Better Neighbors: A New Way Forward for America

As the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) turns fifteen it is time to get the facts out about how this defining agreement has failed. In late-winter 2008, Global Exchange—together with the Labor Council for Latin American Advancement, The Council of Canadians, the Mexican Action Network on Free Trade, the Alliance for Responsible Trade and many other groups—are organizing a speaking tour across the United States to detail the indisputable yet seldom mentioned links between bad continental trade and economic policies and accelerated Mexican migration to the US.

• Mexico
• Immigration
• NAFTA

Carmencita "Chie" Abad speaks from personal experience about the hardships endured by millions of workers in sweatshops around the world. Chie spent six years as a garment worker on the Pacific island of Saipan, a U.S. territory. She endured wretched conditions, frequently working 14-hour shifts in order to meet arbitrary production quotas for her employer, the Sako Corporation, which made clothes for the Gap and other retailers. When she tried to organize a union, Chie was met by fierce resistance from management and eventually lost her job. She now lives in the U.S., where she educates Americans about the inhumane factory conditions occurring worldwide, including on U.S. soil. Chie was instrumental in forcing 26 major retailers to settle a lawsuit in September 2002 to improve conditions in Saipan. Her story is an inspiring example of how people can win if they stand up for their rights and the leadership she offers from her years as of organizing within the anti-sweatshop is empowering.

• Sweatshops and the Global Economy
• Sweatshop Labor in the Garment Industry
• Tour of Sweatshops in San Francisco's Mission District

Mohammed is a second generation Palestinian exile from the city of Jaffa and is a lecturer in the Department of Philosophy at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. As an activist, Mohammed has worked with the Palestine Right to Return Coalition and Alternative Palestinian Agenda. Mohammed's research focuses on political violence, as well as normative and applied ethics.

Rae Abileah

Rae Abileah is a national organizer with CODEPINK Women for Peace. She connects CODEPINK's national campaigns with the grassroots women's movement for peace, and brings organizing resources to local activists who work creatively to stop the war in Iraq from over 200 small towns and cities around the country, and many places around the world. Rae has also organized actions and workshops about deceptive tactics used by military recruiters and how to inform students and parents of their rights and the realities of joining the military today.

• US Occupation of Iraq
• Women and Activism
• Linking Domestic and Global Violence
• Counter Military Recruitment

Moji Agha (Mojtaba Aghamohammadi) is a respected Iranian-American community leader, peace and human rights activist, and advocate of genuine interfaith and intercultural dialogue, whose diverse activities in the past 2-3 decades, namely teaching and research (cultural psychology and culture-analysis), art (bilingual poet, essayist, translator, and writer), and peace-building (cross-cultural dialogue and conflict resolution) are among the accomplishments noted in the first edition of "Who is Who of Iranians in America," published by the Persian Cultural Foundation.

• - Peace-building and Conflict Resolution
• - Iran
• - Political and Spiritual Islam
• - Culture-analysis and Interfaith Dialogue
• - Cross-cultural Communication
• - Climate Change and Culture

16 year-old Afnan Al-Hashimi, of Iraqi decent, began speaking publicly at the age of 12. She has been speaking out against the U.S. neoconservative administration's illegal occupation of Iraq and has also denounced the biased American foreign policies in the Middle East. In October 2006, she received the prestigious CIC Community service Award in recognition of her ongoing efforts in speaking up against the atrocities committed against Muslim nations.

• Inside Iraq: Accounts from an Iraqi Refugee
• Iraq & US Foreign Policy

Military recruiters have unprecedented access to our public school campuses and a $3.7 billion dollar budget to convince young people to sign up. So what can parents and concerned community members do to balance the equation, expose the myths that recruiters tell, and give young people more options for their future? Aimee Allison offers a number of effective strategies that communities have used to counter recruitment in her new book Army of None: Strategies to Counter Recruitment, End War, and Build a Better World (Seven Stories Press, 2007).

After serving four years as a combat medic in the Army Reserves, Aimee Allison earned an honorable discharge as a Conscientious Objector during the Persian Gulf War. Today, she writes and speaks about the experience and role of GI resistance in ending war, supports soldiers applying for CO discharges, and advocates for military women's issues with the Service Women's Action Network that she co-founded this year.

• Counter-recruitment
• Veteran perspective
• Woman's military perspective

Karolo Aparicio works for International Rivers Network (www.irn.org) and has worked for Global Exchange as the the Latin America Program Coordinator for the Reality Tours Department. Since the late 80's, he has been involved in human rights and environmental activism and is currently a co-host and co-producer with the weekly environmental radio show, Terra Verde on KPFA in Berkeley.

• Socially Responsible Travel
• Peoples and Cultures of Latin America
• Environmental and social activism

Huwaida Arraf is a first generation Palestinian-American born and raised in Detroit, MI. In Spring 2000, Huwaida served as Program Coordinator in Jerusalem with Seeds of Peace. With other Palestinian and international activists, she co-founded the International Solidarity Movement (ISM) in April, 2001, a Palestinian-led movement of Palestinian and international activists and community organizations working to raise awareness of the Palestinian struggle for freedom and an end to Israeli occupation. Last summer, Huwaida traveled to Lebanon and helped coordinate civilian relief efforts and accompaniment for returning refugees to South Lebanon, directly challenging Israel's attack against the people of Lebanon.

• Civil Resistance in Lebanon
• International Solidarity Movement
• Palestine and International Law

Carlos Arredondo learned his son Lcpl. Alexander Arredondo, was killed in action in An Najaf, Iraq on August 25, 2004. It was Alex' second tour of duty. When advised of his son's death, Carlos, due to anguish and grief, set afire a USMC van and burned himself in the process. These images were broadcast worldwide and resonated for many as the ultimate anguish of a father having lost his son in war. Carlos has appeared on Spanish and English speaking radio and television throughout the US and internationally.

Mélida Arredondo is Carlos' wife and Alexander step-mom. She has supported her family through the tragedies of Alexander's death as well as Carlos' burn related injuries. She has been active in reaching out to the USMC on the details of Alex' death as well as finding both economic and professional support for her family and herself. She recently has had several articles printed in Boston local papers on the impacts of the war on military families.

Bama Athreya

Bama Athreya discusses East Asian political issues from three perspectives: government policy, academic analysis, and personal experience. She worked as a U.S. Embassy official in Indonesia from 1992 to 1994. Later, she returned to Indonesia to live and work with factory workers. She eventually joined the AFL-CIO as Field Office Director in Cambodia, where she ran trade union education programs for the country's first independent unions. Ms. Athreya is now a program associate with the International Labor Rights Fund in Washington, D.C., where she does research and advocacy work on the social impacts of global trade, and directs a new project on China.

