SPEAKER/ORGANIZER
BIOS
The following provides brief intro
to the facilitators, panelists and other organizers
taking part in the West Coast Regional Palestine Right
to Return Conference. Other bios will be added as they
become available:
Afif Wensky, a UC
Davis Senior, is a student leader in the Arab and Muslim
community, involved with Students for Justice for Palestine
and other community related student organizations. He
is also a board member of ADC greater Sacramento area
chapter.
Dr. Ahlam Muhtaseb
is a Palestinian assistant professor and researcher
of public relations and media studies at California
State University, San Bernardino. She is an active member
of Al-Awda San Diego.
Alia Hasan is an
organizer with Al-Awda Los Angeles and co-founder of
the student chapter of Al-Awda at UCLA. She is currently
in her third year of graduate school at UCLA.
Alison Weir is the
founder of "If Americans Knew," an organization
dedicated to providing Americans with information on
topics of importance that are misreported or under-reported
in the American media. She received the Truth and Justice
Award in May 2002 from American Muslims for Jerusalem.
Ban Al-Wardi currently
serves the ADC LA/OC Chapter as elected president and
the ADC National Board as an elected Board Member. She
is a member of the Free Palestine Alliance (FPA LA)
and the National Lawyers Guild, LA Chapter. Ban currently
works to serve the Los Angeles Immigrant community as
an Immigration Attorney and Immigrant Rights Advocate.
Catherine Pfister
has lived in San Diego for 5 years. She has become increasingly
active in the Palestinian struggle over the last 6 or
7 years. As a member of Unitarian Universalists for
Justice in the Middle East, she travelled to Palestine
on a fact-finding mission in October, 2002. She is an
active member of Al-Awda San Diego.
Edward Sweed earned
his B.S. from Temple University in Philadelphia, and
a Masters from San Diego State University. Now retired,
Mr. Sweed was a high school teacher of filmmaking. His
students won local and state awards. He also has taught
film courses in the extension programs at three local
universities. He uses his filmmaking skills to promote
justice and peace. Congressman Filner in Washington
used his video, "The Stones Will Cry Out,"
which depicted the effects of the harsh 1996 immigration
law. More recently, he cofounded Alternate
Focus which produces and broadcasts weekly Middle
East related documentaries on public access stations
in San Diego and New York.
Fawad Shaiq is a
graduating senior at the University of California, San
Diego where he has been active with the UCSD Students
for Justice the past four years.
Jamal Kanj was born
in a Palestinian refugee camp. He is active with the
local community and a member of the Middle East Cultural
and Information Center (MECIC).
Jess Ghannam is Board
Member of the Gaza Community Mental Health Program,
Clinical Professor of Psychiatry and Chief of Medical
Psychology at the University of California San Francisco.
He is a grassroots activist and member of Al-Awda San
Francisco and Al-Awda's international executive committee.
He currently serves as the president of the San Francisco
American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee. Dr. Ghannam
travels every three months to Palestine where, over
the past 12 years, he has established clinics in Gaza
City, Jabaliyah, Khan Younis and Deir al-Balah under
the auspices of the Gaza Community Mental Health program.
Jody Bong is an attorney
and member of the National Lawyer's Guild, the International
Solidarity Movement and Al-Awda San Diego. She currently
serves as co-chair of Al-Awda San Diego.
John Parker is the
west coast regional coordinator of the International
Action Center.
Justin Akers is an
adjunct professor of history at Southwestern College.
He is an
o rganizer with International Socialist Organization
and San Diego Coalition for Peace and Justice.
Justin Shahbaz has
presented at the Friends of Reconciliation Conference
in Pasadena this past summer while also working with
the Los Angeles chapter of ANSWER in organizing protests,
forums and meetings. He is currently a senior undergraduate
student in International Relations at the University
of Southern California and co-founder of the Students
for Justice in Palestine organization at that school.
Lamis Deek is a Palestinian
organizer born in Nablus, Palestine and raised in New
York. She is a member and elected co-chair of Al-Awda
New York and the National Council of Arab Americans,
and founder of BLS Muslim Law Students Association.
Lamis is a practicing attorney in the field of criminal
defense and civil litigation, working towards her PhD
in Political Science. With Al-Awda and other organizations,
she is trying to establish an Arab immigrant & refugee
center.
