Information for Local NATO/G-8 Speaking Events: Speaker Bios and Contact Information
As we build toward the Chicago Counter-Summit for Peace and Economic Justice this May, organizations around the country will be organizing events and forums to help people in our movements and communities understand the importance of NATO, the G-8 and Economic Globalization, and Move the Money. Below please find the lists of speakers willing to present on NATO, the G-8, NATO and the G-8, and Move the Money. Host organizations are expected to cover speakers’ travel and incidental costs.
Please encourage your organization to organize an event or forum in the coming months and let us know about it! Email us at [email protected]
Speakers on NATO
Jackie Cabasso is Executive Director of the Western States Legal Foundation (WSLF) in Oakland, CA. She is a leading voice for nuclear weapons abolition, speaking at events across North America, Europe, and Asia. Since 1994 she has represented WSLF at review sessions of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. In 1995, she co-founded the Abolition 2000 Global Network to Eliminate Nuclear Weapons. In the U.S. she serves on the Coordinating Committees of United for Peace and Justice (UFPJ) and the New Priorities Network and convenes the Nuclear Disarmament/Redefining Security working group of UFPJ. She is the co-author of Risking Peace: Why We Sat in the Road, an account of the 1983 nonviolent protest at the Livermore Nuclear Weapons Laboratory and the mass trial conducted by WSLF, and a contributing author to Beyond Arms Control: Challenges and Choices for Nuclear Disarmament (2010). She has written and co-authored numerous articles for many publications. She was the recipient of the International Peace Bureau’s 2008 Sean MacBride Peace Award. (Available to speak from: March 5 – 10; 19 – 28 and April 9 – 26 around almost anywhere provided travel expenses are covered). Contact at [email protected] or (510) 839-5877.
Joseph Gerson is National Disarmament Coordinator and New England Director of Programs for the American Friends Service Committee. His work focuses on movement building; developing alliances between U.S., Asia-Pacific and European peace movements; and organizing campaigns to end the Bush-Obama wars, to abolish nuclear weapons, and to cut Pentagon spending by “moving the money” to real and immediate human needs. He served as Coordinator of the War Resisters’ International based in London and Brussels (1973-75) and has spoken at the counter-NATO Summit conferences in Strasbourg (2009) and Lisbon (2010). He has written about NATO and its “New Strategic Concept” for U.S. and European publications, and serves on the International Coordinating Committee of the No NATO/No War Network. He is a co-founder of Fund Our Communities-Not War (Massachusetts), United for Justice and Peace (Boston), United for Peace and Justice, and the Network for a NATO-Free World: Peace and Justice. He is the author of four books, most recently Empire and the Bomb: How the US Uses Nuclear Weapons to Dominate the World. (Confirmed for speaking anywhere). Contact at [email protected]
Conn M. Hallinan is an independent journalist and a columnist for Foreign Policy In Focus, a “Think Tank Without Walls” of the Institute for Policy Studies. He is also a regular contributor to CounterPunch. He holds a PhD in Anthropology from the University of California, Berkeley. He oversaw the journalism program at the University of California at Santa Cruz for 23 years, and won the UCSC Alumni Association’s Distinguished Teaching Award, as well as the university’s awards for Innovations in Teaching and Excellence in Teaching. He also served as provost at UCSC, and retired in 2004. He is a winner of the Project Censored Real News Award for investigative journalism. He lives in Berkeley, California. (Confirmed for speaking in the San Francisco Bay Area between mid-February and mid-May). Contact at [email protected] or (510) 843-5116
Tom Hayden has a 50 year career as a peace and justice activist, politician, and author. He has been a leading voice for ending the wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Pakistan; erasing sweatshops; saving the environment; and reforming politics through a more participatory democracy. As Founder and Director of the Peace and Justice Resource Center in Culver City, CA, he currently writes for The Nation, organizes, travels, and speaks. He recently drafted and lobbied successfully for Los Angeles and San Francisco ordinances to end all taxpayer subsidies for sweatshops. He has taught recently at Scripps and Claremont colleges, Occidental College, and the Harvard Institute of Politics. He is the author or editor of 19 books and hundreds of articles for publications from the Los Angeles Times to the Boston Globe to the Chronicle of Higher Education. (Confirmed for speaking in the Bay area). Contact via [email protected]
Zia Mian is a research scientist with the Program on Science and Global Security (SGS) at the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, Princeton University, where he directs the Project on Peace and Security in South Asia. His research interests include nuclear weapons and nuclear energy policy in South Asia, and issues of nuclear disarmament and peace. Previously, he has taught at Yale University and Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad. He has worked at the Union of Concerned Scientists, Cambridge, MA and at the Sustainable Development Policy Institute, Islamabad. He is Associate Editor of Science & Global Security. He is the editor of several books and helped make two documentary films on peace and security in South Asia. He is an extraordinary public speaker. (Confirmed for speaking in the DC area and near Princeton, NJ). Contact at [email protected]