• Workers Rights in Cambodia, Indonesia, and China
• Social Impacts of Global Trade
• Cocoa and Cotton Industry and Child Labor
• Working Women's Rights

David Bacon is a writer and photojournalist on issues of labor, immigration and international trade. He is an associate editor at Pacific News Service, and writes for TruthOut, The Nation, The American Prospect, The Progressive, LA Weekly, and the San Francisco Chronicle, among other publications. He hosts a half-hour weekly radio show on labor, immigration and the global economy on KPFA-FM. He recently completed a photodocumentary project sponsored by the Rockefeller Foundation, Communities Without Borders. In his latest project, Living Under the Trees, Bacon is photographing and interviewing indigenous Mexican migrants working in California's fields. He is currently also documenting popular resistance to war and attacks on immigrant labor and civil rights.

• Immigration and Free Trade
• Photojournalism
• Guest-Worker Programs

Leslie Balog has lived the past 20 years in Cuba and worked at the island's international radio station. She has been arranging Cuba tours for Global Exchange since l993. She has also worked in the San Francisco Bay Area as an immigration and tenant's rights attorney.

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Anna Baltzer

Anna Baltzer is a 28-year-old Jewish American Columbia graduate, Fulbright scholar, and the granddaughter of Holocaust survivors. She is a three-time volunteer with the International Women's Peace Service, where she documented human rights abuses in the West Bank and supported the nonviolent movement against the Occupation. She has spent most of the past few years in Palestine or on tour with her book, Witness in Palestine: A Jewish American Woman in the Occupied Territories.

• Palestine Occupation
• Israeli Activism
• Censorship
• 1948 Nakba
• Nonviolent Resistance

Monica Benderman stands by her husband Sergeant Kevin Benderman, who was sentenced to 15 months' imprisonment on July 28 after he refused to return for a second tour of duty with the US army in Iraq. He had been a US soldier for ten years and served in Iraq from March to September 2003, but he refused to deploy to Iraq a second time, citing his moral and religious objections to the war in Iraq, which developed in response to his experiences as a soldier in Iraq.

• Supporting Our Soldiers
• Non-violence: There is Another Way
• Conscientious Objection & the Military Justice System

Khalil Bendib is the janitor -- or minesweeper -- of political cartooning in America. Potentially explosive issues avoided by other cartoonists, such as racial injustice, labor and class struggles, U.S. imperialism, environmental degradation, the scapegoating of Muslims and Arabs and the complicity of our Orwellian media are all grist to his mill. Through Minuteman Media News Service, Bendib's award-winning cartoons are distributed to over 1,700 small and mid-size newspapers natiowide.

• Political Cartooning
• Media Censorship
• Issues in the Middle East/North Africa
• Post 9/11: U.S. Muslims and Identity in a Big Brother State

Medea Benjamin, Founding Director of the human rights group Global Exchange, has struggled for social justice and human rights in Asia, the Americas, and Africa for over 25 years. She helped shine the national spotlight on US sweatshops overseas, derail the plans of the World Trade Organization and promote "fair trade" over "free trade." Ever since the tragic events of 9/11, Medea has been organizing against a violent response. She traveled several times to Afghanistan, including with a delegation of 9/11 families, to highlight civilian casualties caused by the US invasion. She is a leading activist in the peace movement and helped bring together the groups forming the coalition United for Peace and Justice. In October 2002, Medea made national news for interrupting Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld as he pitched his plans for war against Iraq to Congress. After the invasion, Medea traveled several times to Iraq to organize the Occupation Watch International Center in Baghdad. Medea also co-founded Code Pink, a women's peace group that has been organizing creative actions against the occupation of Iraq. In 2005, Medea organized a delegation of US military families who lost loved ones in Iraq to the Iraqi/Jordanian border to bring a shipment of humanitarian aid for the people of Falluja. In 2005 Medea was nominated as one of 1,000 exceptional women from around the world to receive the Nobel Peace Prize. She is also the author/editor of several books, including Stop the Next War Now.

Hear an audio excerpt of Medea:

Click here to listen.

• Ending the War in Iraq
• Stop the Next War Now
• CODEPINK: Women for Peace
• Building a Global Movement for Peace and Justice

Shannon Biggs is the Director of the Local Green Economy program at Global Exchange. She recently co-authored a book, Building the Green Economy: Success Stories from the Grass Roots. Shannon holds a Masters in Economics/Politics of Empire and Post Colonialism from the London School of Economics, and a BS in International Relations from San Francisco State University. Her current work focuses on assisting communities confronted by corporate harms to enact binding laws that place the rights of communities and nature above the claimed legal "rights" of corporations.

• Busting the myth of “bigger is better”--the real economics of local and green
• Is “localization” the antidote to economic globalization, climate change and other ills?
• Organizing models for local citizen control and local legislation
• Fundraising 101: the basics in fundraising for social change

Beth Bird is a documentary filmmaker, whose work engages vital contemporary social-issues such as globalization, popular resistance, and local community empowerment, drawing attention to and putting a human face on struggles for social justice. Her first feature-length film, "Everyone Their Grain Of Sand" (2005), won the 2005 Jury Award for Best Documentary at its U.S. premiere at the Los Angeles Film Festival and many other awards. In her film "Everyone Their Grain of Sand", Bird documents the struggle that border-town Maclovio Rojas has been facing in its relentless efforts to have access to basic human rights, like water and education.

• USA-Mexico Border
• Global Economy and Fair Trade
• Water Privatization

When Jane's son, SGT Evan Ashcraft was killed in an ambush near Al Hawd, Mosul, Iraq on July 24, 2003, she and her husband Jim founded the Evan Ashcraft Memorial Foundation in his memory. The reasons for setting up the Foundation were twofold. Evan was the 249th soldier killed in the Iraq conflict, but Jane did not want her son to be just a number. An equally compelling reason for establishing the Foundation was that, in letters and phone calls home Evan said, "When I come home from Iraq I just want to help people." The mission of the Foundation is to provide medical and psychological treatment, scholarship funds, and other necessities to returning Iraq conflict veterans and their dependents, thereby fulfilling Evan's wish to help others.

• Gold Star Mom
• The Human Cost of the Iraq War

Andrea Buffa is nationally recognized anti-war and media activist. Currently she works as the Campaigns Director at Global Exchange and does anti-war activism with the women's peace group CODEPINK. As the executive director of Media Alliance from 1997 to 2001, she was a leader in the campaign to take back the Pacifica Radio Network from corporate hijackers. In 2002, while at Global Exchange, she helped found United for Peace and Justice, the largest peace coalition in the United States, was its co-chair for one year, and also served on its steering committee. In January 2004, she led a fact-finding delegation to Iraq to understand the impact of the US war and occupation on the Iraqi people.

• What’s wrong with the US media system and what you can do to change it
• Organizing and activism 101
• How to get media attention for the issues you care about
• Fair Trade chocolate and coffee
• The Iraq war and strategies for the peace movement

Xiomara Castro is a Salvadoran-American who has been involved in the social change movement from a very young age, initially fighting to end the U.S. military intervention in El Salvador and later working for immigrant and farmworkers' rights in the U.S. She has worked as a farmworker union organizer in the Northwest, aiding refugees in gaining healthcare and legal services in the Southwest, and most recently engaging youth around the country as a grassroots educator in California and along the US/Mexico Border.