Mahmoud Zubaidi is
a Palestinian refugee from Nazareth. He has lived in
Kuwait, Syria and the US. He is a research associate
at the University of California San Diego and an active
member of Al-Awda San Diego.
Mahmud Ahmad immigrated
to the US with his family at the age of 3. He is a member
of the national steering committee of the Free Palestine
Alliance, and a member of ANSWER, the National Council
of Arab Americans, the Arab American Community Center
in Chicago, as well as the Chicago Coalition Against
War and Racism. During his short stay in Louisville,
Kentucky he was active with the Louisville Committee
for Peace in the Middle East. He was a member of AL-Awda
Chicago and since moving to Los Angeles has become an
organizer with AL-Awda Los Angeles.
Manal Swairjo is
an American-Arab of Palestinian origin. She was born
in Gaza, Palestine and emigrated to the United States
in 1989 where she studied and worked. She obtained her
doctorate in Biophysics from Boston University in 1995
and is currently a research assistant professor at the
Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla. Besides a career
in science, Swairjo is active in various human and civil
rights forums. She is a current member of the San Diego
chapter of Al-Awda, The Palestine Right to Return Coalition.
She is a former board member of the San Diego chapter
of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (1999-2000),
a former member of the Arab-American Advisory Committee
to the San Diego Chief of Police, and a former member
of a San Diego Palestinian-Jewish Dialogue group. She
is the author of columns and essays on Arab culture
and literature in US and other publications.
Mark Gonzalez - Hip
Hop Theatre playwright, HBO Def Poet, performance lecturer:
Mark Gonzales has been commissioned to perform his productions
for Cornell University, the Cali (IE) Hip Hop Theatre
Festival, members of the United Nation, Congress, and
conferences across the United States. Throughout the
year Mark teaches critical social reflection and literacy
through spoken word at various universities, high schools,
and youth prisons. In 2003, Mark traveled to Palestine
to document firsthand the struggle of the Palestinians
for social justice. From these writings and dialogues,
he has compiled several performance pieces and a Hip-Hop
Theatre play; the result is a daring and innovative
way of promoting social justice through Hip-Hop culture.
Comments can be directed to [email protected]
Marwan Abderrazzaq
is a Palestinian from El-Bireh in the West Bank. He
is an active member of Al-Awda Los Angeles. He is also
a member of the Free Palestine Alliance. Before moving
to Los Angeles, Marwan was active with Al-Awda San Francisco.
Michael Shahin graduated
from Loyola Law School-Los Angeles in 2004. While attending
law school, Michael was a Staff Member of the Loyola
Law Review and a Board Member of Loyola's Chapter of
the National Lawyers Guild. Michael also studied at
Birzeit in Occupied Palestine in 1999 and at the China
University of Political Science and Law in Beijing China
in 2002. Michael received a Haywood Burns Fellowship
in 2003 and spent the summer working in Ramallah at
Addameer Prisoners Support Association and the Mandela
Institute. Michael is currently a member of the Free
Palestine Alliance and a collective which produces "Radio
Intifada: Voices from Kolkota to Casablanca" on
KPFK-FM in Los Angeles. He also was an extern for Hon.
Judge Dickran Teverizian, Federal District Court, and
Hon. Samuel L. Bufford, Federal Bankruptcy Court. Michael
Shahin authored the 2003 Right to Return and the 2004
Divestment resolutions which the National Lawyers Guild
passed.
Mona Kadah is a Syrian/Palestinian,
born and raised in Syria. She graduated from California
State University San Marcos, and is an active member
of Al-Awda San Diego.
Muna Coobtee is a
Palestinian activist from Los Angeles, CA. She is a
member of the Free Palestine Alliance and serves as
its representative on the Los Angeles steering committee
of the International A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition (Act Now
to Stop War and End Racism). The A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition
organized the largest mass demonstrations against the
war and occupation of Iraq. Muna frequently speaks and
writes about the centrality of the Palestinian struggle
for national liberation in the anti-war movement. She
is also a founding member of the Party for Socialism
and Liberation and a contributor to "Socialism
and Liberation" magazine.
