Behold A Pale Horse

Egypt protests: secret US document discloses support for protesters - Tele...
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Egypt protests: secret US document discloses support for protesters

Here is the secret document sent from the US Embassy in Cairo to Washington disclosing the extent of American support for the protesters behind the Egypt uprising.
10:30PM GMT 28 Jan 2011
S E C R E T SECTION 01 OF 02 CAIRO 002572 SIPDIS FOR NEA/ELA, R, S/P AND H NSC FOR PASCUAL AND KUTCHA-HELBLING E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/30/2028 TAGS: PGOV, PHUM, KDEM, EG SUBJECT: APRIL 6 ACTIVIST ON HIS U.S. VISIT AND REGIME CHANGE IN EGYPT REF: A. CAIRO 2462 B. CAIRO 2454 C. CAIRO 2431 Classified By: ECPO A/Mincouns Catherine Hill-Herndon for reason 1.4 (d ). 1. (C) Summary and comment: On December 23, April 6 activist xxxxxxxxxxxx expressed satisfaction with his participation in the December 3-5 \"Alliance of Youth Movements Summit,\" and with his subsequent meetings with USG officials, on Capitol Hill, and with think tanks. He described how State Security (SSIS) detained him at the Cairo airport upon his return and confiscated his notes for his summit presentation calling for democratic change in Egypt, and his schedule for his Congressional meetings. xxxxxxxxxxxx contended that the GOE will never undertake significant reform, and therefore, Egyptians need to replace the current regime with a parliamentary democracy. He alleged that several opposition parties and movements have accepted an unwritten plan for democratic transition by 2011; we are doubtful of this claim. xxxxxxxxxxxx said that although SSIS recently released two April 6 activists, it also arrested three additional group members. We have pressed the MFA for the release of these April 6 activists. April 6's stated goal of replacing the current regime with a parliamentary democracy prior to the 2011 presidential elections is highly unrealistic, and is not supported by the mainstream opposition. End summary and comment. ---------------------------- Satisfaction with the Summit ---------------------------2. (C) xxxxxxxxxxxx expressed satisfaction with the December 3-5 \"Alliance of Youth Movements Summit\" in New York, noting that he was able to meet activists from other countries and outline his movement's goals for democratic change in Egypt. He told us that the other activists at the summit were very supportive, and that some even offered to hold public demonstrations in support of Egyptian democracy in their countries, with xxxxxxxxxxxx as an invited guest. xxxxxxxxxxxx said he discussed with the other activists how April 6 members could more effectively evade harassment and surveillance from SSIS with technical upgrades, such as consistently alternating computer \"simcards.\" However, xxxxxxxxxxxx lamented to us that because most April 6 members do not own computers, this tactic would be impossible to implement. xxxxxxxxxxxx was appreciative of the successful efforts by the Department and the summit organizers to protect his identity at the summit, and told us that his name was never mentioned publicly.
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------------------- A Cold Welcome Home ------------------3. (S) xxxxxxxxxxxx told us that SSIS detained and searched him at the Cairo Airport on December 18 upon his return from the U.S. According to xxxxxxxxxxxx, SSIS found and confiscated two documents in his luggage: notes for his presentation at the summit that described April 6's demands for democratic transition in Egypt, and a schedule of his Capitol Hill meetings. xxxxxxxxxxxx described how the SSIS officer told him that State Security is compiling a file on him, and that the officer's superiors instructed him to file a report on xxxxxxxxxxxx most recent activities. --------------------------------------------- ---------Washington Meetings and April 6 Ideas for Regime Change --------------------------------------------- ---------4. (C) xxxxxxxxxxxx described his Washington appointments as positive, saying that on the Hill he met with xxxxxxxxxxxx, a variety of House staff members, including from the offices of xxxxxxxxxxxx and xxxxxxxxxxxx), and with two Senate staffers. xxxxxxxxxxxx also noted that he met with several think tank members. xxxxxxxxxxxx said that xxxxxxxxxxxx's office invited him to speak at a late January Congressional hearing on House Resolution 1303 regarding religious and political freedom in Egypt. xxxxxxxxxxxx told us he is interested in attending, but conceded he is unsure whether he will have the funds to make the trip. He indicated to us that he has not been focusing on his work as a \"fixer\" for journalists, due to his preoccupation with his U.S. trip. 5. (C) xxxxxxxxxxxx described how he tried to convince his Washington interlocutors that the USG should pressure the GOE to implement significant reforms by threatening to reveal CAIRO 00002572 002 OF 002 information about GOE officials' alleged \"illegal\" off-shore bank accounts. He hoped that the U.S. and the international community would freeze these bank accounts, like the accounts of Zimbabwean President Mugabe's confidantes. xxxxxxxxxxxx said he wants to convince the USG that Mubarak is worse than Mugabe and that the GOE will never accept democratic reform. xxxxxxxxxxxx asserted that Mubarak derives his legitimacy from U.S. support, and therefore charged the U.S. with \"being responsible\" for Mubarak's \"crimes.\" He accused NGOs working on political and economic reform of living in a \"fantasy world,\" and not recognizing that Mubarak -- \"the head of the snake\" -- must step aside to enable democracy to take root. 6. (C) xxxxxxxxxxxx claimed that several opposition forces -- including the Wafd, Nasserite, Karama and Tagammu parties, and the Muslim Brotherhood, Kifaya, and Revolutionary Socialist movements -- have agreed to support an unwritten plan for a transition to a parliamentary democracy, involving a weakened presidency and an empowered prime minister and parliament, before the scheduled 2011 presidential elections (ref C). According to xxxxxxxxxxxx, the opposition is interested in receiving support from the army and the police for a transitional government prior to the 2011 elections. xxxxxxxxxxxx asserted that this plan is so sensitive it cannot be written down. (Comment: We have no information to corroborate that these parties and movements have agreed to the unrealistic plan xxxxxxxxxxxx has outlined. Per ref C, xxxxxxxxxxxx previously told us that this plan was publicly available on the internet. End comment.) 7. (C) xxxxxxxxxxxx said that the GOE has recently been cracking down on the April 6 movement by arresting its
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members. xxxxxxxxxxxx noted that although SSIS had released xxxxxxxxxxxx and xxxxxxxxxxxx \"in the past few days,\" it had arrested three other members. (Note: On December 14, we pressed the MFA for the release of xxxxxxxxxxxx and xxxxxxxxxxxx, and on December 28 we asked the MFA for the GOE to release the additional three activists. End note.) xxxxxxxxxxxx conceded that April 6 has no feasible plans for future activities. The group would like to call for another strike on April 6, 2009, but realizes this would be \"impossible\" due to SSIS interference, xxxxxxxxxxxx said. He lamented that the GOE has driven the group's leadership underground, and that one of its leaders, xxxxxxxxxxxx, has been in hiding for the past week. 8. (C) Comment: xxxxxxxxxxxx offered no roadmap of concrete steps toward April 6's highly unrealistic goal of replacing the current regime with a parliamentary democracy prior to the 2011 presidential elections. Most opposition parties and independent NGOs work toward achieving tangible, incremental reform within the current political context, even if they may be pessimistic about their chances of success. xxxxxxxxxxxx wholesale rejection of such an approach places him outside this mainstream of opposition politicians and activists. SCOBEY02008-12-307386PGOV,PHUM,KDEM,EGAPRIL 6 ACTIVIST ON HIS U.S. VISIT AND REGIME CHANGE IN EGYPT
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Egypt protests: America's secret backing for rebel leaders behind uprising...
Egypt protests: America's secret backing for rebel leaders behind uprising
The American government secretly backed leading figures behind the Egyptian uprising who have been planning regime change for the past three years, The Daily Telegraph has learned.
By Tim Ross (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/journalists/tim-ross/) , Matthew Moore and Steven Swinford
9:23PM GMT 28 Jan 2011
The American Embassy in Cairo helped a young dissident attend a US-sponsored summit for activists in New York, while working to keep his identity secret from Egyptian (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews /africaandindianocean/egypt/) state police. On his return to Cairo in December 2008, the activist told US (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews /northamerica/usa/) diplomats that an alliance of opposition groups had drawn up a plan to overthrow President Hosni Mubarak and install a democratic government in 2011. The secret document in full (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/egypt/8289698 /Egypt-protests-secret-US-document-discloses-support-for-protesters.html) He has already been arrested by Egyptian security in connection with the demonstrations and his identity is being protected by The Daily Telegraph. The crisis in Egypt follows the toppling of Tunisian (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews /africaandindianocean/tunisia/) president Zine al-Abedine Ben Ali, who fled the country after widespread protests forced him from office.
Egypt protests: Monday as it happened (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/egypt /8293551/Egypt-protests-Monday-31-January-2011-as-it-happened.html) Egypt protests: day five of the protests as it happened (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews /africaandindianocean/egypt/8292474/Egypt-protests-day-five-of-the-protests-as-it-happened.html) WikiLeaks: security lapse 'allowed US cables leak' (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/wikileaks/8291578 /Bradley-Manning-copied-secret-documents-thanks-to-lack-of-safeguards-book-claims.html) Egypt protests: Day 4 (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/egypt/8290391/Egyptprotests-day-four-of-the-protests-as-it-happened.html) What next for Egypt, the USA and the Middle East? (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean /egypt/8290551/What-next-for-Egypt-the-USA-and-the-Middle-East.html) President Mubarak sacks cabinet but refuses to step down (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews
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The disclosures, contained in previously secret US diplomatic dispatches released by the WikiLeaks (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/wikileaks/) website, show American officials pressed the Egyptian government to release other dissidents who had been detained by the police. Mr Mubarak, facing the biggest challenge to his authority in his 31 years in power, ordered the army on to the streets of Cairo yesterday as rioting erupted across Egypt. Tens of thousands of anti-government protesters took to the streets in open defiance of a curfew. An explosion rocked the centre of Cairo as thousands defied orders to return to their homes. As the violence escalated, flames could be seen near the headquarters of the governing National Democratic Party. Police fired rubber bullets and used tear gas and water cannon in an attempt to disperse the crowds. At least five people were killed in Cairo alone yesterday and 870 injured, several with bullet wounds. Mohamed ElBaradei, the pro-reform leader and Nobel Peace Prize winner, was placed under house arrest after returning to Egypt to join the dissidents. Riots also took place in Suez, Alexandria and other major cities across the country. William Hague, the Foreign Secretary, urged the Egyptian government to heed the legitimate demands of protesters (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/egypt/8289331/William-Haguerepression-is-not-the-answer.html) . Hillary Clinton, the US Secretary of State, said she was deeply concerned about the use of force (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/egypt/8289678/Egyptprotests-World-leaders-call-on-Egypt-to-address-its-citizens-grievances.html) to quell the protests. In an interview for the American news channel CNN, to be broadcast tomorrow, David Cameron (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/david-cameron/) said: I think what we need is reform in Egypt. I mean, we support reform and progress in the greater strengthening of the democracy and civil rights and the rule of law. The US government has previously been a supporter of Mr Mubaraks regime. But the leaked documents show the extent to which America was offering support to pro-democracy activists in Egypt while publicly praising Mr Mubarak as an important ally in the Middle East. In a secret diplomatic dispatch, sent on December 30 2008, Margaret Scobey, the US Ambassador to Cairo, recorded that opposition groups had allegedly drawn up secret plans for regime change to take place before elections, scheduled for September this year. The memo, which Ambassador Scobey sent to the US Secretary of State in Washington DC, was marked confidential and headed: April 6 activist on his US visit and regime change in Egypt. It said the activist claimed several opposition forces had agreed to support an unwritten plan for a transition to a parliamentary democracy, involving a weakened presidency and an empowered prime minister and parliament, before the scheduled 2011 presidential elections. The embassys source said the plan was so sensitive it cannot
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be written down. Ambassador Scobey questioned whether such an unrealistic plot could work, or ever even existed. However, the documents showed that the activist had been approached by US diplomats and received extensive support for his pro-democracy campaign from officials in Washington. The embassy helped the campaigner attend a summit for youth activists in New York, which was organised by the US State Department. Cairo embassy officials warned Washington that the activists identity must be kept secret because he could face retribution when he returned to Egypt. He had already allegedly been tortured for three days by Egyptian state security after he was arrested for taking part in a protest some years earlier. The protests in Egypt are being driven by the April 6 youth movement, a group on Facebook that has attracted mainly young and educated members opposed to Mr Mubarak. The group has about 70,000 members and uses social networking sites to orchestrate protests and report on their activities. The documents released by WikiLeaks reveal US Embassy officials were in regular contact with the activist throughout 2008 and 2009, considering him one of their most reliable sources for information about human rights abuses.
Copyright of Telegraph Media Group Limited 2011
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Tuesday, February 1, 2011 6:24 AM
What is Egypts April 6 movement?

By Jijo Jacob
Egyptians are close to creating history as their Facebook-fuelled digital age revolution looks formidable for now and well on course to replacing a 30-year regime. The Facebook group called the April 6 Movement has been the catalyst of the current political upheaval shaking up the government of Hosni Mubarak. Formed around three years ago, the loosely organized social network forum had never foreseen for itself back then a role as vehement as it holds currently. One of its unofficial founders had said recently that he was not optimistic that Egyptians will rise in revolt in huge numbers as seen in Tunisia. But the seed of popular resistance germinated by the youth of the country has now grown strong enough to change a nation's history. Following are some key facts about the April 6 Movement: ORIGINS The movement was started by young activists Ahmed Maher and Ahmed Salah in order to mobilize support for striking industrial workers El-Mahalla El-Kubra. They wanted to organize people to supoprt the cause of the workers, who were planning a strike April 6, 2008. "Activists called on participants to wear black and stay home the day of the strike. Bloggers and citizen journalists used Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, blogs and other new media tools to report on the strike, alert their networks about police activity, organize legal protection and draw attention to their efforts," says Wikipedia. FACEBOOK INFLUENCE A New York Times article in 2009, which is one of the most detailed accounts of the influence of the social networking site Facebook on young Egyptians, says Facebook ranked third in Egypt in terms of online visits, after Google and Yahoo. "About one in nine Egyptians has Internet access, and around 9 percent of that group are on Facebook a total of almost 800,000 members." And the reasons why people turn to social sites to vent their anger as well as organize protests: "An estimated 18,000 Egyptians are imprisoned under the law, which allows the police to arrest people without charges, allows the government to ban political organizations and makes it illegal for more than five people to gather without a license from the government. Newspapers are monitored by the Ministry of Information and generally refrain from directly criticizing Mubarak. And so for young people in Egypt, Facebook, which allows users to speak freely to one another and encourages them to form groups, is irresistible as a platform not only for social interaction but also for dissent, says the NYT. FOUNDERS "Being the first youth movement in Egypt to use internet-based modes of communication like Facebook and Twitter, we aim to promote democracy by encouraging public involvement in the political process," Maher told Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, in an interview.
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He calls the movement a youth coalition and says they will support national icons like Mohammed ElBaradei and support the cause of the National Association for Change which is fighting for political reform. The movement says it is not a political party and that it will not contest elections. The government arrested Maher in May 2008 as it wanted to scupper the movement. He was arrested again in July that year and charged with "incitement against the regime". The other founder, Ahmed Salah, was arrested last week after the uprising began. Susannah Vila writes about his arrest in her blog in movements.org.: "Salah (left) was sought out by state security, surrounded by roughly 10 special forces in riot gear, and thrown in a car separate from the blue vans police have been tossing other demonstrators in. This was not your average arrest."
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The youth of Tahrir Square

Al Jazeera meets the newly formed "youth coalition" who are speaking on behalf of a broad array of voices in the square.
Evan Hill Last Modified: 10 Feb 2011 05:59 GMT
Leader's of the youth who spurred Egypt's protest movement are fighting to hold onto their principles [GALLO/GETTY]
In the centre of Tahrir Square, surrounded by an explosion of art, political expression and communal solidarity that has crossed Egypt's social and economic lines, it's easy to get wrapped up in revolutionary fervor. One can forget that outside the square, from Washington DC to Cairo, elites are hammering out the country's new political order. Heads have already rolled inside the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP), and vice president Omar Suleiman who appears to have taken over president Hosni Mubarak's job in all but name - has made a series of announcements offering mild concessions to the protesters who set off Egypt's uprising on January 25. Both moves are aimed at placating the protest movement, which has transformed central Cairo for 15 days into an all-in-one refugee camp, music festival and political rally and has attracted the attention of the entire country and the international media. But as the violence of January 28 and February 2 fades in memory, businesses re-open, and state television shows members of long-standing but toothless opposition parties meeting face-to-face with Suleiman, the youth who instigated the most significant grassroots political upheaval in modern Arab memory are taking steps to try to
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http://english.aljazeera.net/indepth/features/2011/02/20112921495792870... Generated by Foxit PDF Creator Foxit Software http://www.foxitsoftware.com For evaluation only. prevent their revolution from being sold out. They say that now, following unproductive meetings between their intermediaries and Suleiman - who on Sunday said Egypt is "not ready for democracy" - they intend to escalate their campaign and expand beyond the square, opening an uncertain new front in the protests. The headquarters tent Near the centre of the square on Monday night, behind a stage with a full soundsystem where a man played protest songs on an acoustic guitar to a crowd of hundreds, members of the newly formed Coalition of the Youth of the Revolution gathered. Their new headquarters lies in a large green tent 100 metres to the north, underneath a stuffed and lynched effigy of Mubarak, but many hang around the stage to talk and keep easy access to the microphone. Here we met Nasser Abdel Hamid, a well-connected 28-year-old from Cairo who is affiliated with Mohamed ElBaradeis National Association for Change. Abdel Hamid is a busy man; with a phone call from the al-Arabiya news network in one hand, he greeted friends and associates with the other. During a lull, we moved away from the packed street the runs through the middle of the square and stepped onto the wide, circular patch of dirt and muddy turf where most of the protesters have set up their tent city. He spread out newspapers for us to sit on. "The grounds for negotiations are not acceptable to us," Abdel Hamid said. "We have seen a trend of groups who do not represent public opinion trying to speak on our behalf. But these opposition groups do not represent the public, we do, our demands are their demands." The six youth groups under the coalitions umbrella have so far refused calls from Suleimans office to attend negotiations, Abdel Hamid said. They have presented their preconditions to a group of intermediaries, sometimes called the "council of wise men," which includes Arab League chief Amr Moussa, business tycoon Naguib Sawiris, and Amr Hamzawy of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. The most significant demand, which still stands, is that Mubarak resigns or delegates his powers to Suleiman, which would begin an immediate transition to new leadership. But before Mubarak leaves office, they say, he must offer up a raft of constitutional amendments, specifically those pertaining to presidential elections, and dissolve both houses of parliament, the Peoples Assembly and the Shoura Council, which they view as hopelessly corrupt and illegitimately elected. From there, but before coming to the table, Abdel Hamid said, the protesters must be given guarantees that the country's 30-year-old emergency national security laws will be rescinded and that government officials will be investigated for attacks on demonstrators over the past two weeks, which have left around 300 people dead. Recently, leaders from old-school Egyptian opposition parties such as the Wafd and Tagammu have met with Suleiman. Though they don't use the word, the talks look very much like negotiations. Last week, Tagammu vice president Anis el-Bayya told Al Jazeera, during a lull in the rock-throwing street battles on the street below his partys headquarters, that he and other opposition politicians fully supported the youths revolution. The demands he laid out - dissolution of parliament, a transfer of power from Mubarak to Suleiman were the same as those we heard later from the youth coalition. But it's clear that the coalition lacks trust in Bayya's generation. "We will not negotiate until (Suleiman) proves to us that he is serious about these reforms, which is not the case at the moment," Abdel Hamid said. "What the opposition groups are doing is a waste of time." Expanding the protests Tuesday night, another coalition member associated with ElBaradei, 32-year-old Sally Moor, told us that the days negotiations between the "wise men" and Suleiman had not been fruitful. Mubarak had reportedly rebuffed the demand to step down or delegate his powers, she said. Concessions announced by Suleiman earlier in the day the formation of three committees to oversee reforms, draft constitutional amendments, and investigate violence against protesters had failed to please the youth.
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http://english.aljazeera.net/indepth/features/2011/02/20112921495792870... Generated by Foxit PDF Creator Foxit Software http://www.foxitsoftware.com For evaluation only. "How can you trust the regime to monitor the regime?" Moor asked. The protests will now likely expand, she said. The plan is for demonstrators to begin occupying other critical squares and intersections in nearby Cairo neighborhoods - Dokki, on the Nile's west bank, and Talaat Harb, just east of Tahrir Square. The maneuver will be repeated in cities outside the capital. A large gathering in the square was again being planned for Friday. Some had suggested the protesters move on the presidential palace in Heliopolis, around 14 kilometers east of central Cairo, but many believe the Republican Guard units defending the site are authorised and willing to shoot protesters, unlike the mainline army conscripts deployed around the square, some of whom have been recalled into active duty after being discharged. Amr Ezz, a 27-year-old coalition leader and member of the April 6 youth movement - founded in solidarity with striking laborers in the Nile Delta city of Mahalla - told us that the coalition was also pushing for a nationwide strike. On Wednesday, that plan seemed to be going into effect; thousands of workers were reportedly striking in Mahalla, Suez and towns on the outskirts of Cairo. Ezz said that the protest movement leaders in Tahrir, not the Wafd and Tagammu politicians meeting with Suleiman, had the most power and resonance with the people. "On the ground parties have no tangible power," he said. "People here have no faith in old opposition figures who talk and talk but have done nothing for the people." Ahmed Douma, a 22-year-old coalition representative for the Justice and Freedom party, echoed Ezz's statement. "The people who were capable of achieving this revolution can prevent it from being stolen," Douma said. "Influence is proportional to power on the streets, and I think that the people are more powerful than the political parties The opposition can appear on TV and discuss details of negotiations, but people will not respond to them like they do to us." Such steadfast optimism will be necessary if the coalition hopes to succeed. Its demand for Mubarak to step down immediately increasingly looks like it may be considered a dead letter among policymakers in the United States, whose $1.55bn in annual assistance to Egypt awards great influence in the negotiation process. The recent lack of public enthusiasm for Mubarak's departure from president Barack Obama and secretary of state Hillary Clinton won reproach from a collection of Washington-based analysts, the Working Group on Egypt, which said this week that policy makers risked condoning "an inadequate and possibly fraudulent transition." A mixed roster The youth coalition officially includes six groups: April 6, Justice and Freedom, and the ElBaradei affiliates, as well as the Muslim Brotherhood, the Democratic Front party, and independents. Though it's not always a businesslike affair - since the coalition was announced, some members have left and the leadership has expanded from 10 members to 14 - the diverse alliance exhibits admirable message discipline. Their demands and preconditions are uniform, and nobody suggests relaxing their line. There is also a sense of natural camaraderie. As we asked 26-year-old Mohamed Abbas, a representative for the Brotherhood, whether his constituents had explicit religious interest they wanted to promote during the transition, Moor, who is a Christian, joked that she wasnt afraid of them. The Brotherhood and the ElBaradei supporters are two of the coalition's more intriguing faces. ElBaradei is a lightning rod. He is a darling of the West, but his own assistants acknowledge the wide criticism he suffers within Egypt, from Mubarak supporters as well as the squares most liberal protesters. They say he is out of touch with the Egyptian people; some say he has lived out of the country for too long, others criticize him for failing to visit the square and spend enough time among the people (he came once on January 30, made a speech, and left). Few say they'd support him for president. But his supporters say that's not his role. They argue that ElBaradei was one of the few Egyptian figures in recent
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http://english.aljazeera.net/indepth/features/2011/02/20112921495792870... Generated by Foxit PDF Creator Foxit Software http://www.foxitsoftware.com For evaluation only. years to make public demands for constitutional change, a repeal of the emergency laws, and free and fair elections. "Even as the supporters of Baradei, we know he does not have a role on the ground here," said Abdel Rahman Samir, a 26-year-old ElBaradei affiliate on the coalition. "These events are larger than him, let us be honest." But Samir said ElBaradei "broke the fear barrier" in 2010 by launching a campaign - supported by the Brotherhood that gathered hundreds of thousands of signatures from Egyptians supporting his ideas for change. ElBaradei may not lead a transitional government or even head a committee, but his stature as a Nobel laureate and former head of the United Nations' nuclear watchdog means that he can participate effectively in other ways, Samir said. "We are trying to keep Baradei as our last playing card," he said. "Anyone who gets involved in the game of politics at this moment will squabble with political parties and dirty his name. He should keep his distance and wait until the scene is clean He can push for youth rights externally, he can negotiate with the regime, he can hold conferences for youth." On the other end of the spectrum is the conservative Muslim Brotherhood, a wide-reaching social movement that is technically banned but still considered - at least for now - to be the most organized political opposition group in Egypt. Though the Brotherhood's raison d'etre is to bring Egyptian society in line with Islamic principles, it has in the past decade allied itself closely with liberal opposition groups and helped push their pro-democracy, anti-repression agenda. The Brotherhood has also been at pains to downplay its role in the protests. Before January 25, it publicly declared it would not officially join the demonstrations. Even so, the government still sought to roll out a by-now familiar canard, telling reporters that the Brotherhood had fomented the unrest and was responsible for hurling Molotovs from rooftops during the worst fighting, though it was clear the petrol bombs were coming from Mubarak supporters. "The government uses the Brotherhood as a tool to scare people," Abbas, one of the two Brotherhood representatives on the coalition, told us. At the end of the day, the coalition members set aside their ideologies; there's no use fighting for a slice of the pie when the pie doesn't yet exist, he said. In an article about the protest movement, young Brotherhood member and blogger Abdelrahman Ayyash wrote that it is "impossible" to characterize the demonstrations as Islamic. "Clearly, the Muslim Brotherhood would be honored if they were a part of forcing Mubarak to step down, but the truth is that the Egyptian youth made the first move, and the 'traditional' opposition followed the movement of the youth and participated in the protests and gave them very powerful support," Ayyash wrote. He said that while Brotherhood members are present in the square supplying protesters with medicine and food, the groups slogans - such as "Islam is the solution" - are nowhere to be found. "You will know what it means when you see the leftist artist standing beside the Muslim Brotherhood activist and chanting against the Mubarak regime," he wrote. "It is the first protest in the history of Egypt that gathers every colour of the political spectrum for one goal: the departure of Mubarak and his regime." "Of course (the Brotherhood) would like to see Egypt as a civil society but based on religion," Abbas told us. "But first its the Egyptian people's right to choose." If the Brotherhood isnt the top choice, he said, theyre still happy to be involved in the system. With reporting by Lara el-Gibaly.
Source: Al Jazeera
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Spotlighting Digital Activism in Egypt