Rick Rozoff is the Coordinator of Stop NATO where he writes on the threat of international militarization, especially on the globalization of the NATO, and manages the e-mail list (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/stopnato) and website (http://rickrozoff.wordpress.com). He lives and works in Chicago and has been an active opponent of war, militarism and intervention for over 40 years. (Confirmed to speak in Illinois, Wisconsin, Northwest Indiana from mid-February to mid-May on weekends and evenings, and occasionally during the day with adequate notice). Contact at [email protected] or (773) 561-6849
Alice Slater is New York Director of the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation. She is a member of the Global Council of Abolition 2000 where she serves on its International Coordinating Committee and co-convenes the Abolition 2000 Energy Working Group. She is on the Board of the Lawyers Committee for Nuclear Policy and a member of the Energy Committee of the NYC Bar Association, as well as the Anti-War Working Group of Occupy Wall Street. She also serves on the Advisory Boards of the Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space and the Rideau Institute. She is a UN NGO Representative and has written numerous articles and op-eds, with frequent appearances on local and national media. (Confirmed to speak in the NY metropolitan area from mid-February to mid-May). Contact at [email protected] or (212) 744-2005
Zaher Wahab is Professor of Education at Lewis & Clark College and received his Ph.D. in international development education from Stanford University. He currently teaches Foundations of Education, Race-Culture-Power, Paulo Freire, and the Middle East in Global Perspective. Dr. Wahab, a serious critic of the U.S. war in Afghanistan, and he is a frequent speaker at educational, civic and media organizations. He served as senior advisor to the Minister of Higher Education in Afghanistan from 2002-2006 and as a visiting researcher professor in a graduate program for teacher education faculty in Afghanistan from 2007-2010. (Confirmed to speak in the Portland, Oregon area). Contact at [email protected]
David Wildman is Executive Secretary for Human Rights & Racial Justice at the General Board of Global Ministries of the United Methodist Church. He has been a leading authority on, and opponent of, the Afghanistan War and co-author of the new book Ending the US War in Afghanistan: A Primer. He travels regularly to Afghanistan and the Middle East. From 1976 to 1994 David was active in the South African anti-apartheid movement. Since 2001, he has served on the Steering Committee of the U.S. Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation. (Confirmed to speak in the New York metropolitan area and the northeast; further if travel is covered. Available in February, April 1-23, and May 1-10. Could speak in Texas 3/16-18). Contact at [email protected] or (212) 870-3735
Speakers on the G-8 and Economic Globalization
Sarah Anderson is the Global Economy Project Director at the Institute for Policy Studies. Her current work includes research, writing, and networking on issues related to the impact of international trade, finance, and investment policies on inequality, sustainability, and human rights. Sarah is also a well-known expert on executive compensation. In 2009, she served on an advisory committee to the Obama administration on bilateral investment treaties. In 2000, she served on the staff of the bipartisan International Financial Institutions Advisory Commission (“Meltzer Commission”), commissioned by the U.S. Congress to evaluate the World Bank and IMF. Sarah is also a board member of Jubilee USA Network and a co-author of the books Field Guide to the Global Economy (New Press, 2nd edition, 2005) and Alternatives to Economic Globalization (Berrett-Koehler, 2nd edition, 2004). (Confirmed to speak particularly on the financial transaction tax). Contact at [email protected] or (202) 787-5227
Katie Campbell is Senior Policy Analyst at ActionAid USA, an international anti-poverty agency working in more than 40 countries. At ActionAid, she engages in policy analysis, advocacy and campaigning on issues related to agricultural development and global hunger, with a specific focus on Africa and smallholder women farmers. Before coming to ActionAid Katie worked at World Food Program USA as the Senior Public Policy Associate, where she managed WFP USA’s lobbying and advocacy efforts to increase funding and improve policies around U.S. global hunger programs. Previously she worked at Women Thrive Worldwide and Gender Action focusing on the integration of gender into international development policy. Katie is a graduate of the University of Michigan with a degree in Sociology. (Confirmed to speak in February and from April to mid-March; willing to travel anywhere in US). Contact at [email protected] or (202) 370-9944
