We are excited to invite you to join us for Nonviolence International’s webinar series - 

We Are All Part of One Another.

Jonathan Kuttab’s Booklet Launch - Beyond The Two-State Solution

https://www.nonviolenceinternational.net/beyond2states

Wednesday, December 16th 11:00 am EST  

We are just starting to roll out the short book, Beyond The Two-State Solution, by Jonathan Kuttab, and already we are thrilled with the overwhelmingly positive response we are getting. These days many of us are looking for hope in hard times. Jonathan gives us just that. Share the inspiration for a new and better world by participating in this event.

PANELISTS:

Jonathan Kuttab is co-founder of Nonviolence International and a co-founder of the Palestinian human rights group Al-Haq. A well-known international human rights attorney, he has practiced in the US, Palestine, and Israel. He serves on the Board of Bethlehem Bible College and is President of the Board of Holy Land Trust. He is co-founder and board member of the Just Peace Advocates. He was the head of the Legal Committee negotiating the Cairo Agreement of 1994 between Israel and the PLO.

Azmera Hammouri-Davis is a Black-Palestinian professional poet, speaker, prayer warrior, educator and producer from Keaau, Hawaii with a Master of Theological Studies from Harvard University. She prays, performs, teaches and collaborates alongside faith-based activists, creatives and grassroots organizers across the world to #breaktheboxes of domination and oppression. In 2019, Harvard's Religion and Public Life program sponsored her to promote cultural identity and english literacy in Ramallah, Palestine where she connected with her Hammouri family in Al Quds and Al Khalil. She currently is the lead facilitator for a growing network of Black Christians for Palestine through Friends of Sabeel North America Palestinian Ecumenical Organization, a Teaching Fellow at Harvard Graduate School of Education, Africana Spirituality Advisor at Tufts University Chaplaincy, and founder of Break The Boxes Incorporated

Robert Herbst is a human rights lawyer in New York City and a member of the Westchester, New York chapter of Jewish Voice for Peace. He has been speaking and writing on Israel-Palestine since Operation Protective Edge in Gaza in 2014. Before moving to Westchester, Bob served on the Board and Executive Committee of Congregation Bnai Jeshurun on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, and as Chair of its Social Action Committee.

Rabbi Lynn Gottlieb, one of the first women to become a rabbi in Jewish history, is a “visionary” Jewish educator, feminist, community organizer, peace activist, writer, klezmer dancer, percussionist, visual and ceremonial artist, and master storyteller. She writes on the cover of Jonathan’s book, “some are trapped by the past. This book opens the gate to the future.

HOST:

David Hart is Nonviolence International’s Co-Director. David is an experienced progressive movement leader, conflict resolution practitioner, and nonprofit manager. He was the Chief Executive Officer of the Association for Conflict Resolution and Director of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) Mediation Program at the Key Bridge Foundation. David has served as Executive Director of local, state, and national nonprofit organizations, including Veterans for Peace.

For those interested, here is his recent piece on this topic: https://www.nonviolenceinternational.net/annexation_looms

Do you already know you want to help promote this booklet. If so, you can fill out this quick form to let us know how you want to help.

Do you know people who might be interested in this exciting new approach? If so, please invite them. We will need a substantial team to change the conversation.

Through these timely webinars, Nonviolence International will educate, inspire, and build a strong community as we work for a better world. We celebrate the visionary work of these passionate leaders and look forward to sharing the inspiration with all of you.

Over the coming months, we will be hosting an impressive range of nonviolent activists, thinkers, and leaders. We hope that you will make our new webinar series a regular part of your schedule. Each time you will hear a powerful story of how people are using creative nonviolence in these difficult days. 

We look forward to an interactive and inspirational webinar series.

Democracy Defense II: Global Activists’ Advice for US Transition

November 18 from 12:00 pm - 1:30 pm EDT (17:00-18:30 GMT) 

Co-Hosted By Nonviolence International & Beautiful Trouble

Co-Sponsored by O/R Books, Haymarket Books, and BlackOUT

Join us for an interactive webinar featuring international activists sharing critical lessons and advice for organizing after election wins ousting authoritarian leaders in divided societies. 

Presenters from around the world include:

• Rafif Jouejati (Syria) as moderator, 
• Shunleiyi Thinzar (Myanmar), 
• Muhammed Bah (Gambia), 
• Ivan Marovic (Serbia)
• Patricio Zamorano (Chile)

This is offered as part of Nonviolence International's ongoing Wednesday webinar series: We Are All Part of One Another.

PANELISTS

Ms Thinzar Shunlei Yi is a youth advocate and activist based in Yangon. She is highly passionate about democracy and human rights, youth engagement and local governance. Over 2012-16, Thinzar co-organised and led nation-wide and regional youth forums in Myanmar, as well as the National Youth Development Policy process. The first woman coordinator of National Youth Congress (NYC) and a two-term president of Yangon Youth Network, Thinzar is currently an advocacy lead at Asian Youth Peace Network (AYPN). She also works with Action Committee for Democracy Development (ACDD) as an Advocacy Coordinator. Thinzar received the US State Department’s “Emerging Young Leaders Award” in 2016, and the "Women of the Future South East Asia" award in 2019. She also sits on advisory boards of Plan International Myanmar, Women Voice and Leadership Program, Purple Feminists Group, and is one of the Obama Foundation’s inaugural selected #ObamaLeaders for Asia Pacific. She co-founded the "Under 30 Dialogue" TV show with Mizzima TV, and serves as the show’s weekly host, discussing political issues with prominent youth leaders.