By Brannon Cullum October 2010 Videos and photos shot on mobile phones have exposed horrific accounts of police brutality. A Facebook group with nearly 300,000 members has coordinated demonstrations across a nation that outlaws protest. A campaign to fight for the release of an imprisoned blogger has sparked gatherings around the world. Change is happening in Egypt. The strategic use of social media platforms has given new life to efforts bringing attention to social and political issues. In this report, learn about digital activism in Egypt as it stands now.
I. Projects and Campaigns

Online spaces like blogs, YouTube, Flickr, and Facebook have provided new outlets for expression in a country listed as one of the most repressive in the world. A growing youth population, combined with an increasing number of Egyptians going online, have made this possible. The World Bank estimates that approximately 60 percent of the population is under 30 years of age. And while an internet penetration of 15 percent may seem low, it is actually one of the highest on the African continent. Public relations firm Spot-On estimates that there are more than 3 million Facebook users in Egypt. The ICT sector continues to grow and the government has made the expansion of internet services a priority over the past decade. Unlike many other countries in the Middle East, Egypt is not known for actively censoring and filtering websites. At the same time, bloggers and activists run the risk of being harassed or detained by authorities for sharing their views. Many have chosen to take this risk, and efforts to expose police brutality and human rights abuses have helped begin to break down a culture of fear among many Egyptians. So what type of projects and campaigns have been emerging online? Free Kareem In Feburary 2007, blogger Abdel Kareem Nabil Suleiman Amer was sentenced to four years in prison for incitement to hatred of Islam and for insulting the president on his blog. Kareem has become the face of online repression in Egypt as he was the first blogger to stand trial and be sentenced for his writings in the country. Esraa Al Shafei launched the Free Kareem campaign, creating a website that has served as a hub for learning about Kareems incarceration and speaking out against the suppression of free speech. In 2007, there were rallies at the 1
Egyptian embassies in 26 cities. With this wave of protests, Esraa contacted news organizations and told them about it, giving them contact information for whoever was the point person for that location, and this time, journalists actually started showing up. The Free Kareem campaign finally received the international media attention that Esraa had been hoping for. The Free Kareem campaign offers an example of how to combine creative strategies with new media to gain international attention for a cause, and Kareem has said that knowing people are out there thinking of him changed his life and made his time in prison more bearable. The fact remains, though, that despite Esraas valiant efforts, a blogger remained imprisoned for one post and was not released until his sentence was up (in fact, Egyptian authorities kept him in prison for nearly 3 weeks after this date)--and it is difficult to disentangle the effects of Esra'a's campaign from what would have happened to Kareem with or without her and her colleagues' efforts. Torture Map crowdsources user-submitted reports of torture and human rights abuses and plots them on a map, while the blog Torture in Egypt shares news updates about police brutality and torture in Egypt, as well as victim testimonies. Flickr group Piggipedia has a pool of more than 250 photos of police officers, some of whom are accused of having committed breaches of human rights. The group has more than 120 members, many of whom have submitted photos. The Flickr group encourages anyone who has photos of police officers attacking people at demonstrations or other events to upload them to the site. HarassMap was developed using the Ushahidi platform to crowdsource reports of sexual harassment. Mobile phone penetration is extremely high in Egypt and HarassMap has the potential to reach 55 million mobile phone subscribers, plus those who use mobile phones from the kiosk. Women are encouraged to send text messages to anonymously report when and where an incident of sexual harassment has occurred. The incident is then plotted on the map of Egypt. Reports are categorized by type of harassment, such as touching, verbal harassment, stalking, or indecent exposure. Victims receive a response back informing them of available services, such as counseling, legal aid, and a guide on how to make a police report. April 6 Movement In 2008, upward of 70,000 Egyptian youth joined this Facebook page centered around a workers' strike being organized in the industrial town of El-Mahalla El-Kubra and asking members to show their solidarity by participating in a general nationwide strike and boycott. Youth took to the Facebook page to discuss and debate pressing issues like free speech, the economy, and human rights. On April 6, the strike in El-Mahalla El-Kubra turned into a street riot, and the demonstrations in Cairo fizzled. Subsequent demonstrations were largely flops, and Ahmad Maher, the groups creator, and 14 other participants were arrested in July 2008 and charged with "incitement against the regime." Despite these setbacks, the April 6 Movement has helped to 2
embarass the regime and bring international attention to the plight of Egyptian youth. We Are All Khaled Said On June 6, 2010, a young man by the name of Khaled Said was dragged out of an internet cafe by police in Alexandria and beaten to death. Said was apparently targeted because he intended to post a video online that allegedly showed police offers dividing the spoils of a drug bust. Official autopsies said he choked on a plastic roll of drugs, but a cellphone picture of Saids battered face challenged the governments assertions. Weeks of protests and newspaper headlines followed. In early July, authorities decided to charge two police officers with illegal arrest, torture, and excessive force; their trial was scheduled to begin on September 25 but has since been postponed to October 23. Outraged by this incident, Egyptians have come together by joining Facebook groups and participating in silent stands, which involve coming together in long chains to stand silently, often while reading the Quran or Bible. The English Facebook pagehas more than 7,000 members, while the Arabic page has more than 275,000 members! Learn more at our page here.Amnesty International recently released this powerful new video about the case and why Egyptians are demanding that justice must be served. I asked the administrator for We Are All Khaled Said's English group pages if they were surprised by the number of Egyptians joining: At first I was surprised because I never thought we can get a large percentage of Egyptians who are on Facebook to join us in our call to end torture in Egypt. Then I realized that millions of Egyptians are now ready to stand up for their basic rights and that threats of torture or killings similar to Khaled Said are no longer effective. Khaled Said was a simple nonpolitical Egyptian, yet they killed him and tortured him to death. We all now feel that it could happen to any of us anytime. For this reason, I'm no longer surprised if I see thousands upon thousands of Egyptians who are no longer afraid and are ready to take action and stand up against torture. Against Torture The Against Torture campaign was launched by Egypt-based El-Nadim Center for Rehabilitation of Victims of Violence. The group behind the movement, known as the Task Force Against Torture, is comprised of bloggers, human rights defenders, activists, and journalists who are willing to say no to torture in Egypt and are willing to help survivors. They organized an event this past summer to mark the International Day in Support of Victims of Torture, produced a documentary about torture (watch it on their site), and launched a website called against-torture.net. According to the ElNadim Center, The website became a portal for anyone who is subjected to torture to find information about what to do if they become a direct victim of torture and how they can contact us with their complaints.
U-Shahid The U-Shahid project was launched ahead of November 2010 parliamentary elections to crowdsource citizen reports using the Ushahidi platform. The elections were rife with ballot stuffing, street clashes, and voter intimidation. In the face of restrictions on broadcast and print media from covering the elections, many Egyptian citizens took it upon themselves to report of incidents fraud and violence taking place. By the end of election day, the website UShahid had mapped over 1,100 reports of voter intimidation, violence, and fraud.
II. A Vibrant Blogosphere

Despite being named one of the worst counties to be a blogger in, Egypt has a vibrant blogosphere with a number of active bloggers, many of whom use their blogs as spaces to comment on current events and the state of affairs in Egypt. Despite the risks taken by sharing their voices, these individuals have used their blogs as platforms to expose state brutality, fraud, corruption, and abuses. They have proven to be central to efforts in Egypt to raise consciousness and speak out. In 2006, blogger Wael Abbas got a hold of a cellphone video that showed the police torturing and sodomizing a young bus driver. The video went viral and sparked outrage and resulted in thearrest and trial of the two police officers responsible for the abuse. Blogger Wael Khalil was the first to take notice of newspaper "Al Ahram"s fraudulent photo that photoshopped a photo of Mubarak with Obama, Bibi, Abu Mazen, and Abdullah II at the White House walking down a corridor. The photoshopped photo placed Mubarak leading the group gathered to discuss Israeli/Palestinian peace talks. These examples are two of many instances where bloggers have covered and exposed what mainstream media has chosen not to. As Courtney Radsch writes: The role of blogs in reporting on the abuses is widely credited by bloggers and journalists with triggering mainstream media coverage and forcing the government to respond. You can learn more about the evolution of the Egyptian blogosphere by reading her thoroughly researched article.
III. Limitations
In a tightly controlled society like Egypt, public outlets for exposing police brutality and government misconduct can be limited. The emergency law in the country prevents people from gathering in groups larger than five, making any type of protest difficult to organize. It also grants police and security forces discretionary power to arrest and detain anyone without charge. Bahey Eddin Hassan, general director of the Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies, describes the effects of a
society under emergency law, saying: "Under the state of emergency, the power of security forces has become absolute. It has become a hegemonic force in the country, even judicially. Without a real balance of power, you do not have the rule of law and judicial independence. Without real balance, you lose the voice of the people." And according to Threatened Voices, a project of Global Voices Advocacy, there have been 30 cases of bloggers either being arrested or threatened by the government. Six bloggers are currently under arrest, and 19 other bloggers have been released. There have been numerousreports of government authorities harassing bloggers at airports and confiscating their electronics. While the state does not filter websites, the Ministry of the Interior recently established a special security department to monitor Facebook activities and content. What implications will this have on future efforts to organize? Instead of creating Facebook groups, will activists find other, more covert ways to promote their causes? Also of great concern is the frequency with which activists and members of opposition parties are being arrested and detained. In early September 2010, three Egyptian dissidents/members of the opposition party were arrested and detained within a period of days. A statement issued by the Arabian Network for Human Rights Information on the matter said: "The frequent disappearance of activists lately without any comment from the Ministry of Interior and with the...silence of the prosecution and reluctance to investigate (these incidents) clearly points to the highest levels of government." These three activists were each released. Human rights advocates have also been arrested and charged with defamation, blackmail, and misuse of the internet.
IV. Has Online Activism Translated Into Offline Action?

As mentioned above, under Egypts emergency law, citizens cannot gather in groups. This obviously makes holding a demonstration or protest a near impossibility. The We Are All Khaled Said campaign, however, has gotten around the law by holding a series of silent stands over the past few months, where participants stand silently a few feet apart from one another. The silent stands have attracted thousands of Egyptians across cities in Egypt. The most recent one was held on August 20. The stands have garnered international media attention, especially when opposition candidate Mohamed ElBaradei joined one. When asked about public reaction to the campaign, a spokesperson for the ElNadim Center for Rehabilitation of Victims of Violence said: One of the reasons that the public reaction has been so strong was that people could see what had happened to Khaled from the pictures that were circulating all over the internet. They could see what he looked like before and after his death....Many Egyptian youths identified with Khaled
Said. He was a young man with no political affiliations or criminal record. He was simply on the internet, like so many other young people who visit internet cafes and link together. He could have been any one of them. Recently, a group of 30 activists participated in a protest outside the Syrian embassy in Cairo to denounce the detention of Syrian student and blogger Tal alMallohi, who was arrested last year for writing that the Syrian government should do more for Palestinians. While the stand immediately drew security forces, it was another example of small strides being made by Arab activists. In another example of the growing discontent amongst Egyptians and the willingness to take on the system, demonstrations were held on September 21 in Alexandria and Cairo to protest President Hosni Mubaraks rumored plans to hand power to his son Gamal. According to reports, the gatherings were organized by pro-democracy and opposition groups like the April 6 Youth Movement and Kefaya. Not surprisingly, police were quickly on the scene even before the protests began and prevented many from reaching Abdeen Square in central Cairo where the rally was held. Twitter users both at the protests and following the events from afar began using the hashtag#oraby2010 to tweet about what was happening. The tag was also used in the days leading up to the protests to organize and recruit protesters, in hopes of preventing authorities from easily tracking what was happening. Gamal Eid, founder and director of the Arabic Network for Human Rights Information, told the German press agency dpa: We have learned from the Iranian protesters how important Twitter can be in delivering a message. It is like an information wire service for all people who are logged on and even quicker than using a phone.Protesters burned images of Mubarak and chanted, "No inheritance after today, no freedom without blood" and "We are not slaves or property. God created us free people." Journalist Mohamed Effat was tweeting from the protest in Cairo. Among his tweets: Security trying to snatch a protester, protesters are trying to break the cordon to help. #Oraby2010 News that more than 30 protesters were detained in Alexandria, most of them are girls with tore cloths#Oraby2010 Security is cracking down on protesters hitting randomly, chants heat up #Oraby 2010 I'm out of the protest, police are letting protesters out one by one after filming their faces #Oraby2010 Photos and video from the ground were taken with mobile phones and uploaded to Twitter,Flickr, and other websites. The Front to Defend Egypt Protesters posted news that there were 29 individuals being detained in Alexandria, while at least 14 Egyptians were detained and released in Cairo. Taken collectively, these efforts to organize and demonstrate against the 6
government mark a turning point in Egyptian civil society. While small in size, they show that more and more Egyptians are willing to take risks to express their discontent with the status quo. Said Sadek, Professor of Sociology at the American University in Cairo, notes: [These] protests against political inheritance sent an embarrassing media message abroad that there is a genuine rejection of Gamal with burning his photo and the slogans used against him [and] a blow to the PR campaign Jimmy (Gamals nickname) had been making for years.
V. How Are Egyptians Who Dont Have Access To the Internet at a Disadvantage?
While the internet penetration rate is growing in Egypt, there are still millions without access. I asked the administrator of the We Are All Khaled Said campaign if average Egyptians who arent online would be as aware of campaigns against police brutality and human rights abuse as those who do have internet access. The admin responded: You will be surprised that we get a lot of contacts from really poor individuals and families who never used the internet before but have heard about us and who want us to help them highlight their case. This usually happens through members on our page who would know or heard of this poor family and get them to contact us and facilitate sending their details. The majority of Egyptians are fully aware of Egyptian police brutality as they face it every day. The way they view it and react to it is different. Some have lived all their lives in the current 30 years running Emergency law in Egypt and it became something they are used to it and learnt how to cope with it. Many others like me have reached the level where they believe that enough is enough and we have to do something peaceful but effective about it to stop it and end this torture permanently. Professor Sadek offered his thoughts: Police brutality and torture are known by the average Egyptian regardless of internet sites. These sites make the difference in giving the chance to all to access the real facts, raise awareness and social solidarity. However, they should not scare people and consolidate the existing culture of fear. Torture like rigging elections are well-known practices in Egypt regardless of the internet. Campaigns should use both the internet and traditional media to guide the public for specific actions or reactions.
VI. What Does the Future Hold?

What's in store for activists, bloggers, and others in Egypt using social media to share their thoughts about police brutality and run awareness campaigns? The admin for the Khaled Said campaign is optimistic about the future of the 7
movement, telling us: I honestly believe that sooner rather than later we will succeed. What we are asking for is our simple and basic rights. Egyptians in general are fed up with the current situation and Egyptian police brutality. Many young Egyptians are looking forward to the day that policemen will treat them with respect similar to the rest of the civilized world. Change is happening regardless of what those who oppose it think. Professor Sadek believes that movements like April 6 and We Are All Khaled Said have earned respect in the street and among intellectuals because They, unlike the traditional opposition parties, do not sell out or bargain with authorities. They seem to be more...sincere than the traditional politicians. Both have long-term objectives to be realized: ending autocracy, political inheritance projects, and violation of human rights. Their existence is important in showing that the Egyptians are not a flock of sheep brainwashed by government media. They break, along with Kifaya and ElGhad party of Ayman Nour and ElBaradei, the culture of fear. Recently, at the Google Liberty at 2010 conference in Budapest, Lucie Morillon of Reporters Without Borders moderated a panel of bloggers from various countries. Esraa Rashid, an Egyptian blogger, was asked whether or not international attention being given to arrested bloggers helps or causes more harm. As Jillian York, who was live blogging the event, noted, Rashid responded that "international attention helps, because it forces organizations to make statements calling for freedom for bloggers; Rashid thinks international attention might provoke a response from the Egyptian government. Generally, she thinks international solidarity can advance human rights, but that she thinks political influence needs to remain outside of it. The admin for We Are All Khaled Said echoed these sentiments, stating, International awareness can help limit arrests and torture of activists and eventually the end of the 30 years running Emergency law in Egypt. The apartheid system was brought down in South Africa with the help and efforts of international supporters and we hope we will end torture and Emergency law in Egypt the same way. Global Voices contributor Anas Qtiesh writes, These bloggers, activists, and techies have managed to use freely available tools and online services to internationally embarrass the Egyptian government and pressure it into action against those abuses. Many of the grassroots movements mentioned above demonstrate how online organization and participation can be an effective gateway to offline engagement. Egyptians, as well as individuals around the world, have been mobilized to take action on the streets, whether it be through participating in a silent stand, taking photos of police officers attacking crowds, or attending a rally. With parliamentary elections approaching and the trial of the police officers 8
accused of beating up Khaled Said set to begin in late October, what does the future hold for activists in Egypt?
VII. Learn More

Visit the sites of the bloggers and movements mentioned in this post. Other organizations in Egypt working to fight for citizens rights include Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights, Arabic Network for Human Rights Information, Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies, and Crowdvoice.
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Attendee Biographies
9 11 March, 2010 London
SUMMIT DETAILS
ContentsParticipants
A Better LA (United States), 4 Brian Center, 4 Accel (United Kingdom), 4 Hussein Kanji, 4 AccessNow (United States), 4 Kim Pham, 4 Active Change Foundation (United Kingdom), 4 Hanif Qadir, 4 AltMuslim (United Kingdom), 4 Zahed Amanullah, 5
British Muslims for Secular Democracy (United Kingdom), 5 Shaaz Mahboob, 5 B'Tselem (Israel), 5 Yoav Gross, 5 Cameroon Elections 2011 Tech Group (United Kingdom), 6 Eric Acha, 5 Campusalam (United Kingdom), 6 Yasmeen Akhtar, 6 Jonathan Smith, 6 Mohammad Uz-Zaman, 6 Center for American Progress (United States), 6 Faiz Shakir, 6 Colombia Soy Yo (Colombia) Carlos Andrs Santiago Digital Democracy (United States), 6 Mark Belinsky, 6 Enough Project (United States), 6 John Bagwell, 7 Ethnomedia & Development (Pakistan), 7 Samar Minallah, 7 Freedom and Justice Foundation, The (United States), 7 Mohamed Elibiary, 7 FrontlineSMS and Kiwanja (United Kingdom), 8 Ken Banks, 8 Full Court Peace (Ireland), 8 Michael Evans, 8 Gallomanor (United Kingdom), 8 Shane McCracken, 8
Genc Siviller (Turkey), 8 Ceren Kenar, 8 Genocide Intervention Network (United States), 8 Janessa Goldbeck, 9 Global Youth Action Network (Mexico), 9 Marioliva Gonzlez Landa, 9 Halafire Media (United States), 9 Shahed Amanullah, 9 Hear MY Voice (United Kingdom), 9 Tasneem Mahmood, 9 Iluminemos Mexico (Mexico), 10 Elias Kuri, 10 InterCulture (United States), 10 al-Husein Madhany, 10 Interfaith Youth Core (United States), 10 Zeenat Rahman, 10 Invisible Children (United States), 10 Chris Sarette, 10 Kiwanja.net, 11 Ken Banks, 11 MEPeace (Israel), 11 Eyal Raviv, 11 Microphilanthropy 100 (United States), 11 Farhad Chowdhury, 11 Mideast Youth (Bahrain), 11 Esra'a Al Shafei, 12 Muslim Youth Helpline (United Kingdom), 12 Akeela Ahmed, 12 One Million People Against Crime in South Africa (SA), 12 Herman Lochner, 12 OneVoice Movement (United Kingdom), 12 Joel Braunold, 12 Pakistan Youth Alliance (Pakistan), 12 Ali Abbas Zaidi, 13 Project on Information Technology and Political Islam (US), 13 Muzammil Hussain, 13 Quilliam Foundation (United Kingdom), 13 Fatima Mullick, 13 Maajid Nawaz, 13 Radical Middle Way (United Kingdom), 13 Ahmed Musa, 13
Sisters Against Violent Extremism/Women Without Borders (Austria), 13 Edit Schlaffer, 13 Katherine Wiseman, 14 Save Darfur Coaiition (United States), 14 Martha Bixby, 14 Small World News (United States), 14 Brian Conley, 14 Soliya (Egypt), 14 Karim El Mantawi, 14 STAND (United States), 14 Daniel Teweles, 15 Survivors Connect (United States), 15 Aashika Damodar, 15 Taking IT Global (Mexico) Marioliva Gonzalez
The People's March (United Kingdom), 15 Gemma Always, 15 TomorrowVentures (United States), 15 Michael Slaby, 15 United4Justice (Pakistan), 16 Adeel Rahman, 16 Un Milln de Voces Contra ETA (Spain), 16 Rafael Delgado, 16 Un Milln de Voces Fundacin (Colombia), 16 Miguel Andres Fierro, 16 Oscar Morales, 16 Ushahidi, Inc. (United States), 16 Juliana Rotich, 17 Viva Favela (Brazil), 17 Rodrigo Nogueira, 17 Youngstars Foundation International (Nigeria), 17 Kingsley Bangwell, 17 Youth for Tolerance (Lebanon), 17 Elie Awad, 17
Moderators & Speakers