Victor Menotti is Executive Director of the International Forum on Globalization in San Francisco. He was the IFG’s first employee upon its founding in 1994 and in 2009 became its Executive Director. Victor has written and spoken extensively about the impact of globalization on ecosystems, and he has helped build international networks among the traditional farming, forest, fishing, and indigenous communities whose survival depends on them. He is the author of the IFG reports, “Free Trade, Free Logging: How the World Trade Organization Undermines Global Forest Conservation,” “The Other Oil War: The Halliburton Agenda on WTO Energy Services,” “WTO and Native Sovereignty,” and “The WTO and Sustainable Fisheries.” Victor learned to speak Spanish, Portuguese, French, Italian, and some Slovak, after earning his degree in International Relations from UCLA. He is based out of San Francisco, California. Contact at [email protected]; Cell: (415) 351-8065; Tel: (415) 561-3491
John Ruthrauff is the Director of International Advocacy at InterAction and Co-chair of the Global G8/G20 Working Group. He is responsible for organizing advocacy work on the G8 and G20 Summits. He also works on the World Bank and IMF and conducts NGO advocacy training workshops. From 1999 to 2004 he was Director of Oxfam America’s Washington Advocacy Office and Senior Policy Analyst. He is the founder and former Executive Director of the Center for Democratic Education, which assisted local Central American organizations to advocate on the World Bank (1993-98). From 1990 to 1992 he was the Executive Director of the National Security Archive, a foreign policy documentation and research center. He is the former Deputy Director of the Washington Office on Latin America, a DC based human rights organization (1992-93). Prior to 1990 John was a community organizer, a senior aid to a Pennsylvania Senator, and the Executive Director of The Philadelphia Foundation. He holds a BA in economics, an MA in sociology, and an MBA. (Confirmed to speak in the Washington, DC area from mid-February to Mid-May and in Chicago on May 16 and 17). Contact at [email protected] or (202) 552-6523
Neil Watkins is Director of Policy and Campaigns at ActionAid USA, an international anti-poverty agency working in more than 40 countries. At ActionAid, he leads the policy and campaigns team that engages in policy analysis, advocacy, and campaigning on issues including global food security, climate change, Haiti reconstruction, and development finance. He is an expert on the G8 and G20 and on issues of global hunger and what can be done to increase global food security. He also serves as the Northern Representative of civil society organizations on the Steering Committee of the Global Agriculture and Food Security Program (GAFSP). Prior to joining ActionAid, he was Executive Director of Jubilee USA Network that advocates for debt relief and just global economic policies. He has also worked at the Center for Economic and Policy Research, Center for Economic Justice, and RESULTS. He is a graduate of Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service. (Confirmed to speak from mid-February to mid-March; willing to travel anywhere in US). Contact at [email protected] or (202) 421-1023 (mobile)
Mark Weisbrot is co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research, in Washington, D.C. He received his Ph.D. in economics from the University of Michigan. He has written numerous research papers on economic policy, especially on Latin America and international economic policy. He is also co-author of Social Security: The Phony Crisis. He writes a weekly column for The Guardian Unlimited (U.K.), and a regular column on economic and policy issues that is distributed to over 550 newspapers by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. He also writes a bi-weekly column for Brazil’s largest newspaper, Folha de Sao Paulo. His opinion pieces have appeared in the New York Times, Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, and almost every major U.S. newspaper. He appears regularly on national and local television and radio programs. He is also president of Just Foreign Policy (Confirmed to speak from mid-February to early May in the Washington, DC area). Contact at [email protected] or (202) 293-5380
Speakers on NATO and the G-8
Phyllis Bennis directs the New Internationalism Project at the Institute for Policy Studies (IPS) in Washington, DC. She is also a fellow of the Transnational Institute in Amsterdam. In 2001 she helped found the U.S. Campaign to End Israeli Occupation and remains on their Steering Committee. She worked closely with the United for Peace and Justice anti-war coalition. She co-chairs the UN-based International Coordinating Network on Palestine and continues to serve as an adviser to several top UN officials on Middle East and UN democratization issues. She participated in the Strasbourg NATO counter-summit activities. Her books include Ending the US War in Afghanistan: A Primer and Challenging Empire: How People, Governments and the UN Defy U.S. Power. (Confirmed; Phyllis is available to speak in April and May in the DC area and possibly outside DC). Contact at [email protected] or (202) 234-9382 x5206