Muhammed Bah (MS) Assistant Editor Foroyaa Newspaper a Human Right independent newspaper. He is an Award Winning Journalist and Board Member of  Activista-The Gambia. National Coordinator Hopes of Tomorrow (HOT) a youth led movement that educates and advocates for youth and women political participation and Human and civil right advocacy. He is the 2nd Vice President Young Journalist Association-The Gambia (YJAG). He was a key coordinator on the Gambia Has Decided movement that defended the will of the people in 2016 when the former president refused to concede defeat after the elections.

Ivan Marovic is an organizer, software developer and social innovator from Belgrade, Serbia. He was a student organizer and one of the leaders of Otpor, a resistance movement which played a critical role in the downfall of Slobodan Milosevic in 2000. After a brief time in politics, it was time to grow up and move to more serious things, so Ivan started developing video games like A Force More Powerful and People Power, and platforms for local organizing like Moba. He successfully stayed out of politics for two decades, the time he spent advising activists and organizers around the world on strategies for citizen self organizing and movement building. Ivan holds a BSC in Process Engineering from Belgrade University and MA in international relations from the Fletcher School at Tufts University.

Patricio Zamorano is an academic, political scientist, journalist, and television and radio commentator on United States foreign and domestic policy. He is an experienced international consultant in academic development and political affairs, democracy, governance, and hemispheric relations between Latin America and the United States. He is also a specialist in strategic communication, social media management, and online content development. He has experience as an adjunct professor, speaker, and consultant at various universities and institutions in the Americas

HOST:

Rafif Jouejati is an incoming board member of Nonviolence International. She is the co-founder and director of the Foundation to Restore Equality and Education in Syria (FREE Syria), and the principal architect of the Syrian Freedom Charter project, which surveyed more than 50,000 Syrians on democratic aspirations and political transition. She is also a founding member of the Syrian Women’s Political Network, a member of the Board of Directors of The Day After, and President of the Board of Directors of Baytna. Rafif is the CEO of a company that helps client organizations evolve to higher levels of capacity and maturity through business development, targeted training, and strategic communication. 

Through these timely webinars, Nonviolence International will educate, inspire, and build a strong community as we work for a better world. We celebrate the visionary work of these passionate leaders and look forward to sharing the inspiration with all of you.

Over the coming months, we will be hosting an impressive range of nonviolent activists, thinkers, and leaders. We hope that you will make our new webinar series a regular part of your schedule. Each episode you will hear a powerful story of how people are using creative nonviolence in these difficult days. 

We look forward to an interactive and inspirational webinar series.

Join Nonviolence International, Beautiful Trouble, BlackOUT Collective, and OR Books for a webinar on:

"Democracy Defense: Advice from Activists Around the World."

Tuesday, October 6, 12:00 pm - 2:00 pm EDT (16:00-18:00 GMT)

This interactive webinar will feature presentations by scholars and activists who took part in people power defense of democracy and elections. Speakers include:

• Philippine professor and activist Joaquin Gonzalez
• Serbian professor and nonviolent organizer Ivan Marovic
• Gambian organizer and activist Muhammed Lamin Saidykhan
• American professor and author Stephen Zunes
• Brazilian organizer and activist Joana Varon
• Our host will be author and activist Maria J. Stephan

Is U.S. democracy staring at its own grave? Might we need to protect election results against a militarized, white supremacist effort to stop a full vote count? Are Americans up against something unlike anything they’ve experienced in our lifetime? If you answered “yes” to any of the above questions, you’ll certainly understand why we’ve organized a panel of global anti-coup experts to advise Americans on their strategy for the months or years ahead. And we want you to be a part of it. We invite you to join us on a public 2-hour Zoom call moderated panel and discussion that can help us strategize about the very real threats that feel new for so many Americans, but are all too familiar for those who have resisted dictators before.

PANELISTS:

Joaquin Gonzalez (Philippines/USA) is the Mayor George Christopher Professor of Public Administration at Golden Gate University in California. Prior to immigrating to the United States, Dr. Gonzalez was a street activist in the 1986 People Power Revolution which peacefully removed a long-time Philippine authoritarian ruler. He started out as a volunteer with the non-partisan National Movement for a Free Elections (NAMFREL) tasked to ensure that votes were properly cast and counted.

Ivan Marovic (Serbia) is an organizer, software developer and social innovator from Belgrade, Serbia. He was a student organizer and one of the leaders of Otpor, a resistance movement which played a critical role in the downfall of Slobodan Milosevic in 2000. After a brief time in politics, it was time to grow up and move to more serious things, so Ivan started developing video games like A Force More Powerful and People Power, and platforms for local organizing like Moba. He successfully stayed out of politics for two decades, the time he spent advising activists and organizers around the world on strategies for citizen self organizing and movement building. Ivan holds a BSC in Process Engineering from Belgrade University and MA in international relations from the Fletcher School at Tufts University.

Stephen Zunes (USA) is a Professor of Politics and International Studies at the University of San Francisco, where he served as founding director of the program in Middle Eastern Studies. Zunes serves as a senior policy analyst for Foreign Policy in Focus project of the Institute for Policy Studies, an associate editor of Peace Review, and a contributing editor of Tikkun.