Chris Atwood, Salesforce, 18 Aaron Azelton, The National Democratic Institute, 18 Michael Davidson, Gen Next, 18
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Will Dobson, Journalist and Author, 18 Jack Dorsey, Twitter, 18 James Eberhard, Mobile Accord, 18 Levi Felix, Causecast, 18 Jeremy Gilley, Peace One Day, 19 Kaylee Hartung, CBS Nightly News, 19 Austin Heap, Censorship Research Center, 19 Scott Heiferman, MeetUp, 19 Sam Jeffers, Blue State Digital, 19 Lily Mazahery, Mazahery Law, 19 Matthew McGregor, Blue State Digital, 19 Kristen Morrissey, Google, 20 Carol Pineau, World Bank, 20 Ramya Raghaven, YouTube, 20 Joe Rospars, Blue State Digital, 20 Ian Schuler, National Democratic Institute, 20 Sir Martin Sorrell, WPP, 20 Ari Wallach, studioBenZion, 20
Guests, Hosts & Sponsors

Bradley Blanken, Mobile Accord, 22 Limvirak Chea, Google, 22 Noreen Clancy, RAND Corporation, 22 James Crabtree, Prospect, 22 Russell Dubner, Edelman, 22 Tom Latchford, Raising IT, 22 Darlene Liebman, Howcast, 23 Jason Liebman, Howcast, 23 Bruin Maule, Peace One Day, 23
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Eric Martinez, Invisible Children, 23 Stephanie Rudat, Social Entrepreneur, 23 Rachel Silver, Executive Assistant, Howcast Media, 23 Patrick Thompson, Peace One Day, 23 Roman Tsunder, Access 360 Media, Inc., 23 Nick Van Pragg, World Bank, 24 Anand Varghese, United States Institute of Peace, 24 Katy Zack, Howcast Media, 24 Shaarik Zafar, Esq., Global Engagement Group, 24 Juan Zarate, Center for Strategic and International Studies, 24
U.S. Department of State, 25

Jared Cohen, 25 Farah Pandith, 25
Staff, 26
David Nassar, Executive Director, 26 Sam Graham-Felson, Director of Strategy and Communications, 26 Erin Mazursky, Summit Manager, 26 Nora Mariana Salim, Fellows Coordinator, 26
Participants
A Better LA
A Better LA, founded by USC football head coach Pete Carroll, is a 501(c)(3) comprised of local leaders from the private, non-profit, social service, faithbased, education and law enforcement sectors. It is committed to supporting Los Angeles communities in their goal to reduce violence by empowering change. This organization works with former gang members to provide alternative visions and pathways to at-risk youth in California. A Better LA mobilizes the knowledge and skills of the community to inspire each person to dream, work, and play without fear.
Brian Center
Brian Center is Executive Director of A Better LA, a non-profit dedicated to breaking the cycle of violence and hopelessness in our inner-cities. A Better LA's unique approach includes engaging, empowering and training community leaders, including former gang-members, to rebuild their neighborhoods from within, and using research based practice to guide strategic planning. Mr. Center obtained his Juris Doctor from UCLA in 1993 and practiced law for over 8 years. He represented a wide variety of businesses in high stakes and multi-million dollar litigation. In 2001, Mr. Center left the world of litigation and assumed the role of Justice Deputy for County Supervisor Gloria Molina. Having taken on one of the most unique jobs in government, he helped manage the Countys $16 billion budget and 90,000 employees. He participated in gang task forces with law enforcement and helped manage police oversight efforts. He also led efforts to reform the juvenile justice and m,.nchildren services systems. Through these experiences, Mr. Center has become an expert in the areas of violence prevention and evidence-based practice. In 2005, Mr. Center moved to the Los Angeles County Sheriffs Department and became the point person on issues pertaining to homelessness and exoffenders re-entering society from jail and prison. He also served as the Chair of the Los Angeles County Re-entry Advisory Board.
Accel
Hussein Kanji
Hussein Kanji is currently a board director at Byhiras and Nivio, a World Economic Forum Technology Pioneer. He was formerly with Accel Partners, where he focused on consumer internet and software investments and made investments in Playfish (acquired by Electronic Arts), OpenGamma and United Mobile. At Accel, he supported the investments in Dapper and Netvibes, and held board observer seats on Njini (acquired by Riverbed) and The Cloud. Kanji joined Accel from Microsoft Corporation where he held several strategy and product management roles and was selected to the company's leadership program for building the speech recognition business. Kanji began his career in the Bay Area, and helped build Safe-View (acquired by L-3), Radiance Technologies (acquired by Comcast) and Studio Verso (acquired by KPMG). Kanji holds an MBA from London Business School, where he sits on the alumni board, and completed his undergraduate studies in Symbolic Systems at Stanford University.
AccessNow.org
Born in the aftermath of the 2009 Iranian election, AccessNow provides innovative, crowd-sourced technology tools to help return the political process to the people. AccessNow empowers civil society, particularly political freedom movements, to empower themselves through direct access to information technologies -including automatically generated web based proxies, anonymous twitter relays, low bandwidth projects, and a safe house for citizen media. AccessNow is currently building a global digital swat team of the best and brightest digital activists who can be deployed at a moments notice or in anticipation of a net shutdown. Their global digital freedom movement of citizens will form a global proxy cloud (hundreds of thousands of virtual machines), hovering over any country or region when access is denied. In the offline world -- hard-fought rights have been won. Now, we must guarantee their protection in our online future. AccessNow envisions a world where citizens, regardless of frontiers, can be active participants in their future by freely seeking, receiving and imparting information digitally.
Kim Pham
Kim Pham co-founded AccessNow.org, an organization created after the 2009 Iranian election to provide fresh, crowd-sourced technological support to human rights organizations. The organization also plays a key role in relaying citizen media from Iran's Green Movement among digital activists and the international
community at large. Pham holds a B.A. and B.S. from UCLA.
Active Change Foundation

The Active Change Foundation was established in 2003, administered by the Qadir Brothers and Mike Jervis. Working on the culturally diverse streets of Waltham Forest, they actively intervene to prevent violence between urban gangs, counter the lure of those who are intent upon recruiting vulnerable young people to violent extremism, and promote social cohesion and harmony. Each member has a unique experience of both the gang culture and of the lure of violent extremism which are rife in the Waltham Forest area, London as a whole, and many other parts of the UK.
Hanif Qadir
Hanif is the Projects and Programme Director of the Active Change Foundation and is recognised as one of the UKs leading specialists in positively transforming violent extremists. He is actively involved in advising and assisting senior policy makers in reforming key aspects of the Preventing Violent Extremism (PVE) agenda and works closely with a wide range of governmental institutions, most of the UKs police authorities including the Met Police, and research academics across the globe, with a more culturally sensitive and sensible approach in counterterrorism strategies. As a direct result of his own recruitment into violent extremism and working closely with a number of individuals previously involved in terrorist activities, Hanif has developed a unique understanding of the modus operandi of violent extremist groups, the environments in which they operate and the individuals inspired by these groups. For the past six years, he has focused his attention on engaging with hard to reach vulnerable young Muslims. Hanif remains at the cutting edge of preventing violent extremism. In his own words: My aim is to help change the mindsets of the many young people who are experiencing similar strong feelings of anger, which confuse them into reacting negatively in the name of Islam, often resulting in recruitment to violent extremist networks and terrorism.
altmuslim.com
altmuslim.com was created in the wake of 9/11 in order to address the near absence of Muslim voices in the daily discourse surrounding Islam and Muslims in the media. Since 2001, they have developed the site into an introspective voice that helps promote a critical (and selfcritical) analysis of issues regarding the Muslim world. Crafted from the very beginning as a public service to Muslims and nonMuslims alike, altmuslim has been a labor of love, patience, and faith. With an editorial board spanning several continents and a readership of over 3.3 million unique readers per year, altmuslim.com is at the forefront of an emerging independent Muslim media in the West. altmuslim.com helps shift the tone of news reporting about Muslims in the mainstream media away from stereotypes, feardriven headlines, and outright hostility by engaging at the level of professional journalism. At the same time, they actively develop a culture of openminded expression and debate within the Muslim community, which can help alleviate siege mentalities and help Muslims solve their communitys own internal conflicts. By cultivating a Muslim community that is able to take the lead in shaping public opinion on Islam and issues concerning the Muslim community and creating a mutually beneficial relationship with the mainstream media that helps these views reach the masses, we have helped journalists paint a more complete and nuanced picture while reducing the tensions that continue to exist between Muslim-Americans and their neighbors.
Zahed Amanullah
Zahed Amanullah has been the Associate Editor of altmuslim.com since 2002 and has been the full-time Executive Editor since of 2009. He is a founding member of American Muslims Intent on Learning and Activism (AMILA). He has been involved with a number of American Muslim organizations, including the Islamic Center of Southern California and the Muslim Public Affairs Council before relocating to London, England, in 2003. Amanullah has been featured in a number of media outlets, including BBC TV and Radio, the Guardian (UK), CNN International, Alternet, and many others. Amanullah has also served as an advisor to a variety of organizations including Harvard's Berkman Center for Internet & Society and the US State Department on matters dealing with extremism, integration, technology, and media. Born and raised in Southern California, he is a graduate of the University of California, Berkeley.
British Muslims for Secular Democracy

British Muslims for Secular Democracy (BMSD) brings together a diverse group of Muslim democrats from a variety of ethnic and social backgrounds. Founded in 2006, they aim to challenge perceptions, ideas, and current thinking about British Muslims as a collective and the issues that affect the wider society. BMSD is not a theological group but one that advocates civic engagement and good citizenship and welcomes advocates of all faiths.
Shaaz Mahboob
Dr. Shaaz Mahboob is the BMSD Deputy Co-Chair. Over 2007 and 2008 he worked extensively to gain equal rights and representation for liberally minded British Muslims who are still not adequately reflected in public consultations, mainstream political networks, and the media. Too much credence is still given to ultra-conservative Muslim groups who advocate hard-line religious practice and sectarianism.
Dr. Mahboob participated as a panelist in ARY One World panel discussion program on Aghaz, which was telecast several times across the UK , Europe, and Pakistan. He has also appeared as a panelist in a press TV debate called Islam and Democracy in the West with Professor Tariq Ramadan, Cllr. Salma Yaqoob, and a leading member of Hizb-ut-Tahrir. Dr. Mahboob was invited to join a delegation on a visit to Pakistan as part of the Projecting British Islam campaign, which was sponsored by the British Foreign & Commonwealth Office (FCO) and the Department of Communities and Local Government (DCLG). Throughout 2007/2008 Dr. Mahboob has attended various FCO briefings on the Middle East, Iran, Iraq, and Sudan along with meetings regarding antiextremism and South Asia. He has been consulted by civil servants on policy development, in particular the issues of prevention of terrorism and acquiring social cohesion. In early 2008, Dr. Mahboob was invited to a high level meeting with the Foreign Secretary and the Prime Minister to discuss Pakistan in the aftermath of Benazir Bhuttos assassination. Other members who attended the meeting included Lord Nazir, four British Muslim MPs and the heads of leading charities and organizations. He has attended HM Government Prevent 08 Conferences and is developing a network of likeminded Muslims in key positions within the political parties and other institutions. He and BMSD have gained respect and recognition through this work. He went with an FCO sponsored British Muslim delegation visit to Algeria and Morocco in February 2009. This delegation was part of the Projecting British Islam program aimed at presenting the life of British Muslims to the wider world and to share experiences in relation to the counter-radicalization and community cohesion activities undertaken by organizations based in the UK and in those countries visited by the delegates. During the visit met senior government representatives including ministers, advisors as well as NGOs and community groups, interviewed by the media and participated in various discussion forums. As a follow up to the visit, he has participated in events presenting the highlights and shared learning from the visit to the Muslim communities in Britain facilitated by FCO and Al Manaar Foundation.
BTselem
B'Tselem - The Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories was founded in 1989 and has earned international recognition as the leading Israeli organization monitoring, documenting, and advocating to improve human rights in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. B'Tselem has published over 130 reports and over 40 short films and video testimonies on a wide variety of human rights issues, organized major public campaigns, and served as an important source of information for journalists, researchers, and the diplomatic community at the national and international level. B'Tselem's activities receive extensive media coverage, generate public debate, and encourage changes in official policy. B'Tselems primary goals are to protect human rights in the Occupied Territories and to generate commitment among the Israeli public to human rights principles. B'Tselem has expanded its advocacy strategy to include the powerful tool of audio-visual materials. B'Tselem intends to make human rights abuses tangible and personal, using visual material as a powerful catalyst for change. B'Tselem's staff of ten fieldworkers, equipped with digital still and video cameras and trained in their use, collect video footage documenting human rights violations, including testimonies of victims and eyewitnesses. B'Tselem makes its video footage available to military and police authorities, press, artists, and human rights activists. The use of visual material to convey the severity of the human rights violations taking place, an integral element of B'Tselem's multifaceted strategy, is intended to involve the public in human rights advocacy by demonstrating in an undeniable medium the personal hardship inflicted by government and military policies that violate the most fundamental human rights of Palestinians in the Occupied Territories.
Yoav Gross
Born in Jerusalem in 1977, Yoav Gross is a documentary filmmaker. He currently works as the Video Department Director in B'Tselem, the Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories. Graduating from Tel Aviv University with a B.A in film and television in 2004, Gross has directed and photographed documentaries and TV reports for Israeli TV. In his video work, Gross takes an interest in various social and human issues, focusing mainly on the Israeli-Arab conflict. Since he joined B'Tselem in 2006, Gross has been working on several unique video projects aimed to document and expose human rights violations in the West Bank, among them are B'Tselem's camera project, which has revealed never-before-seen footage of settler and army violence, and "Gaza: an Inside Look, which gave millions of Israelis a unique look into life under siege in the neighboring Gaza. The projects have gained extensive international and local media exposure.
Cameroon Elections 2011 Techgroup

Eric Acha
Eric Acha holds a MSc. in Economic Development and Policy Analysis and a BSc. in Economics and Computer Sciences. Throughout his career, Acha has participated in youth movements and held active membership in several youth organizations and movements that strive to bring positive changes and advance
democracy in different regions. Acha has co-founded and founded nonprofit organizations with similar objectives. Acha founded the African Policy Forum (www.africanpolicy.ning.com), which provides an online platform for African professionals and young academics to meet and discuss policy issues pertaining to Africa. Acha is also the founder of a youth and grassroot movement on Facebook, which aims to play an instrumental role in the democratic process in Cameroon.
Campusalam
Campusalam is a project of an independent, interfaith, and intercultural research foundation, and a charity called the Lokahi Foundation. It has been set up to provide resources for Muslim students to ignite and develop positive changes in their communities. Lokahi means harmony, unity, and balance that arises from diversity and even opposition.
Yasmeen Akhtar
Yasmeen Akhtar is a UK Grad and read Law at University. She has worked extensively with human rights campaign and written on issues affecting Minority Faith Groups in the UK as well as researching strategies for engaging with British Muslims.
Jonathan Smith
A US citizen from Atlanta, Georgia, Jonathan Smith has taught at universities in Lebanon and the Palestinian Territories, working with student groups in interfaith dialogue and nonviolent action for a just peace. Smith studied linguistics, peace studies, and theology.
Mohammad Uz-Zaman
Mohammad Uz-Zaman is a project Coordinator for Campusalam and a student of Islamic Studies. His academic background includes a Bsc. (Hon) in Psychology and Sociology and a pending M.A. in Islamic Studies from The Muslim College.
Center for American Progress

The Center for American Progress (CAP) is a think tank dedicated to improving the lives of Americans through ideas and action. They combine bold policy ideas with a modern communications platform to help shape the national debate, expose the hollowness of conservative governing philosophy, and challenge the media to cover the issues that truly matter. Their work builds upon progressive ideals put forth by such leaders as Teddy Roosevelt, FDR, JFK, and Martin Luther King. The Center for American Progress draws from the great social movements of the 20th centuryfrom labor rights and worker safety, to civil rights and women's suffrage. They translate those values into new ideas and action firmly rooted in the economic and political realities of the 21st century. Founded in 2003, CAP is headed by John D. Podesta, former chief of staff to President Bill Clinton and professor at the Georgetown University Law Center. CAP is designed to provide long-term leadership and support to the progressive movement. Their ability to develop thoughtful policy proposals and engage in the war of ideas with conservatives is unique and effective. The CAP policy experts cover a wide range of issue areas, and often work across disciplines to tackle complex, interrelated issues such as national security, energy, and climate change.
Faiz Shakir
Faiz Shakir is the Research Director at the Center for American Progress and serves as Editor-in-Chief of ThinkProgress.org and The Progress Report. He holds a B.A. degree in Government from Harvard University and a J.D. degree from the Georgetown Law Center. Faiz has previously worked as a Research Associate for the Democratic National Committee, as a Legislative Aide to Sen. Bob Graham (D-FL) on the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee, and as a communications aide in the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy. Faiz is co-author of Howard Deans Prescription for Real Healthcare Reform. He also authored a chapter entitled Blogging the Election in The Change We Need: What Britain Can Learn from Obamas Victory. His writings have been published in the Jerusalem Post, Florida Today, and Salon. Faiz has appeared on MSNBC, CNN, Fox News, and CNBC television, among other places, and has been a guest on many radio shows.
Digital Democracy
Digital Democracy (Dd) works with local partners to put information into the hands of people who need it most those neglected, disenfranchised, or abused by their rulers. Dd emphasizes education, communication, and participation to empower citizens to build and shape their own communities. Advances in mobile and internet technologies are reshaping societies around the world. Every day these technologies become cheaper, simpler, and more
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reliable. Dd develops information and communication tools to address the needs of the vulnerable and disempowered communities where we work. Their work strengthens social bonds within and among communities, fostering networking, and civic participation. They have been working for two years with the Burmese community throughout South and Southeast Asia as well as with resettled Burmese populations and local communities in Indiana, Washington, DC, and New York. Dd staff has published and presented research on Burma with an emphasis on technology use by displaced Burmese groups. In addition to Burmas borders, they have conducted research in the Carribean, Eastern Europe, Southern & Western Africa, and the Middle East.
Mark Belinsky
Mark Belinsky is the Founder and Co-Director of Digital Democracy, an NGO empowering civic engagement through new technologies. He has been working at the intersection of technology, media, and civil society for over five years, with projects extending from Europe, the Middle East, and the Caucasus to South and Southeast Asia, Southern Africa, and the USA. Inspired by his parents escape from the Soviet Union, he has sought to empower other at-risk communities. While working in the Caucasus, Belinsky helped to found and develop Bem, a youth progressive action center that serves as a platform for Armenian youth to build an active civil society through technology, art, and media for free-expression. He consults on new media strategy and produces films for civic engagement. Belinsky is a graduate of Johns Hopkins University. You can read more on Belinksys blog 4hours.wordpress.com.
Enough
The Enough Project is helping to build a permanent constituency to prevent genocide and crimes against humanity. Co-founded by Africa experts Gayle Smith and John Prendergast, Enough launched in early 2007 as a project of the Center for American Progress. Enough conducts intensive field research in countries plagued by genocide and crimes against humanity, develops practical policies to address these crises, and shares sensible tools to help empower citizens and groups working for change. Their initial work has focused on grave challenges in a number of African countries: Sudan, eastern Congo, northern Uganda, Somalia, Chad, and Zimbabwe. Ongoing projects and campaigns include Darfur Dream Team, Raise Hope For Congo / Conflict Mineral Campaign, and Sudan Now Coalition.
John Bagwell
John Bagwell is the Field Manager for Enough. He previously worked as the National Student Coordinator for the Genocide Intervention Network managing the student division, STAND. He has also worked for the South Carolina Democratic Party, Wal-Mart Watch, and several other political and issue-based grassroots campaigns. Bagwell holds a bachelor's degree in sociology from Wofford College in Spartanburg, South Carolina.
Ethnomedia & Development

Ethnomedia & Development promotes a culturally sensitive development approach. Ethnomedia uses media and research to promote values of dignity, human rights, and justice. The organization also works with civil society organizations to undertake advocacy and action on areas of concern for women as well as for a larger enabling environment. A mutual collaborative relationship has been developed with various departments and organs of the Government of Pakistan. The organization has been involved in advocacy with them at the policymaking and implementation levels to reflect women's concerns in policies and to create linkages for implementation for women at the grassroots levels. By doing so, it builds a culture of human rights through print media, electronic media, research, public forums, and workshops. Ethnomedia has developed and implemented communications strategies for various non-government organizations. It has developed documentaries 'docusongs', talk shows that have been screened in the rural areas in the form of mobile screenings, on national and regional television channels and at International Film Festivals and events. For a local Pashto channel, Ethnomedia produced weekly documentaries on women and child right's issues to promote dialogue and insight into issues like child labor, gender discrimination, and honor killings. Through various forms of media, they make an effort to open the eyes of the civil society, policymakers, human rights activists to culturally sanctioned forms of violence, bringing unseen images, untold stories, and seldom heard voices to public attention---catalyzing political engagement and lasting change.
Samar Minallah
Samar Minallah is a Pakistani documentary filmmaker and a human rights activist. For the past 20 years, Minallah has been advocating for the rights of rural women in Pakistan, first as a freelance journalist and then as an activist documentary filmmaker. She is recipient of the Perdita Huston 2007 Award for her effective media campaign against Swaara and Vaani tribal customs in parts of the North-West Frontier Province and Punjab. She has also won Roberto Rosellin Award in 2009 for highlighting women's rights issues through films. The founder of Ethnomedia, Minallah has been described by the media as the
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'Crusader with the Camera, an activist fearlessly breaking the silence against various forms of human rights violations in Pakistan through the use of various forms of media. Minallah is commited to effectively advocating against Swara or Vaani, a custom throughout Pakistan where young girls and women are given as compensation to end disputes. In this custom, the criminal goes free and an innocent girl pays the price. Minallah designed an outreach media campaign on "Violence Against Women in the Northwest Frontier Province of Pakistan," highlighting the plight of female Afghan refugees and provides a doctor and training services for women and their children living in jail. She has fought for social change in Pakistan through research, music videos, documentaries, and a weekly television show. With Minallahs continued efforts, the Pakistan Supreme Court passed a benchmark decision in 2006 seeking to penalize the act of offering and accepting by way of compensation any child or woman against her free will.
Freedom and Justice Foundation

