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Speaker Categories
Activism Matters
Paula Allen
Paula Allen has been an 'activist with a camera' for more than two decades.
Her compelling photographs capture women around the world in their courageous and often invisible confrontations with violence and oppression. She is currently completing her book, Homecomings, which weaves together the stories of three families who lost relatives and homes in the devastation of
Hurricane Katrina.
Zainab Al-Suwaij
Zainab Al-Suwaij is the co-founder of the American Islamic Congress. A native of Iraq, she participated in the failed internal uprising against Saddam Hussein in 1991 and then fled to the United States. After the September 11 attacks, Al-Suwaij left her job as a refugee resettlement advisor to co-found a progressive Muslim organization dedicated to promoting interfaith tolerance and individual rights, at home and throughout the Muslim world. As a Muslim-American woman of traditional background yet progressive orientation, she serves as a bridge across cultures, religious divides, and political differences.
Medea Benjamin and Jodie Evans, CODEPINK
Benjamin and Evans are activists and co-founders of CODEPINK, a
women-initiated grassroots peace and social justice movement that has been
organizing creative actions against the war and occupation of Iraq since
2002. The organization currently has more than 100 chapters throughout the
United States.
Libuse Binder
Libuse Binder is the author of Ten Ways to Change the World in Your Twenties. In her book, Binder provides a timely roadmap for individuals looking to make a difference — from eating locally and reducing waste, to starting a nonprofit organization or finding a career dedicated to helping others.
Francis Bok
Francis Bok is an escaped slave from Sudan and the author of the acclaimed
autobiography Escape from Slavery: The True Story of My Ten Years in
Captivity — and My Journey to Freedom in America. In 2002, Bok was invited to the White House for the Sudan Peace Act signing ceremony where he spoke with President Bush, becoming perhaps the first former slave to meet an American president since the 19th century.
Simon Deng
Simon Aban Deng is a refugee from Sudan and a survivor of child slavery.
He is a passionate activist who recently trekked 300 miles from United
Nations headquarters in New York City to the Capitol in Washington, D.C., to
call for an end to slavery and genocide in Sudan.
Daniel Ellsberg
Daniel Ellsberg is perhaps the most famous whistleblower in American history. His story of moral courage is chronicled in the new Oscar-nominated documentary "The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers."
Beatrice Fernando
Extreme poverty propelled 23 year-old Beatrice Fernando to look beyond the borders of her native Sri Lanka for a means of financially supporting her young son. Her story is not unique: traffickers often prey on a sense of financial vulnerability, advertising a good job as an avenue out of the desperation of poverty.
Jaimi Lard
Jaimi Lard refuses to let the fact that she has been deaf and blind since birth stop her from having adventures. "Anything is possible — you've just got to go for it," she says. Educating others about what is achievable for people with disabilities is a central part of Jaimi's life.
Hedda Nussbaum
Hedda Nussbaum, battered and bruised after years of torture by her domestic
partner, Joel Steinberg, was abruptly thrown into the public spotlight in
November,1987 after Steinberg assaulted and killed their daughter, Lisa.
Although Nussbaum was blamed by many for not "getting out" of the
relationship soon enough, she not only survived the double abuse, but grew
strong in the process. She went on to become an advocate for other battered
women — co-facilitating a support group, working as a paralegal for a
domestic violence organization, writing, speaking, and teaching women how to
stay out of what she calls "intimate terrorism."
Sarah Panzau
In the early hours of August 23, 2003, 21-year old Sarah Panzau's life changed forever. She had partied the night away with her friends and, just before dawn, made an irrevocable decision to get into her car and drive home.
Micheline Slattery
Micheline Slattery was born to a prominent political family in Jacmel, Haiti. After being orphaned at the age of five, she was sent to live with her aunt and uncle in a town nearby, where she was forced to work as her extended family's servant, or restavec, as a child slave is commonly called.
Cindy Sheehan
Cindy Sheehan has re-energized the nation's anti-war movement with her unflagging desire to meet with President Bush to ask: "What is the noble cause for which my son died in Iraq?"