Vijay Prashad is George and Martha Kellner Chair in South Asian History and Professor of International Studies at Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut. His most recent books are: Arab Spring, Libyan Winter (AK Press, April 2012) and Uncle Swami: Being South Asian in America (New Press, June 2012). He is the author as well of The Darker Nations: A People’s History of the Third World, which won the 2009 Muzaffar Ahmed Book Award. He writes regularly for Frontline (one of India’s leading magazines) where he writes a column called, “Letter from America,” and for the US-based website Counterpunch. He is a contributing editor for the Kathmandu-based Himal. He is on the editorial team of Bol (Pakistan). (Confirmed to speak in New Haven, CT area, as well as elsewhere in New England and New York.) [email protected]
Speakers on Move the Money
Jordan Blevins currently serves as the Advocacy Officer and Ecumenical Peace Coordinator for the Church of the Brethren and National Council of Churches, USA. He was previously Assistant Director of the Eco-Justice Program and the Coordinator of the Poverty Initiative for the National Council. For the Eco-Justice Program, he focused on public lands and wilderness issues, water issues, e-communications, web development, and the internship program. He also re-launched the Council’s poverty initiative, seeking to be a resource for churches both locally and nationally. Previously, he was a legislative intern at the Church of the Brethren’s Witness/Washington office, where he participated in a Faith Expedition to Vietnam, and did follow up reporting and helped create a Brethren Water and Sanitation project in that area through the Global Food Crisis Fund. Jordan holds a BA in Philosophy and Religion and a BS in Business Administration from Bridgewater College, and graduated in 2007 from American University and Wesley Theological Seminary, with a Master of Arts degree in International Peace and Conflict Resolution, and a Masters of Theological Studies, respectively, and is pursuing a Doctorate of Ministry in Ecumenism and Interreligious Dialogue from Wesley Theological Seminary. For month of February Joradan is located in Washington, DC, March-May he will be in Lexington Kentucky. Contact at [email protected]
Leah Bolger is a 20-year veteran of the U.S. Navy who retired in 2000 at the rank of Commander. She founded VFP Chapter 132 in Corvallis, Oregon, and served as its president for 3 years until 2009 when she was elected to the national VFP Board of Directors. She was recently elected as the first female president of Veterans For Peace. Leah has been involved in several national efforts including the “Bring the Guard Home” and “How is the War Economy Working for You” campaigns, the National Priorities Network, and the United National Anti-war Coalition. She has been arrested several times for acts of civil disobedience, most recently in a hearing of the Super Committee, where she called on the Committee to “End the Wars and Tax the Rich.” Leah lives in Oregon. Contact at [email protected]
Jo Comerford is the Executive Director of the National Priorities Project, having joined the National Priorities Project staff in 2008 bringing with her two decades of work as a community organizer, and a strong background in nonprofit administration. Most recently, Jo served as Director of Programs at The Food Bank of Western Massachusetts. Prior to The Food Bank, Jo directed the American Friends Service Committee’s western Massachusetts office. Jo travels extensively for NPP, offering budget talks and facilitating participatory workshops. She is a frequent media contributor with pieces appearing in outlets such as The Nation, TomDispatch, The Huffington Post, Salon.com, Mother Jones and Dollars and Sense. Jo holds an MSW in community organizing from Hunter College School of Social Work and is an Adjunct Assistant Professor at the Smith College School of Social Work. Jo lives and works in Massachusetts. Contact at [email protected], Work phone 413.584.9556, cell phone 413.559.1649
Judith Le Blanc in her capacity as the Field Director for Peace Action, works with 35 affiliates representing 100,00 members for a demilitarized US foreign policy. Peace Action’s primary focus is the Move the Money Campaign, an effort to organize grassroots coalitions of community, labor and peace groups to change national spending priorities through local resolutions, legislative pressure and electoral activities. Ms. Le Blanc is currently helping to coordinate the activities of the New Priorities Network, a national network of community, labor and faith groups who are working to end the militarization of the federal budget to fund human needs. She has worked on a national level for the last 30 years on campaigns ranging from organizing labor marches, legislative lobbying to peace, disarmament and solidarity activities. Ms Le Blanc began her national political activity in 1973, working with the legal defense committee for the Wounded Knee occupation on Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota. She is also an award winning, independent video and print journalist. Ms. Le Blanc has traveled extensively in the Middle East. In 2006, she participated in a peace delegation to the Middle East meeting with Iraqi parliamentarians in Amman, Jordan. She and others from the delegation went to Lebanon and spent the last week of the 2006 war, meeting with non-governmental organizations, displaced families in South Beirut, and labor and community leaders on the humanitarian efforts to respond to the crisis. Judith is a member of the Caddo Tribe of Oklahoma. She lives in Harlem, New York. Contact at [email protected] Cell phone: 917-806-8775.