The Freedom and Justice Foundation (F&J) was incorporated in November 2002 as the Texas Muslim community's first state-level organization to elevate the community's government relations efforts and build new interfaith community relationships. F&J is an independent 501c3 tax exempt Texas nonprofit funded entirely by its local member organizations and local individual donors. As an educational non-profit, F&J works to enhance Centrist public policy development and implementation through the civic and interfaith engagement of Texas Muslims. F&J coordinates a statewide network for Islamic Centers (Mosques/Masajid) through our Islamic Council (I.C.) Program with supportive congregations spanning from Tyler to El Paso and Dallas-Fort Worth down to Austin and Houston. Though the I.C. Program was only launched in 2005, it quickly grew to include enough congregations to make it the largest single representative network (serving more than 100,000) Texas Muslims and has allowed F&J to develop strong working relationships with its state-level counter-parts in other faith-based communities. Some of those state-level faith-based community groups we have partnered with include the Texas Conference of Churches, the Texas Catholic Conference, Texas Impact, and the Baptist General Convention of Texas Christian Life Commission among others. Weve organized three bi-annual Texas Muslims Legislative Day (TMLD) events inside the Texas State Capitol since 2003 where hundreds of citizens were educated on State Public Policy and how to enhance its development. They also fund the Muslim Scholarship Fund (MSF) to increase the number of Muslims pursuing public affairs and public policy careers. After several years laboring to improve law enforcement information sharing (Domestic Intelligence) across the Federal, State and Local levels; F&Js resources have shifted towards the Radicalization related challenges. Their ultimate goal is not just to reform U.S. Counter-Terrorism (CT) Policy in a tactical effectiveness manner while improving Law Enforcement relations with Muslim communities on the operational level, but to system engineer on the strategic level, as we helped produce in the Domestic Intelligence arena, a major leap forward in how the U.S. Government as a whole collaborates through the adoption of a comprehensive U.S. Homeland Combating Violent Extremism (CVE) Strategy.
Mohamed Elibiary
Mohamed Elibiary is a Texas Muslim community leader and National Security Policy Analyst advising several Intelligence and Law Enforcement entities on various Counter-Terrorism issues (ex. Domestic Intelligence, Strategic Intelligence Analysis, Information Sharing, Material Support and Radicalization). His assistance as a "subject matter expert" on Countering Violent Extremism has been sought after by various government entities (ex. FBI, DHS, NCTC, ODNI's PM-ISE, State Department and the Homeland Security Advisory Council). As the President and CEO of the Dallas-based Freedom and Justice Foundation (F&J) Elibiary oversaw the launching of a statewide interfaith program that developed relationships at the state-level between Muslim congregations from all major Texas cities; and their state-level counter-parts in the Mainline Protestant, Baptist and Catholic communities as well as integrating the mainstream Muslim congregational voice into the Texas Legislative process. Currently, Elibiary also serves as one of three appointed civilians on the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) Advisory Board. In December of 2009 he was recognized by State of Texas Law Enforcement leadership for promoting the establishment of a Texas Fusion Center Policy Council to enhance information sharing, analysis capabilities and community relations at the state and local levels. Elibiary was a 2008-2009 Fellow at the University of Southern California-based American Muslim Civic Leadership Institute researching religion and civic engagement. He is currently a member of the Intelligence and National Security Alliance, a Lifetime Member of the International Association of Business Communicators, and the Vice-President of the FBI-Dallas Citizens' Academy Alumni Association.
FrontlineSMS
FrontlineSMS ws founded by Ken Banks of Kiwanja.net. It is a free software that turns a laptop and a mobile phone or modem into a central communications hub. The program enables users to send and receive text messages with large groups of people through mobile phones. What you communicate is up to you, making FrontlineSMS useful in many different ways. SMS stands for short message service. It is also known as text messaging. With the growing popularity of mobile phones, especially in developing countries, SMS has become a familiar and widely used form of communication. It offers advantages over traditional voice services including reduced cost and the ability to send messages to large numbers of people in a short amount of time.
Ken Banks
Ken Banks, founder of kiwanja.net, devotes himself to the application of mobile technology for positive social and environmental change in the developing world, and has spent the last 17 years working on projects in Africa. Recently, his research resulted in the development of FrontlineSMS, an award-winning
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text messaging-based field communication system designed to empower grassroots non-profit organisations. Ken graduated from Sussex University with honours in Social Anthropology with Development Studies, and was awarded a Stanford University Reuters Digital Vision Fellowship in 2006, and named a Pop!Tech Social Innovation Fellow in 2008. In 2009 he was named a Laureate of the Tech Awards, an international awards program which honours innovators from around the world who are applying technology to benefit humanity. Ken's work was initially supported by the MacArthur Foundation, and he is the current recipient of grants from the Open Society Institute, Rockefeller Foundation, HIVOS, and the Hewlett Foundation.
Full Court Peace

Full Court Peace uses team basketball to cultivate and inspire enduring friendships between teenagers from rivaling communities in war-torn regions of the world. Full Court Peace launched with coaching basketball both during and after school in Protestant and Catholic high schools located geographically close to one another, but separated by the citys dividing walls and invisible turf lines. Once the coaches gained a following of teenage boys in each school, they formed Integrated Travel Basketball Teams composed of these select members. These teams play full, nine-month long basketball seasons together, practicing at each school once per week, and playing games against other high school teams in Belfast. Its during this time that FCP coaches encourage dialogue and inspire friendship and camaraderie through healthy competition and through the power of team membership. The teams seasons culminate with trips to the United States where they play against American high school teams and participate in various cultural activities, furthering their bonding experience. FCP is expanding internationally.
Michael Evans
Michael Evans, a native of Weston, Connecticut, first started his work using basketball as a social tool when he united a group of rivaling Catholic and Protestant teenagers in Belfast, Northern Ireland by putting them on a team together. Since then, Evans has overseen the creation of 6 Full Court Peace integrated boys' teams in Belfast, as well as the organizations first girls team. Michael is now expanding Full Court Peaces programs into Cuba and is in discussions with nonprofit leaders in the Middle East about initiating work there.
Gallomanor
Gallomanor is a blog that provides creative audience-led communication solutions and events to local government and other organizations. They specialize in citizen engagement campaigns and e-democracy.
Shane McCracken
Shane McCracken is the co-founder of Gallomanor.
Gen Siviller
Young Civilians, or Gen Siviller was founded in Turkey in 2006 and boasts more than 2 million members on Facebook, which supports an active, proud, and thriving online youth culture. While the group began online in 2006, it quickly grew into multiple offline causes supporting democracy in Turkey. Most recently, they were part of the successful campaign that asked Turkish President Abdullah Gul to accept Armenian President Serj Sarkisyan invitation to attend the World Cup preliminaries in Yerivan, Armenia. The Young Civilians is a diverse group, both secular and religious with a variety of political affiliations (such as liberals, leftists, feminists, environmentalists, democrats), coming from different ethnic and religious backgrounds (Turks, Kurds, Muslims, seculars, Jews, Armenians, Allewites) who are drawn together by their passionate belief in democracy. Opposing to the military intervention into Turkish politics, the Young Civilians aim to establish a liberal democracy in Turkey which is based on rights and liberties, rule of law, tolerance and justice. They are against any kind of discrimination, violence, and fighting against any kind of tendency that can result in discrimination based on ethnicity, religion, race, gender, and sexual orientation. The political stance of the Young Civilians cannot be categorized with a single ideology or a single identity politics. The Young Civilians declare that its position can be summarized as following its conscience which makes it sensitive to any kind of injustice treatments. The most important weapon of the Young Civilians is humor and popular culture which is why they are one of the most popular and prominent youth groups in Turkey. It is their distinct language and style that sets them apart from all existing and previously established groups.
Ceren Kenar
Ceren Kenar was born in Ankara, the capital city of Turkey. Kenar started to get involved in politics and extra curriculum activities when she was a high school
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student. She has been member and founder for various NGOs that support democratization in Turkey. She had participated in the organization of many national and international activities and conferences during this time. In 2002, she worked as a part-time consultant for the World Bank and conducted a comprehensive qualitative study on Turkish youth. Kenar also took part in many academic projects, on topics such as migration, secularism and nationalism and submitted articles to different academic conferences on these issues. After graduating from the political science and public administration department of Middle East Technical University, Kenar is continuing her studies at Bogazici University, on sociology. Kenar has been an activist of the Young Civilians since its foundation. She has also published many articles in national newspapers and magazines.
Genocide Intervention Network

Founded in October of 2004, the Genocide Intervention Network, or GI-Net, was born of the efforts of two students at Swarthmore College, Mark Hanis and Andrew Sneiderman, along with Rwandan, Stephanie Nyombayire. The group was incorporated in 2005 and has grown remarkably in a few short years, with representatives across the country. In April 2005, they held the "100 Days of Action Campaign," to commemorate the 100-day genocide in Rwanda in 2004. Genocide Intervention Networks mission and programs are grounded in a deep commitment to the communities of those who face or are at risk of genocide. Its members educate their communities and advocate for action from their elected officials while focusing on civilian protection and human security. The group's student arm, STAND (Students Anti-Genocide Coalition), has 1,000 chapters at high schools, colleges, and universities across the U.S., with chapters in 25 other countries.
Janessa Goldbeck
As Field Director, Janessa Goldbeck manages Genocide Intervention Networks grassroots network, which includes STAND, an international clearinghouse for student anti-genocide activism, and the Carl Wilkens Fellowship, a program designed to build leadership within the anti-genocide movement. With fellows in 15 states and more than 1,000 active STAND chapters around the world, GI-NET's grassroots activities have been recognized by such notables as UN Lt. General Romeo Dallaire, and President Barack Obama. Goldbeck has served a pivotal role in expanding GI-NET's membership base, totaling over 60,000, and she has led training seminars for numerous organizations across the country on movement-building and leveraging technology to achieve social change.
Global Youth Action Network

The Global Youth Action Network (GYAN) is a youth-led 501c3, not-for-profit organization, launched in 1999 and registered in New York, US. Their mission is to facilitate youth participation and intergenerational partnerships in global decision making; support collaboration among diverse youth organizations; and provide tools, resources, and recognition for positive youth action. GYAN believes that critical issues facing the planet now demand our attention and action; and that if we are to solve these problems in our life, then we must act, and combine our efforts to guarantee a future of peace, justice and sustainability. GYAN helps its members share information and resources - building collaborations that leverage experience. Any youth-related organization which does not promote hatred or violence is welcome to apply. At the core of GYANs work is its network of youth-led and youth-focused organizations, which range from local or university groups to major NGOs. Members benefit from the connectivity GYAN offers to other groups, its partnership with UN agencies, and Special Consultative Status with the Economic and Social Council.
Marioliva Gonzlez Landa

Marioliva Gonzlez Landa founded the Global Youth Action Network (GYAN)'s Mexico chapter in 2003, driving the youth participation at all levels, from local to global. She is currently the Programs Director of the Global Youth Action Network International, which includes more than 4,000 youth organizations worldwide. During 2009, she spent a year coordinating the civil association Manos a la Tierra, an alliance of NGOs dedicated to perform reforestation journeys in Mexico. Since 2007, Gonzalez has been an Advisor of the Consejo Consultivo del Consumo, PROFECOs interdisciplinary organism responsible for giving opinions on public policy related with consumption and to promoting citizen participation in the exercise of their rights and obligations as consumers. Gonzalez was the only youth speaker at the High Level Dialogue on Migration and Development at United Nations Headquarters in September 2006 and was invited after participating in the previous Informal Interactive Hearings on Migration and Development with Civil Society and the Private Sector at UN Headquarters in July 2006. She also participated as a youth representative at the IV Civic Iberoamerican Meeting dedicated to the theme "Youth and Development", held in El Salvador in October 2008. In June 2008, she was invited as speaker to the "International Summit on Cities and Prevention of Youth Crime", held in the city of Durban, South Africa. For the last two years, Gonzalez has been developing the project Niil, whose purpose is to provide tools to improve the quality of life of the inhabitants of Villa Victoria, the poorest municipality in the State of Mexico.
Halafire Media, LLC

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Halalfire Media LLC, a privately-held media company headquartered in San Carlos, California with offices in Austin, Texas and London, England, is a specialist in the aggregation, management, and analysis of data involving Muslim communities worldwide, and particularly in English-speaking countries. This has been achieved in part through the development of one of the largest Muslim networks on the Internet, with over 27 million page views and over 7.25 million unique visitors annually. Engaging with us and each other on issues of economy, theology, and culture, our readers represent an active and affluent segment of the global Muslim population. With web properties that attract consumers with proven disposable income and intent to spend, their Internet presence provides a key target demographic for marketing, as well as providing a platform for theological and civil engagement. They have over a decade of experience in meeting the online needs of an increasingly media-savvy Muslim community, and are sought by advertisers eager to tap into a purchasing power estimated to be $170 billion annually in the US alone. Halalfire Media regularly consults government agencies, educational institutions, TV/film producers, multinational corporations, non-profit groups, conventions and conferences, Halal food manufacturers, major Muslim organizations, and think tanks - all seeking our extensive insight into a dynamic and growing global Muslim community.
Shahed Amanullah
Shahed Amanullah is an award-winning journalist and editor-in-chief of altmuslim.com, an online newsmagazine covering issues related to Islam in the West. Named by Islamica Magazine as one of "Ten Young Muslim Visionaries" and Georgetown University as one of the 500 most influential Muslims in the world, he writes and speaks regularly about the challenges and opportunities facing Islam in the West. His work and writings have been featured in major media outlets (Newsweek, New York Times, Washington Post, BBC News, NPR, etc) and his television appearances include CNN, ABC's "Nightline", and "Hannity & Colmes". Amanullah is also the founder of Halalfire Media LLC, a network of Islamic-themed websites with over 7 million annual visitors. Along with altmuslim.com, signature properties include zabihah.com, the worlds largest database of Halal restaurants and markets, salatomatic.com, an extensive list of reviewed mosques and schools in Muslim-minority countries, unitedmuslims.org, a resource for civic engagement, and halalapalooza.com, a comprehensive guide to Islamic e-commerce. Amanullah has served as a board member of the United Muslims of America (http://www.umanet.org), the Muslim Public Service Network (http://www.muslimpublicservice.org), and the Muslim Youth Camp of California (http://www.muslimyouthcamp.org). He is also a general partner in Zakat Community Ventures, the first "venture philanthropy" fund dedicated to promoting Islamic charitable values.
Hear MY Voice
Hear MY Voice is a Fantastic opportunity for Muslim Young People to get involved and do something real about the issues that affect them in their communities. The program aims to build a peer support network for young people to use creative and sustainable means to tackle problems that exist in their localities. We provide a culturally and religiously sensitive space for Muslim Youth to discuss the issues that are affecting them as Young People growing up in a challenging climate. We then offer support to design and deliver campaigns that deal with these problems that are completely youth led. We will provide you with all the skills and training necessary to make your project a success. You decide whether you want to work in a group or whether you want to work as an individual. The outcome of your project can range from either a Business Venture to a Community Initiative.
Tasneem Mahmood
Tasneem Mahmood is the Project Director for Hear MY Voice.
Iluminemos Mexico
luminemos Mexico, or Iluminate Mexico, was a march against violence held in 88 cities in Mexico and 6 other countries. An estimated 2 million people marched on August 30th, 2008, at 6 pm. Founded by American Aleman online, and businessman Elias Kuri offline, the two joined forces to establish a date for a march. Many Mexicans were horrified by the death of 14 years old Fernando Marti, son of a business man, who was kidnapped and brutally murdered in June of 2008, and this event spurred many to to say enough Ya bastaenough crime, kidnapping, murder, fear, and insecurity. The march was also named Marcha contra la Inseguridad.
Elias Kuri
Elias Kuri was one of the most beautiful cities of the World: Mexico City. When kids could go out and play football in the street, when our mothers warning was "flipped both ways before crossing the street." He studied a Master in Business Administration in the Instituto Tecnolgico Autnomo de Mxico. Three special events, says Kuri, led him here today: The first was to being in prison in Cintalapa, Chiapas (December 1998) due to the corruption of our authorities who allowed false allegations against me without any foundation. Even though it was intended to harm me, an unknown dimension was opened for me. It allowed me to share the prison with some confessed criminals and others whose only crime was to be poor and not to have the resources to defend themselves. This experience changed the way I saw the World and I felt in
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some way responsible for doing something. The second event took place when two men pointed with a gun to my head to steal my van and which I had the chance to escape. That afternoon I sent an email to my friends that I titled "Today I had a lucky day." The third was when I learned of the terrible case of a young man of 14 who had been kidnapped and murdered (August 2008). That day I decided to try to do something to change the situation and stop being a simple spectator. That afternoon I sent an email to my friends that I titled Light up Mexican sky. And here I am, doing what I must do, as a person, as a Mexican and as human being. Im trying to leave a better world for our children.
InterCulture, LLC
Conflict, intolerance and misunderstanding are destabilizing regions, countries, and communities around the world. InterCulture (IC) exists to change perceptions of others and ourselves so that we better understand one another and improve the relationships between us. Their purpose is to create a new "between" space in which people from different cultures and political perspectives can safely and accurately tell their stories so that they foster understanding, compassion and dignified co-existence. We plan to do this by combining the "social benefit" focus of a non-profit (the InterCulture Foundation) with the business acumen of a for-profit corporation (InterCulture.com) to produce measurable results.
Al-Husein N. Madhany
Al-Husein N. Madhany is the project manager for InterCulture, LLC (InterCulture.com) procuring strategic academic and media communications partnerships that facilitate cutting edge multimedia education for students to develop custom-made cultural content for global distribution. Formerly the Executive Vice President of the One Nation Foundation, Madhany is a track two diplomat of the American Muslim community who connects and coordinates groups of likeminded Muslims, including both Sunni and Shia communities, to their mutual benefit, by actively promoting civic engagement and social entrepreneurship. With a BA from Wake Forest and graduate degrees from Harvard, Georgetown and the University of Chicago, Madhany is a term-member of the Council on Foreign Relations, a member of the Pacific Council on International Policy, a Senior Fellow at the Homeland Security Policy Institute at George Washington University, and serves on the advisory board for the Abbasi Program in Islamic Studies at Stanford University. He also serves as an arms-length advisor to Patheos.com, the online destination to experience the worlds beliefs and engage in the global dialogue about religion and spirituality. Previously, Madhany taught at Georgetown University and worked as the U.S.-based Executive Director and Executive Editor of Islamica Magazine.
Interfaith Youth Core

There are millions of religious young people in the world interacting with greater frequency. That interaction tends either toward conflict or cooperation. Where so many of these interactions tend towards conflict, the Interfaith Youth Core aims to introduce a new relationship centered around mutual respect and religious pluralism. Instead of focusing a dialogue on political or theological differences, they build relationships on the values that their members share, such as hospitality and caring for the Earth, and how they can live out those values together to contribute to the betterment of their communities. The Interfaith Youth Core is creating these relationships across the world by inspiring, networking, and resourcing young people, who are the leaders of this movement. They provide young people and the institutions that support them with leadership training, project resources, and a connection to a broader movement.
Zeenat Rahman
Zeenat Rahman is the Director of Strategic Partnerships at the Interfaith Youth Core. In this position she oversees policy initiatives and international programs, as well as strategic media outreach for the organization. She frequently travels abroad to speak about the importance of interfaith youth work in promoting civic engagement and healthy integration amongst youth. Rahman is a member of the Transatlantic Network 2020 a program sponsored by the British Council, which seeks to create sustainable, multilateral networks that engage future leaders from North America, the UK, and the rest of Europe to collaboratively address global issues. Rahman was a 2008-9 Fellow with the American Muslim Civic Leaders Institute at the University of Southern California's Center for Religion and Civic Culture. Rahman completed her Master's Degree at the University of Chicagos Center for Middle East Studies in June 2006. Her thesis work was focused on Muslim youth and the territorializing of Muslim religious institutions in America. Currently, she is one of the co-creators of a play based on Muslim women and their real life experiences, called The Hijabi Monologues.
Invisible Children
In 2003, three young men from California traveled to northern Uganda to cover the crisis in Darfur. Plans changed when they discovered a humanitarian crisis involving the children of northern Uganda, who walked every day for miles to escape being kidnapped and forced into combat by the Lord's Resistance Army. Armed with a video camera, they recorded the atrocities and released Invisible Children: The Rough Cut in 2004, first showing it to friends and family; then to hundreds of thousands of students at colleges and universities across the country. They used existing student organizations and online social networking to
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organize two nationwide sleep-ins that mobilized more than 150,000 young people. Focused on the well being of children in the region, the now wellestablished NGO has many programs, including the Bracelet Campaign, the Schools for Schools Program, and the Visible Child Scholarship Program.
Chris Sarette
Chris Sarette graduated from a dual degree BA/MA Communication Management program at the University of Southern California at the ripe old age of 21. With Summa Cum Laude honors and multiple job offers, he seemed destined to join the ranks of a communication consulting firm. Thats when he watched a 55-minute documentary about the plight of people in Uganda that changed everything. Since then, Sarette has worked at the innovative NGO Invisible Children, where he has put his skills to use in a number of different positions. Today, Sarette oversees the logistical arm of the organization, managing core operations which include Technology, HR, Shipping, Office Management, CRM Administration, and Product Manufacturing. Now a Salesforce.com Certified Administrator, Sarette spends most of his day finding new ways to maximize the efficiency and effectiveness of Invisible Children, which has grown from a three hundred thousand dollar annual budget to nearly seven and a half million. On the rare occasion when hes not working, youll probably find Sarette running the trails of Balboa Park in San Diego.
Kiwanja.net
Kiwanja.net aims to provide access to emerging technologies for the NGO sector, particularly in the developing world by means of a few main projects: 1. nGOmobile, a competition designed to encourage grassroots, non-profit organizations in the developing world to think about how text messaging could benefit them and their work; 2. FrontlineSMS, an SMS-based communications system for grassroots NGOS which enables anyone with a laptop and a mobile phone to create instantaneous two-way communication on a large scale. Most of the world has mobile phones, with about 70% of users hailing from third-world countries. As for the remaining two bullion non-users, Kiwanja reports that, in many cases, a single cell phone is shared within an entire community, with up to 80 villagers sharing a single device. This makes text messages the "lowest common denominator to reach the largest amount of people" and, consequently, Kiwanja's potential reach limitless. As of date, nonprofits have used FrontlineSMS to communicate with entire villages and families conveniently, messaging about everything from disease treatment to upcoming elections. Frontlines technology has been used in virtually all parts of the world and are especially effective in developing nations controlled by a dictatorial government, where this software is often the only means for people to instantly communicate with the public at large. Examples of usage include: 1. Egypt - for women to report sexual harassment on the street; 2. Ethiopa- sharing information about human rights conditions; 3. Congo - gathering citizen reports of violence; 4. Cambodia - reporting landmine victims; 5. Chile - citizen polling and mobilization of social movements.
Ken Banks
Ken Banks, founder of kiwanja.net, devotes himself to the application of mobile technology for positive social and environmental change in the developing world, and has spent the last 17 years working on projects in Africa. Recently, his research resulted in the development of FrontlineSMS, an award-winning text messaging-based field communication system designed to empower grassroots non-profit organizations. Banks graduated from Sussex University with honors in Social Anthropology with Development Studies. He was awarded a Stanford University Reuters Digital Vision Fellowship in 2006, and named a Pop!Tech Social Innovation Fellow in 2008. In 2009 Banks was named a Laureate of the Tech Awards, an international awards program that honors innovators from around the world who are applying technology to benefit humanity. The MacArthur Foundation initially supported Banks work, and he is the current recipient of grants from the Open Society Institute, Rockefeller Foundation, HIVOS and the Hewlett Foundation.
MEPEACE.org
MEPEACE,org is a platform for peacemakers. Their peacemakers express themselves on mepeace.org through photos, videos and text. Communication is enabled in chat rooms, comment walls and private messaging, and more than 1,000 forum discussions. Upon joining their site, one receives a page online with a personal profile, blog, comment wall and private inbox. Personal pages feature the individuals discussions, photos, videos and songs. MEPEACE.org has received more than one million page visits and have been accessed in more than 170 countries and 6,000 cities around the world. MEPEACE is supporting a bottom-up effort for peace, utilizing cutting edge technologies to build a grassroots peace movement. They aim to offer a global solution for Middle East peace by empowering Jews and Muslims everywhere to work for peace.
Eyal Raviv
Eyal Raviv is an optimistic and tech-savvy social entrepreneur realizing peace through mepeace.org - the network for Middle East peace. Raviv, realizing that the internet has not yet been sufficiently leveraged for peace the Middle East, built mepeace.org - a network connecting thousands of peacemakers in more than 175 countries and ten thousand cities around the world. Called the "Facebook of Peace" by media in Israel, the mepeace.org platform enables individuals and organizations to connect and collaborate for peace - online and on the ground. Raviv's editorial on new media technologies empowering us as peacemakers has been published by Common Ground News and was re-published in the Egypt daily news, the Khaleej Times and Bikya Masr among other news outlets. Raviv is currently pursuing a Masters degree in conflict management and resolution at Ben Gurion University, after studying at the London School of Economics, Columbia University's Teachers College, and Yeshiva University.
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Micro-philanthropy 100
Micro-Philanthropy 100 is a private grant foundation that connects you to charitable causes in the greater D.C. metro area. Their mission is to make the giving process simple. All you have to do is sign up to be a member and each month, your donation will be collected by EFT (Electronic Funds Transfer) or credit cards and be forwarded to a cause that has gone through their strict and secure grant approval process. The foundation takes on the burden of fully researching projects before selecting them for funding and will continue to monitor them afterwards, providing donors with progress updates. Their business model is structured to create smart giving. They aim for security, effectiveness and transparency. Their grant approval team relies on a strict set of benchmarks to ensure that your investment is going to secure organizations dedicated to benefitting our local community. They then monitor the usage of those funds and report the project's progress to you. Their goal is two-fold: to grant non-profits the funding they need quickly and efficiently through a stable membership base; and to remove the uncertainty that prevents people from being consistent donors in today's world through their accountability and transparency.
Farhad Chowdhury
Farhad Chowdhury is the descendant of Bangladeshi immigrants that migrated to the United States in the 1920s. His family has been engaged in civic service and the development of the Muslim American community for 80 years. Chowdhury is Co-Founder and Executive Director of Micro-philanthropy 100 (M100), a grant organization that supports nonprofits in the DC Metro area. In addition to M100, he was the lead facilitator of a photo documentary and gallery exhibit of Muslims in America by photojournalist Omar Mullick. He is also a founder of Muslim Fathers, an initiative that educates families and facilitates a safe space for parents. In his professional life, he is the owner of a government services firm. Prior to running his own firm, he provided management, security and technical consulting services to the US Census Bureau, FEMA, the Department of Homeland Security, the US Department of Interior, IBM and Thomson Financial.
MidEastYouth.com
MidEastYouth (MYE) is a grassroots, indigenous digital network that leverages the power of new media to combat oppression in the Middle East and North Africa. In the words of founder Esra'a Al Shafei: "We're driven by our passion for civil engagement, freedom of speech, and employing innovative solutions to pervasive and persistent human problems...We are using the demonstrative power of the internet to empower people and cause them to act in unity for peace and tolerance, instead of acting out of hate. This is only possible through effective communication and grassroots diplomacy. Most of our projects are unprecedented in every sense within the region, and consequently, our work has been prominently featured in the mainstream media. Through this attention, we have been able to influence the terms of the public discourse and change how people view policy."
Esraa Al Shafei
Esra'a Al Shafei is the founder and Executive Director of MideastYouth.com, a grassroots, indigenous digital network that leverages the power of new media to facilitate the struggle against oppression in the Middle East and North Africa. Her advocacy on the internet bridges seemingly impenetrable barriers of faith and geography to unite young people committed to fostering constructive discourse in the region. She is also the director of a series of international campaigns for rights for ethnic, religious, and intellectual minorities, and for freedom of expression. Among those she runs is the influential global campaign to free an imprisoned Egyptian blogger at FreeKareem.org. Al Shafei is a recipient of the Berkman Award from Harvard University's Berkman Center for Internet and Society for 'outstanding contributions to the internet and its impact on society,' an Echoing Green Fellowship, and a TED Fellowship.
Muslim Youth Helpline