Bill Wallauer
Bill Wallauer offers a unique impression of life among wild chimpanzees, having spent years following the chimps of Gombe National Park, video camera at the ready.
Nasser Weddady
Nasser Weddady is a dynamic Arab Muslim human rights activist who is an associate at the American Islamic Congress' HAMSA civil rights initiative (Hands Across the Mideast Support Alliance). HAMSA unites Americans of all backgrounds to support the movement to secure civil rights in the Middle East. A native of Mauritania,Weddady also works closely with young reformers in the Middle East on interfaith projects and civil rights campaigns.
Diane Wilson
Diane Wilson, a fourth-generation shrimper, began fishing the bays off the Gulf Coast of Texas at the age of eight. In 1989, she read a newspaper article that listed her home of Calhoun County as the number one toxic polluter in the country. She set up a meeting in the town hall to discuss what the chemical plants were doing to the bays. Threatened by thugs and despised by her neighbors, Wilson insisted the truth be told and that Formosa Plastics stop dumping toxins into the bay.
Ann Wright
On March 19, 2003, the eve of the U.S. invasion of Iraq, Army Colonel (Ret.)
and diplomat Ann Wright cabled a letter of resignation to Secretary of State
Colin Powell, stating that without the authorization of the UN Security
Council, the invasion and occupation of a Muslim, Arab, oil-rich country
would be a disaster. She was one among dozens of government insiders and
active-duty military personnel who leaked documents, spoke out, resigned, or
refused to deploy in protest of government actions they felt were illegal.
Since then, she has been writing and speaking out for peace. Alcohol Awareness MattersSarah Panzau
In the early hours of August 23, 2003, 21-year old Sarah Panzau's life changed forever. She had partied the night away with her friends and, just before dawn, made an irrevocable decision to get into her car and drive home. Disability MattersJaimi Lard
Jaimi Lard refuses to let the fact that she has been deaf and blind since birth stop her from having adventures. "Anything is possible — you've just got to go for it," she says. Educating others about what is achievable for people with disabilities is a central part of Jaimi's life. Environment & Sustainability MattersIsaac Berzin
Dr. Issac Berzin was named one the 100 most influential people in politics, business, and science in 2008 by Time magazine. Berzin is one of thousands of innovators reinventing the $6 trillion energy business.
Libuse Binder
Libuse Binder is the author of Ten Ways to Change the World in Your Twenties. In her book, Binder provides a timely roadmap for individuals looking to make a difference — from eating locally and reducing waste, to starting a nonprofit organization or finding a career dedicated to helping others.
Jennifer van der Meer
Jennifer van der Meer is an innovation consultant, writer, and advocate for environmental advocacy through conscious capitalism. A former Wall Street analyst and economist, van der Meer has observed that capitalism is an effective force for social and environmental change.
Bill Wallauer
Bill Wallauer offers a unique impression of life among wild chimpanzees, having spent years following the chimps of Gombe National Park, video camera at the ready.
Diane Wilson
Diane Wilson, a fourth-generation shrimper, began fishing the bays off the Gulf Coast of Texas at the age of eight. In 1989, she read a newspaper article that listed her home of Calhoun County as the number one toxic polluter in the country. She set up a meeting in the town hall to discuss what the chemical plants were doing to the bays. Threatened by thugs and despised by her neighbors, Wilson insisted the truth be told and that Formosa Plastics stop dumping toxins into the bay. Event Moderation MattersLeonard Lopate
Leonard Lopate has been one of WNYC radio's best-loved personalities for 20
years. As host of the Leonard Lopate Show, the acclaimed live daily
interview program now available on XM Radio, he covers a huge range of
topics and provides the best two hours of lively, spontaneous, and unedited
talk in New York City. Gender MattersPaula Allen
Paula Allen has been an 'activist with a camera' for more than two decades.
Her compelling photographs capture women around the world in their courageous and often invisible confrontations with violence and oppression. She is currently completing her book, Homecomings, which weaves together the stories of three families who lost relatives and homes in the devastation of
Hurricane Katrina.
