For Social Justice. Mr. Baig served as the Secretary General of the Islamic Circle of North America from 2000 to 2004, and later from 2006 to 2008. He was recently elected to serve on the National Board of ICNA for the session 2010 - 2012. Mr. Baig played a major role in strengthening ICNA's Interfaith Relations Department. During his time as the Secretary General, ICNA became member of many Interfaith Initiatives including Religions for Peace USA. Recently, Mr. Baig served as the consultant on the 'Study on Christian-Muslim Relations', sponsored by the Department of Interfaith Relations of the Presbyterian Church (USA). Currently, he co-chairs the 'National Muslim Christian Initiative'. Naeem will co-lead a workshop on Coalition Building with Muslim Communities: Creating Stronger Partnerships.
Anna Baltzer is a full-time speaker, writer, and organizer for Palestinian rights. Since she began volunteering with the International Women's Peace Service, documenting human rights abuses and supporting Palestinian-led nonviolent resistance, Baltzer has appeared on television more than 100 times and lectured at more than 400 universities, schools, churches, mosques, and synagogues around the world with her acclaimed presentation, "Life in Occupied Palestine: Eyewitness Stories & Photos," and her full-color book: Witness in Palestine: A Jewish American Woman in the Occupied Territories. In 2009, Baltzer received the Arab-American Anti-Discrimination Committee's prestigious Annual Rachel Corrie Peace & Justice Award and a Certificate of Commendation from the Governor of Wisconsin for her commitment to justice in the Holy Land. She is a contributor to four upcoming books on the subject and serves on the Board of Directors of The Research Journalism Institute, Grassroots Jerusalem, and Council for the National Interest. For information about Baltzer's book, DVD, speaking tours, and eyewitness reports, visit www.AnnaInTheMiddleEast.com. Anna will lead the Speaker Training Workshop: Effectively Engage and Educate your Community about Palestine.
Mike Daly is Program Coordinator at Interfaith Peace-Builders. He has worked with the organization since 2004. Before coming to IFPB, he studied in Damascus as a Fulbright Scholar, worked as a public relations consultant with the United Nations Development Programme in Ramallah, and completed a year of intensive Arabic at the American University in Cairo. Mike has co-led three IPFB delegations, has presented at numerous conferences and workshops and taken on leadership roles in national, regional and local organizing initiatives and coalitions.
Noura Erakat is a Palestinian attorney and activist. She is currently an adjunct professor of international human rights law in the Middle East at Georgetown University. Most recently she served as Legal Counsel for a Congressional Subcommittee in the House of Representatives. Prior to her time on Capitol Hill, Noura received a New Voices Fellowship to work as the national grassroots organizer and legal advocate at the US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation where she helped seed BDS campaigns nationally as well as support the cases brought against two former Israeli officials in US federal courts for alleged war crimes. Prior to attending law school, she helped launch the divestment campaign along with the Students for Justice in Palestine at UC Berkeley. Noura holds law and undergraduate degrees from the University of California at Berkeley. She has worked and studied in Israel and Palestine: she interned at Adalah: The Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel; studied at Hebrew University ; and volunteered in Palestinian refugee camps throughout the West Bank and Lebanon. She has helped to organize several national conferences including AMWAJ-Arab Women Arising for Justice and the U.S. Palestinian Popular Conference. Noura has appeared on Fox’s “The O’ Reilly Factor,” NBC’s “Politically Incorrect,” MSNBC, and Al-Jazeera International. Her publications include: "Litigating the Arab-Israeli Conflict: The Politicization of U.S. Federal Courts" in the Journal of Middle Eastern and Islamic Law" and "Arabiya Made Invisible: Between the Marginalization of Agency and the Silencing of Dissent" in a Syracuse Press anthology. In February 2009 she participated in a National Lawyers Guild fact-finding mission to Gaza. Noura will join the keynote panel on the subject of US Policy and the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict.
Katherine Fuchs is National Organizer at the US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation and a masters candidate at UNESCO's Chair for the Philosophy of Peace in Castellon, Spain. In the summer of 2009 Katherine co-lead an IFPB delegation to Israel, Jerusalem and the West Bank. Before joining the US Campaign Katherine organized and lobbied for Peace Action in Washington, DC and in her hometown of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. She has also worked as a community organizer in Wisconsin for fair trade, voting rights, and LGBT equality campaigns. Katherine will lead the workshop on A Civil Society Response to Apartheid: Campaigning for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions.
Joe Groves is Senior Fellow at Interfaith Peace-Builders. He has been working with IFPB since 2001, first as Coordinator for the program under the Fellowship of Reconciliation, then as Co-Director of IFPB in 2006-08. He has worked on Middle East issues for over 40 years, in the US, Israel and Palestine, and Iraq. He was Professor of Religious Studies and Director of Peace and Conflict Studies at Guilford College and is currently an Adjunct Professor in the International Peace and Conflict Resolution Program at American University. He draws on popular education methods and critical studies to actively involve students in the subjects he teaches. He is a frequent presenter and workshop leader on a variety of issues, including Middle East politics, US movements for justice, and the theory and practice of nonviolence. Joe will moderate the keynote panel on the subject of US Policy and the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict.