The Muslim Youth Helpline (MYH) is a registered charity which provides pioneering faith and culturally sensitive services to Muslim youth in the UK. Their core service is a free and confidential emotional support service available nationally via the telephone, email, internet and through the post. The service uses male and female volunteers trained in active listening and basic listening skills to respond to client inquiries. MYH also has a sister website called muslimyouth.net. This site was launched in October 2004 as Britains first guidance and support channel for Muslim youth. The site is designed and managed entirely by young people and reflects the diversity of Muslim communities in the UK. The site encourages young Muslims to develop peer-support networks, access specialist and mainstream support services and care for their social and mental wellbeing. muslimyouth.net aims to raise awareness of the different social problems that affect young Muslims and provide culturally sensitive guidance to young people. All of their volunteer staff are between the ages of 18 and 30 years. By omitting the generation gap and the cultural restrictions of an adult-run service, we are able to build the trust of young people and deal effectively with the social pressures that young people from the Muslim community have never before been able to reveal. MYH funds its work through grants from various charitable trusts and government departments, independent fundraising and donations from individuals.
Akeela Ahmed
Akeela Ahmed serves as the Chief Executive for Muslim Youth Hotline.
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One Million People Against Crime in South Africa

To address crime in South Africa, Herman Lochner, a proponent of the power of online activism through social networking, founded a Facebook group. The trilingual group has steadily grown to more than 100,000 members since its founding in October 2007.
Herman Lochner
Herman Lochner is a South African Business Analyst & Internet Consultant and founder of One Million People against Crime in South Africa - a Facebook group that aims to address the growing problem of crime in South Africa. Today it is the biggest South African focused group on Facebook, with a membership in excess of 125,000 people from across the world. Lochner is currently developing SocialSpirit, which will act as a social conscience vehicle to connect this online audience with the offline world - this will help to facilitate action and change on a wide range of social issues, including crime. He holds a business degree from the University of Stellenbosch and has served in various technical and management positions within the United Kingdom's Internet Payment and Banking industries and South Africa's Internet industry. Lochner is a founding delegate of Alliance of Youth Movements.
OneVoice
OneVoice is a grass roots civil society movement that works in parallel within Israel and Palestine. The aim of the organization is to empower and give voice to the silent majority on both sides who are looking for an end to the occupation and all forms of violence and establish a viable and lasting two-state solution. The movement has over 650,000 members split between our Palestinian, Israeli and international supporters and has trained over 2,000 youth leaders in the region. We are unique in our size, structure and mission; to empower the grassroots through engaging them directly in the issues that are defining their lives. The work of OneVoice is designed to: Build a mass grassroots movement that will amplify the voice of the silent moderate majority; show that there is a partner for negotiations and peace on both sides; mobilize citizens to urge and support their heads of state to negotiate a two state solution that will end the occupation, stop all forms of violence, end the conflict, and achieve international recognition, security, respect, peace, and prosperity for both states; include international and independent efforts to mobilize civil society; build consensus: they highlight existing areas of consensus where broad agreement exists amongst both sides, while acknowledging and working to address areas where agreement is most difficult; work with a broad spectrum of society: we embrace people across political, ethnic, religious and national backgrounds who are willing to join our movement
Joel Braunold
Joel Braunold coordinates the media and government outreach for the OneVoice Movement in Europe. Braunold was born and raised in London. He graduated from the University of Bristol with an honors degree in Philosophy. While there, he was elected to the National Union of Students National Executive Committee and become one of 27 national officers representing the seven million students in the UK. He headed up the anti-racism anti-fascism campaign and worked on a wide range of issues as diverse as student housing to faith and inclusion policies. Before attending the University of Bristol, he spent two years in theological seminary in Jerusalem. Braunold is a recipient of honorary life membership to both Bristol Students Union and the National Union of Student for his contributions to the organizations. He is a Legacy Heritage Fellow 2009/2010.
Pakistan Youth Alliance

Pakistan Youth Alliance is a youth based, youth administered and youth motivated organization which aims to create awareness amongst the youth of Pakistan. It yearns to wake the youth of Pakistan from the sleep of apathy and to help evolve a society where youth lead the change instead of following it. Pakistan Youth Alliance (PYA) started in the wake of '07 Emergency Rule, initially organized many youth protests Internationally against tyranny and oppression. It came into being when a group of similar minded youth became fed up with watching the TV screens and dreamt to live the change instead of just proposing it. Its core objective is create mass socio-political awareness amongst the youth of Pakistan, and to channelize their energies in an organized manner to yield actual and practical output that can serve Pakistan. It yearns to bring actionable change in these troubling times of Pakistan! PYA believes in going back to the very roots for which Pakistan was created. We believe in Quaids vision of making Pakistan one of the greatest, progressive and moderate nations of the world. We yearn to fulfill Iqbal's dream and wish to fill in the shoes of all the great men who spent their lives to see the green flag soar above in the skies. PYA believes in order to make the future of Pakistan bright, youth have to engage in collateral conformation and PYA desires to provide such an unbiased platform to the youth of Pakistan, so that their voices are heard, energies channelized and emotions focused on the noble goal of making the ideology of Pakistan a tangible reality for every single individual.
Ali Abbas Zaidi

Ali Abbas Zaidi is the founder of Pakistan Youth Alliance, and a writer, poet, philanthropist, and aeronautical engineer by profession. Abbas Zaidi is one of the founding members of civil society movement of Pakistan after Emergency rule in 2007. He is currently compiling a treatise of spiritual/inspirational poetry under
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the aegis of "Plastic Tears". Abbas Zaidi's passion is coordinating with different enlightened youth activists from across the world and discussing how to instigate a progressive (anti-extremists) movement in the masses.
Project on Information Technology and Political Islam

The Project on Information Technology and Political Islam at the University of Washington's Department of Communication investigates the politics of information infrastructures in Muslim societies, and the civic and political uses of digital media in the Muslim world.
Muzammil M. Hussain
Muzammil M. Hussain's research focuses on digital media and civic information systems in advanced democracies, and ICT uses for civic engagement by social activists in developing societies. Currently, Hussain is a researcher at the Center for Communication and Civic Engagement, and manager of the Project on Information Technology and Political Islam. Formerly, he was at the Mass Communication Research Center and participated in projects of the Media & Politics Research Group and the Social Media & Democracy Research Group. His current research programs include civic media, information politics, media credibility and network dynamics.
Quilliam Foundation
Quilliam is the worlds first counter-extremism think tank. Located in London, the founders are former leading ideologues of UK-based extremist Islamist organizations organizations that are still active today. Operating under the philosophy that Muslims alone cannot contain extremism, a prelude to terrorism, Quilliam was formed. Not just because religious rigidity and extremism are products of the failures of wider society to foster a shared sense of belonging and to advance liberal democratic values among all sections of society. That said, they believe a more self-critical approach must be adopted by Muslim leaders to free communities from West phobic ideological influences, escape social insularity, and facilitate the organic growth of Western Islam. Quilliam seeks to challenge what people think, and the way people think. It aims to generate creative thought paradigms through informed and inclusive discussion to counter the Islamist ideology behind terrorism, while simultaneously providing evidence-based recommendations to governments for related policy measures.
Fatima Mullick
Fatima Mullick is the Pakistan Project Manager in the Global Affairs Unit and has been involved with the Pakistan project since its inception in August 2008. She has a BSc in Economics, Politics and International Studies from the University of Warwick (2006) and an MSc in International Relations from SOAS (2007), with a special focus on the politics of the Middle East and South Asia. She has travelled extensively throughout Pakistan, working on various development projects along the way. Prior to joining Quilliam, she worked as a researcher at Group4Securicor, providing country analyses on the South Asian region.
Maajid Nawaz
Maajid Nawaz, Director and co-founder of Quilliam and formerly on the UK national leadership for the global Islamist party Hizb ut-Tahrir (HT), was involved in HT for almost 14 years. He was a founding member of HT in Denmark and Pakistan and eventually served four years in an Egyptian prison as an Amnesty International prisoner of conscience. In prison, Maajid gradually began changing his views until finally renouncing the Islamist Ideology for traditional Islam and inclusive politics. He now engages in counter-Islamist thought-generating, writing, debating and media appearances. He has spoken at various events internationally ranging from the grassroots at City Circle London, to addressing the US Senate in Washington DC, and regularly comments on national and international news and newspapers. Maajid holds a BA (Hons) from SOAS in Arabic and Law and an MSc in Political Theory from the London School of Economics (LSE), with modules in Religion and Politics and Conflict, Violence and Terrorism.
Radical Middle Way

Radical Middle Way (RMW) is an initiative aimed at articulating a mainstream and relevant understanding of Islam that inspires positive change and social activism. RMW is committed to the promotion of mercy, public service, peaceful co-existence and civic participation as core values. Our website, radicalmiddleway.co.uk, is central to our messaging while creating a safe and robust space where young people can engage with these ideas to inspire social change. Working closely with and under the guidance of leading Islamic scholars and social change activists, RMW is focused in making a case for an understanding of faith grounded in scholarship, civilization and tradition. More important, the project is committed to reviving the faiths long-established science of adab al-ikhtilaf (etiquettes of difference) so that communities can harmoniously co-exist in an atmosphere of mutual respect, peace and tolerance.
Ahmed Musa
Ahmed Musa is a Nigerian politician and was a minister during the Shagari Administration. He was detained by the Administration of Buhari in 1984 as part of
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the regime's war against corruption during the second republic.
Sisters Against Violent Extremism / Women Without Borders

Women Without Borders is an advocacy, public relations, and lobbying organization for women around the globe. As an international initiative for women in politics and civil society, it offers women a forum to share their voices and extends support to women all over the world as they strive to bring their talents and energies in to the public arena. The organization stands for non-violent and peaceful conflict resolutions in countries of transition and reconstruction. For positive politics that cultivate the decisive inclusion of women, we advocate a future without fear, suppression, and violence. The activities of Women without Borders spotlights the courage and dedication of leading female supporters of civil society and work determinedly to bridge the gap between cultures. Through global dialogue, targeted information, the creation of alliances and with model projects with international partner organizations, Women Without Borders empowers women towards positive change.
Edit Schlaffer
Dr. Edit Schlaffer is a social scientist, author and activist. She started W omen without Borders (WwB) in 2002. Her research and activities focus on women in international politics as well as on women as agents of change in the international arena and in civil society. Her numerous publications have earned critical acclaim. Schlaffer has designed a number of ground breaking projects focusing on building up female self-confidence as the key tool for establishing a female powerbase in countries that are transitioning from tradition to modernity, such as Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Afghanistan, Rwanda and India. Schlaffers most recently launched SAVE Sisters Against Violent Extremism, the first global womens anti-terror platform. Headquartered at the Women without Borders offices in Vienna, Austria, SAVE brings together a broad spectrum of women determined to create a united front against violent extremism. SAVE provides women with the tools for critical debate to challenge extremist thinking and to develop alternative strategies for combating the growth of global terrorism.
Katherine Wiseman
Kate Wiseman is originally from Michigan, but she spent four years in North Carolina at Davidson College, six months in Perugia, Italy, two months in Lund, Sweden, and five months in Washington, D.C. She graduated summa cum laude with Departmental Honors in English for her thesis on Contemporary Immigrant Fiction: Post-Dictatorial Narrative Strategies, and she is currently working as a Program Manager at Women Without Borders/SAVE in Vienna, Austria. Besides working to maintain and expand SAVE's internet presence, Kate is also currently working on two Vienna-related projects: one, to learn German, and two, to identify and sample every pastry in the city.
Save Darfur Coalition

Founded in 2004, the Save Darfur Coalition represents the collective efforts of 180 religious, humanitarian, and political organizations dedicated to addressing the crisis in Darfur. While multiple Facebook groups related to the crisis in Darfur have been created, the Save Darfur Coalition has been a central point in the drawing them under an umbrella of existing organizations and NGOs whose focus is working in Sudan. Save Darfur's Facebook Cause online counts more than 1 million members one of the largest online networks anywhere.
Martha Heinemann Bixby

Martha Heinemann Bixby is the campaign manager for the Save Darfur Coalition. Bixby has also served as the Coalition's outreach coordinator and, leading up to the 2008 Olympics, Martha was the executive director of Team Darfur, a coalition of Olympic and professional athletes from around the world committed to raising awareness about and bringing an end to the genocide in Darfur. While at Georgetown University Martha co-founded STAND, a student antigenocide coalition.
Small World News

Small World News is a documentary and new media company dedicated to providing tools to journalists and citizens around the world to tell stories about their lives. Small World News was inaugurated in 2005 with its first project Alive in Baghdad, where they produced weekly video packages on citizens daily life. They have since expanded to include a number of services beyond video, including audio interviews with audience participation (Alive in Gaza) and viral public access for user generated content (Alive in Tehran). Their staff has been producing video and web journalism for 10 years including video documentaries and audio interviews from places as diverse as Iraq, Mexico, Afghanistan, and China, and featured in mainstream sources like Sky News, BBC, and Newsnight. The organization is especially devoted to assisting people all over the globe with sharing their stories with the world in a personal, candid and non-bureaucratic way, cutting through the red tape and politics of corporate news to deliver real stories, from real people, everyday. Beyond providing access to their public citizen journalism tools, Small World News has also been supporting, equipping, and training community members and under-served populations to become
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journalists, storytellers, and documentarians in order to broaden the geopolitical perspectives available to the international community.
Brian Conley
Brian Conley has been working with media and the internet since 1999. He has dedicated his life toward providing the tools necessary for those living in underrepresented communities to produce media and tell stories about their lives. While working with Indymedia he helped establish several Independent Media Centers around the United States and in Canada. In 2003, Conley produced his first documentary short about migrant farmworkers in Florida, called "Liberty and Justice for All." In 2005 Conley pioneered the groundbreaking news video blog, Alive in Baghdad. In 2008 Conley made international news when he tweeted news of his arrest by Chinese police during the Olympics in Beijing. He was part of a team using social media and technology to produce and distribute news coverage of the activities of Students for a Free Tibet despite a media blackout by the Chinese authorities. Since then he and his company, Small World News, have set up innovative new media projects all over the world. His most recent project, Alive in Afghanistan, was the most successful deployment of Ushahidi to date and continues to provide an innovative way to consume news and information from throughout Afghanistan. Conley is currently in India, working with Video Volunteers to create a network of rural community producers all over the country who will use video and the internet to produce and distribute stories about their lives in real-time to the world.
Soliya
Soliya is an NGO and a lead implementing partner of the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations. Soliya works to promote mutual respect and understanding between young people from Muslim and Western societies. Since 2003 we have successfully implemented our pioneering program, called the Connect Program, in over 70 universities around the world, reaching over 2600 students. The Connect Program directly connects university students in the Middle East, North Africa, South-Asia, Europe and the United States via groundbreaking online collaboration and communication technology. The Connect Program is a 9 week program where students "meet" weekly on-line throughout the course of a semester in small multi-national groups with 2 skilled facilitators via a unique web-based video-conferencing application. Students engage in intensive discussion about the relationship between Western and Predominantly Muslim societies, and collaboratively analyze and produce their own media products to develop a deeper understanding of alternate perspectives and build knowledge about relevant issues. Students media products have the chance to gain wider exposure through mainstream media. In the past, students have worked together in cross-cultural teams to collaboratively develop a joint project- choosing between project options that integrate various new media tools such as blogs and social networks, and a Joint-Editorial, in which students write editorials with their counterparts on issues relevant to the relationship between the Arab & Muslim World and the West. Selected articles that particularly exemplify this collaborative process have then been distributed via the Common Ground News Service. Approximately 25% of student articles written in 2005-7 were published by international newspapers such as the Daily Star in Beirut and the Washington Times.
Karim El Mantawi
Since 2008, Karim El Mantawi has helped coordinate the implementation of Soliyas flagship program that directly connects university students in the Middle East, North Africa, South-Asia, Europe and the United States via groundbreaking online collaboration and communication technology. He is currently Soliyas Outreach Officer, focused on expanding the organizations network of partner universities to enable more students to use to new media technologies to foster dialogue, mutual respect and understanding. El Mantawi was born in Egypt and raised in Sri Lanka, the United States, India, Austria and Japan. He recently completed his graduate studies in Media, Peace and Conflict at the UN-mandated University for Peace in Costa Rica. Previously, El Mantawi engaged professionally with print media, documentary video production and youth media, coaching young volunteers in video-reporting techniques.
STAND
STAND, the student-led division of the Genocide Intervention Network, envisions a world in which the international community protects civilians from genocidal violence. At its core, their mission is to empower individuals and communities with the tools to prevent and stop genocide. To do so, STANDs Leadership Team recruits, trains, organizes and mobilizes students around the world by providing materials, educational information, online resources, policy expertise, and a network of concerned and active peers. Every day, STAND chapters are started by students at schools around the world. As the key actors in the fight to build political will for ending genocide, students in STAND chapters organize and educate their peers and communities, advocate to their elected officials for substantial legislative action, divest their schools, cities, and states, and fundraise for civilian protection. Born out of the fight to stop the genocide in Darfur, Sudan, STAND is devoted to creating a sustainable student network that actively fights genocide wherever it may occur. They seek to unite students around the world in a permanent anti-genocide constituency.
Daniel Teweles
Daniel Teweles is responsible for mentoring STAND's student leadership team, directing STAND's strategic vision, and managing partner relationships.
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Previously, Daniel worked as a project coordinator in Kenya for an NGO developing public infrastructure, and as the Officer of Public and Academic Affairs at the Embassy of Israel in Washington, DC, where he was responsible for helping to manage Israel's relationship with the American public. Originally from Michigan, Daniel graduated with dual degrees in Political Science and Philosophy and Religion from James Madison University. He has been awarded the Congressional Medal of Merit for his service to his community.
Survivors Connect
Survivors Connect is a collaborative project to build global advocacy & support networks of activists and survivors working to end modern-day slavery and human trafficking. We use innovative instruments such as social media, new technologies and other interactive media to empower and enhance protection, prosecution and prevention efforts. Their mission is to empower activists and suvivors, advocate the movement and network to build holistic responses to modern-day slavery and human trafficking using the power of new media and technology. Digital Archiving Survivor Art at its core, is an art therapy project for survivors of slavery. The Survivors Quilt is a traveling quilt, whose panels are all made by survivors and their stories travel as the Quilt does. They have used this Survivors Quilt program to create permanent archives of survivors experiences and are sharing them by creating a digital library of art/stories. In doing so, they are educating people about the varied nature/experience of modern-day slavery as well as creating a global survivor network. Web Community is an e-meeting space to share information about latest initiatives, digital library of research and resources on trafficking, discussion boards, support groups etc. Connection Geomap seeks to create a space to share critical information about trafficking and anti-trafficking activity globally, promote transparency, engage communities and learn best practices, current challenges and needs in our global effort. Using crowdsourcing tools like Ushahidi, we are able to map out information about where organizations work, challenge areas, cases and other resources. Helpline SMS Networks are networks of grassroots anti-trafficking advocates connected via FrontlineSMS. Networks consist of: survivors, legal advocates, NGO workers, businesses, social service, and law enforcement that act as an alert-response system. We use FLSMS to keep the network connected, and call on in emergency situations. They also use these very tools to make human rights information accessible and actionable 24/7 to at-risk communities. By using SMS, networks are faster in response, better coordinated, can disseminate news about violations in the community, reach thousands with safety information at once, collect data, and become efficient systems for communication and information sharing both with constituents, victims and network members. In doing so we prevent slavery one SMS at a time!
Aashika Damodar
Aashika Damodar is a graduate from the University of California, Berkeley in Anthropology & Political Science. Her research interests include international development and human rights. Her honors thesis on the politics of the "trafficked victim" recently won the Ronald Frankenberg Prize for the best thesis in Critical Medical Anthropology and the Sylvia Forman Prize from the American Anthropological Association. Damodar is Founder of a non-profit organization called Survivors Connect that seeks to build grassroots anti-trafficking advocacy networks through the use of social media and new technologies.
The Peoples March