Zainab Al-Suwaij
Zainab Al-Suwaij is the co-founder of the American Islamic Congress. A native of Iraq, she participated in the failed internal uprising against Saddam Hussein in 1991 and then fled to the United States. After the September 11 attacks, Al-Suwaij left her job as a refugee resettlement advisor to co-found a progressive Muslim organization dedicated to promoting interfaith tolerance and individual rights, at home and throughout the Muslim world. As a Muslim-American woman of traditional background yet progressive orientation, she serves as a bridge across cultures, religious divides, and political differences.
Medea Benjamin and Jodie Evans, CODEPINK
Benjamin and Evans are activists and co-founders of CODEPINK, a
women-initiated grassroots peace and social justice movement that has been
organizing creative actions against the war and occupation of Iraq since
2002. The organization currently has more than 100 chapters throughout the
United States.
Beatrice Fernando
Extreme poverty propelled 23 year-old Beatrice Fernando to look beyond the borders of her native Sri Lanka for a means of financially supporting her young son. Her story is not unique: traffickers often prey on a sense of financial vulnerability, advertising a good job as an avenue out of the desperation of poverty.
Karla Jackson-Brewer
Jackson-Brewer is an African American feminist therapist specializing in the history of racism in the United States. She has developed training programs in the areas of multiculturalism, anti-racism, sexuality, sexual assault and spirituality.
Hedda Nussbaum
Hedda Nussbaum, battered and bruised after years of torture by her domestic
partner, Joel Steinberg, was abruptly thrown into the public spotlight in
November,1987 after Steinberg assaulted and killed their daughter, Lisa.
Although Nussbaum was blamed by many for not "getting out" of the
relationship soon enough, she not only survived the double abuse, but grew
strong in the process. She went on to become an advocate for other battered
women — co-facilitating a support group, working as a paralegal for a
domestic violence organization, writing, speaking, and teaching women how to
stay out of what she calls "intimate terrorism."
Deborah Siegel
Deborah Siegel, Ph.D., is the author of Sisterhood, Interrupted: From Radical Women to Grrls Gone Wild. Siegel is a writer and consultant who specializes in gender, politics, and the unfinished business of feminism.
Diane Wilson
Diane Wilson, a fourth-generation shrimper, began fishing the bays off the Gulf Coast of Texas at the age of eight. In 1989, she read a newspaper article that listed her home of Calhoun County as the number one toxic polluter in the country. She set up a meeting in the town hall to discuss what the chemical plants were doing to the bays. Threatened by thugs and despised by her neighbors, Wilson insisted the truth be told and that Formosa Plastics stop dumping toxins into the bay. Health & Wellness MattersMarc Ian Barasch
Marc Ian Barasch is an award-winning writer, editor, television producer and environmental activist. In his most recent book, The Compassionate Life: Walking the Path of Kindness, Barasch poses vital questions: What if the great driving force of our evolution were actually "survival of the kindest?"
Can we increase our compassion quotient with practice? What can be learned from the study of altruistic personalities? How do empathy and forgiveness produce new strategies for conflict resolution and "social healing?"
Mark Matousek
Mark Matousek is the author of two acclaimed memoirs, The Boy He Left Behind: A Man's Search For His Lost Father (Book of the Month Club, QPB, Los Angeles Times Discovery book, winner of the Randy Shilts Prize for Non-Fiction in 2001) and Sex Death Enlightenment: A True Story (1996), an international bestseller published in ten countries and nominated for two Books for a Better Life Awards.
Christiane Northrup, M.D.
Christiane Northrup, M.D., is a visionary pioneer in the field of women's
health and wellness. A board-certified OB/GYN physician, Dr. Northrup helps
empower women to tune in to their innate inner wisdom to transform their
health and their lives. Her latest book, Mother-Daughter Wisdom: Creating a
Legacy of Physical & Emotional Health (Bantam 2005) explores how and why the
mother-daughter bond is at the head waters of a woman's health, and was
nominated for a prestigious Quill Award.
Sarah Panzau
In the early hours of August 23, 2003, 21-year old Sarah Panzau's life changed forever. She had partied the night away with her friends and, just before dawn, made an irrevocable decision to get into her car and drive home.