Xiomara is currently involved in coordinating Art in Action, a youth leadership training program that incorporates Arts and Social Justice activism. At the camp she facilitates the "Linking the Issues", Anti-Oppression, and Street Art/Giant Puppet making workshops. In "Linking the Issues," Xiomara touches on methods of connecting global justice issues to domestic civil and human rights issues in the United States. By linking the roots of global injustice and talking about issues such as Racism, Environmental Injustice, Militarism and Corporate Globalization, youth are able to connect and relate problems they face and struggles they are involved in with people's struggles for justice around the world.

• US/Mexico Border: Militarization, Free Trade, Immigration and Human Rights
• How Corporate Globalization Affects Local Communities
• Environmental Justice
• Student and Youth Activism
• Anti-Oppression

Alli Chagi-Starr is the Art and Events Director for Reclaim the Future at Ella Baker Center for Human Rights in Oakland. She is a founder of Art in Action Youth Leadership Program, Dancers Without Borders, Another World is Possible Road Shows and the twelve-year-old Radical Performance Fest. Chagi-Starr was the co-founder of Art and Revolution, a national movement of artist-activists that helped revitalize social movements from 1996-2001. Her essays appear in Democratizing the Global Economy, Global Uprising, Voices from the WTO, The Political Edge and How to Stop the Next War Now. She offers workshops and consultation on arts activism, cultural organizing and anti-racist strategies for movement-building, and has presented at Bioneers, the Esalen Institute, and at dozens of conferences and educational institutions across the United States and Canada. She is currently writing, "Movements for Mass Movements: Creative Tools for Changemakers."

• Challenging Racism and Oppression in our Communities
• Making Dances that Matter: Movement Theater for the Streets
• Arts Activism: The Power of Images and Creativity in our Movements for Social Justice

Global Exchange chapters offer a great opportunity for you to think globally and ACT LOCALLY! Join others to organize events and actions, build people-to-people ties with those around you, promote the alternatives, and work together for a more just and peaceful society!

Check out Join a Chapter for more information!

• Organizing Meetings
• House Parties
• Speaking Events
• Campaign Actions
• Film Screenings

Ariel Clay is a senior International Relations student at San Francisco State University who has a passion for human rights. She began her internship at Global Exchange this year working on the Fair Trade Chocolate campaign. Ariel is combining her retail experience she has had at high end boutiques to her Fair Trade experience here at Global Exchange to create a new cache for Fair Trade products and encourage ethical consumerism.

• Fair Trade

Described by The New York Times as the "Paul Revere of globalization's woes," Dr. Kevin Danaher's analytical expertise, sense of humor and blunt eloquence make him an exceptionally dynamic speaker. Dr. Kevin Danaher is a co-founder of Global Exchange (1988), founder and Executive Co-Producer of the Green Festivals (2001), and Executive Director of the Global Citizen Center (2004). Dr. Danaher has spoken at universities and for community organizations throughout the U.S. He conducts workshops on issues ranging from the dynamics of the global economy to how we can replace the power of transnational corporations with local green economy networks. A longtime critic of the so-called "free trade" agenda, Dr. Danaher explains how we must work with other countries to reduce poverty and inequality if we want the cooperation of the world's people in ending terrorism. Dr. Danaher is the author and/or editor of numerous books, including his latest, "Building the Green Economy: Success Stories from the Grass Roots".

• Building the Green Economy
• People's Globalization vs. Elite Globalization

Gopal Dayaneni, a leading activist in the struggle for social, economic and environmental justice, is an impassioned speaker and organizer. He is the former Oil Campaign Coordinator for Project Underground, a human rights and environmental rights organization. Since October, 2002, Gopal has been organizing and training in non-violent civil disobedience in opposition to the War on Terrorism at home and abroad. Gopal is an outspoken critic of U.S. foreign and domestic policies, corporate-led globalization, the 'War on Terrorism", war profiteering and the systemic links between war and racism. Since the late 80's, Gopal has been involved in fighting for social, economic and racial justice through organizing, teaching, writing, speaking and non-violent direct action.

• Oil and War: From the Arctic to Iraq
• Axis of Evil or Access to Oil?-- Motivations of the Bush Regime
• Human Rights, Environmental Justice and Oil
• War and Racism: who decides who dies?
• The Real Price of Oil: from militarization to catastrophic climate change.

Noah Dillard, a native of Maine, has been working internationally for economic and ecological justice and human rights since 2003, in support of local grassroots struggles in Palestine and Colombia. In 2003, after the US bombing campaign in Iraq intensified, he traveled to the Gaza Strip, Palestine, volunteering as a non-violence trainer and coordinator for the International Solidarity Movement for 6 months. In January 2005, Noah entered Christian Peacemaker Teams and joined their Colombia team full time, working in solidarity with campesino and indigenous land rights struggles, and against US foreign policy and military aid to Colombia. Noah returns to the US, now, to continue his solidarity activism, outreach, and education, from the trigger end of US foreign policy.

• Colombia and Non-violent Resistence
• Palestine and Non-violent Resistence
• Campesino and Indigenous Land Rights Struggles
• The Devastating Effects of Free Trade and US Foreign Policy, i.e. Plan Colombia, Military Aid to Colombia, Fumigations, and the so called Drug War

Believing in the power of business enterprise as a tool for social change, in 2002 Tex's passion for socially conscious business drew her to the Fair Trade movement and Global Exchange where she works as the Manager of the Global Exchange Online Fair Trade Store. Since her start at Global Exchange, Tex helped to launch the new and improved Online Store website, she created the successful Fair Trade Corporate Gift Program, and has traveled to various parts of the world on direct buying trips and delegations. Speaking regularly with artisans and students, vendors and producers from around the world has allowed Tex a unique perspective on the needs of various individuals within the expanding Fair Trade movement. Tex is currently working on a book entitled This Little Piggy Went to Market: Bringing Products from the Village Market to the Global Marketplace.

• Fair Trade
• business enterprise as a tool for social change

Zein El-Amine is a longtime DC community activist and regular contributor to Left Turn magazine (www.leftturn.org). Zein was born and raised in Lebanon and most of his immediate family was recently evacuated from there. He is now a member the newly formed Coalition for Justice and Accountability—a DC based group of Arab Americans, African Americans and Jewish American activists who are focusing on grassroots education and action to deal with the most current attack on Lebanon and the occupied Palestinian territories. He has recently launched an effort to hold regional town hall meetings on this crisis in DC, Maryland and Virginia.

Laila El-Haddad

Laila El-Haddad is a freelance Palestinian journalist and writer based between the United States and the Gaza Strip. She spent the past three years in Gaza reporting for the Aljazeera Satellite Channel's english language website (now known as Aljazeera International) and Pacifica Radio's Free Speech Radio news. Her work is also frequently found in the Guardian Unlimited, the BBC World Service, the Electronic Intifada, Le Monde Diplomatique, and the New Statesman. Laila is also the author of the blog Raising Yousuf (www.a-mother-from-gaza.blogspot.com), where she writes about the trials and tribulations of motherhood under occupation.