The Peoples March Against Knife Crime, among other anti-crime groups was formed in July of 2008 to push back against violent crime and pay tribute to all the victims who have lost their lives to the increasing violence in the UK streets. So far this year, there have been 21 teenagers murdered in London alone, and both multiple vigils for the victims and protests have been organized online. Gemma Always and Sharon Singh decided that something had to be done, and they called The Peoples March on September 20, 2008. The march gained the attention of the Prime Minister, other politicians, and the media.
Gemma Always
A mother of two young children and co-originator of The Peoples March, Gemma says, The murder of Ben Kinsella really brought it home to me that something had to be done finally. Rather than sit around waiting until it was one of my kids in the morgue I wanted to reach out to other people that were feeling the same way that [her partner] Sharon and I were and see if we could make a stand against the violence. On the 20th September 2008, that is exactly what we will now be doing. Since leaving high school, Gemma Alway began full time employment in the private sector for four years before taking a career break to bring her up her two young children. She has since returned to work in the field of Telephone Conferencing and planning on getting married soon.
TomorrowVentures
TomorrowVentures is a seed and early-stage venture capital firm focused on developing innovative ideas that have the power to change the way people live, interact, and thrive. Founded in 2009 with a unique approach to venture capital and an extensive, diverse base of experience and expertise, TomorrowVentures is anchored by the goal to grow companies capable of transforming technology, lifestyle, and philanthropy. The firm is currently evaluating new opportunities and is headquartered in Palo Alto, California, with offices in Denver, Colorado, and Atlanta, Georgia.
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Michael Slaby
Michael Slaby spent several years working in multimedia design & development and web application & platform development with a series of startups before migrating to work predominantly in politics and campaign strategy over the past 5 years. Slaby is currently technology advisor to several non-profits and the White House in addition to being Chief Technology Strategist for TomorrowVentures. Slaby spent the last two years as the Deputy Director of New Media then Chief Technology Officer for Obama for America and was the Technology Director for the Presidential Transition Team. As Deputy Director of New Media, his responsibilities included operations and strategy execution for all web, online organizing, video, text, social networking, and design for the campaign. On the Obama campaign, Slaby was promoted to Chief Technology Officer in order to lead the technical strategy and execution for multiple web platforms, data integration, systems and architecture scaling for the general election. He managed operational and long-term planning for technology during transition process and for the new Obama Administration including web utilization, data integration opportunities, and cyber-security standards and initiatives. Slaby is a graduate of Brown University.
United4Justice
United4Justice was an idea which emerged when most of the Judiciary was sacked under the dictatorship of the then President cum Army Chief Mr. Pervez Musharraf in 2007. It was launched as an organized movement when Emergency rule was imposed by the dictator on 3rd November, 2007 and during that time all private TV channels were banned in Pakistan and the only source of information was supposed to be a state owned TV Channel. Realizing the need to actively communicate and share information in an unbiased way with people, not only across Pakistan but also overseas; internet blogging was used to energize the movement and restore Judiciary. Many Pakistanis, especially youth, remained actively engaged by using various technological means including social networking websites and blogging. Moreover, it also gave opportunity to journalists across the globe, to communicate and know about the actual situation in Pakistan. The movement made its impact in terms of raising awareness and organizing people and subsequently Judiciary was restored by the new democratic Government of Pakistan in 2009. The movement is still working with a vision to provide social and economic Justice to the people of Pakistan.
Adeel Rahman
Syed Adeel ur Rahman belongs to one of the largest Metropolitan cities in the world, Karachi. He studied Electronics Engineering from one of the topmost universities of Pakistan, NED University of Engineering and technology and worked for Siemens for more than three years. He also completed his studies for Associate Chartered Certified Accountancy and participated in various extra-curricular activites. He has also presented a research paper on Viterbi Decoder in a conference organized by Institute of Electrical & Electronics Engineers (Pakistan) and won first prize in National Engineering and Technology Competition in 2007 organized by Institute of Electrical & Electronics Engineers (USA). He has also written articles on topics relevant to management and personal development. Apart from his academic and professional achievements, he is an involved social activist. He remained active in support of Restoration of Judiciary Movement by using various means and formed participated in it under the slogan of United4Justice. He has recently launched a web based research and news magazine infocrats.org, which will act as a portal for issues relevant to Economics, Politics, Personal Development, Science and Technology. He is also a member of Pakistan Movement for Justice (Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf), which remained an ardent supporter for Restoration of Judiciary Movement in Pakistan and is working very actively for realizing the vision of Justice, Humanity and Self-Esteem.
Un Milln de Voces Contra ETA

Primarily on Facebook and modeled after Un Milln de Voces Contra FARC, this group was developed to push against the terrorist group ETA which has killed almost a thousand people and wounded many more. After four unsuccessful negotiation attempts, it has been proven that the only way to end the violence once and for all is by mobilizing to influence public opinion.
Rafael Delgado
From a very young age Rafael Delgado has been interested in the problem of terrorism. Delgado aimed to learn as much as he could about the issue, participating in several seminars about terrorism and, in 2006, attending the Third International Congress for Victims of Terrorism, held at the Universidad CEU Herrera Oria de Valencia. Delgado has also collaborated in preparing events that honor the victims of terrorism. In February 2008, he decided to adapt the successful formula from "Un Milln de Voces Contra las FARC" and created "Un Milln de Voces Contra ETA", a group that has a membership of about 105,000 just a year and a half after inception. During this time, from within this group, various programs have been launched so anonymous citizens could use new technology to demonstrate their opposition to terrorism and their solidarity with the victims, especially after a terrorist act resulting in death. A student of Law and Journalism at the Universidad CEU San Pablo de Madrid, Delgado is now continuing his research at the Universidad with the Department of Financial Markets Law. After working as a journalist specializing in judicial matters, he is now head of the training department at a legal corporate consulting firm.
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Un Milln de Voces Fundacin

Un Milln De Voces Contra Las FARC is the Facebook group that made news around the world. Oscar Morales, founder, created the group on January 4, 2008, and called for a massive march one month later on February 4. In that short period of time, the group gained almost half a million members online, and 12 million people--primarily organized through social networking--hit the streets to protest the FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia). The No Ms FARC rallies are considered to be one of the largest and most remarkable demonstrations ever organized, both in the history of Colombia and worldwide, mobilizing people in nearly 200 cities in over 40 different countries. The rallies are also considered the largest protest ever against a terrorist organization. Efforts continue today within Un Milln Voces Fundacin.
Miguel Fierro Pinto

Miguel Fierro Pinto has been a member of several youth organizations, including the Bogota Network of Student Attorneys. He integrated the Bogota District Committee for the Defense, Promotion and Protection of Human Rights. Fierro Pinto is a columnist and an expert counselor for several national online publications. He was the organizer of the Forum Peace Process: Where is it headed? Fierro Pinto participated in the organization of worldwide marches against kidnapping, which took place last July 2008, as a member of One Million Voices Against FARC network. He also helped organize the recent No more Chavez rally in September 2009. Fierro Pinto cofounded the One Million Voices Foundation, and has attended to several international events, spreading the word about No more FARC in Venezuela, Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, and more recently, Italy. He serves as the current Chairman of the One million Voices Foundation, and simultaneously works as an executive staff member of UNOAMERICA (Union of Democratic Organizations of America), representing Colombia in the international campaign against FARC terrorism. Ferro Pinto has a degree in Philosophy and a degree from Law School.
Oscar A. Morales Guevara

Oscar Morales Guevara is the creator of the One Million Voices against FARC Facebook movement, and organized the No more FARC protests that rallied 12 million people in 200 cities across the world, considered the largest antiterrorism demonstrations in history. As founder of the One Million Voices Foundation, Morales Guevara has been a speaker in Facebook Headquarters, Advertising W eek 2008, and Google Zeitgeist 2009. His movement inspired the "Alliance of Youth Movements", comprising movements from around the world using social media to promote causes against terrorism, violence, and extremism. Morales Guevara is also counselor of "One Young World", an initiative supported by Kofi Annan and Desmond Tutu. More recently, he was appointed by President George W. Bush to lead the Human Freedom Initiative in the Bush Institute in Dallas.
Ushahidi
Ushahidi, which means "testimony" in Swahili, is a website that was initially developed to map reports of violence in Kenya after the post-election fallout at the beginning of 2008. Ushahidi's roots are in the collaboration of Kenyan citizen journalists during a time of crisis. The website was used to map incidents of violence and peace efforts throughout the country based on reports submitted via the web and mobile phone. This initial deployment of Ushahidi had 45,000 users in Kenya and served as the catalyst for its founders to create a platform based on it, which could be applied in other movements around the world. Ushahidi has since grown from an ad hoc group of volunteers to an established organization, creating a platform that anyone can use to set up, collect, and visualize information. The core platform will allow for plug-in and extensions so that it can be customized for different locales and needs. The beta version platform is now available as an open source application that anyone can download for free, implement, and use to bring awareness to crisis situations or other events in their own communities; it is also continually being improved tested with various partners primarily in Kenya. Organizations can also use the tool for internal monitoring or visualization purposes. The Ushahidi team is comprised of individuals with a wide span of experience ranging from human rights work to software development. They also have a strong team of volunteer developers in primarily in Africa, as well as Europe and the United States.
Juliana Rotich
Juliana Rotich is the Co-founder and the Program Director of Ushahidi. Ushahidi, which means testimony in Swahili, is a web application created to map the reported incidents of violence during the post-election crisis in Kenya. Currently, Rotich is working with a team to continue development of this new free and open source platform that makes it easier to crowd-source crisis information and visualize data.
Viva Favela
Viva Favela was created by representatives of diverse sectors of the civil society as a direct reply to the increasing violence in Rio de Janeiro. Viva Rio, a division of Via Favela, works for a social integration and its main objective is to surpass the violence and the social exclusion in the State of Rio de Janeiro. They help expose the human, historical, cultural, economic, and social dimensions of these areas by producing journalistic coverage different from the conventional media which tends to cover themes connected to violence. Viva Favela was launched in 2001 and won several national and international awards for covering stories that feature human, historical, cultural, economics, and social dimensions of those areas, with a different perspective of the
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mainstream media. In 2009, Viva Favela was recognized as a Free Media Point by the Brazilian Ministry of Culture.
Rodrigo Nogueira
Rodrigo Nogueira is a journalist specializing in social and digital inclusion through collaborative media. After graduating in Digital Marketing Strategic Management in 2007, he has been the editor of Viva Favela, the first internet portal in Brazil designed to meet the needs and interests of low income communities with a team of community correspondents favela residents qualified to act as multimedia reporters.
Youngstars Foundation International

Based in Nigeria, Youngstars Foundation serves as a social network for African youth working in social development, providing a forum for activists to connect online and discuss global issues. Youngstars Foundation also offers specialized online training for youth activists and provides collected information on organization grants, contests, campaigns, and scholarships to empower African youth to work toward social change.
Kingsley Bangwell
Kingsley Bangwell is passionate about working for youth development. In 1995, at age 21, Bangwell started Youngstars Foundation in a local barbershop in Jos and operated the organization for 7 years without funding or office. He secured his first grant in 2003 from the British Council. Today Youngstars is registered in Nigeria and Ghana and working to build young people and strengthen youth organizations involved in development work in Africa. Rated by the Hon. Minister of Youth Development Nigeria in November 2009 as the Leader of the Most Innovative Youth Organization in Nigeria, Bangwell is the first Nigerian youth to participate in the prestigious Stanford Summer Fellowship on Democracy, Development and Rule of Law in 2007 at Stanford University. In 2008 his youth democracy academy program, DESPLAY Africa, for youths in West Africa won him selection into the esteemed Ashoka Fellowship. In 2009, Bangwell's work won him selection into Young Global Leader of the World Economic Forum. Bangwell was elected as Architect of the Future by Waldzell Institute in 2009, and in 2010 he was the first Nigerian elected into the prestigious Bretton W oods Committee in Washington DC. Kingsley currently anchors a weekly Christian youth television program on PRTVC Jos - Plateau, he also is a branch pastor of a church congregation of about 100 adults aside children. He is working to launch The Transformer Project 2010-2020, a Decade for Youth Transforming Nigeria.
Youth for Tolerance

Based in Lebanon, Youth for Tolerance promotes a culture of tolerance that results in respect, acceptance and appreciation of religious and political diversity in Lebanon. Its presence on Facebook is small and vibrant, it has managed to function and be effective in an environment conducive to sectarian and political tensions. Using Facebook as an organizing platform, Youth for Tolerance has also created many games, distributed booklets to students on polarized campuses, and launched an ad campaign airing on local TV stations to raise awareness against violence and blind allegiance.
Elie Awad
Elie Awad comes to the world of NGOs and activism after starting his career in the private sector. He grew up in Lebanon during the civil war and started his journey in activism early on while he was a student at the American University of Beirut (AUB) in the mid-90s. He was awarded the Penrose Award from AUB for his leadership, character and contribution to the university life. Awad later left Lebanon to pursue a Masters Degree at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, worked with IBM in the USA from 2000 to 2006 and earned an MBA at the University of Vermont. As things started to change in Lebanon, it felt like a new phase had started so Awaddecided to return in 2006 to do what he felt was his share of responsibility towards the homeland. Soon after his arrival to Lebanon, rounds of violence broke out between Israel and Hezbollah, between the Lebanese Army and terrorist groups, and then between Lebanese factions. These events increased the divide and polarization within the Lebanese society and the need for action could not have been greater. In response, Awad helped launch Youth for Tolerance. From its inception, the organization focused on training youth on conflict resolution skills and running awareness campaigns against violence and blind allegiance. Awads primary role was in designing and implementing creative projects within the organization that have included creating projects within citizen reporting, creating a reality TV mini-show that highlights biased beliefs, generating new Facebook applications, producing novel ads that air on local stations, and writing unorthodox booklets about conflict resolution and war prevention. Awads travels have taken him to 17 countries and hes fluent in English, French and Arabic.
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Moderators, Speakers, and Panelists

Chris Atwood, Regional Account Executive, Europe, Middle East & Africa, Salesforce
Chris Atwood currently manages nonprofit accounts for Salesforce.com and is based in NYC. He supports the donation program of the Salesforce.com/foundation and works with accounts to help them grow and be more successful on the Salesforce.com platform. Prior to joining Salesforce.com he managed nonprofit sales and accounts at Theikos, a Boston area technology consulting firm. He's an active traveller and enjoys volunteering with various organizations.
Aaron Azelton, Director of Citizen Participation Programs, National Democratic Institute

Aaron Azelton is the director of citizen participation programs at the National Democratic Institute. He is an organizing and advocacy specialist who has helped to manage, design, and implement civil society programs at NDI since 1992. In his current position, Azelton supports NDI initiatives by providing best practices and guidance on all aspects of civic organizing, advocacy, government monitoring, and nonprofit organizational development. He frequently serves as a grassroots facilitator for civil society programs throughout the world. In this capacity, he has helped local organizations develop strategic outlooks, plan political actions, structure partnerships, and carry out internal reforms in more than 20 countries. Azelton helped design NDI s Civic Forum program, a unique approach to promoting civic action in developing societies. Civic Forum provides a foundation for informed citizen involvement in the public policymaking process through the organization of moderated discussions in conjunction with local civil society organizations. From 1997 to 1998, Azelton directed NDIs Civic Forum program in Bosnia and Herzegovina. He also developed and implemented the first NDI Civic Forum program in West Bank, Gaza in 1996. Additionally, he has provided technical leadership to USAID through research and written reports, and has taken part in numerous roundtables and work groups on civic education and civil society development topics. Azelton is married with two children and enjoys outdoor activities and training pointing dogs.
Michael P. Davidson, CEO, Gen Next

Michael P. Davidson is CEO of Gen Next, an organization of successful individuals who connect, learn and engage to overcome some of the greatest challenges facing future generations. In this role Davidson works closely with leadership to develop and execute all components of the Gen Next strategic plan. Davidson serves on the Board of Directors for New Millennium School (NewMillenniumSchool.org), a charter high school in Carson, CA committed to preparing students to become life-long learners and dynamic leaders in the competitive 21st century. He also serves on the Advisory Board Member for Mobilize.org. Davidson is a member of Le Cercle Lafayette, which is an exclusive group that fosters Franco-American dialogue and friendship and strengthens business ties between the two countries. Davidson has held leadership positions in three presidential campaigns and two gubernatorial campaigns, including an appointment in 2006 by Governor Schwarzenegger to serve as a Co-Chairman on the Schwarzenegger Campaign's Statewide Leadership Committee. In that role, he helped run the campaign's statewide Pump Up the Vote RV Tour," in which the campaign recruited more than 2,000 volunteers from across the state in a week. Davidson has provided commentary for several news organizations, including CNN, Fox News, MTV, NBC, and C-Span. He graduated from the University of California, Berkeley and enjoys spending time with family and friends, travel, movies, trying to play guitar, and reading. He and his wife Jennie just welcomed their first child, Sawyer.
Will Dobson, Author

Will Dobson is an author and journalist. He is currently writing a book on modern-day dictatorships, to be published by Doubleday. Previously, he served as the Managing Editor of Foreign Policy magazine and as the Senior Editor for Asia at Newsweek International. Earlier he served as an Associate Editor at Foreign Affairs. His articles and essays have appeared in the New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, Newsweek International, and elsewhere. The World Economic Forum named him a Young Global Leader in 2006. He holds a J.D. from Harvard Law School, a MA in East Asian Studies from Harvard University, and a BA from Middlebury College.
Jack Dorsey, Chairman, Twitter

Jack Dorsey is the creator, co-founder, and Chairman of Twitter, Inc. Originally from St. Louis, Dorseys early fascination for mass-transit and how cities function led him to Manhattan and programming real-time messaging systems for couriers, taxis, and emergency vehicles. Throughout this work Dorsey witnessed thousands of workers in the field constantly updating where they were and what they were doing; Twitter is a constrained simplification designed for general usage and extended by the millions of people who make it their own every day. Dorsey is dedicated to creating public goods that foster approachability, immediacy, and transparency, and is starting a second company focused on bringing these concepts to commerce.
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James Eberhard, Mobile Accord

James Eberhard is the Founder and Chairman of Mobile Accord. Eberhard is one of the original pioneers of the mobile content and services space. His expertise has been put to work on five different continents developing and deploying mobile platforms and strategies. Eberhard is regarded as an expert on global wireless markets. With extensive experience leading start-up technology and mobile companies, he has built a half dozen technology companies and established himself as an accomplished entrepreneur and industry leader within the global wireless and internet communities. In 2005, Eberhard began on a mission to enabled social good and giving through the mobile phone. Through Mobile Accords mGive platform, he laid the foundation for charitable organizations to communicate and collect donations by establishing the first ongoing cross-carrier mobile donation program and giving life to the industry. Eberhard is actively involved in developing the mobile giving market as an efficient and cost-effective fundraising solution for the thousands of nonprofits in the US marketplace and has been recognized with an award from Fundraising Success Magazine and Mobile Marketing Association for his contributions in nonprofit fundraising. Prior to founding Mobile Accord, Eberhard founded 9 Squared, Inc., a mobile content and services company. As the founder, Chairman and CEO of 9 Squared, Eberhard was responsible for developing the commercial US ringtone market and deployed the first multi-platform mobile content delivery systems in the United States. Eberhard served as one of innovators of the mobile content industry and built 9 Squared into one of the top ten digital music companies in North and South America. Eberhard currently resides in Denver, CO.
Levi Felix, Chief Activism Officer, Causecast.org

Levi Felix spent the last two years working as the Vice President at Causecast.org where he oversaw digital strategy, media production, and creative campaign development. Before working at Causecast, Felix served as both Creative Director and International Grants Manager for The Forest Foundation, developed the International "Moishe House" network, founded "The Moishe Mobile" (a cross country veggie-oil fueled environmental education tour), and consulted on environmental strategy for major music festivals such as Bonnaroo and Live Nation's Rock The Bells. Felix has recently taken on the role of CAO - Chief Activism Officer - at Causecast.org. Working on a new project called This Is The World We Live In, he is now traveling the world exploring international activism and meeting those leading their communities into social change. A mix of film making, photography, blogging and volunteering, the new project is dedicated to highlighting global activists and connecting them with individuals who want to help, creating an online community to share ideas, discuss solutions and unite people with the common goal of transforming the world. He's spending his days getting his hands dirty, learning about global youth culture, and engaging activists and backpackers in discussions of Effective Activism, Net Neutrality and Social Change. Felix believes deeply in the power of storytelling, getting dirty, building grassroots movements from the bottom up, constructive rebelliousness, collective individualism and steady whistle blowing.
Jeremy Gilley, Peace One Day

Jeremy Gilley grew up and was educated in Southampton to the age of 12 when he landed the role of Bugsy Malone in the West End. He then trained as a dancer from the age of 13 to 16 and later as student of musical theatre before joining the Royal Shakespeare Company at the age of 17. After a successful career acting in film and television, Gilley began making his own films in 1995 and in 1999 founded the non-profit film project Peace One Day to document his own efforts to establish the first-ever day of global ceasefire and non-violence. In September 2001, as a result of Gilleys efforts, a General Assembly resolution was unanimously adopted by UN member states formally establishing 21 September as an annual day of global ceasefire and non-violence: Peace Day. Gilleys award-winning feature-documentary Peace One Day, produced in association with the BBC and Passion Pictures, premiered at the Edinburgh International Film Festival in 2004 and has received widespread critical and public acclaim, having been licensed for broadcast in 14 territories, playing at 30 international film festivals. Gilleys organization Peace One Day now exists to raise global awareness of Peace Day and engage all sectors of society in the peaceful observance of Peace Day 21 September. To date, Gilleys latest film The Day After Peace, also produced in association with the BBC and Passion Pictures, has been licensed for broadcast in 91 countries and has received screenings at Film Festivals and special public screenings in 62 countries. The Day After Peace charts Gilleys journey from the launch of Peace One Day, through to the unanimous adoption of UN GA Resolution 55/282, culminating in Gilley's mission to Afghanistan in 2007 with friend and actor Jude Law; together they worked alongside UN field staff and other agencies to help secure the conditions in which immunizers could move safely to areas otherwise unreachable. Following agreements by all parties to suspend conflict in the region, over 4 million children have been vaccinated against polio on and around Peace Day in 2007/8/9. Gilley is currently working on a new documentary, focusing on the process of institutionalizing Peace Day (defined as the point at which global awareness of Peace Day becomes self-sustaining) and the continuation of lifesaving activities around the world on the Day. Gilley is the author of a childrens book, The Making Of World Peace Day, illustrated by Pulitzer Prize winner Karen Blessen and published by G.P.Putnams Sons, a division of Penguin Young Readers Group.
Kaylee Hartung, CBS