Tal Ben-Shahar
Tal Ben-Shahar is an author and lecturer who taught the most popular course at Harvard University on "Positive Psychology," and the university's third most popular course on "The Psychology of Leadership"—with a total of more than 1,400 students.
Robin Stern
Robin Stern, Ph.D., is the author of The Gaslight Effect: How to Spot and Survive the Hidden Manipulation Others Use to Control Your Life. Stern is an educator, psychotherapist and consultant who has developed and implemented programs to promote personal and professional growth through self-awareness, emotional competence and ethical leadership. Immigration Matters"Crossing Arizona"
Heightened security in California and Texas has pushed illegal border-crossers into the treacherous Arizona desert in unprecedented numbers — an estimated 4,500 a day. Most are men in search of work, but increasingly the border-crossers are women and children. This influx of migrants crossing through Arizona and the attendant rising death toll have elicited complicated feelings about human rights, culture, class, labor and national security. "Crossing Arizona" is an award-winning documentary that examines the crisis through the eyes of those directly affected by it — ranchers, citizen patrol groups, residents, political activists, farmers, and humanitarian groups. A screening and talkback is available with directors, Dan DeVivo and Joseph Matthew. Leadership MattersTal Ben-Shahar
Tal Ben-Shahar is an author and lecturer who taught the most popular course at Harvard University on "Positive Psychology," and the university's third most popular course on "The Psychology of Leadership"—with a total of more than 1,400 students.
Robin Stern
Robin Stern, Ph.D., is the author of The Gaslight Effect: How to Spot and Survive the Hidden Manipulation Others Use to Control Your Life. Stern is an educator, psychotherapist and consultant who has developed and implemented programs to promote personal and professional growth through self-awareness, emotional competence and ethical leadership. Media MattersSeymour Hersh
Seymour Hersh is widely acknowledged as the most influential and acclaimed
investigative reporter of the past 50 years. He is author of the
best-selling book, Chain of Command: The Road from 9/11 to Abu Ghraib. His special focus is, and has always been, the abuse of power in the name of
national security.
Leonard Lopate
Leonard Lopate has been one of WNYC radio's best-loved personalities for 20
years. As host of the Leonard Lopate Show, the acclaimed live daily
interview program now available on XM Radio, he covers a huge range of
topics and provides the best two hours of lively, spontaneous, and unedited
talk in New York City.
Rory O'Connor
Author, blogger, journalist and filmmaker Rory O'Connor is co-founder and president of the international media firm Globalvision, Inc. O'Connor is the author of the recently published Shock Jocks: Hate Speech & Talk Radio, as well as a regular online columnist for AlterNet and MediaChannel, and author of the popular "Media Is A Plural" blog.
Danny Schechter
Danny Schechter, "The News Dissector" is an Emmy Award-winning television producer and independent filmmaker who also writes and speaks about media issues. His most recent films are "Barack Obama, People's President," an inside look at the grassroots and Internet campaign that put Obama in the White House, and "In Debt We Trust," one of the first films to expose subprime lending, credit card abuses, and warn of the financial crisis.
James Traub
James Traub, contributing writer for The New York Times Magazine, has
written extensively about international affairs and is currently writing a
book about Kofi Annan and the United Nations. Over the years, he has
reported from Iran, Iraq, Sierra Leone, East Timor, Vietnam, India, Kosovo
and Haiti. Traub has also written often about national politics and urban
affairs, including education, immigration, race, poverty and crime. Middle East MattersZainab Al-Suwaij
Zainab Al-Suwaij is the co-founder of the American Islamic Congress. A native of Iraq, she participated in the failed internal uprising against Saddam Hussein in 1991 and then fled to the United States. After the September 11 attacks, Al-Suwaij left her job as a refugee resettlement advisor to co-found a progressive Muslim organization dedicated to promoting interfaith tolerance and individual rights, at home and throughout the Muslim world. As a Muslim-American woman of traditional background yet progressive orientation, she serves as a bridge across cultures, religious divides, and political differences.