He is the author of hundreds of articles for scholarly and general readership on Middle Eastern politics, U.S. foreign policy, nonviolent action, and human rights. He is the principal editor of Nonviolent Social Movements (Blackwell Publishers, 1999), the author of the Tinderbox: U.S. Middle East Policy and the Roots of Terrorism (Common Courage Press, 2003) and co-author (with Jacob Mundy) of Western Sahara: War, Nationalism and Conflict Irresolution (Syracuse University Press, 2010).

Muhammed Lamin Saidykhan (Gambia) is an award winning Pan African Advocate of the year 2018 and was named as 100 most influential young people leaders in Africa in 2019. As a human rights activist he organized widespread protests to get long Gambia dictator Yaya Jammeh to step down. Muhammed Lamin the Movement Coordinators of Africans Rising for Justice, Peace and Dignity. A Pan African grassroots Movement of the people and organizations working to foster an Africa-wide solidarity and unity of purpose of the Peoples of Africa to build the Future we want – a right to peace, social inclusion and shared prosperity. Muhammed Lamin Saidykhan is a Gambian with a back ground on community organizing, youth and women development, campaigns for social change, policy advocacy, movement building and none violence activism.

Joana Varon (Brazil) Executive Directress and Creative Chaos Catalyst at Coding Rights, a women-run organization working to expose and redress the power imbalances built into technology and its application, particularly those that reinforce gender and North/South inequalities. Technology and Human Rights Fellow at the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy from Harvard Kennedy School and affiliated to the Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society at Harvard University. Former Mozilla Media Fellow, she is co-creator of several creative projects operating in the interplay between activism, arts and technologies, such as transfeministech.org, chupadados.com, #safersisters, Safer Nudes, protestos.org, Net of Rights and freenetfilm.org.

Host and Contributor:

Maria J. Stephan's (USA) career has bridged the academic, policy, and non-profit sectors, with a focus on the role of civil resistance and nonviolent movements in advancing human rights, democratic freedoms, and sustainable peace globally. Stephan is the co-author (with Erica Chenoweth) of Why Civil Resistance Works: The Strategic Logic of Nonviolent Conflict, which was awarded the 2012 Woodrow Wilson Foundation Prize by the American Political Science Association for the best book published in political science, and the 2013 Grawemeyer Award for Ideas Improving World Order. She is the co-author of Bolstering Democracy: Lessons Learned and the Path Forward (Atlantic Council, 2018); the co-editor of Is Authoritarianism Staging a Comeback? (Atlantic Council, 2015); and the editor of Civilian Jihad: Nonviolent Struggle, Democratization and Governance in the Middle East (Palgrave, 2009). Stephan, a native Vermonter, received her PhD from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy and is a lifetime member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

PARTNERS:

Beautiful Trouble exists to make nonviolent revolution irresistible by providing an ever-growing suite of strategic tools and trainings that inspire movements for a more just, healthy, and equitable world.

BlackOUT Collective is a radical full service direct action organization. We build organizations’ capacity to execute creative and effective direct actions in service of their organizing and advocacy work. We do this through providing personalized direct action trainings and on the ground action support. We see ourselves as a “Liberation Lab”- a container for experimentation, deep space visioning and learning.

OR Books is a new type of publishing company. It embraces progressive change in politics, culture and the way we do business.

This webinar is part of NVI's series - We Are All Part of One Another. The purpose of the webinar is to educate the world about nonviolent activism and its utility in defending democracy. Through these timely webinars, Nonviolence International educates, inspires, and builds a strong community as we work for a better world. We celebrate the visionary work of these passionate leaders and look forward to sharing the inspiration with all of you.

We will be hosting an impressive range of nonviolent activists, thinkers, and leaders. We hope that you will make our webinar series a regular part of your schedule. Each episode you will hear a powerful story of how people are using creative nonviolence in these difficult days.

We look forward to an interactive and inspirational webinar series.

We are excited to invite you to join us for another installment of Nonviolence International’s Wednesday webinar series We Are All Part of One Another.

On August 12th from 10:30 am - 12:00 pm EDT (1430-1600 GMT) we will hold a discussion on...

 "Nonviolent Activism in the Islamic World in a Time of Islamophobia"

This interactive webinar features presentations by scholars and activists who have dedicated their life's work to promote human rights and justice in various parts of the Islamic world. Speakers are Thai professor and activist Chaiwat Satha-Anand, Sudanese social justice activist, researcher, and feminist Hala Al-Karib, and Kashmiri writer-activist Mushtaq Ul-Haq Ahmad Sikandar, Lebanese-American scholar and former Director of NVI's Islam and Peace program, Karim Crow. Our host will be Nonviolence International board member and American University professor Mohammed Abu-Nimer.

PANELISTS:

Chaiwat Satha-Anand was born in Bangkok, Thailand in 1955. He holds a Ph.D. in political science from the University of Hawaii at Manoa, is a professor of political science at Thammasat University, Bangkok, and director of the Thai Peace Information Centre, which conducts studies and activism in relation to the Thai military and social issues. He is an expert on nonviolence theory as well as activism, and on Islam. Chaiwat has published numerous articles and book chapters on the military, alternative defense, religion and peace, Islam and nonviolence, and modern political philosophy. For several years he directed the International Peace Research Association’s (IPRA) commission on nonviolence and he serves at the Scientific Committee of the International University for Peoples’ Initiative for Peace, IUPIP, in Rovereto Italy.