Kaylee Hartung is the host of CBS, Unplugged Under 40. Some of her interviews have included the Jared Cohen of the U.S. Department of State; 28 yearold executive editor of DC magazine, The Washingtonian, Garrett Graff; White House Deputy Press Secretary Jen Psaki; 28-year-old Illinois Congressman Aaron Schock; and chef and restaurateur Spike Mendelsohn.
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Austin Heap, Censorship Research Center

As one of the founders of the Censorship Research Center (CRC), and the organizations Executive Director, Austin Heap is an entrepreneur, technologist and activist whose work centers on developing Internet-based technologies to facilitate the rapid transfer of knowledge between people, groups, and organizations. Prior to creating the CRC, Heap was a Chief Technology Officer at an internet company serving Fortune 50 companies, where he developed technologies that simultaneously optimize users networking and personalization within and between online communities and organizations. Heap has also been involved in the creation of social media applications. He holds a B.S. from Bentley College.
Scott Heiferman, CEO, Meetup

Scott Heiferman is Co-founder and CEO of Meetup, an organization dedicated to 21st century local community organizing. Millions of people, in over 100 countries, now use Meetup.com to self-organize local community groups of all kinds, with thousands of Meetups happening daily. Meetup is now selfsustaining, growing fast, and pursuing a long-range goal of a "Meetup Everywhere about Most Everything" which would lead to everyone having access to a local community group when needed. Meetup is primarily a technology operation, with a team of 60 based in NYC. Investors include eBay, Allen & Company, Omidyar Network, DFJ, Union Square Ventures, Esther Dyson, and others. Previously, Heiferman co-founded Fotolog, currently a top social network in South America, and i-traffic, a top online ad agency in the 90s. He graduated from The University of Iowa, then work at Sony as their "Interactive Marketing Frontiersman". Heiferman is an angel investor and advisor to startups including Betaworks, which is an investor in Twitter. Heiferman received the Jane Addams Award from the National Conference on Citizenship and was named the MIT Technology Review 2004 "Innovator of the Year". His notes are online at http://scott.heiferman.com.
Sam Jeffers, Blue State Digital

Sam Jeffers works in Blue State Digitals (BSD) London office, where he helps to plan and implement online campaigns for BSD's European clients. Jeffers joined BSD in December 2008. Before joining the company, he ran W orklesshard.com, designing and developing websites for major UK music clients. He has a first class degree in International Relations from LSE in London and a Master's in Public Policy from the Kennedy School at Harvard
Lily Mazahery, Attorney and Activist

Lily Mazahery is an Iranian-American lawyer, feminist, human rights defender, and social and political activist. She is the principal of Mazahery Law Firm, and the founder and president of the Washington, D.C. based Legal Rights Institute. Mazahery is an internationally recognized immigration and human rights lawyer who represents some of the most high profile political dissidents, human rights activists and victims of human rights violations from around the world. She is an active advocate of the rights of women and an outspoken opponent of laws that serve to oppress women in the name of religion. Mazahery provides expert commentary on Iranian and Islamic laws, as well as human rights violations in around the world. Frequently called upon to brief U.S. and EU officials about Middle Eastern affairs, she has testified before the U.S. Congress, given lectures at Harvard, Columbia, New York, Georgetown, and other prestigious Universities in the U.S. and abroad. Mazahery is a frequent guest and commentator on a number of domestic and international media outlets, including BBC, CNN, and VOA. She has been featured on 60 Minutes, CNN, CBS, NBC, the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Washington Times, the Jerusalem Post, Haaretz, the Economist, and dozens of other national and international news sources.
Matthew McGregor, Director, London Office of Blue State Digital

Matthew McGregor manages the work of Blue State Digitals London office, which services clients in the UK and across Europe. McGregor oversees all UK and European client programs and local business development. He is also BSDs London-based spokesperson and comments regularly on new media developments McGregor joined BSD in September 2008 and has over ten years experience in political campaigns, both in party political and advocacy campaigning, including for trade unions and charities. In 2007, he managed Jon Cruddas campaign for the deputy leadership of the Labour Party which won plaudits from media and commentators. Matthew holds a B.A. from the University of Sheffield.
Kristen Morrissey, Principle New Business Development, Google

Since joining Google, Kristen Morrissey Thiede, has been a leader on many early stage efforts. She launched the AdSense for Content business in the US and globally. Taking global strategy a step further Kristen launched our dedicated distribution efforts in emerging markets specifically Brazil and India. As a member of the New Business Development Team, Morrissey has worked on many early stage projects including Google Finance, new ad formats, GFA, AdSense for Print, Images. Morrissey launched the New Business Development team in EMEA. BA from the University of the South.
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Carol Pineau, World Bank

Carol Pineau is the creator and curator of the Conflict Convo, a global online conversation on conflict sponsored by the World Bank. She is an award-winning filmmaker and journalist with more than a decade experience reporting on Africa. Her first documentary, Africa Open for Business, was voted BBC Documentary of the Year and was broadcast on BBC and PBS, covered by major media internationally, screened at the Cannes Film Festival where she was presented the Africa Vision Award, the World Economic Forum where she was a plenary speaker, United Nations, US State Department, US Congress, and other high level venues. Her second film, Africa Investment Horizons, premiered at the New York Stock Exchange and is currently on PBS. Throughout two postings in Africa as well as assignments worldwide, Pineau interviewed Heads of State, rebel leaders, newsmakers, and reported from major hot spots. From the battlefields of the Eritrean/Ethiopian war she reported live for CNN on what was at the time the worlds biggest war. From Belgrade she covered the NATO bombings, and from East Timor she reported on the newly independent countrys first elections. Pineau reported live on the first-ever genocide conviction at the UN Tribunal for Rwanda, did exclusive reports from a secret military base in rebel-held Eastern Sudan, and was one of the first journalists into Nigeria after the fall of the military dictator. While living in Paris in the 1990s, Pineau hosted and reported for Radio France Internationales Crossroads, a half-hour world-wide radio show that reported on Africa, for Africa. She also presented African and international news for the French overseas television.
Ramya Raghaven, Nonprofits and Activism Manager, YouTube

Ramya Raghavan is the Nonprofits and Activism Manager at YouTube. She manages the YouTube Nonprofit Program (launched at the Clinton Global Initiative in the fall of 2007), AgentChange (YouTube's nonprofits video blog), and nonprofit and activism video content on the site. Prior to joining YouTube, Raghavan organized video campaigns for Campus Progress, a DC-based nonprofit organization, and worked for Advocates for Children of New York.
Joe Rospars, Founding Partner, Blue State Digital

A Blue State Digital (Blue State Digital) founding partner, Joe Rospars served as the New Media Director for Barack Obama's presidential campaign, where he oversaw all online aspects of the unprecedented fundraising, communications and grassroots mobilization effort. Joe led a wide-ranging program that integrated design and branding, web and video content, mass email, text messaging, and online advertising, organizing and fundraising. Prior to the Obama campaign, Joe led BSD's work with Gov. Howard Dean at the Democratic National Committee; during Dean's campaign for party chairman; and at Democracy for America. Joe was a writer and strategist in New Media for Dean's 2004 Presidential campaign. Most recently, Rospars joined the CSIS Commission on Smart Global Health Policy. As a commission member, he will help to develop actionable recommendations for a long-term, strategic U.S. approach to global health, culminating in a Commission report to be released in 2010. He holds a bachelor's degree in political science from the George Washington University.
Ian Schuler, National Democratic Institute

Ian Schuler is an expert and innovator in applications of technology to advance democracy and human rights. As Senior Manager of ICT Programs at the National Democratic Institute (NDI), Schuler has advised over 100 activists and organizations in more than 30 countries to use technology to make government open, accountable, and responsive to citizens. Schulers pioneering work on SMS messaging in election observation helped to earn NDI recognition as one of the Top 10 Who Are Changing the World of Internet and Politics by Politics Online and the World e-Democracy Forum. Schuler is a graduate of Johns Hopkins University.
Sir Martin Sorrell, Chief Executive, WPP

Sir Martin S. Sorrell serves as Chief Executive Officer of WPP of Ogilvy Group, Inc. Mr. Sorrell serves as Chief Executive Officer of WPP Group USA Inc. and Wpp Group US Investments Inc. Mr. Sorrell has been Group Chief Executive Officer of WPP Group PLC of Grey Global Group Inc. since its founding in 1986. He serves as a Special Advisor to the Board of Loyalty Management UK Limited. He served as Chief Executive Officer of Alchemy Partners LLP. From 1977 to 1984, he served as Group Finance Director of Saatchi & Saatchi Company PLC instrumental in planning and implementing its international expansion. His background also includes serving as Business and Financial Advisor to British food retail entrepreneur James Gulliver and of Mark McCormack Organization in London. Mr. Sorrell started his career as Marketing Associate of Glendinning Associates of Westport, Connecticut. In 1997, he was appointed as Ambassador of British Business by the Foreign & Commonwealth Office and subsequently appointed to the Office's Panel 2000 aimed at rebranding Britain abroad. In 1999, he was appointed by the Secretary of State for Education and Employment to serve on the Council for Excellence in Management and Leadership. Mr. Sorrell serves as Chairman of International Advisory Board of The British-American Business Council. He serves as Deputy Chairman and Governor of London Business School. He has been an Executive Director of WPP Group PLC since 1986. He serves as a Non-Executive Director of AsatsuDK Inc. and Colefax & Fowler Group PLC. He serves as a Trustee of The Conference Board Inc. Mr. Sorrell serves as Member of International Advisory
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Council of Merrill Lynch & Co., Inc. He serves as Director and Member of Advisory Board of Alchemy Partners LLP. He serves as Member of Advisory Board of IESE in Spain and is a Member of Dean's Advisory Council of Boston University. He serves as a Member of Corporate Advisory Group of Tate Gallery. Since 1998, he has been Member of Board of Dean's Advisors of Harvard Business School. He serves as Member of Governing Board of Indian School of Business. He serves as a Trustee of Cambridge Foundation and a Patron of Cambridge Alumni in Management, a Trustee of Royal College of Art Foundation. Mr. Sorrell served as a Non-executive Director of Colefax Group PLC until September 30, 2003. He served as Non Industry Director of Nasdaq OMX Group Inc. (Formerly Nasdaq Stock Market, Inc.) since January 2001. In 2001, he received an Honorary Doctorate in Business Administration from London Guildhall University. Mr. Sorrell holds Economics Graduate from Cambridge University and holds MBA from Harvard University Graduate School of Business Administration.
Ari Wallach, Founder, studioBenZion and content consultant on Opinion Space

Ari ben Zion W allach is the Founder and Managing Partner of studioBenZion. He is the Co-Founder of 2008s The Great Schlep, which had over 25 million views on YouTube and started a national conversation about race and religion during the 2008 presidential campaign. He has been working at the intersection of ideas, public affairs, and communications for over 14 years. Ari recently traveled to Mexico City on behalf of the US State Department to discuss civic-engagement technologies with senior aides to President Felipe Calderon and business leaders including Carlos Slim. They pitched a project that would allow citizens in the battle-torn city of Juarez to send in anonymous crime tips by SMS without fear of retribution. Ari is also the founder of INFORUM -- one of the nation's largest non-partisan public affairs forums for young people. His work experience spans the gamut from the Democratic National Committee to the United States Institute of Peace and from Deepak Chopra to sustainability related projects for the State of Israel. He serves on the boards of COEJL and the JTA. He is a formal adviser to Jumpstart, WellGood LLC and informal adviser to multiple social venture projects. He is a past participant of the Spitzer Forum, Reboot, the Aspen Institute's Socrates program, and "The Conversation." Ari is a frequent speaker at national conferences on the topics of Civic Engagement 2.0 and 21st Century Strategies for 21st Century Change. He was born in Guadalajara, Mexico, raised in the San Francisco Bay Area and holds a B.A. in Peace and Conflict Studies from University of California, Berkeley.
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Guests, Hosts, Sponsors

Bradley J. Blanken, COO, Mobile Accord
Brad Blanken brings 17 years of telecommunications and digital industry leadership to his responsibilities as COO of Mobile Accord. Most recently, he was VP of Carrier Business Development at Thumbplay, the leading mobile music provider. Previously, he led the carrier relations team at mobile advertising software firm Third Screen Media (now AOL Advertising). In that position, he created the MADX|Carrier Interface, enabling carriers to monetize inventory while monitoring third-party consumption. Brad was also Director of Business Development at Syniverse Technologies. As Assistant Vice President of Technology Programs for the Cellular Telecommunications and Internet Association, Brad led all CTIA efforts on wireless industry intercarrier issues, including such major initiatives as intercarrier SMS, creation of the U.S. Common Short Code program, and wireless AMBER alerts. Brad has served on the CTIA Wireless Internet Caucus, and he is a current member of the Mobile Marketing Association's Consumer Best Practices committee. He is a former United States Marine.
Limvirak Chea, New Business Development, Google

Limvirak Chea works in New Business Development at Google, where he previously served as the Strategic Partner Development Manager. Prior to joining Google, Chea worked as the Senior Manager of Voice Strategy & Program Management at AOL France and a Senior Consultant of Telecom & Media at Gemini Consulting.
Noreen Clancy, RAND Corporation

Noreen Clancy has been conducting policy research and program assessments at RAND since 1998. Her two prime areas of interest relate to energy and environment issues, such as market mechanisms for environmental protection (i.e., emissions trading, carbon credits, etc.) and financial markets in general, or more specifically, financial regulatory reform. She has participated in work for EPA that includes assessing the National Environmental Performance Track Program and assisting the U.S. EPA and the Chinese government in assessing the feasibility of establishing an emissions trading program in China. She has also written short research pieces on the prospects for hybrid and electric vehicles, international energy research and development investments, and the policy challenges related to dependence on petroleum. Regarding financial regulatory issues she recently co-authored a study of the financial services industry and how it interacts with investors commissioned by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. She also co-led a body of work for the Department of Justice that evaluated recent changes to the personal bankruptcy system. Other recent work includes a study for the Department of Treasury evaluating the use of targeted funding to support law enforcement efforts geared at asset forfeiture. Prior to coming to RAND, Ms. Clancy worked at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the Council on Environmental Quality. Ms. Clancy earned a Master's degree in Environmental Science and Policy from The Johns Hopkins University.
James Crabtree, Editor & Essayist at Prospect Magazine

James Crabtree is an editor and essayist at Prospect, Britain's leading monthly magazine of politics and ideas. Before returning to journalism, James most recently worked in the British government (as a policy advisor at the Prime Minister's Strategy Unit) and before that as an Associate Director at the think tank, the Institute for Public Policy Research. Prior to this he spent a number of years living in the United States, first as a Fulbright Scholar at Harvard University, and then living in Washington D.C., working as a senior policy advisor at the New Democrat Network (NDN), another think tank. At NDN James worked mostly for the NDN economic Globalization Initiative, but also examined questions of the political significance of technological innovation, and generational change. As a writer, James has also worked the Economist, while his articles have appeared in Wired (where in March 2010 he published a major article on David Cameron and the "digital conservative party"), the Financial Times, the Guardian, the New Statesman, The American Prospect, and various others. At Prospect, he has written about the importance of policy innovations in the area of education and youth leadershipin April 2009 he wrote a major essay arguing that parents should be encouraged to set up new schools, and the previous month (in April 2009) we wrote a cover story arguing that the UK needed to fund a new, compulsory program of national youth civic service. Outside of journalism, James is also a trustee of the charity mySociety.org, the UK's leading creator of civic engagement and political transparency websites. He lives in Hackney in east London with his partner Mary, and their two cats Humphrey and Albert.
Russell Dubner, President, Edelman NY

Russell Dubner has 16 years of experience in corporate communications, positioning and issues management for U.S. and international companies. He joined the New York office as an account executive in 1992 and today is president of that same office, which is home to more than 450 experts in consumer marketing, health communications, corporate and public affairs, financial relations, creative services, digital, and research. Russell is actively involved in work for a number of client companies, including Dannon, Masdar, Motorola, and PricewaterhouseCoopers. Specifically, he is helping Dannon transition from simply a yogurt company into a leader in high-health foods; Motorola turn its acquisition of Symbol into a market-leading position in the emerging enterprise mobility space; and Abu Dhabibased Masdar become the worlds leading alternative energy enterprise.
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Russell has worked with large multinational firms such as Avaya, Boston Consulting Group, Canon, Bombardier, Bunge, GE, Heinz, LOreal, MetLife, Samsung, Siemens, and UPS, as well as a number of fast-growth, mid-sized technology firms. He also co-authored Edelmans program planning process, as well as its master narrative approach, which draws on the classic elements of storytelling to build consistency and continuity in how a company talks about itself. Earlier in his career, Russell spent several years in Edelmans London office working for a combination of corporate, technology, and public affairs clients. He also helped found and sat on the board of RipDigital, a digital music service that converts music CDs into music files, until the company was sold. Russell holds an MBA from Columbia Business School's Executive Program, is a graduate of Franklin & Marshall College and currently sits on the board of City Futures, Inc.
Tom Latchford, Co-founder, Raising IT

Tom Latchford co-founded Raising IT to bring people together to create change through organizations with Obama-style technology. Raising IT is working with charities such as UNICEF providing the tools to individuals to reach out through social media and use their networks and Raising ITs tools to create collective action. Latchford is also working on international projects through Raising IT, with charities reaching as far as Columbia to prevent drug movements using technology platforms. Raising IT is partnering with the UK government to bring 15bn of revenue into the most deprived area of the UK, by giving youth members of society the tools to start businesses online and leverage their social networks. Latchford is looking forward to turning the team of serious entrepreneurs behind Raising IT into creating transformative technology to make a difference to the world by creating collaborative platforms combining existing social media tools.
Darlene Liebman, Co-Founder & Vice President of Production, Howcast

Darlene Liebman is Vice President of Production responsible for running Howcast Studios. Shes tasked with finding talented filmmakers who make the vision of cool how-tos a reality. Before her twin brother Jason called on her to help launch Howcast, Liebman could be found creating short-form animated content with the Nickelodeon OnAir Promos department and producing interstitial programming for such shows as SpongeBob SquarePants and The Fairly OddParents. Before Nick, she was asked to help launch Queer Eye for the Straight Guy. Earlier in her career, she was called by the sunny rays of California, where she worked on Nash Bridges in San Francisco, and then in L.A. with the William Morris Agency. Liebman started her career in New York, working tirelessly on a variety of independent films and learned what every person in a movie's credits actually does. Liebman was born and raised in Manhattan and loves to collect fun historical facts about New York City. She graduated from Lehigh University.
Jason Liebman, Co-founder and CEO, Howcast

In 2007, Jason Liebman cofounded Howcast with the goal of creating the largest and highest quality library of how-to videos on the web, providing users with the answer to almost any question, whenever, wherever they need to know how. Liebman is also a cofounder of the Alliance of Youth Movements (AYM), a nonprofit organization that helps young people to effect nonviolent change around the world using 21st-century tools. Before Howcast, Liebman worked at Google, for the YouTube, Google Video, and AdSense teams. Prior to Google, Liebman was Executive Vice President of Sales and Business Development at Applied Semantics before it was acquired by Google in 2003 one of the largest acquisitions in Google's history. Liebman began his career at Credit Suisse as an investment banker. A New York City native, Liebman graduated from Duke University.
Eric Martinez, Invisible Children

After growing up and attending school for a hospitality administration degree in Arizona, Eric took an opportunity to live by a beach and open a new resort in sunny San Diego. Over the next few years, he worked in several different departments on property, hotel operations to food and beverage to marketing. Eric's experience made him the right guy to help lead a new innovation department on property, where he now helps bring new ideas in the industry to many different departments. He also has had the opportunity to help Invisible Children on a number of different projects, particularly in the social media sphere.
Christopher Neu, Senior Program Assistant, Center of Innovation for Media, Conflict, and Peacebuilding US Institute of Peace
Christopher Neu is a Senior Program Assistant in the Center of Innovation for Media, Conflict, and Peacebuilding. Previously, Neu worked as a USIP
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Research Assistant while completing his M.A. in Democracy and Governance at Georgetown University. Born and raised in Jerusalem, Neu has also worked with the Association of International Development Agencies (Ramallah), IFES during the 2006 Palestinian Elections, and the Center for the Study of Democracy. A computer lab technician and audiovisual coordinator while studying Economics at St. Marys College of Maryland, Neu now spends his time letting everyone know about the Peace Media Clearinghouse (http://peacemedia.usip.org/), a website that connects the peace building community with an unprecedented array of multimedia resources.
Stephanie Rudat, Social Entrepreneur

Stephanie Rudat is a principle-centered businesswoman who advises on various types of investments for her broad clientele and steers nonprofits toward an effective and impactful existence. Her diverse experience extends to an active real estate career, as a purveyor of fine art and past experience in the film industry. As the CEO of Charlottes WebStrategies, Stephanie guides businesses and nonprofit entities alike to leverage the insights she has using connective technologies to strategically expand their brand using the most popular and appropriate virtual platforms. Stephanie and her team work alongside marketing and public relations entities to streamline messaging, develop promotions and build out an online presence that is aligned with the overall objective of the client. Following a childhood dream, Stephanie ensued a career in the film industry while earning her degree from the Cecil B. DeMille School of Film and Television at Chapman University. She spent several years working on acclaimed projects produced by Playtone Pictures for Academy & Emmy Award winners, Tom Hanks & Gary Goetzman. Later, she participated in the development of Garth Brooks production company, Red Strokes Entertainment. The eldest of three children, Stephanie was raised by parents who have lead their family by example by encouraging selfless involvement in the community. She is a member of Gen Next - a collection of likeminded, forward thinking leaders working toward long term solutions for generational issues including economic growth, education and international security. Stephanie volunteers at any opportunity a serves as a board member for a several nonprofit organizations. Some of those organizations include Nourish America, Linkeate, Young Executives of America, and Talk About Curing Autism. She is a vocal activist and has been acknowledged on Huffington Post as one of the 11 Twitter Activists You Should Be Following. Stephanie is a co-founder of Alliance of Youth Movements.
Rachel Silver, Executive Assistant to Jason Liebman, Howcast

Prior to joining Howcast, Rachel received her Master's of International Affairs, Conflict Resolution, and Civil Society Development from the American University of Paris. Rachel's studies were focused on the Israeli/Palestinian conflict and Corporate Social Responsibility. Including the OneVoice Movement, Rachel has worked with nonprofit organizations focused on international and religious conflict. Rachel graduated from Michigan State University with a B.A. in International Affairs and a minor in Jewish studies.
Patrick Thompson, Peace One Day

Patrick Thompson was taken on very recently by Peace One Day (POD) to manage the organizations digital marketing and bring POD up to date online. One of the major elements of his role at POD is the managing the use of Social Media, an area which has already seen improvement under his guidance. Patrick comes from a background in marketing consultancy and has specialized in digital marketing in recent years
Roman Tsunder, CEO, Access 360 Media, Inc.