James Traub
James Traub, contributing writer for The New York Times Magazine, has
written extensively about international affairs and is currently writing a
book about Kofi Annan and the United Nations. Over the years, he has
reported from Iran, Iraq, Sierra Leone, East Timor, Vietnam, India, Kosovo
and Haiti. Traub has also written often about national politics and urban
affairs, including education, immigration, race, poverty and crime.
Nasser Weddady
Nasser Weddady is a dynamic Arab Muslim human rights activist who is an associate at the American Islamic Congress' HAMSA civil rights initiative (Hands Across the Mideast Support Alliance). HAMSA unites Americans of all backgrounds to support the movement to secure civil rights in the Middle East. A native of Mauritania,Weddady also works closely with young reformers in the Middle East on interfaith projects and civil rights campaigns.
Ann Wright
On March 19, 2003, the eve of the U.S. invasion of Iraq, Army Colonel (Ret.)
and diplomat Ann Wright cabled a letter of resignation to Secretary of State
Colin Powell, stating that without the authorization of the UN Security
Council, the invasion and occupation of a Muslim, Arab, oil-rich country
would be a disaster. She was one among dozens of government insiders and
active-duty military personnel who leaked documents, spoke out, resigned, or
refused to deploy in protest of government actions they felt were illegal.
Since then, she has been writing and speaking out for peace. Money MattersManisha Thakor and Sharon Kedar
Manisha Thakor and Sharon Kedar are the co-authors of: ON MY OWN TWO FEET: a modern girl's guide to personal finance. Their goal is to help women "own their finances" so they can "own their lives."
Jacquette M. Timmons
Jacquette M. Timmons is a national investment expert and financial coach, and the founder of Sterling Investment Management, an investment education and financial coaching firm. Timmons teaches intelligent people how to be smarter with their money through her personal finance and stock market investing workshops. Motivation MattersTal Ben-Shahar
Tal Ben-Shahar is an author and lecturer who taught the most popular course at Harvard University on "Positive Psychology," and the university's third most popular course on "The Psychology of Leadership"—with a total of more than 1,400 students.
Libuse Binder
Libuse Binder is the author of Ten Ways to Change the World in Your Twenties. In her book, Binder provides a timely roadmap for individuals looking to make a difference — from eating locally and reducing waste, to starting a nonprofit organization or finding a career dedicated to helping others.
Jaimi Lard
Jaimi Lard refuses to let the fact that she has been deaf and blind since birth stop her from having adventures. "Anything is possible — you've just got to go for it," she says. Educating others about what is achievable for people with disabilities is a central part of Jaimi's life.
Robin Stern
Robin Stern, Ph.D., is the author of The Gaslight Effect: How to Spot and Survive the Hidden Manipulation Others Use to Control Your Life. Stern is an educator, psychotherapist and consultant who has developed and implemented programs to promote personal and professional growth through self-awareness, emotional competence and ethical leadership. Multiculture Matters
Paula Allen
Paula Allen has been an 'activist with a camera' for more than two decades.
Her compelling photographs capture women around the world in their courageous and often invisible confrontations with violence and oppression. She is currently completing her book, Homecomings, which weaves together the stories of three families who lost relatives and homes in the devastation of
Hurricane Katrina.
Zainab Al-Suwaij
Zainab Al-Suwaij is the co-founder of the American Islamic Congress. A native of Iraq, she participated in the failed internal uprising against Saddam Hussein in 1991 and then fled to the United States. After the September 11 attacks, Al-Suwaij left her job as a refugee resettlement advisor to co-found a progressive Muslim organization dedicated to promoting interfaith tolerance and individual rights, at home and throughout the Muslim world. As a Muslim-American woman of traditional background yet progressive orientation, she serves as a bridge across cultures, religious divides, and political differences.
Francis Bok
Francis Bok is an escaped slave from Sudan and the author of the acclaimed
autobiography Escape from Slavery: The True Story of My Ten Years in
Captivity — and My Journey to Freedom in America. In 2002, Bok was invited to the White House for the Sudan Peace Act signing ceremony where he spoke with President Bush, becoming perhaps the first former slave to meet an American president since the 19th century.