Hala Al-Karib is a Sudanese social justice activist, research practitioner, and full-time feminist, who has intensively and comprehensively worked in the Horn of Africa region. Currently, she is the Regional Director of the Strategic Initiative for Women in the Horn of Africa (SIHA Network), and the Editorial Head of “Women in Islam” Journal. Hala's experience extends more than 20 years with a major interest in women and girl's rights, displaced, refugee and migrant groups, and minorities. She started her career as a researcher in different institutions in South Sudan and Egypt. She later joined institutions like the World Food Programme, World University Services, Accord International, Goal Ireland, and Concern International. As well as being a former board member of the Open Society Initiative for East Africa (OSIEA) and chairperson of Sudan Democracy First, she is currently a board member of Musawah Global Movement. Hala has also published a number of articles in Al Jazeera and Open Democracy, with extensive engagement training and facilitating different workshops, as well as occupying regional and international panels advocating for equality and social justice issues.

Mushtaq Ul-Haq Ahmad Sikandar is a writer-activist based in Srinagar, Kashmir, and has completed his Masters in Political Science from Kashmir University. His interests span a wide range of issues from writing to activism. His write-ups and book reviews appear regularly in various newspapers, magazines, journals, and websites. Mushtaq is frequently invited to present academic papers on issues related to religion, politics, terrorism, conflict resolution, feminism, and Islamic revivalist movements. He actively participates in inter/intra-faith, ethnic, and regional dialogues. He has also penned down numerous poems and short stories. Mushtaq is also an activist and volunteers with various humanitarian organizations working in the Kashmir Valley as he believes that writing alone doesn’t work unless corroborated by activism.

Karim Crow, a Lebanese-American scholar and former director of the NVI's Islam and Peace Program.  Crow’s research focuses primarily on psycho-spiritual functions of faith, ethical and metaphysical topics, and Islamic Peace studies. When at Nonviolence International he traveled the world organizing conferences on Islamic peace studies. Crow has publications in two edited volumes, as well as thirty-five published articles including, Islam and Reason, Islam-Image and Realities, and Peaceful Striving and Combative Struggle.

HOST:

Mohammed Abu-Nimer is Palestinian-American and was born in Israel. He serves on the Board of Directors for Nonviolence International. He is a professor at American University. He is an expert on conflict resolution, and dialogue for peace. While his research has focused on a wide array of areas in peacebuilding and conflict resolution, his most recent areas of focus have included faith-based peacebuilding, interfaith dialogue in peacebuilding and building social cohesion, and pedagogical considerations on incorporating peace and forgiveness education in the Arab world. He is also the action Senior Advisor to the KAICIID Dialogue Centre, an international organization that specializes in interreligious and intercultural dialogue. Prof. Abu-Nimer has been both author and an editor of more than 13 books on faith-based and interfaith peace-building (e.g. Nonviolence and Peacebuilding in Islamic Context: Bridging Ideals and Reality (2003); Peace-Building By, Between and Beyond Muslims and Evangelical Christians (2009)), as well as interfaith dialogue and its role in peacebuilding and reconciliation (e.g. Unity in Diversity: Interfaith Dialogue in the Middle East (2007); Dialogue Conflict Resolution and Change: Arab-Jewish Encounters in Israel (1999)). Abu-Nimer's newest volume, Faith-Based Peacebuilding: Challenges of Practice, jointly edited with Michele Garred was scheduled for release in 2017.

In a time of substantial Islamaphobia across the world, Nonviolence International will host experts in the field of Islam and nonviolent activism. They will discuss the rich diversity of nonviolent resistance and activism in Thailand, Kashmir, Sudan, Palestine, and other Muslim states and communities. We hope that people will learn about the exciting range of nonviolent activism happening today and explore ways to support and raise up these efforts.

Through these timely webinars, Nonviolence International will educate, inspire, and build a strong community as we work for a better world. We celebrate the visionary work of these passionate leaders and look forward to sharing the inspiration with all of you.

Over the coming months, we will be hosting an impressive range of nonviolent activists, thinkers, and leaders. We hope that you will make our new webinar series a regular part of your schedule. Each episode you will hear a powerful story of how people are using creative nonviolence in these difficult days. 

We look forward to an interactive and inspirational webinar series.

We are excited to invite you to join us for another installment of Nonviolence International’s Wednesday webinar series We Are All Part of One Another.

On July 1st from 10:30 am - 12:00 pm EDT (14:30-16:00 GMT) we will hold a discussion on...

 "People Power and Democracy in Sudan"

This interactive webinar is scheduled to feature presentations by Sudanese and Sudanese-American leaders who have been involved in the successful grassroots revolution Sudan experienced during the winter/spring of 2019 as well as the country's continued democratic transition. Speakers are Anthony A. Haggar from the Haggar Group, Sudanese civil society activist Asma Ismail Ahmed, Sudanese-American journalist and human rights activist Jalelah Sophia Ahmed, and progressive leader US Representative Pramila Jayapal. Our host will be Michael Beer, Executive Director of Nonviolence International.

PANELISTS:

Pramila Jayapal is a US Representative and has been a long time US leader highlighting the importance of human rights, democracy and peace in Sudan. She currently is working to de-list Sudan from the US government designation of Sudan as a state sponsor of terrorism and to increase US diplomatic and economic support for the transition government.

Anthony A. Haggar is a Sudanese professional who is currently the CEO of the Haggar Group. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from Georgetown University (Washington) and diplomas from INSEAD (Fontainebleau). He has played an important role in transitioning the family business to its present hybrid form, blending the people and social focus of a family business with the best practices and discipline of a successful multinational company.