Roman Tsunder is the President and Founder of Access 360 Media, Inc, a leading media network that connects to over 173MM young adult (P12-34) consumers each month in the places and through the communication platforms that matter most to themIn-store, Online and Mobile. He oversees product innovation, business development and overall corporate strategy. Access 360 Media is among the first integrated media networks to extend the consumer retail experience into an online and mobile platform. Tsunder wanted to deliver a 360 degree offering that wrapped the consumers in-store shopping, online and mobile activity into a single connected experience. Tsunders extensive operating, private equity and banking experience started with the investment banking firm Credit Suisse First Boston. After working several years on the east coast, Tsunder moved back to California where he joined the venture capital firm Digital Coast Partners and specialized in interactive media content and technology. Tsunder is a frequent speaker at leading marketing and media conferences on the subject of reaching today's youth. He is also a supporter of "at-risk" young adults and is actively involved in numerous leading youth non-profit organizations. Tsunder has been recognized as a Rising Star: 40 under 40 by Chain Store Age and is also a founding board member of Gen Next, a non-profit organization focused on "affecting change for the next generation." Tsunder is a graduate of the University of California, Los Angeles, where he received a B.A. in International Economics with Distinctive Honors, and holds a certificate in Language and Business Management from Moscow State University. Tsunder is a co-founder of Alliance of Youth Movements.
Nick Van Pragg, World Bank

Nicholas van Praag is a specialist in public policy communication and public affairs. Most recently, he served as Director of External Relations with the UN High Commissioner for Refugees in Geneva where he was responsible for framing the communications agenda and mobilizing financial resources for the agency from 2006-2009. He also managed the agency's governance bodies and was responsible for relations with a range of partners, both in and outside the UN.
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Nicholas van Praag began his career at the European Commission in 1977 where his focus was foreign policy cooperation. He joined UNHCR in 1981 where he served in Geneva, Sudan and at UN headquarters in New York and left in 1986 for the Aga Khan Development Network, where he was the Head of Information. In 1990 he moved to the World Bank, holding several posts including Manager of External Affairs in the European Office, and Communications Adviser in the Europe and Central Asia region.
Anand Varghese, Center of Innovation for Science, Technology and Peacebuilding US Institute of Peace
Anand Varghese works in the Center of Innovation for Science, Technology, and Peacebuilding at the US Institute of Peace, developing innovative strategies for applying science and technology to the challenge of peacebuilding in fragile states, active conflict and post-conflict societies. Varghese graduated this May from Georgetown University with a Masters degree in Democracy & Governance.
Katy Zack, Communications Manager, Howcast Media

As communications manager at Howcast, Katy Zack directs public relations, social media strategy, and marketing support programs. Before joining Howcast, Zack was a PR gal at Articulate Communications, a B2B technology agency based in New York, leading accounts for a variety of enterprise software companies. Prior to Articulate, Zack worked in industry analyst relations at British marketing agency Metia for a variety of financial technology companies. Zack graduated from University of Michigan with a degree in biopsychology and cognitive science after spending two years at NYUs Stern School of Business.
Shaarik Zafar, Esq., Global Engagement Group

Shaarik H. Zafar is the Deputy Chief of the Global Engagement Group and a Senior Policy Advisor in the Office of Civil Rights & Civil Liberties at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. His duties include: providing legal and policy advice to Department leadership on civil rights and civil liberties issues; investigating and resolving complaints filed by members of the public; working with other Federal agencies to develop and strengthen the U.S. Governments public outreach initiatives; regularly meeting with the American Arab, Muslim, Sikh, and South Asian communities to discuss ways to strengthen homeland security while protecting fundamental rights and liberties; and helping law enforcement officials better engage with ethnic and religious minorities. Prior to joining DHS, Mr. Zafar served as the Special Counsel for Post 9/11 National Origin Discrimination at the U.S. Department of Justice, where he led DOJs Initiative to Combat Post 9/11 Discriminatory Backlash. Mr. Zafar is a 1997 graduate of the Plan II Honors Program at the University of Texas at Austin, and received his J.D. from the University of Texas School of Law in 2000. Prior to joining the Federal government, he worked as a civil litigator at one of the oldest law firms in Houston, Texas, and as a summer associate at the Almaty, Kazakhstan office of an international law firm.
The Honorable Juan C. Zarate, CBS News; Center for Strategic and International Studies
Juan C. Zarate is a Senior Adviser to the Center for Strategic and International Studies and a national security consultant and analyst for CBS News. Zarate sits on the Board of Advisors to the Director of the National Counterterrorism Center and advises a range of companies and organizations on national, homeland, and financial-related security, technologies, and investments. Zarate served as the Deputy Assistant to the President and Deputy National Security Advisor for Combating Terrorism from 2005 to 2009. In this role, Zarate was responsible for developing and overseeing the effective implementation of the U.S. government's counterterrorism strategy. He was also responsible for overseeing all policies related to transnational security threats, including counternarcotics, maritime security, hostages, international organized crime, money laundering, and critical energy infrastructure protection. Prior to joining the NSC, Zarate served as the first Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorist Financing and Financial Crimes where he led Treasury's domestic and international efforts to attack terrorist financing, build comprehensive anti-money laundering systems, and expand the use of Treasury powers to advance national security interests. Zarate also led the U.S. government's global efforts to hunt Saddam Hussein's assets, resulting in the return of over $3 billion of Iraqi assets from the U.S. and around the world. Zarate served at the Treasury Department from 2001 to 2005, where he received the Treasury Medal. Prior to working at the Department of the Treasury, Zarate served as a prosecutor in the Department of Justice's Terrorism and Violent Crime Section, where he worked on terrorism cases, including the USS Cole investigation. Zarate previously worked as a federal law clerk for Chief Judge Judith Keep in the Southern District of California. Zarate is a magna cum laude graduate of Harvard University and a cum laude graduate of the Harvard Law School. Zarate is a noted commentator on national security-related issues and a published author.
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U.S. Department of State

Jared Cohen, Policy Planning Staff, Office of the Secretary of State
Jared Cohen is an author and policymaker. In September 2006, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice brought Jared on board as a member of her Policy Planning Staff. In this role, he advises on counter-terrorism, the "War of Ideas", youth and education, public diplomacy, Muslim world outreach, and some Middle East/North Africa regional issues. Prior to joining the Policy Planning Staff, Jared received his B.A. from Stanford University and his M.Phil in International Relations from Oxford University, where he studied as a Rhodes Scholar. While at Oxford, he spent substantial amounts of time in Iran, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon and Palestinian refugee camps where he looked at youth in the Islamic world and how they view themselves and their changing role in the world after 9/11. In these travels, Cohen has interviewed members of Hezbollah, Fatah, Asbat al-Ansar, and a variety of other militant groups. He has also traveled extensively throughout 24 countries in Africa looking at issues related to conflict resolution, genocide, and democracy. Jared is author of several books. His first, One Hundred Days of Silence: American and the Rwanda Genocide, was published in 2006 by Rowman & Littlefield and chronicles U.S. policy toward Rwanda during the 1994 Genocide. His second book, Children of Jihad: A Young American's Travels Among the Youth of the Middle East, was published by Penguin Books (Gotham) in October 2007 and has also been published as an audio book and translated into Dutch. Cohen's work on Children of Jihad has received the endorsements of names like Tom Brokaw, Frank Carlucci, Zbigniew Brzezinski, Brent Scowcroft, Richard Lugar, and Chris Matthews. Children of Jihad was starred by Kirkus Review and selected as one of the "Best Books of 2007." Additional publications include "The Passive Revolution: Is Political Resistance Dead or Alive in Iran" (Hoover Digest, 2005), "Iran's Young Opposition" (SAIS Review, 2006), and a forthcoming article on the "War of Ideas" to be published in Policy Review. Jared frequently appears in the media: he has been featured in The New Yorker and appeared on The Colbert Report, CNN, ABC, Headline News, Current TV, NPR, Fox News, MSNBC, BBC, Comedy Central, Discovery Channel, and a variety of other TV and radio programs both domestic and international. He is frequently asked to speak at domestic and international conferences hosted by think tanks, the public sector, the military, the private sector, and foundations. Cohen is fluent in Swahili and has studied Arabic, Farsi, Spanish, Maa, Kilarusa, and Korean. In his spare time, Cohen paints, draws and sculpts. Over the years, he has sold his work in galleries and to private buyers.
Farah Pandith, Special Representative to Muslim Communities, U.S. Department of State

Farah Pandith was appointed Special Representative to Muslim Communities in June 2009. Her office is responsible for executing Secretary Clintons vision for engagement with Muslims around the world on a people-to-people and organizational level. She reports directly to the Secretary of State. Prior to this appointment, she was Senior Advisor to the Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs. In this role she was focused on Muslim communities in Europe where she was responsible for policy oversight for integration, democracy, and Islam in the Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs. She also worked on issues relating to countering violent Islamic extremism. Before joining the Department of State, she served as the Director for Middle East Regional Initiatives for the National Security Council. She was responsible for coordinating U.S. policy on Muslim World Outreach and the Broader Middle East North Africa initiative. She reported directly to the Deputy Assistant to the President and Deputy National Security Advisor for Global Democracy Strategy. Special Representative Pandith served on the staff of the National Security Council from December 2004 to February 2007. Prior to joining the NSC, Special Representative Pandith was Chief of Staff for the Bureau for Asia and the Near East for the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). She worked directly for the Assistant Administrator for the bureau responsible for more than $4 billion in programs throughout the Middle East, South Asia, and Asia -- including Iraq, Afghanistan and Gaza/West Bank. In 2004, she spent two months in Kabul, Afghanistan. From 1997 to 2003 Special Representative Pandith was Vice President of International Business for ML Strategies in Boston, Massachusetts. She received a Masters degree from The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University, where she specialized in International Security Studies, Islamic Civilizations and Southwest Asia, and International Negotiation and Conflict Resolution. She concentrated on the insurgency in Kashmir and has spoken on the subject in international and domestic forums. Prior to graduate school, Special Representative Pandith worked at USAID as the Special Assistant to the Director of Policy. She has been a consultant in both the public and non-profit sectors. Special Representative Pandith has served on several boards with a focus on international affairs including the World Affairs Council of Boston, the Council for Emerging National Security Affairs, and the British-American Project. She was a Term Member of the Council on
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Foreign Relations. Special Representative Pandith received an A.B. in Government and Psychology from Smith College, where she was president of the student body. She has served as a Trustee of alma maters Smith College and Milton Academy. She is currently a member of the Board of Overseers of The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy. She was born in Srinagar, Kashmir, India.
Staff
David Nassar, Executive Director, Alliance for Youth Movements (AYM)
David Nassar is the executive director of the Alliance of Youth Movements (AYM). AYM is a coalition of hundreds of changemakers using social media tools to share ideas and build momentum in order to reshape civil society. The organization has received support from governments, corporations and technology leaders from around the world. AYM draws on his fifteen years of experience in developing campaigns that create change. Most recently, Nassar served as a Vice President for Strategy with Blue State Digital, one of the world's leading online strategy firms. While at BSD, he led engagements with The Carter Center, among others. Just before his work with BSD, Nassar served as executive director of Wal-Mart Watch, which has been called the most successful corporate social responsibility campaign in recent history. Despite a budget of just a few million dollars and a small staff, Wal-Mart Watch used aggressive online strategies to challenge the world's largest company. He is a member of the National Journal's 50 Political Insiders and is polled weekly on his views on politics. In addition to his domestic experience, Nassar ran programs in the Middle East strengthening political parties and civic organizations for the National
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Democratic Institute for International Affairs, and since that time has served as a paid consultant on different occasions for USAID, the International Republican Institute and the International Foundation for Electoral Systems. He holds an MA from George Washington University and a BA from Villanova University.
Sam Graham-Felsen, Director of Strategy and Communications, Alliance for Youth Movements
Sam Graham-Felsen is the new Director of Strategy and Communications for the Alliance of Youth Movements (AYM). Prior to joining AYM, Graham-Felsen was the Director of Strategic Planning at Blue State Digital, where he helped craft digital strategy for some of the world's largest NGOs, cultural institutions, and businesses. Graham-Felsen previously served as the director of blogging and blog outreach for the Obama campaign. He wrote for and oversaw BarackObama.com/blog, the most-viewed page of any presidential campaign's website, worked with key national and state bloggers to promote the campaign's message, and also produced and collaborated on dozens of online videos for the campaign. Prior to the Obama campaign, Graham-Felsen covered youth politics for The Nation magazine and produced videos for Current TV, filing reports from France, Cambodia, and Pakistan. Graham-Felsen grew up in Boston, graduated cum laude from Harvard in 2004 with a degree in Social Studies.
Erin Mazursky, Summit Manager, Alliance for Youth Movements

Erin Mazursky is currently serving as AYMs Summit Manager, coordinating all aspects of the 2010 AYM Summit in London. She has worked in youth organizing and movement-building for the past six years. In 2008, Mazursky served on the Presidential Inaugural Committee for President Obamas inauguration after having won her district in Florida as a staff member on President Obamas general election campaign. She is formerly the Co-Founder and Executive Director of STAND, the student-led leader in anti-genocide advocacy. Now a division of Genocide Intervention, STAND is one of the largest student organizations in the country with 1,000 high school and college chapters nationwide. She also served as a Board Member and Coalition Manager for the Save Darfur Coalition and continues to serve as an advisor to STAND and the chair of STANDs Alumni Network. She has also worked youth organizing internationally. Most recently, she spent time in Albania and Turkey. Mazursky is also a blogger for the Huffington Post and GOOD Magazine. She holds a degree from Georgetown Universitys School of Foreign Service in Culture and Politics with a focus on International Development.
Nora Mariana Salim, Fellows Coordinator, Alliance for Youth Movements

Nora Mariana Salims interest in media and its impact on social change began at age 14, when she started writing for the local edition of the Los Angeles Times. She has since contributed to media outlets both in the United States and in the Middle East, where she moved after studying literature and researching international law at Stanford University to advocate on behalf of Iraqi refugee children. These displaced youth shared a common capacity for resilience, laughter, and a relentless curiosity about the world around themqualities Nora admires and continues to learn from them. Nora currently works in Beirut, Lebanon, as a social entrepreneur and as a marketing and communications consultant for American businesses and non-profits aiming to reach the Arab world. Nora strongly believes that supporting American enterprises in the Middle Eastand vice versais an important vehicle to cross-cultural dialogue and peace.
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Crisis Group's Board of Trustees - International Crisis Group
http://www.crisisgroup.org/en/about/board.aspx Generated by Foxit PDF Creator Foxit Software http://www.foxitsoftware.com For evaluation only.
Crisis Group's Board of Trustees

Lord (Christopher) Patten Co-Chair, Crisis Group Former European Commissioner for External Relations, Governor of Hong Kong and UK Cabinet Minister Chancellor of Oxford University Thomas R Pickering Co-Chair, Crisis Group Former U.S. Ambassador to the UN, Russia, India, Israel, Jordan, El Salvador and Nigeria Vice Chairman of Hills & Company Louise Arbour President & CEO Former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and Chief Prosecutor for the International Criminal Tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda
Executive Committee
Morton Abramowitz Former U.S. Assistant Secretary of State and Ambassador to Turkey Cheryl Carolus Former South African High Commissioner to the UK and Secretary General of the ANC Maria Livanos Cattaui Member of the Board, Petroplus Holdings, Switzerland Yoichi Funabashi Former Editor-in-Chief, The Asahi Shimbun, Japan Frank Giustra President & CEO, Fiore Capital Ghassan Salam Dean, Paris School of International Affairs, Sciences Po George Soros Chairman, Open Society Institute Pr Stenbck Former Foreign Minister of Finland
Adnan Abu-Odeh Former Political Adviser to King Abdullah II and to King Hussein, and Jordan Permanent Representative
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to the UN Kenneth Adelman Former U.S. Ambassador and Director of the Arms Control and Disarmament Agency Kofi Annan Former Secretary-General of the United Nations; Nobel Peace Prize (2001) Nahum Barnea Chief Columnist for Yedioth Ahronoth, Israel Samuel Berger Chair, Albright Stonebridge Group LLC; Former U.S. National Security Advisor Emma Bonino Vice President of the Senate; Former Minister of International Trade and European Affairs of Italy and European Commissioner for Humanitarian Aid Wesley Clark Former NATO Supreme Allied Commander, Europe Sheila Coronel Toni Stabile, Professor of Practice in Investigative Journalism; Director, Toni Stabile Center for Investigative Journalism, Columbia University, U.S. Jan Egeland Director, Norwegian Institute of International Affairs; Former UN Under-Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Mohamed El Baradei Mr. ElBaradei suspended his membership from the Board of Crisis Group concurrent with his January 2011 return to Egypt. Director-General Emeritus, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); Nobel Peace Prize (2005) Uffe Ellemann-Jensen Former Foreign Minister of Denmark Gareth Evans President Emeritus of Crisis Group; Former Foreign Affairs Minister of Australia Mark Eyskens Former Prime Minister of Belgium Joschka Fischer Former Foreign Minister of Germany Jean-Marie Guhenno Arnold Saltzman Professor of War and Peace Studies, Columbia University; Former UN Under-SecretaryGeneral for Peacekeeping Operations
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Carla Hills Former U.S. Secretary of Housing and U.S. Trade Representative Lena Hjelm-Walln Former Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Affairs Minister of Sweden Swanee Hunt Former U.S. Ambassador to Austria; Chair, Institute for Inclusive Security and President, Hunt Alternatives Fund Mo Ibrahim Founder and Chair, Mo Ibrahim Foundation; Founder, Celtel International Igor Ivanov Former Foreign Affairs Minister of the Russian Federation Asma Jahangir UN Special Rapporteur on the Freedom of Religion or Belief; Chairperson, Human Rights Commission of Pakistan Wim Kok Former Prime Minister of the Netherlands Ricardo Lagos Former President of Chile Joanne Leedom-Ackerman Former International Secretary of International PEN; Novelist and journalist, U.S. Lord (Mark) Malloch-Brown Former Administrator of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and UN Deputy SecretaryGeneral Lalit Mansingh Former Foreign Secretary of India, Ambassador to the U.S. and High Commissioner to the UK Jessica Tuchman Mathews President, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, U.S. Benjamin Mkapa Former President of Tanzania Moiss Nam Senior Associate, International Economics Program, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace; Former Editor in Chief, Foreign Policy Ayo Obe Legal Practitioner, Lagos, Nigeria Gler Sabanc Chairperson, Sabanc Holding, Turkey
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Javier Solana Former EU High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy, NATO Secretary-General and Foreign Affairs Minister of Spain Chairmen Emeritus Martti Ahtisaari Former President of Finland George J. Mitchell Former U.S. Senate Majority Leader
Crisis Group Senior Advisers

Crisis Group's Senior Advisers are former Board Members (to the extent consistent with any other office office they may be holding at the time) who maintain an association with Crisis Group, and whose advice and support are called on from time to time. To see a list of Crisis Group's Senior Advisers, click here.
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ElBaradei: Soross Man in Cairo
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PrisonPlanet Forum > ***THE MAIN BOARDS - Welcome to the Prison Planet Educational Forum and Library* ** > General Discussion for the Prison Planet Educational Forum and Library > CFR/IMF manufactured fake revolutions being used to take over North Africa > ElBaradei: Soross Man in Cairo
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bigron
Hero Member Online Posts: 20,426

on: February 12, 2011, 04:19:17 AM

by Maidhc Cathail
RON PAUL FOR PRESIDENT 2012
February 11, 2011 In a February 3 Washington Post op-ed piece titled "Why Obama has to get Egypt right," George Soros wrote that the U.S. president had "much to gain by moving out in front and siding with the public demand for dignity and democracy." Notwithstanding the reasonableness of his advice, past experience suggests that the Hungarian-born hedge fund manager has something to gain himself from regime change in Cairo.
In his public memo to the president he helped elect, Soros noted that it was a "hopeful sign" that the Muslim Brotherhood was cooperating with Mohamed ElBaradei, whom he disinterestedly described as "the Nobel laureate who is seeking to run for president." He neglected to mention, however, that up to ElBaradeis January 27 return to crisis-torn Egypt, the former IAEA chief had been a member of the Board of Trustees of the International Crisis Group, which Soros, the thirty-fifth richest person in the world, helped create and finance. The International Crisis Group describes itself as "an independent, non-profit, non-governmental organisation committed to preventing and resolving deadly conflict," but self-descriptions can often be misleading. "The ICG is a fascinating case study of the way human rights organizations, governments and international corporations work hand in glove these days," George Szamuely wrote of the influential think tanks role in the Balkans. "'Independent figures like Soros identify a 'crisis demanding urgent government attention. Governments act on them and then parcel out the lucrative contracts to Soros and his pals." One of Soross more notorious "pals" is Mikhail Khodorkovsky, the jailed former head of Yukos Oil, who by the age of 32 had amassed assets worth more than $30 billion in the rigged post-Soviet "privatisation" of state-owned property. When the Jewish oligarch was arrested for tax evasion, embezzlement and fraud in 2003, Soros denounced the charges as "political persecution," called for the expulsion of Russia from the G-8, and urged the West to intervene. Khodorkovskys partner in crime, Leonid Nevzlin, fled to Israel before he was found guilty in absentia of ordering the murders of several politicians and businesspeople that got in the way of Yukoss expansion plans. Like Soros and Khodorkovsky, Nevzlin has since attempted to rebrand himself as a "philanthropist." Tel Avivs concerns about the loss of a friendly dictator next door, however, should be assuaged somewhat by the fact that ElBaradei could collaborate with the considerable number of Israel partisans at ICG. Former U.S. Congressman Stephen Solarz, who helped start the group, was once dubbed "the Israel lobbys chief legislative tactician on Capitol Hill," and in 1998 led a group of neoconservatives who urged President Clinton to overthrow Saddam Hussein. Fellow neocon Kenneth Adelman assured Americans in a 2002 Washington Post op-ed that the Israeli-induced invasion of Iraq would be a "cakewalk." Even more reassuring for nervous Israelis must be the presence of Nahum Barnea, the prominent Israeli columnist who sharply criticised fellow journalists Gideon Levy, Amira Hass and Akiva Eldar for their "mission" of support for the Palestinians. And among ICGs elite international list of senior advisersdefined as "former Board Members (to the extent consistent with any other office they may be holding at the time) who maintain an association with Crisis Group, and whose advice and support are called on from time to time"we find Shlomo Ben-Ami, former foreign minister of Israel; Stanley Fischer, governor of the Bank of Israel; and Shimon Peres, current president of Israel. On the face of it, it seems hard to reconcile the substantial pro-Israel presence at ICG with Soross claims to be a "non-Zionist." But things are seldom what they seem with Soros. Two years after the founding of J Street, it emerged that he had given substantial donations to the "pro-Israel, pro-peace" lobby. Not everyone is convinced by J Streets claims to be a genuine alternative to AIPAC either. As one astute commentator put it, J Street is "little more than a spin-off of the existing Israel Lobby to make it more palatable to the liberal Democrats that make up the Obama Administration." MORE http://uruknet.info/?p=m74890&hd=&size=1&l=e
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All eyes are opened, or opening, to the rights of man. Hero Member Offline Posts: 56,796
Re: ElBaradei: Soross Man in Cairo

Reply #1 on: February 12, 2011, 06:50:04 AM
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2/24/2011 10:46 AM

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