Simon Deng
Simon Aban Deng is a refugee from Sudan and a survivor of child slavery.
He is a passionate activist who recently trekked 300 miles from United
Nations headquarters in New York City to the Capitol in Washington, D.C., to
call for an end to slavery and genocide in Sudan.
Beatrice Fernando
Extreme poverty propelled 23 year-old Beatrice Fernando to look beyond the borders of her native Sri Lanka for a means of financially supporting her young son. Her story is not unique: traffickers often prey on a sense of financial vulnerability, advertising a good job as an avenue out of the desperation of poverty.
Karla Jackson-Brewer
Jackson-Brewer is an African American feminist therapist specializing in the history of racism in the United States. She has developed training programs in the areas of multiculturalism, anti-racism, sexuality, sexual assault and spirituality.
Micheline Slattery
Micheline Slattery was born to a prominent political family in Jacmel, Haiti. After being orphaned at the age of five, she was sent to live with her aunt and uncle in a town nearby, where she was forced to work as her extended family's servant, or restavec, as a child slave is commonly called.
James Traub
James Traub, contributing writer for The New York Times Magazine, has
written extensively about international affairs and is currently writing a
book about Kofi Annan and the United Nations. Over the years, he has
reported from Iran, Iraq, Sierra Leone, East Timor, Vietnam, India, Kosovo
and Haiti. Traub has also written often about national politics and urban
affairs, including education, immigration, race, poverty and crime.
Nasser Weddady
Nasser Weddady is a dynamic Arab Muslim human rights activist who is an associate at the American Islamic Congress' HAMSA civil rights initiative (Hands Across the Mideast Support Alliance). HAMSA unites Americans of all backgrounds to support the movement to secure civil rights in the Middle East. A native of Mauritania,Weddady also works closely with young reformers in the Middle East on interfaith projects and civil rights campaigns. Newsworthy MattersPaula Allen
Paula Allen has been an 'activist with a camera' for more than two decades.
Her compelling photographs capture women around the world in their courageous and often invisible confrontations with violence and oppression. She is currently completing her book, Homecomings, which weaves together the stories of three families who lost relatives and homes in the devastation of
Hurricane Katrina.
Zainab Al-Suwaij
Zainab Al-Suwaij is the co-founder of the American Islamic Congress. A native of Iraq, she participated in the failed internal uprising against Saddam Hussein in 1991 and then fled to the United States. After the September 11 attacks, Al-Suwaij left her job as a refugee resettlement advisor to co-found a progressive Muslim organization dedicated to promoting interfaith tolerance and individual rights, at home and throughout the Muslim world. As a Muslim-American woman of traditional background yet progressive orientation, she serves as a bridge across cultures, religious divides, and political differences.
Medea Benjamin and Jodie Evans, CODEPINK
Benjamin and Evans are activists and co-founders of CODEPINK, a
women-initiated grassroots peace and social justice movement that has been
organizing creative actions against the war and occupation of Iraq since
2002. The organization currently has more than 100 chapters throughout the
United States.
Daniel Ellsberg
Daniel Ellsberg is perhaps the most famous whistleblower in American history. His story of moral courage is chronicled in the new Oscar-nominated documentary "The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers."
Beatrice Fernando
Extreme poverty propelled 23 year-old Beatrice Fernando to look beyond the borders of her native Sri Lanka for a means of financially supporting her young son. Her story is not unique: traffickers often prey on a sense of financial vulnerability, advertising a good job as an avenue out of the desperation of poverty.
Seymour Hersh
Seymour Hersh is widely acknowledged as the most influential and acclaimed
investigative reporter of the past 50 years. He is author of the
best-selling book, Chain of Command: The Road from 9/11 to Abu Ghraib. His special focus is, and has always been, the abuse of power in the name of
national security.
Rory O'Connor
Author, blogger, journalist and filmmaker Rory O'Connor is co-founder and president of the international media firm Globalvision, Inc. O'Connor is the author of the recently published Shock Jocks: Hate Speech & Talk Radio, as well as a regular online columnist for AlterNet and MediaChannel, and author of the popular "Media Is A Plural" blog.