Asma Ismail Ahmed is a Sudanese civil society activist. Asma's activism and professional work have been focused on promoting democratic governance and the rule of law. She worked on a number of civil society campaigns and initiatives focusing on issues related to enhancing the participation of civil society in political and peace processes, electoral and constitution-making processes, peacebuilding, as well as youth development and political participation.

Jalelah Sophia Ahmed is a proud Sudanese American journalist and human rights activist. She is a recent graduate of the Penn State School of International Affairs. Her concentration is in East African Affairs Conflict Resolution and Development. She has over ten years of experience as a journalist and has worked at Fox News in Houston, Texas, Al Jazeera America in New York City as a weather anchor, McClatchy Tribune, and AccuWeather. She completed her undergraduate studies from the Pennsylvania State University in 2011, with two degrees, her first in International Relations and her second in Broadcast Journalism. Jalelah has appeared on Fox News, CBS News, NBC News, AccuWeather, NFL Network, and many other American and international television programs. She is an empathetic, culturally fluent writer and savvy digital media professional. She has traveled to over 55 countries and plans on visiting the rest when she has time. She can play the piano and violin and has two small dogs named after characters from The Godfather, Sonny Corleone, and Luca Brasi. She’s most passionate about the reproductive rights of women as well as accessibility and acceptance of the LGBTQ community. Her pronouns are she, her and hers.

HOST:

Michael Beer has been the Executive Director of Nonviolence International since 1998. Michael is a global activist for human rights, minority rights, and argues against war and casino capitalism.  He has trained activists in many countries, including Myanmar, Kosovo, Tibet, Indonesia, Thailand, Cambodia, India, Zimbabwe, and the United States. He is a frequent public speaker on nonviolence and has been broadcast on CSPAN, CNN, and other major media outlets. Michael is the co-parent of two children with his life partner, Latanja.

One year after the successful overthrow of the thirty-year-old Omar al-Bashir dictatorship, Nonviolence International will host Sudanese and Sudanese-American leaders in a discussion about the country's nonviolent revolution and the current situation facing the Sudanese people and their government. Sudanese professionals, civil society activists, and journalists will share their hopes and plans for Sudan's future and articulate ways in which the international community, and specifically the USA, can help.

Through these timely webinars, Nonviolence International will educate, inspire, and build a strong community as we work for a better world. We celebrate the visionary work of these passionate leaders and look forward to sharing the inspiration with all of you.

Over the coming months, we will be hosting an impressive range of nonviolent activists, thinkers, and leaders. We hope that you will make our new webinar series a regular part of your schedule. Each episode you will hear a powerful story of how people are using creative nonviolence in these difficult days. 

We look forward to an interactive and inspirational webinar series.

We are excited to invite you to join us for another installment of Nonviolence International’s Wednesday webinar series We Are All Part of One Another.

On June 3rd from 10:30 am - 12:00 pm EDT (14:30-16:00 GMT) we will hold a discussion on...

 "Co-Resistance and Solidarity with Palestinians"

This interactive webinar is scheduled to feature presentations by leaders of Holy Land Trust (HLT) from Bethlehem and from the Center for Jewish Nonviolence (CJNV). Our host will be Mohammed Abu-Nimer, leading conflict resolution specialist and new NVI Board member. Speakers are Elias D'eis and Said Durzi Zarar from HLT and Scout Bratt from CJNV.

Panelists:

Elias D'eis was born into a Christian family with a long history of nonviolent resistance in Beit Sahour. Elias D'eis’s life was shaped during the First Intifada, watching his father and his community find the path towards justice through peaceful resistance. It was through his Christian upbringing, holding onto Jesus’s sacred words of “loving thy neighbor,” that led Elias into a life journey of engaging his community in transformation. Through this challenge, he staked out a path of education that would lead him directly into the middle of peacemaking, seeking a deeper understanding of the nature of the violence, the historical roots, and how generational trauma contributes to cycles of unrest and bloodshed.  Joining Holy Land Trust in 2007 as a travel coordinator, Elias has grown the Travel & Encounter program of Holy Land Trust. His department now facilitates tours and educational packages to some 1,500 peacemakers and sojourners a year. Elias recently got promoted to be the Executive Director of Holy Land Trust since July 2019. On top of his full-time job, his quest to change the communities around him has led him into an array of leadership positions across the Bethlehem Governorate. Elias is the Chairman of the board of Al Ghad Al Jadid (New Generation) Organization in Beit Sahour, and was recently elected to the Beit Sahour City Council - one of the youngest members in the history of the council. While on the board, he manages the tourism portfolio, engaging in international relations and community development projects and has been a critical representative to Japan, Turkey, and Lithuania. Elias's lived experience, growing up during the Second Intifada, challenged himself and others to find alternative modes to violence within a Christian framework, and the path it has led him down serves as a remarkable story for every Christian and peacemaker.

Said Durzi Zarar is the Creative Manager of Holy Land Trust, organizing the event planning for Bet Lahem Live, as well as the lead coordinator for the Travel & Encounter Department. He began his work for Holy Land Trust in August 2012. As a theater actor, director and playwright, Said became the artistic director for the annual Bet Lahem Live Festival, working with the logistics of the Travel and Encounter program, and coordinating all other events hosted by Holy Land Trust. Said graduated from Bethlehem University with a Bachelor's degree in Literature and Translation in 2010 but his real passion is networking and communications. At Holy Land Trust, and as a certified Travel Expert, Said builds itineraries for our incoming delegations, joining in the daily trips as well as building relationships and friendships.