Musa Al-Hindi is
an Arab from Akka (Acre), Palestine. Born and raised
in Lebanon, he has been active on issues related to
Palestine and social justice since 1977. Musa is a member
of Al-Awda, the Palestine Right to Return Coalition
and the Palestinian Right of Return Congress.
Nadia Keilani was
born in Baghdad, Iraq. She immigrated to the United
States at the age of nine. She is an anti-war activist,
former board member of the San Diego County Chapter
of the ADC, and current member of Al-Awda San Diego.
She is a practicing attorney.
Peggy Sanders has
been concerned with peace and justice since 1968. Since
2003 she has been an active member of the San Diego
Coalition for Peace and Justice. She has been actively
working with Al-Awda San Deigo since the Spring of 2004.
Peggy is a retired cosmetic chemist, now operating a
small skin care company.
Rhoda Shapiro is
a long-time political activist in New York, Los Angeles
and San Diego. Her concerns with the Zionist occupation
of Palestine began in the 1950's when news of the Palestinian
refugee camps that were a direct consequence of the
imposition of the European settler state in 1948 began
to reach the US. Since the 1970's she has been active
in Palestine solidarity work. From 1982-89 she was one
of the founders of the Central America Information Project
which focused on media reporting of the struggles being
waged in Central America and the Carribean. She was
the West Coast Coordinator of the Let Nicaragua Live!
campaign that raised humanitarian aid money for the
Sandinista government. She has been a fund raiser for
non-profit organizations devoted to social justice.
She is a co-founder of Al-Awda San Diego and serves
on the steering committee of Al-Awda-Media.
Richard Becker is
a founder and member of the National Steering Committee
of the International ANSWER-Act Now to Stop War and
End Racism-Coalition. He has travelled extensively to
Iraq, Palestine and elsewhere on fact finding missions.
He co-produced the videos "Blockade: The Silent
War Against Iraq," "Genocide by Sanctions"
and helped produce the video "Palestine Fights
for Freedom." He co-authored "The Children
Are Dying", and was a contributing author to the
book "Challenge To Genocide: Let Iraq Live."
Becker was a member of the Bay Area Anti-Apartheid Network
Steering Committee for several years. He has written
many articles and commentaries on Middle East and other
affairs, and has been interviewed by numerous national
and international media, including ABC World News, McNeil-Lehrer
News Hour, CNN, BBC, Asahi Shimbun, Pacifica National
News, AFP-French Press Agency, the New York Times, San
Francisco Chronicle, Oakland Tribune, Los Angeles Times
and others. He has been a speaker at hundreds of campus
and community forums in the United States, Canada, England,
Japan, Greece, Yugoslavia, Jordan and other countries.
Samera Sood has been
a member of many progressive humanitarian organizations
such as Palestinian American Women's Association for
twenty years and running, vice-chair Palestine Solidarity
Committee, and a board member of the Los Angeles/Orange
County chapter of The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination
Committee.
Tara Bosi has been
involved in the Palestinian cause for the last 3 years,
in Atlanta and now in San Diego. She worked as an independent
journalist and volunteered with Al Mezan Center for
Human Rights in Gaza in spring of 2003, and also volunteers
for Alternate Focus. Tara is an active member of Al-Awda
San Diego.
Tasha Kadah is an
American Palestinian who has inherited the status of
refugee from her father who became a refugee in 1948.
She currently is a student in North County San Diego
Moralist College and is an active member of Al-Awda
San Diego.
Zachary Wales is
an active member with the New York chapter of Al-Awda,
where he organizes the Labor for Palestine campaign.
He also writes for a private investigation firm in Manhattan,
and contributes a regular column to the Electronic Intifada.
Prior to moving to New York in late 2003, Zachary was
a foreign news correspondent and media research consultant
in Southern Africa.
Zahi Damuni is co-founder
of Al-Awda, The Palestine Right to Return Coalition,
and currently serves as elected member on Al-Awda's
coordinating and executive committees. He also leads
Al-Awda's chapter in San Diego. Before relocating to
the west coast, where he is currently involved in biotech
research, Zahi was a tenured professor in the Department
of Cellular and Molecular Physiology at Penn State College
of Medicine.
Organizations wishing to table should
contact us at [email protected]
Additional information:
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