Danny Schechter
Danny Schechter, "The News Dissector" is an Emmy Award-winning television producer and independent filmmaker who also writes and speaks about media issues. His most recent films are "Barack Obama, People's President," an inside look at the grassroots and Internet campaign that put Obama in the White House, and "In Debt We Trust," one of the first films to expose subprime lending, credit card abuses, and warn of the financial crisis.
Cindy Sheehan
Cindy Sheehan has re-energized the nation's anti-war movement with her unflagging desire to meet with President Bush to ask: "What is the noble cause for which my son died in Iraq?"
James Traub
James Traub, contributing writer for The New York Times Magazine, has
written extensively about international affairs and is currently writing a
book about Kofi Annan and the United Nations. Over the years, he has
reported from Iran, Iraq, Sierra Leone, East Timor, Vietnam, India, Kosovo
and Haiti. Traub has also written often about national politics and urban
affairs, including education, immigration, race, poverty and crime.
Nasser Weddady
Nasser Weddady is a dynamic Arab Muslim human rights activist who is an associate at the American Islamic Congress' HAMSA civil rights initiative (Hands Across the Mideast Support Alliance). HAMSA unites Americans of all backgrounds to support the movement to secure civil rights in the Middle East. A native of Mauritania,Weddady also works closely with young reformers in the Middle East on interfaith projects and civil rights campaigns. Peace MattersMedea Benjamin and Jodie Evans, CODEPINK
Benjamin and Evans are activists and co-founders of CODEPINK, a
women-initiated grassroots peace and social justice movement that has been
organizing creative actions against the war and occupation of Iraq since
2002. The organization currently has more than 100 chapters throughout the
United States.
Daniel Ellsberg
Daniel Ellsberg is perhaps the most famous whistleblower in American history. His story of moral courage is chronicled in the new Oscar-nominated documentary "The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers."
Cindy Sheehan
Cindy Sheehan has re-energized the nation's anti-war movement with her unflagging desire to meet with President Bush to ask: "What is the noble cause for which my son died in Iraq?"
Diane Wilson
Diane Wilson, a fourth-generation shrimper, began fishing the bays off the Gulf Coast of Texas at the age of eight. In 1989, she read a newspaper article that listed her home of Calhoun County as the number one toxic polluter in the country. She set up a meeting in the town hall to discuss what the chemical plants were doing to the bays. Threatened by thugs and despised by her neighbors, Wilson insisted the truth be told and that Formosa Plastics stop dumping toxins into the bay.
Ann Wright
On March 19, 2003, the eve of the U.S. invasion of Iraq, Army Colonel (Ret.)
and diplomat Ann Wright cabled a letter of resignation to Secretary of State
Colin Powell, stating that without the authorization of the UN Security
Council, the invasion and occupation of a Muslim, Arab, oil-rich country
would be a disaster. She was one among dozens of government insiders and
active-duty military personnel who leaked documents, spoke out, resigned, or
refused to deploy in protest of government actions they felt were illegal.
Since then, she has been writing and speaking out for peace. Photojournalism MattersPaula Allen
Paula Allen has been an 'activist with a camera' for more than two decades.
Her compelling photographs capture women around the world in their courageous and often invisible confrontations with violence and oppression. She is currently completing her book, Homecomings, which weaves together the stories of three families who lost relatives and homes in the devastation of
Hurricane Katrina. Poetry MattersKim Rosen
Kim Rosen has awakened listeners around the world to the power of the poetry to heal and transform individuals and communities. Politics MattersDaniel Ellsberg
Daniel Ellsberg is perhaps the most famous whistleblower in American history. His story of moral courage is chronicled in the new Oscar-nominated documentary "The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers."
Seymour Hersh
Seymour Hersh is widely acknowledged as the most influential and acclaimed
investigative reporter of the past 50 years. He is author of the
best-selling book, Chain of Command: The Road from 9/11 to Abu Ghraib. His special focus is, and has always been, the abuse of power in the name of
national security.