Mike Ergo

Mike Ergo grew up in Walnut Creek and graduated from Northgate High School. Mike enlisted in the United States Marine Corps on May 11th, 2001 (his senior year in high school). After being stationed in Iraq twice, Mike was honorably discharged in July of 2005. Through research and soul searching, Mike has concluded that the war in Iraq is not noble or just and that it has claimed too many American and Iraqi lives, while taking advantage of the patriotism of the youth of America.

• The Realities of the Iraq War

Reese Erlich is an investigative reporter with a critical eye, which has won him awards from the Society of Professional Journalists, Project Censored, and shared a prestigious Peabody Award. He writes regularly for National Public Radio, Dallas Morning News, CBC Radio (Canada) and Mother Jones magazine.

• U.S. Policy & the Middle East Crisis
• Iraq Exit Plans
• Iran & US-Iran Relations

Asma Nazihi Eschen is an Afghan American, who will speak to groups about Afghanistan, facilitate programs and lead the training. She also can be the lead translator during the training sessions (Dari/Farsi and English). Since 2002, Ms. Eschen has been very involved with Afghanistan causes and joined in 2003 the Afghans 4 Tomorrow non-profit organization helping with reconstruction in Afghanistan. She has worked in many capacities from fundraising for a pre-school snack program in Kabul, speaking to groups about A4T's diverse project, to leading two groups to Afghanistan in 2005 and 2006 to plant pine and fruit trees that once grew throughout Kabul and other towns.

• Educational, Environmental, Agricultural issues of Afghanistan
• Cultural, historical, gender topics on Afghanistan

Jodie Evans has worked on behalf of community, social-justice, environmental, and political causes for more than thirty years. In October 2002, Jodie co-founded CODEPINK with Medea Benjamin. CODEPINK is a women's peace group that has been organizing creative actions against the war and occupation of Iraq. Jodie co-edited CODEPINK's new book, "Stop the Next War Now: Effective Responses to Violence and Terrorism" -- a powerful and diverse collection of essays from the peace movement's most dynamic voices. In June 2000, Jodie co-created the first Dubrovnik Peace Conference. From 1973 to 1982, Jodie worked on the campaigns of California governor Jerry Brown, served as his director of administration and ran his campaign for president in 1991. She also oversaw the Office of Appropriate Technology, ushering in breakthroughs in wind and solar energy. In the early 1990s Jodie opened the first environmental department store, Terra Verde. A mother of three, Jodie serves on the boards of numerous non-profits and is a harpist, gardener, and potter when not working to end war.

• CODEPINK: Women for Peace

Anyone interested in socially responsible international travel will find Malía Everette especially compelling. For over eight years Malia Everette has been the Director of Global Exchange's popular and rapidly expanding Reality Tours program. During her tenure at Reality Tours she has overseen the growth and development of alternative travel programs, study seminars and fact finding human rights delegations to 30 countries around the world. From the US, to Asia, Africa, Latin America, the Middle East, Europe and the Caribbean, Malia promotes in-depth experiential education and socially responsible travel as an alternative to the type of "sun and fun" tourism that often results in cultural homogenization. She has years of experience pioneering cultural and educational exchanges that truly build "people to people ties". Malia believes in the power of travel as a transformative tool for education and social change and sees how the Reality Tours alumni pool of over 20,000 have become citizen diplomats as well as proponents for sane US foreign and economic policy. Malia has facilitated many tours around the world focusing on international relations, human rights, political economy, sustainable development, women's issues and the resilience of indigenous cultures.

• Socially Responsible Travel
• Humanitarian Aid Delegation for Iraq
• U.S./Cuba Relations
• Bio-Imperialism and Food Security
• Alternative Models of Development

Delvis Fernández-Levy, president and founder of the Cuba American Alliance Education Fund, Inc., will discuss the debilitating effects that the U.S. embargo has had on Cuban citizens from a humanitarian and ethical perspective. His presentation will assess the embargo from a moral standpoint and will emphasize how this perspective succeeds in de-politicizing thedebate. He will also address the Cuba Food and Medicine Security Act of 1999, which would enable Cuba to effectively receive medicine and food supplies.

• Realities of the Embargo of Cuba

Vivien Feyer is a psychologist, educator, mediator and peace activist. Vivien trains and coaches community mediators and promotes direct person-to-person, heart-to-heart communication between adversaries and across borders. In 1981, she founded the fair trade import company, PARADISO: JEWELS OF BALI. Most recently, Vivien has traveled to Iraq and Iran as a citizen diplomat. Through photography and drawing, Vivien has collected a visual representation of her travels and has been presenting her experience throughout the US.

• US & Iranian Relations
• Alternative Conflict Resolution
• Medical Aid
• Women and War

As Global Exchange's Fair Trade Cocoa Campaigner, Adrienne reaches out to chocolate lovers and chocolate makers alike to help create a world in which we are all free to enjoy guilt-free chocolate. Adrienne also campaigns for conflict-free diamonds and was part of the Global Exchange-coordinated coalition for Sweatfree legislation in San Francisco.

Adrienne has engaged in advocacy toward both corporations and government to create a flourishing international economy at home and abroad that is truly the catalyst for promoting democracy and human rights, protecting the environment, securing peace, and ending poverty. Adrienne has worked for diverse human rights and environmental advocacy organizations, as well as leaders in the field of green business such as Co-op America and Calvert Group. Her area of expertise is the impact of commodities, both extractive and agricultural, on local communities, particularly indigenous people.

Adrienne has studied at Oxford University's Refugee Studies Programme, UC Davis Martin Luther King Hall School of Law, and the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, where her Fields of Study were Development Economics and Environmental Policy. Adrienne is also the co-host of Terra Verde, the weekly environmental radio program on KPFA in Northern California

Dawn Fraser

Dawn Fraser is an avid Caribbean-American educator, activist, spoken word artist, speaker and cultural agent. Dawn has worked on an array of political and social issues which primarily affect low-income and minority communities.

Dawn explores creative ways to utilize music and dance to transform democracy and generate collective action. By focusing on concepts of innovation, entrepreneurship, political race and leadership, Dawn explores both the formal and informal means to harness the power of culture.

• Cultural Arts, Community Building and Strategies that Inspire Action
• New Media Strategies to Promote Arts Activism

Stephen Funk is a veteran who was the first public conscientious objector to the war in Iraq and served six months in military prison. At the time, he stated: "I refuse to surrender my dignity, I refuse to kill... the military demands obedience, but I will not obey". He spoke out to provoke others in service to rethink their moral duty, and to encourage young people to think twice before enlisting in the military. Now that Stephen has been discharged from the Marine Corps he continues his peace work. He is an active member of Iraq Veterans Against the War since 2004, and Vets4Vets, a non-partisan veterans peer support organization dedicated to helping Iraq and Afghanistan era veterans. He is currently an undergraduate student at Stanford University, majoring in International Relations, and interning with Global Exchange.