Scout Bratt serves as the Operations Manager for the Center for Jewish Nonviolence (CJNV). Scout has worked as the Outreach & Education Director at Chicago Women’s Health Center (CWHC), providing body-positive, queer-inclusive, gender-expansive comprehensive sexual health education in schools and organizations across the city. Scout has also led CWHC’s training and consultation for area partners seeking to create safer, more inclusive spaces for people of all gender identities and expressions. Scout holds a Master of Education in Youth Development from the University of Illinois at Chicago.

Mohammed Abu-Nimer is Palestinian-American and was born in Israel. He serves on the Board of Directors for Nonviolence International. He is a professor at American University. He is an expert on conflict resolution, and dialogue for peace. While his research has focused on a wide array of areas in peacebuilding and conflict resolution, his most recent areas of focus have included faith-based peacebuilding, interfaith dialogue in peacebuilding and building social cohesion, and pedagogical considerations on incorporating peace and forgiveness education in the Arab world. He is also the action Senior Advisor to the KAICIID Dialogue Centre, an international organization that specializes in interreligious and intercultural dialogue. Prof. Abu-Nimer has been both author and an editor of more than 13 books on faith-based and interfaith peace-building (e.g. Nonviolence and Peacebuilding in Islamic Context: Bridging Ideals and Reality (2003); Peace-Building By, Between and Beyond Muslims and Evangelical Christians (2009)), as well as interfaith dialogue and its role in peacebuilding and reconciliation (e.g. Unity in Diversity: Interfaith Dialogue in the Middle East (2007); Dialogue Conflict Resolution and Change: Arab-Jewish Encounters in Israel (1999)). Abu-Nimer's newest volume, Faith-Based Peacebuilding: Challenges of Practice, jointly edited with Michele Garred was scheduled for release in 2017.

Our impressive partners, HLT and CNJV, are leading the way to a model of grassroots co-resistance and solidarity that has the power to transform our beautiful and broken world. We celebrate their visionary work and look forward to sharing the inspiration with all of you.

Through these timely webinars, Nonviolence International will educate, inspire, and build a strong community as we work for a better world.

Over the coming months, we will be hosting an impressive range of nonviolent activists, thinkers, and leaders. We hope that you will make our new webinar series a regular part of your week. Each week you will hear a powerful story of how people are using creative nonviolence in these difficult days. 

We look forward to an interactive and inspirational webinar series.

We are excited to invite you to join us for another installment of Nonviolence International’s Wednesday webinar series We Are All Part of One Another.

On May 6th from 10:30 am - 12:00 pm EDT (14:30-16:00 GMT) we will hold a discussion on...

 "Nonviolent Resistance to Nuclear Weapons and War"

This interactive webinar is scheduled to feature presentations by plowshare activists, Patrick O’Neill and Martha Hennessy, who are both facing additional prison time for their disarmament action at the Kingsbay Submarine Base; Alyn Ware of Abolition2000 and winner of the 2009 Right Livelihood Award, and Mani Shankar Aiyar, a former Indian parliamentarian and diplomat, and Divina Maloum, the co-winner of the 2019 International Children Peace Prize.

Panelists:

Patrick O'Neill, A journalist for almost 40 years. Enjoys writing about religion, track and field/running, and politics. Co-founded the Fr. Charlie Mulholland Catholic Worker House in Garner, NC in 1991. Hitchhiker and dumpster diver extraordinaire. Served significant prison time for NV protests. Sentencing for his participation in the Kingsbay Plowshare NV action scheduled for late May.

Martha Hennessy seventh grandchild of Dorothy Day divides her time between the family farm in Vermont and practicing the works of mercy at Maryhouse Catholic Worker in New York City. She is 64, a retired occupational therapist, and a grandmother of eight. She has been imprisoned protesting war and nuclear power/weapons, the use of drones, and the torture of prisoners in Guantanamo. She has traveled to Russia, Egypt, Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Korea, and Palestine to understand the effects of United States military policy and war in other countries. Martha travels and speaks on the topics of life and work in the community, Catholic Social Teaching, nuclear abolition, and peacemaking efforts in the tradition of the Catholic Worker movement.

Alyn Ware is a New Zealand peace educator and campaigner in the areas of peace, non-violence, nuclear abolition, international law, women's rights, children's rights, and the environment. He has served as the Global Coordinator for Parliamentarians for Nuclear Nonproliferation and Disarmament since it was founded in 2002. His previous positions include Director of Aotearoa Lawyers for Peace, Executive Director of the Lawyers Committee on Nuclear Policy (USA), Director of the Peace Foundation Schools Outreach Programme for the UN Decade for a Culture of Peace, and Founding Director of the Mobile Peace Van. Alyn has won many awards including the Right Livelihood Award.

Mani Shankar Aiyar is an Indian politician and former career civil servant diplomat, serving as a member of the Indian National Congress Party. He represented the Mayiladuthurai constituency of Tamil Nadu in the 10th Lok Sabha, 13th Lok Sabha, and 14th Lok Sabha, in addition to serving in the Rajya Sabha from 2010-2016. He is also a part of the Hon. Board of Advisors of India's International Movement to Unite Nations (I.I.M.U.N.), a youth organization comprising 26,000 young organizers who put together student conferences in 160 cities across 22 countries and work with over 7,500 schools impacting 10 million students. He is one of the Co-Presidents of the Parliamentarians for Nuclear Non-Proliferation and Disarmament. 