Rory O'Connor
Author, blogger, journalist and filmmaker Rory O'Connor is co-founder and president of the international media firm Globalvision, Inc. O'Connor is the author of the recently published Shock Jocks: Hate Speech & Talk Radio, as well as a regular online columnist for AlterNet and MediaChannel, and author of the popular "Media Is A Plural" blog.
Danny Schechter
Danny Schechter, "The News Dissector" is an Emmy Award-winning television producer and independent filmmaker who also writes and speaks about media issues. His most recent films are "Barack Obama, People's President," an inside look at the grassroots and Internet campaign that put Obama in the White House, and "In Debt We Trust," one of the first films to expose subprime lending, credit card abuses, and warn of the financial crisis.
James Traub
James Traub, contributing writer for The New York Times Magazine, has
written extensively about international affairs and is currently writing a
book about Kofi Annan and the United Nations. Over the years, he has
reported from Iran, Iraq, Sierra Leone, East Timor, Vietnam, India, Kosovo
and Haiti. Traub has also written often about national politics and urban
affairs, including education, immigration, race, poverty and crime.
Ann Wright
On March 19, 2003, the eve of the U.S. invasion of Iraq, Army Colonel (Ret.)
and diplomat Ann Wright cabled a letter of resignation to Secretary of State
Colin Powell, stating that without the authorization of the UN Security
Council, the invasion and occupation of a Muslim, Arab, oil-rich country
would be a disaster. She was one among dozens of government insiders and
active-duty military personnel who leaked documents, spoke out, resigned, or
refused to deploy in protest of government actions they felt were illegal.
Since then, she has been writing and speaking out for peace. Spirituality & Religion MattersMarc Ian Barasch
Marc Ian Barasch is an award-winning writer, editor, television producer and environmental activist. In his most recent book, The Compassionate Life: Walking the Path of Kindness, Barasch poses vital questions: What if the great driving force of our evolution were actually "survival of the kindest?"
Can we increase our compassion quotient with practice? What can be learned from the study of altruistic personalities? How do empathy and forgiveness produce new strategies for conflict resolution and "social healing?"
Tal Ben-Shahar
Tal Ben-Shahar is an author and lecturer who taught the most popular course at Harvard University on "Positive Psychology," and the university's third most popular course on "The Psychology of Leadership"—with a total of more than 1,400 students.
Karla Jackson-Brewer
Jackson-Brewer is an African American feminist therapist specializing in the history of racism in the United States. She has developed training programs in the areas of multiculturalism, anti-racism, sexuality, sexual assault and spirituality.
Matthew Fox
Matthew Fox, a former Dominican priest, is one of the nation's most scholarly and innovative spirituality teachers. In his 27th book, A New Reformation (Inner Traditions, 2006), he echoes the Reformation initiated by Martin Luther in 1517 by addressing the corruption and authoritarian tendencies that distinguish today's Christian institutions from the spiritual message upon which they were founded. He offers a new vision of Christianity that values the Earth, honors the feminine, and emphasizes spiritual tolerance.
Mark Matousek
Mark Matousek is the author of two acclaimed memoirs, The Boy He Left Behind: A Man's Search For His Lost Father (Book of the Month Club, QPB, Los Angeles Times Discovery book, winner of the Randy Shilts Prize for Non-Fiction in 2001) and Sex Death Enlightenment: A True Story (1996), an international bestseller published in ten countries and nominated for two Books for a Better Life Awards.
Kim Rosen
Kim Rosen has awakened listeners around the world to the power of the poetry to heal and transform individuals and communities. Spoken Word MattersKim Rosen
Kim Rosen has awakened listeners around the world to the power of the poetry to heal and transform individuals and communities. Youth MattersSarah Panzau
In the early hours of August 23, 2003, 21-year old Sarah Panzau's life changed forever. She had partied the night away with her friends and, just before dawn, made an irrevocable decision to get into her car and drive home. Wildlife MattersBill Wallauer
Bill Wallauer offers a unique impression of life among wild chimpanzees, having spent years following the chimps of Gombe National Park, video camera at the ready. | | | |||||
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