• Truth in Recruiting
• Discrimination in the military

Faith Gemmill, a Pit River/ Wintu and Neets'aii Gwich'in Athabascan from Arctic Village, Alaska, is the current outreach coordinator for REDOIL (Resisting Environmental Destruction on Indigenous Lands). Faith previously worked on behalf of the Gwich'in Nation for over ten years as a representative, public spokesperson and Gwich'in Steering Committee staff to address the potential human health and cultural impacts of proposed oil development and production of the birthplace and nursery of the Porcupine Caribou Herd which is located within the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Faith continues as a public spokesperson, press and tribal liaison and human rights advocate. Faith is a current field representative of the International Indian Treaty Council (IITC). In this capacity Faith has represented the Gwich'in Nation within appropriate mechanisms of the United Nations to advocate for the recognition of Gwich'in human rights as well as work for the rights and recognition of Indigenous Peoples. Faith also serves on the advisory board of Honor the Earth.

• The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge
• Human Rights and Oil
• Indigenous Peoples and the Environment

John Gibler is a Global Exchange human rights fellow in Mexico who has been covering social movements since January 1st, 2006. He has reported on the ground from the Zapatistas Other Campaign, the massive protests against electoral fraud in Mexico City, and the civil disobedience uprising in Oaxaca. His writing and photographs have appeared in Z Magazine, ZNet, In These Times, Left Turn, The Indypendent, New Politics, Narco News, UpsideDownWorld.com, and other independent media. He has reported for Flashpoints on KPFA, Democracy Now!, KPFK, and WBAI. He has also reported from Oaxaca for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and the international edition of the Miami Herald. Before moving to Mexico, Gibler worked for various human rights and social justice organizations in Mexico, Peru, and California. He reported on environmental justice issues and water privatization in California for Public Citizen, Terrain Magazine, ColorLines, the Environmental Justice Coalition for Water, the Journal on Race, Poverty and the Environment and other independent media.

• The May 4th massive police raid in San Salvador Atenco.
• The Uprising in Oaxaca
• The Zapatista Other Campaign
• THe Massive Protest Against Electoral Fraud

Eva Golinger is a Venezuelan-American attorney and author of the best-selling books, "The Chávez Code" (2005) and "Bush vs. Chávez: Washington's War on Venezuela" (2006). Since 2003, Eva has been investigating, analyzing and writing about US intervention in Venezuela using the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) to obtain information about the US Government's efforts over the past few years to destabilize Hugo Chávez's presidency. Through the FOIA, she has uncovered more than US$50 million in financing to anti-Chávez groups from the U.S. government since 2001 and in October 2004, she obtained top-secret documents from the CIA under the Freedom of Information Act, demonstrating prior knowledge and complicity in the coup. Since then, she has continued to receive more declassified documents under the FOIA and she has published two books in five languages (English, Spanish, French, German and Italian) on the subject of US Intervention in Venezuela, with particular emphasis on use of the National Endowment for Democracy and the USAID to fund opposition activities, penetrate civil society and undermine Venezuela's democratic revolution. Ms. Golinger's work has been covered by The New York Times, The Washington Post, Newsday, Chicago Tribune, International Herald Tribune, The Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times and other major media around the world. She has also appeared on CNN, BBC, PBS, NPR, Australia's "Dateline", Swedish, French and Greek television, and is a featured analyst on several major documentaries about Venezuela, including "Venezuela Rising" (Nuestra America Productions, 2006). She currently resides in Caracas, Venezuela and writes as a columnist for several national newspapers and hosts a weekly radio program on national Venezuelan radio. She also frequently appears on one of Venezuela's most popular political programs on television, "la Hojilla".

• US Intervention in Venezuela • CIA penetration and actions in Venezuela
• The Bush Administration’s Role in the 2002 coup d’etat against President Chávez
• The National Endowment for Democracy and a tool of undermining democracies around the world (How US Taxpayer Dollars are used for Regime Change)
• Media Manipulation and Psychological Warfare
• How to use the Freedom of Information Act to Uncover and Denounce US Aggression and Illegal Activities
• The Venezuela Revolution and Social Transformation
• The New Venezuelan Constitution

Tim Goodrich enlisted in the Air Force at the age of 18. He joined wanting to serve his country and because of his family military tradition. While in the Air Force, he was stationed at Tinker AFB, OK as part of the 552 AMXS squadron where he maintained communication, navigation, and cryptological systems on the E-3 AWACS command and control aircraft. Tim deployed to the Middle East three times during his enlistment. The first deployment was in support of Operation Southern Watch (patrolling of southern no-fly zone over Iraq). During his second deployment, Tim provided direct combat support for Operation Enduring Freedom (Afghanistan) shortly after the attacks on September 11, 2001. His final deployment was again in support of Operation Southern Watch. During this time, he participated in the intensified bombing of Iraq during the fall of 2002, while President Bush was stating that diplomacy would be used first and before the U.S. Congress or the United Nations had been approached. Tim completed his enlistment and was honorably discharged in April of 2003. Wanting to see the other side of the bombing, Tim joined a Global Exchange fact finding delegation to Iraq in January of 2004, where he witnessed the devastation of the war and occupation firsthand. Upon his return from Iraq, Tim began speaking out against the occupation of Iraq and co-founded Iraq Veterans Against the War.

Nell Greenberg

Nell Greenberg is the Media and Communications Director for Global Exchange. As Media Director, her focus is on ensuring that issues of social, economic, environmental and racial justice are represented in progressive and mainstream media, and that the voices and visions of impacted communities and grassroots organizers are amplified into public awareness. From brainstorming creative media hooks to placing opinion pieces and feature stories in national media outlets, Nell's media advocacy skills have helped pass Sweatshop Labor Ordinances in San Francisco and Portland, supported extensive media coverage of protests and direct actions, helped reframe debates on oil addiction, immigration and global trade, and coordinated speaking tours that elevate underexposed voices.

• Media 101 for Grassroots Activism
• The Art of the OpEd
• Framing the Debate: Messaging and Interview Skills

Susan Greene of Break the Silence Mural Project traveled to the West Bank of Occupied Palestine to create a four-story mural in coordination with Palestinian youth and artists. Susan lived and painted at the Ibdaa Guest House in Dheisheh Refugee Camp in Bethlehem. The mural was designed and painted by Palestinian youth and artists, Americans and American Jews. Susan is available to present slides and video of the powerful art created and speak about what daily life is like living in the Occupied Territories. The focus of each presentation is determined by the context of the event however the general themes are daily life for Palestinians under the military occupation, its relationship to the community mural project, history of the region and implications for art and activism.

• Break the Silence Mural and Arts Project in Palestine
• Daily Life for Palestinians Under Military Occupation
• Art and Activism

Narcisa Gualinga is a Kichwa leader from the Autonomous Territory of the Original Kichwa Nation of Sarayaku (TAYJA-SARUTA) in the Ecuadorian Amazon, which has opposed oil extraction and the Argentine oil company CGC since they entered Sarayaku territory in 1996. Narcisa was one of the original presidents and coordinators of the Sarayaku Organization of Women, and currently forms an integral part of the organizational process of the community through her roles as a political representative, and both mother and wife to subsequent presidents of the Nation of Sarayaku. In 1992, she participated in the historic March for Indigenous Peoples' Rights, for the recognition of territorial rights of the indigenous peoples of Pastaza province. Narcisa has never had the opportunity to learn to read nor write, and she has never studied. Yet her conviction and experience have been fundamental to providing understanding and political orientation to her community. She has a long history of defending the environment in the Amazon and of shaping her people's role in the proper development of the planet.