Divina Maloum is a student in Cameroon and civil society activist  In 2015, she founded Children for Peace (C4P), a children and girl led movement working across Cameroon in complex cultural systems for Children rights, gender equity and peace-building. She works with regional and international organizations as African Network of Young Leaders for Peace and Sustainable Development and Kidsrights Foundation, Parliamentarians for Nuclear Nonproliferation and Disarmament (PNND), UNFOLD ZERO, Abolition 2000 and Move the Nuclear Money movement for peacebuilding, disarmament, disinvestment in nuclear weapons and increased investment in sustainable development goals. She was co-winner of the 2019 International Children Peace Prize organized by KidsRights Foundation.

This is a rare opportunity for our organization along with some of our partners and friends to address the continuous manufacturing and stockpiling of nuclear arms, putting the world at more and more risk of a nuclear conflict or accident. According to the Bulletin of Atomic Scientist, the doomsday clock has us closer to global catastrophe than ever as we are only 100 seconds away from midnight (the marker indicating nuclear annihilation). We will discuss important campaigns that promote nonviolence in the face of the increasing nuclearization and militarization many countries are undergoing.

Through these timely webinars, Nonviolence International will educate, inspire, and build a strong community as we work for a better world.

Over the coming months, we will be hosting an impressive range of nonviolent activists, thinkers, and leaders. We hope that you will make our new webinar series a regular part of your week. Each week you will hear a powerful story of how people are using creative nonviolence in these difficult days. 

We look forward to an interactive and inspirational webinar series.

We are excited to invite you to join us for another installment of Nonviolence International’s Wednesday webinar series We Are All Part of One Another.

On April 29th from 10:30 am - 12:00 pm EDT (14:30-16:00 GMT) we will hold a discussion on...

 "Creative Nonviolent Action for Palestine During COVID-19"

This interactive webinar will be hosted by two of Nonviolence International's founders, Mubarak Awad and Jonathan Kuttab. Additionally, we will feature presentations from some of our wonderful partners and new friends including:  Alex McDonald of the US Boats to Gaza, Raed Shakshak of We Are Not Numbers, and Roshan Dadoo of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, South Africa.

Panelists & Hosts:

Raed Shakshak

Raed writes, "In a world full of noise, I sit quietly and let the clicks of my keyboard speak for me. My name is Raed. I graduated from university with a degree in English language and literature from Al-Azhar University in Gaza. Thanks to a semester as an exchange student at Juniata College in Huntingdon, Pennsylvania (USA), I have developed a better understanding of our world. My current mission is to tell new, different stories from Gaza in my role as outreach coordinator for We Are Not Numbers. It's time I step up and be the voice of the voiceless ones, including myself. I started writing. I'll be the noise now. No one can stop me.

Roshan Dadoo

Roshan is the Secretary of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign in Gauteng Province and member of the Interim Committee of the newly formed South African BDS Coalition.

Alex McDonald

Alex is a member of U.S. Boat To Gaza; he was a crewmember onboard the Mairead for the 2018 Freedom Flotilla. He is co-founder of the Texas Coalition for Human Rights that works to remove racist and religious bigotry from the Texas educational standards. He is also a member of two Houston organizations whose objectives are to educate the public about the real situation in Israel/Palestine. Alex was a peace delegate on a Code Pink trip to Iran in February 2019. Alex believes that although there are many horrible human rights abuses across the world, Americans are particularly responsible for the ones in Israel/Palestine because of our complicity through our economic, political, and military involvement.

Our hosts, Mubarak Awad and Jonathan Kuttab, are two of the founders of Nonviolence International. In addition to founding NVI, Mubarak has also been an adjunct professor at the American University in Washington, DC since 1989 at the School of International Studies. He focuses on promoting peace dialogue and transforming post-conflict societies, as well as teaching graduate courses on the methods and theory of nonviolence. Jonathan is a well-known international human rights attorney and has established himself as a prominent speaker on nonviolence. He is also a co-founder of the Palestinian human rights group Al-Haq and is President of the Board of the Bethlehem Bible College.

This is a rare opportunity for our organization along with some of our partners and friends to address the situation in Palestine in light of the COVID-19 outbreak. We will discuss important campaigns that promote nonviolence during the pandemic.

Through these timely webinars, Nonviolence International will educate, inspire, and build a strong community as we work for a better world.

Over the coming months, we will be hosting an impressive range of nonviolent activists, thinkers, and leaders. We hope that you will make our new webinar series a regular part of your week. Each week you will hear a powerful story of how people are using creative nonviolence in these difficult days. 

We look forward to an interactive and inspirational webinar series

We have had four inspirational sessions so far and hope you can be with us this week. We are excited to invite you to join us for Nonviolence International’s weekly Wednesday webinar series called We Are All Part of One Another--- April 22nd at 10:30 am-12:00 pm EDT (1430-1600 GMT). This Wednesday we will focus on "Young Women Fighting for Our Planet" featuring Phyllis Omido from Kenya, Kehkashan Basu of the United Arab Emirates, Tamara Lorincz from Canada, Juhee Lee from Korea, and hosted by Dr. Maia Hallward.

Help us honor Earth Day this Wednesday by registering for what will be a rare opportunity for the global ecological movement to discuss important campaigns that help promote effective action on the climate crisis.

To sign up for our webinar, please register through the quick and easy signup on this page.

