Nonviolence International is proud to share this interactive webinar featuring presentations by scholars and activists who promote human rights and justice in the Islamic world. Our wonderful speakers are: Thai professor and activist Chaiwat Satha-Anand, Sudanese social justice activist, researcher, and feminist Hala Al-Karib, Kashmiri writer-activist Mushtaq Ul-Haq Ahmad Sikandar, and 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. Welcome by Asna Husin former leader of NVI's Peace Education Program where she trained over 70,000 students and Acehnese teachers in peace education and conflict management.
(More on each speaker and time stamps below the video)
Time Stamps:
Asna Husin - Welcome
Mohammed Abu-Nimer - 3:45
Chaiwat Satha-Anand - 7:45
Hala Al-Karib - 21:18
Mushtaq Ul-Haq Ahmad Sikandar - 32:54
Karim Crow - 46:50
Q&A starting with our founder Mubarak Awad - 56:26
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.
Welcome from Asna Husin who teaches Philosophy of Education and Islamic Civilization at the Ar-Raniry State Islamic University in Banda Aceh, Indonesia. She currently serves as a senior researcher at Nonviolence International in Washington, D.C. working on cultural resources for Islamic peace building. Dr. Husin obtained a Master’s Degree in Middle Eastern Studies from Harvard University in 1992 and her Doctorate in Religious Studies from Columbia University in 1998. Dr. Husin was also an Associate Fellow at the Center for the Study of Human Rights at Columbia University (1998) while teaching Islamic Civilization as an Adjunct Professor at State University of New York, Old Westbury. Dr. Husin then worked as the Director of Women’s Programs for the World Conference on Religion and Peace from 1998 to 2000, during which she organized the 1998 World Women Assembly in Amman, Jordan, which was attended by religious organizations from 33 countries. Upon returning to Banda Aceh in 2000, she established the Peace Education Program as an independent affiliate of the Washington-based NGO Nonviolence International while also resuming her teaching tasks at Ar-Raniry. With the Peace Education Program, Dr. Husin trained over 70,000 students and Acehnese teachers in peace education and conflict management over the course of twelve years and worked closely with the Ulama leaders of Aceh. Dr. Husin regularly participates in academic conferences worldwide on Islamic peace, human rights and gender equity, Ulama institutions, and civilizational heritage.