Bassam Haddad

Bassam Haddad is Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science at St. Joseph's University and Visiting Adjunct Professor at Georgetown University. He is also a Scholar in Residence at the University of Pennsylvania. Bassam serves as Editor of the Arab Studies Journal, a peer-reviewed research publication and is co-producer/director of the award-winning documentary film, About Baghdad. He is currently working on his first book on Syria's political economy and directing a film series on "Arabs and Terrorism".

Marisa Handler

Marisa Handler is on a national tour with her new book, Loyal to the Sky. A vivid mix of personal memoir and political reportage, she combines the story of her own coming-of age in apartheid South Africa with a fascinating inside look at the global justice movement. She has worked as an activist with numerous organizations, including Direct Action to Stop the War, United for Peace and Justice, and the Tikkun Community, where she was National Organizer. Her Orion story was nominated for the Society of Environmental Journalists' Best Environmental Writing award.

John Harrington

Making money and supporting social justice are not mutually exclusive. With personal charisma and energy, John Harrington makes socially responsible investing fascinating and immediate. Mr.Harrington is President and CEO of a highly successful investment company whose clients are concerned with social as well as financial criteria. He is also Manager of Global Partners, LLC, a social venture fund. He has been President and Chair of the Board of Working Assets Management Company as well as Progressive Asset Management, has held several investment consulting positions for the State of California, and is a key figure in numerous San Francisco Bay Area nonprofits. He has been a leader in the socially responsible investment movement for over thirty years, and was a key architect of the divestment movement against the apartheid government in South Africa.

Hear an audio excerpt of John:

Click here to listen.

• Socially Responsible Investing
• Economic Globalization
• Economic Development in South Africa

David Hilliard, a founding member and Chief of Staff of the Black Panther Party, is author of the book, This Side of Glory, a compelling personal narrative and electrifying eyewitness account of the Black Panther Party, which highlights leader Huey P. Newton's fearless crusade against police brutality and other examples of social injustice. Hilliard's life story dramatically illuminates this revolutionary movement and explains much of the U.S.'s present racial and political troubles. Since 1993, David Hilliard has directed the activities of the Dr. Huey P. Newton Foundation, a grass-roots community-based non-profit organization committed to preserving and fostering Newton's intellectual legacy.Hilliard's work with the Foundation has been featured in The New York Times, The Chicago Tribune, and The Los Angeles Times, as well as on National Public Radio and the Pacifica Radio Network. Now an internationally recognized authority on Newton and the Black Panther Party, David Hilliard teaches at Merritt College, Laney College, and New College, and lectures frequently throughout the United States. He was an advisor on the feature film, "Panther," and on the Spike Lee-produced, "A Huey P. Newton Story."

• This Side of Glory, a compelling personal narrative and electrifying eyewitness account of the Black Panther Party
• The life, legacy, and intellectual history of Black Panther leader Huey P. Newton

Mary Anne Hitt is the executive director of Appalachian Voices, a nonprofit organization that brings people together to solve the environmental problems having the greatest impact on the central and southern Appalachian Mountains. The organization works with communities across Appalachia to tackle two major causes of climate change: mountaintop removal coal mining and the construction of new coal-fired power plants. She grew up in the mountains of east Tennessee, just outside Gatlinburg and the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

• Climate Change
• Mountain Top Removal and Coal-fired Fuel Plants in the Appalachian Mountains

Mike moved to the US a year ago and works for Global Exchange as their Independence from Oil campaign director. Since coming down to the states Mike has co-organized 4 national days of action, launched a campaign to "Save Hockey -- Fight Climate Change" and co-created the Oil Addicts Anonymous and the Oil Enforcement Agency. He works to end America's addiction to oil, stop the runaway global climate crisis, separate oil from state Separate Oil from State and put a complete moratorium on Alberta tar sands development.

• Corporate Campaigning: How to Take on the Big Boys and Win
• Oil Addiction: How to Admit the Addiction and Get Some Help
• Sustainable Transportation
• Creative Activism: Big Wins with Small Resources.
• Youth Initiatives and Climate Change
• Non-Violent Direct Action, Action Climbing and Blockades
• Tarsands: the Blackhole of North America.

This speaking tour explores Israeli and Palestinian experiences of 1948, the creation of the Palestinian refugee crisis and the role of the right of return in any just solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

• Israel, Palestine and the Right of Return

At the time of her kidnapping, in July of 1976, architect Patricia Indiana Isasa was 16 years old. She was taken by a commando group of the state police and was "disappeared" (held clandestinely) for three months. She was then taken to a military barracks, where she was held prisoner without trial or due process for two years and two months. After her release in 1979, she was kidnapped again by the authorities when she was compiling complaints to be presented to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights of the Organization of American States, which was about to visit Argentina. She was released after a few days. After her ordeal, she graduated from the school of architecture and moved to London. In 1997 Patricia went back to Santa Fe to care for her sick mother. She realized then that it had been 20 years and justice had not been done. She decided to do it herself, initiating an investigation into her kidnappers' identities, still unknown to her. Thanks to her relentless research, today 8 people are in jail and awaiting trial. Among them there are an ex-federal judge, an ex-assistant secretary for security of Santa Fe, and several ex-policemen (one of them a graduate of the School of the Americas). All of them had been previously detained when the Spanish judge Baltasar Garzon requested their extradition to Spain. Then-President Fernando De La Rua denied the extradition request; now they are awaiting trial in Argentina.

• Surviving the Dirty War in Argentina

Deborah James is the is the Director of International Programs of Center for Economic and Policy Research in Washington, DC, an independent, nonpartisan think tank that was established to promote democratic debate on the most important economic and social issues that affect people's lives. Deborah was most recently the Director of the WTO Program at Public Citizen's Global Trade Watch, where she organized global campaigns to stop the expansion of the WTO with the global network Our World Is Not for Sale. Deborah was previously the Global Economy Director at Global Exchange, where she worked for over a decade to democratize the global economy. There she played a key role in the hemispheric movement to stop the expansion of NAFTA to the rest of Latin America through the Free Trade Area of the Americas. At Global Exchange, Deborah successfully improved the lives of coffee farmers in developing countries by organizing consumer pressure that led Starbucks and Procter & Gamble to purchase Fair Trade Certified coffee. This work grew out of her advocacy for a living wage and better working conditions for Nike and GAP workers and her promotion of Fair Trade chocolate to end child slavery in the Ivory Coast. Her outstanding public education efforts have distinguished Deborah as an exceptional leader who can strategically attack high-level corporate giants and multilateral trade agreements while inspiring the public by effectively promoting the visionary alternatives of Fair Trade. In 2004, Deborah served as the first Executive Director of the Venezuela Information Office in Washington, DC, an organization that reframed public debate of the exciting progressive social transformation happening under Hugo Chávez's leadership and successfully shifted US foreign policy towards Venezuela. In 2000, Deborah was part of the largest foreign elections monitoring team in Mexico, and has also observed elections in Venezuela and Florida in 2004. She has led over 20 human rights, democracy, Fair Trade, and women's delegations to Brazil, Costa Rica, Cuba, Haiti, Indonesia, Mexico, Nicaragua, and Venezuela since 1994. Deborah was a representative to the United Nations World Conference on Women in 1995 in China; part of the first American delegation to Afghanistan after the US bombing in November of 2001; and a representative to the World Summit on Sustainable Development in South Africa in 2002.