Sam Husseini is Communications Director at the Institute for Public Accuracy (more details coming soon). Sam will co-lead the workshop on Broadening the Mainstream Discourse: Making Change in Your Local Media.
Zahir Janmohamed was the Advocacy Director for the Middle East and North Africa at Amnesty International from 2006 to 2009. A graduate of UC Berkeley and UCLA, he is currently a Senior Legislative Aide on foreign affairs for a member of Congress. Zahir will join the keynote panel on the subject of US Policy and the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict.
Ra'ed Jarrar is an Iraqi-born architect, blogger, and political analyst. He holds a Bachelors Degree in Architecture from the University of Baghdad, and a Master’s Degree from the University of Jordan. After the fall of Baghdad, Jarrar founded an Iraqi grassroots organization that carried out humanitarian and reconstruction work in Iraq. Jarrar is currently a Senior Fellow on the Middle East for Peace Action, based in Washington DC. Ra'ed will co-lead the workshop on Congressional Engagement 201: Developing Relationships with Representatives and Staff.
Gael Murphy is a co-founder of CODEPINK: Women for Peace. Her activism has focused on women and children-centered issues, beginning with her Peace Corps service in the mid-70s. Gael holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Anthropology, and Masters Degrees in African Area Studies, Public Health and Fine Arts. She has worked in Africa and the Caribbean as a public health advisor specializing in maternal and child health between 1975 and 1997. From 1998 and 2004, she studied and produced social change media. Most recently, Gael is concerned by the militarization of US foreign policy, with Israel's "defense" at the center, and by the enormous military spending in the face of growing domestic needs. For the past 3 years, Gael has served as co-chair of the Legislative working group, of the anti-war coalition United for Peace and Justice, pursuing legislative and political pressure to de-fund the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. As part of the Gaza Freedom March, she co-facilitated an ad hoc policy working group to organize inside and outside "actions" in an effort to build Congressional support for Palestinian justice. As a resident of Washington, DC, she has extensive experience with a broad range of tactics to engage Members of Congress, from traditional lobbying to sit-ins. Gael will co-lead the workshop on Congressional Engagement 201: Developing Relationships with Representatives and Staff.
Jacob Pace is Communications and Grants Coordinator at Interfaith Peace-Builders. Jake joined the organization in 2007 after first traveling to the region with an IFPB delegation in 2003. He previously worked with Partners for Peace, the US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation and the Resource Center for Nonviolence in Santa Cruz, California. He spent more than a year in Israel/Palestine between 2003 and 2005 working with the Applied Research Institute of Jerusalem in Bethlehem and the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights in the Gaza Strip. His work experience has focused particularly on media advocacy and grassroots organizing. He led an IFPB delegation in August 2008 and will co-lead another delegation in summer 2009. Jake will co-lead the workshop on Broadening the Mainstream Discourse: Making Change in Your Local Media.
Ibrahim Abdil-Mu'id Ramey is Director of the Civil and Human Rights Division at the Muslim American Society Freedom Foundation (more details coming soon). Ibrahim will co-lead a workshop on Coalition Building with Muslim Communities: Creating Stronger Partnerships.
Josh Ruebner is the National Advocacy Director of the US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation, a national coalition of more than 250 organizations working to change US policy toward Palestine/Israel to support human rights, international law, and equality. Josh is a former Analyst in Middle East Affairs at the Congressional Research Service (CRS), a non-partisan federal government agency which provide Members of Congress with policy analysis. He holds a graduate degree in International Affairs from Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies. Josh will lead the session on Introducing our Policy Asks and the workshop on Congressional Engagement 101:Building Skills and Expanding the Congressional District Coordinator Network.
Rebecca Vilkomerson is the Executive Director of Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP). She has over fifteen years of experience in community organizing and advocacy campaigns in the United States and Israel. Immediately before joining JVP, Rebecca worked for a Palestinian Israel public policy center (DIRASAT) and a Bedouin-Jewish environmental and social justice organization in Israel (BUSTAN). Her study, Public Policy in Divided Societies: The Case for a Civil Rights Institution was published in July, 2008 by Dirasat, the Arab Center for Law and Policy. She is also currently an editor of Jewish Peace News. Rebecca is a graduate of Connecticut College and has a Master's Degree in Public Policy from Johns Hopkins University. She has been a member of JVP since 2002. Rebecca will join the keynote panel on the subject of US Policy and the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict.
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This event is sponsored by:
Interfaith Peace-Builders and the US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation
Endorsed by:
The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, The American Friends Service Committee - Chicago, CODEPINK: Women for Peace, the Fellowship of Reconciliation, Holy Land Trust, the Islamic Circle of North America, ICNA Council for Social Justice, the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions - USA, Jewish Voice for Peace, the Middle East Research and Information Project, the Muslim American Society Freedom Foundation, Progressive Democrats of America, the Washington Peace Center.
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