Panelists will include:

Phyllis Omido: A Kenyan environmental activist. She was one of 6 people to be awarded the Goldman Environmental Prize in 2015. She is known for organizing protests against a lead-smelting plant located in the middle of Owino Uhuru, a slum near Mombasa. The plant was causing lead poisoning by raising the lead content in the environment, killing residents, in particular children, and harming others, including her own child. The plant was ultimately closed.  She is the founder of the Centre for Justice, Governance and Environmental Action (CJGEA).

Kehkashan Basu: A climate, ecology, and human rights activist. She is a United Nations Human Rights Champion, Youngest Recipient of Canada's Top 25 Women of Influence, Winner of the International Children's Peace Prize and Founder-President of Green Hope Foundation. She is also the Youth Lead of the Toronto-St.Paul's Constituency Youth Council, Youngest Recipient of L'Oréal Paris Women of Worth Canada, a Climate Reality Leader, TEDx Speaker, Youth Ambassador of World Future and Former Global Coordinator of Children and Youth at the United Nations Environment Programme MGFC. Her organization works with young people and other sections of civil society in 15 countries, especially with marginalized youth and women, fighting for the rights of women and children.

Tamara Lorincz: A Ph.D. candidate in Global Governance at the Balsillie School for International Affairs at Wilfrid Laurier University. She has a Masters in International Politics & Security Studies from the University of Bradford and a Law degree and MBA specializing in environmental law and management from Dalhousie University. Her research is on the climate and environmental impacts of the military. She’s a member of the Canadian Voice of Women for Peace and the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom. Tamara
is also on the advisory committee of the Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space and the No to NATO Network. She was involved in the international 2019 No to NATO mobilization and started the monthly protest against NATO in Toronto in 2019.

Juhee Lee: A former intern at Nonviolence International from Korea, a staffer at the Korean Climate Change Center.

Our host Dr. Maia Carter Hallward, is a full professor at Kennesaw State University, Georgia, USA, in the School of Conflict Management, Peacebuilding, and Development and Executive Editor of the Journal of Peacebuilding and Development. Maia has published widely in the fields of international relations, civil resistance, and international conflict management, including textbooks on International Conflict Management (2019, Routledge) and Nonviolence (2015, Polity).  A former intern at Nonviolence International, she became a vegetarian for environmental reasons at 13.

Through these timely webinars, Nonviolence International will educate, inspire, and build a strong community as we work for a better world.

Over the coming months, we will be hosting an impressive range of nonviolent activists, thinkers, and leaders. We hope that you will make our new webinar series a regular part of your week. Each week you will hear a powerful story of how people are using creative nonviolence in these difficult days. 

We look forward to an interactive and inspirational webinar series

We have had three inspirational sessions so far and hope you can be with us this week. We are excited to invite you to join us for Nonviolence International’s weekly Wednesday Webinar series called We Are All Part of One Another--- April 15th at 10:30 am-12:00 pm EDT (1430-1600 GMT). This Wednesday we will focus on Powerful Nonviolent Responses to Militarism and COVID-19 featuring leading peace activists from around the world such as Medea Benjamin, CODEPINK; Carina Solmirano, Control Arms; and Jan Jaap van Oosterzee, PAX. Our panelists will invite us to join campaigns for global ceasefires, particularly for Yemen, Congo, Libya, Syria, Afghanistan, West Africa, Ukraine, and Somalia. We will also hear about the role the US plays in many of these conflicts and efforts to pressure for change. We will hear about the role of arms transfers and the Arms Trade Treaty (which Trump recently withdrew from), and we will hear about the misallocation of global resources on national security and militaries rather than public health and on peacebuilding investments. 

This is a rare opportunity for the global peace movement to discuss with our leaders' important campaigns and initiatives that will actually make a difference in promoting a more nonviolent world during the pandemic.

Panelists will include: 

Medea Benjamin is the co-founder of the women-led peace group CODEPINK and the co-founder of the human rights group Global Exchange. She is the author of ten books, including Drone Warfare: Killing by Remote Control and Kingdom of the Unjust: Behind the U.S.-Saudi Connection. Her most recent book, Inside Iran: The Real History and Politics of the Islamic Republic of Iran, is part of a campaign to prevent a war with Iran and instead promote normal trade and diplomatic relations. 

Jan Jaap van Oosterzee is the Policy Lead for the Public Affairs Team of PAX, which works together with committed citizens and partners to protect civilians against acts of war, to end armed violence, and to build a just peace. PAX is a partnership between IKV (Interchurch Peace Council) and Pax Christi. PAX works on the basis of two central values of peace in conflict areas:

• human dignity;
• solidarity with peace activists and victims of war violence.

Our central values lead to a distinct vision of peace and security. In our peace work, we are guided by the concept of human security; the protection and security of civilians leads our responses to conflicts.

Carina Solmirano is the ATT Monitor Coordinator, a project of Control Arms. She also teaches international security and international relations at Universidad de San Andres (Argentina). Carina has researched and written extensively on issues related to transparency in military expenditure and arms procurements, on militarization in Latin America and public security. Control Arms, is fiscally sponsored by Nonviolence International and was widely reported to be on the shortlist for the Noble Prize in 2019.

We look forward to an interactive and inspirational session.

Through these timely webinars, Nonviolence International will educate, inspire, and build a strong community as we work for a better world.

Over the coming weeks, we will be hosting an impressive range of nonviolent activists, thinkers, and leaders. We hope that you will make our new webinar series a regular part of your week. Each week you will hear a powerful story of how people are using creative nonviolence in these difficult days. 

To sign up for this webinar, please register through our quick and easy signup box on this page.