• Global Resistance to the World Trade Organization
• Venezuelan Democracy, Development, and Latin American Regional Integration
• Challenging Corporate Globalization

Elaine's son, Spc. Darius Jennings, age 22, was killed in action in Iraq on November 2, 2003, when his Chinook helicopter was shot down, taking his life and the lives of fifteen other soldiers. "I forced the president to meet with us," she said. "I asked him why soldiers like my son were still dying in Iraq, and he said 'to finish the mission'. I asked what the mission was, but he was already leaving the room." Ever since then, she has been a mother on a mission, who is not only a Gold Star Mother, but also a member of Military Families Speak Out and Gold Star Families Speak Out, and the founder of Spc. Darius T. Jennings organization

• A Gold Star Mothers Perspective: Why we need to end the War!
• Speaking Truth to Power

Eco-visionary, human rights attorney, and powerhouse speaker, Van Jones is one of the most creative and unifying progressive leaders in the United States. Jones is the founder of one of the most innovative racial justice organizations in the United States: the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights (EBC). Based in Oakland, California, EBC works for positive alternatives to incarceration and violence in urban America. Van is also a passionate advocate for the environment and for responsible business. He has served on numerous governing boards, including: Rainforest Action Network, WITNESS, Bioneers, the New Apollo Project and the Social Venture Network. Van's efforts have earned him many honors, including the Reebok International Human Rights Award, the Ashoka Fellowship, and the Rockefeller Foundation "Next Generation Leadership" Fellowship.

• The New Dream: Updating MLK’s Vision To Meet Today’s Ecological & Social Challenges
• All Together For Energy Action: Bridging The Black/Green Divide To Reverse Climate Change NOW
• “Green-Collar Jobs, Not Jails”: Moving From Jail Cells to Solar Cells In Urban America
• The Soul of Activism: Healing Our Movements For Social Change
• “Books, Not Bars”: Smart Alternatives To The U.S. Incarceration Industry
• Politics Of Hope: The New Path To Green Growth, Shared Prosperity & MLK’s Beloved Community

Antonia Juhasz is a policy-analyst, author and activist living in San Francisco. She is a Fellow at Oil Change International and Visiting Scholar at the Institute for Policy Studies. Juhasz is author of The Bu$h Agenda: Invading the World, One Economy at a Time. Juhasz's new book, The Tyranny of Oil: the World's Most Powerful Industry, and What we Must do to Stop It, will be released by HarperCollins Publishers in September 2008. Juhasz is an expert on all aspects of international trade and finance policy with a Masters Degree in Public Policy from Georgetown University, a Bachelors Degree in Public Policy from Brown University, experience as a Legislative Assistant to two United States Members of Congress, and over ten years of work in the field. She is a passionate writer and speaker who conveys complex information in a manner that is both accessible and motivational to others.

• The Bush Agenda: Invading the World, One Economy at a Time
• Corporate Globalization and the War on Iraq
• Global water privatization and commodification
• The San Francisco Anti-War/Peace Movement
• Challenging corporate globalization in all its evil forms

Fatemeh Keshavarz is a professor of Persian & Comparative Literature at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri. Fatemeh is a published poet in her native language (Persian), writes poetry in English, and is the author of several books and journal articles, which provide a medium for her interest in the broader implications of cultural education for world peace.

• Art and Activism
• Persian Language & Literature
• Iranian Studies

Foaad Khosmood is an anti-war organizer, a writer and editor concentrating on Iran related issues. Foaad has delivered lectures and conducted information sessions on Iranian politics, history, US/Iran relations and Iranian nuclear situation. He's currently a board member and secretary of CASMII US.

• Iranian Politics
• US/Iran Relations
• Iranian Nuclear Situation

Earl Kingik is a member of the Native Village of Point Hope, Alaska. Earl is an Inupiat subsistence hunter and whaler, and has extensive historical contributions promoting Inupiat subsistence rights as a former board member of the Beluga Whaling Commission, Western Arctic Caribou Herd board member, Pt. Hope city council member, field archeologist and Wildlife and Parks Director. Earl is concerned with climate change, offshore and onshore oil development, and their effects on Indigenous land and subsistence rights.

• Climate Change
• Environmental Consequences of Oil Drilling
• Indigenous Peoples and the Environment
• Offshore oil and gas

Brandon Knight is the Mid-West Independence from Oil Campus Organizer at Global Exchange. Brandon has studied Transportation Economics and Environmental Economics and Policy at Michigan State University. He has worked in the energy efficiency and renewable energy field for over 2 years with non-profits and with MSU Campus Office of Sustainability. Brandon is now using his experience to help students organize to improve the fuel-efficiency of university vehicles and to develop transportation alternatives as part of the Campus Climate Challenge.

• Climate Change and Environmental Justice
• Transportation Policy
• Student Activism/Campus Organizing

Ko Ko Lay, an exile Burmese activist currently in the United States, continues struggling for peace, social justice and political change for Burma. While a final year philosophy student, he was one of the student leaders who organized a popular people's uprising in Burma on August 8, 1988. On September 18, 1988, the Burmese military brutally crushed the nationwide peaceful demonstrations and took power. More than 3,000 students and civilians were killed and thousands of activists were arrested and tortured by the Burmese military regime. Consequently, more than 10,000 students left Burma and formed All Burma Students Democratic Front (ABSDF) on the Thai Burma border after the military regime coup. Ko Ko Lay was elected as a member of the Central Executive Committee of ABSDF and served as a Secretary of Information. After his two terms of service in ABSDF, he decided to continue his studies and migrated to the U.S. Ko Ko has achieved a degree in Photography and Industrial Design at San Francisco State University (SFSU) and is currently pursuing a Masters degree at SFSU in Social Change Design and Conflict Resolution with an emphasis in International Conflicts. He is a founder of Open Students Network for Burma at SFSU and is also serving his second term as a member of the Strategic Coordinating Committee, the only worldwide Burmese coalition group including the National Coalition Government of Union of Burma and National Council of Burma. Through sharing his first-hand personal experiences and knowledge of Burma, Ko Ko helps raise awareness about the Burmese student movements, the struggle for democracy, human rights issues and the consequences of oil production in Burma.

• Anti-Dictatorship, Democracy, Human Rights and Social Justice movements in Burma
• Consequences of Militarism in Burma
• Impacts of Oil Production in Burma

Ted Lewis directs the human rights programs of Global Exchange and is a long time democracy and antiwar activist. He recently organized Fair Election International (www.fairelection.us), which invited observers from all five continents to observe the November 2004 election in five key US states. Since 1994, Mr. Lewis has directed the Human Rights and the Mexico Programs of Global Exchange. He has supervised and coordinated multinational human rights teams in Nicaragua and some of the most conflictive states in Mexico and led the largest international team of delegates to observe the Mexican presidential elections in 2000. He visited Iraq in the summer of 2003, helping to launch the Iraq Occupation Watch.

• Militarization in Mexico and the U.S. Connection
• Why We Must Leave Iraq

Born and raised in Oakland, California, Ariel Luckey is a hip hop theater artist whose community and performance work dances in the crossroads of education, art and activism. Ariel's lyrical language and political vision have inspired and transformed audiences from the streets of Seattle's WTO demonstration to Cafe Cantante in Havana, Cuba to the Nuyorican Poets Cafe in New York. As a father, friend and activist, Ariel makes connections between issues, communities, and movements to build alliances for social and environmental justice.

• Poetry for People Power: The Pen, The Mic and The Movement
• Acting Out Change: Theatre of the Oppressed for Collective Liberation
• ToxiCity: Art and Organizing for Environmental Justice (Part One)
• New World Water: Art and Organizing for Environmental Justice (Part Two)
• Ancestry in Progress: Connecting Our Family Histories to Our Global Future
• Free Land: Unearthing the Legacy of Manifest Destiny and White Privilege thru Hip Hop Theatre

Nick Magel is Director of Global Exchange's Freedom From Oil Campaign, using his organizing, leadership and communication skills to build an ever larger movement to end US oil addiction and stop global climate change. His expertise is using corporate campaigns to pressure the auto industry to produce zero-emission vehicles and stop new oil infrastructure, while inspiring and empowering youth to create sustainable transportation and renewable energy policies on their campuses. Prior to joining Global Exchange Nick worked on campaigns to stop new liquefied natural gas infrastructure on the west coast, and developed climate based curricula for classrooms across the country. He received his MA in education from Lesley University, where he worked to radicalize environmental education norms and to explore participatory education as a catalyst for action.

Nancy Mancias

Nancy L. Mancias works for the Global Exchange Peace Campaign and is the assistant to the cofounder of Global Exchange and CODEPINK Women for Peace, Medea Benjamin. She is a key organizer in the San Francisco anti-war community and supports Iraq war resisters in the US and Canada. Nancy is a theatre arts professional and is on the Board of Directors for Intersection for the Arts, San Francisco's oldest alternative art space.

• CODEPINK Women for Peace
• Supporting Iraq War Resisters

Jason Mark is the coauthor (with Kevin Danaher and Shannon Biggs) of the new book Building the Green Economy: Success Stories from the Grassroots (PoliPointPress). His new book charts the efforts of local communities to create a more ecologically sustainable and socially responsible economy. The book tells the stories of people who have successfully grown urban farms; built wind power projects; fought toxic polluters; created networks of locally owned enterprises; established worker coops; and founded businesses that place people and the planet before short-term profit. The book is an inspiring "greenprint" for how, together, we can realize a more safe and humane society. Mark is the co-manager of Alemany Farm (www.alemanyfarm.org), a 4.5-acre farm in the middle of San Francisco. Alemany Farm uses organic fruit and vegetable cultivation to give "at-risk" youth meaningful job training and to educate the public about our reliance on natural systems. He is also a member of the Board of Directors of the human rights group Global Exchange. Mark holds a bachelor's degree in international relations from Georgetown University.

• Connecting the Peace and Environmental Movements in Order to Break Our Addiction to Oil
• Citizen Challenges to Corporate Power
• No Blood or Oil: Breaking America’s Petroleum Addiction
• Corporations and “Free Trade”: The REAL Agenda Behind the WTO and FTAA
• Connecting the Global Peace and Global Justice Movements
• International Observation of the US Elections
• Organic Agriculture

Carlos has been working with Global Exchange for 3 years in various capacities, working as Volunteer Coordinator for the Green Festival for much of that time. He worked to fight the Central American Free Trade Agreement with Global Exchange and the Bay Area Anti-CAFTA coalition through coordinating phonebanking, events, and a variety of actions. He now coordinates the Reality Tour delegations and program for Venezuela. With a great passion for working to support social movements in Latin America and sharing a disdain for mainstream tourism with his other Reality Tours colleagues, he is driven to educate people from the global North through immersing them in genuine experiences abroad and political action at home.

• Venezuela

Nadia McCaffrey is the founder of Angelstaff.org, a group of volunteers who bring a caring presence to terminally ill patients and their families. When her son, Sergeant Patrick McCaffrey, died on June 22, 2004 in Iraq, Nadia began to focus much of her work on promoting peace and justice and reaching out to parents that have lost loved ones in the U.S. invasion and occupation of Iraq. Nadia received international attention as the "mother who defied the Bush Administration" when she asked the media to be present at the airport to photograph her son's flag-draped coffin. In addition, Nadia McCaffrey went on Global Exchange's trip to the Jordan and Iraq border at the start of 2005 with the Families for Peace delegation which delivered over $650,000 of medical and humanitarian aid for the thousands of refugees, mostly women and children, made homeless by the U.S. attack on Falluja.

• Military Families Against the War

Cynthia McKinney served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1993 to 2003, and from 2005 to 2007, representing Georgia's 4th Congressional District. Cynthia's debut into public office came in 1988 when she was elected to the Georgia State Legislature. In 1992, Cynthia made history when she became the first African American woman to represent Georgia in the U.S. House of Representatives. While in Congress, she brought hundreds of millions of dollars back to her constituents and fought so that underrepresented communities could finally have sensitive representation at all levels of government. Cynthia became known as a voice for the voiceless. She served on the House International Relations Committee for 10 years where she was the highest-ranking Democrat on the Human Rights Subcommittee. Cynthia won recognition as an outspoken leader for human rights, an ardent advocate for peace, and a determined worker for justice. After a redistricting battle that went all the way to the Supreme Court, Cynthia was forced out of the district that first elected her to Congress, but despite this she managed to win re-election in 1994 and also in 1996, 1998 and 2000. In 2002, she lost the primary election, in 2004 she regained her seat, but in 2006 she again lost the primary election when Republicans voted in the Democratic Primary to oust Cynthia using a tactic called "crossover" voting. McKinney has been featured in a full-length documentary titled American Blackout. She has became a household name in Georgia and in many states across America, as well as in many countries around the globe. She has spoken all over the United States and many places all over the world because she is nationally and internationally recognized for her tireless voice on behalf of justice. She has a B.A. in International Relations from the University of Southern California and a Masters of Art in Law and Diplomacy from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy.

Camilo Mejia

In May 2004, Iraq combat veteran Camilo Mejia was sentenced to a year in prison for refusing to return to the war in Iraq. "By putting my weapon down, I chose to reassert myself as a human being," he said.

He is the first Iraq war veteran to file for discharge from the army as a conscientious objector. He was released in February 2005, and has been speaking out with help of organizations like Globa