Fall 2004 Speakers

Oct 11, 8:30 pm: Steve Chessin, President, Californians for Electoral Reform will lead a discussion after the film Invisible Ballots. Steve Chessin joined Californians for Electoral Reform when it was founded in 1993. He was elected to the Board in 1995 and became President in 1999. He is also active with the California Democratic Party, serving on the State Central Committee since 1986, the County Central Committee since 1990, and the State Executive Board since 1993.  He was the prime mover of Santa Clara County's November 1998 Measure F charter amendment, which will allow the County to use Instant Runoff Voting (IRV) in county elections once the technology is available.  He is also active with the League of Women Voters, and was partially responsible for the California League's recently-adopted position in favor of IRV.

Oct 18, 8:30 pm: Paul George Director, Peninsula Peace and Justice Center will lead the discussion after the film Hijacking Catastrophe  9/11, Fear & the Selling of American Empire.  Paul  has been a peace activist for over 36 years, starting at age 16 when he worked for the Gene McCarthy presidential campaign.  Paul has also served as West Coast Coordinator for Quest for Peace, worked for the California Single Payer ballot initiative, and was a political organizer for the Health Care Workers Union Local 250.  Paul has been a leading activist on the issue of Iraq for a long time. The Peace and Justice Center held the Bay Area's first public protest against the prior Gulf War in August, 1990, on the day of the initial U.S. troop deployment.  Following that war, Paul was a nationally recognized leader in the long effort to end the brutal sanctions against the Iraqi people.  He was one of the founders of the National Network to End the War Against Iraq, a collaboration of nearly 300 community-based organizations.  Paul has spoken around the country against the sanctions and, ultimately, the most recent war and occupation. 

Oct 25, 8:30 pm: Samina Faheem, Founder, American Muslim Voice will lead the discussion after the film Brothers & Others.

Nov 1, 8:30 pm: Elliot Margolies, Executive Producer of the Midpeninsula Community Media Center will lead the discussion after the film Political Advertisement 2000. Elliot Margolies is the founding Executive Director and currently the Executive Producer of the Midpeninsula Community Media Center, a fourteen year old community access media center in Palo Alto, CA that facilitates public access TV. Elliot has a Masters degree in Broadcast Journalism from Boston University. He's worked in radio news and has produced several video documentaries. In the late 80's, he was a Steering Committee member of the Deep Dish Satellite Network that compiled and distributed alternative political programming nationally.

Nov 8, 8:30 pm: Dana Hull, Reporter at San Jose Mercury News and an un-embedded journalist in Iraq will lead the discussion after the film War Feels Like War.

Nov 15, 8:30 pm: Nunu Kidane Coordinator, Priority Africa Network and John Iversen, Director, ActUP East Bay will speak and lead a discussion after the films Coming to Say Goodbye: Stories of Aids in Africa and Cost of Living. 

Nunu is an activist from Eritrea who has lived and worked in the Bay Area for over 20 years. Nunu has a BA in Legal Studies from UC Berkeley with additional graduate work from Hayward State University.  She has worked in Ethiopia for over 8 years in areas of humanitarian development program and policy, engaging directly with local and international NGOs in the Horn of Africa and South Africa.  She has made various media appearances and presentations on US policy on Africa, lectured at UC Berkeley and Stanford on issues of international development in Africa.  She is on the board of Jubilee USA Network and a committee member of the Africa Initiative with the American Friends Service Committee.

John has been active in East Bay politics since moving to the Bay Area in 1979. He was an administrative aide to Berkeley Vice Mayor Maudelle Shirek for 8 years and was the Director of the New Light Senior Center for 8 years. He has been HIV+ for 23 years and disabled for 12 years. Iversen co-founded ACT UP East Bay and the Berkeley Needle Exchange and is a national board member of HealthGAP. He has a BA from the University of Chicago and attended the Columbia Graduate School of Jounalism. He has presented at conferences including Global Network of People Living With AIDS (Uganda, 2003), American Public Heath Assn (SF, 2003), National AIDS Update (SF, 2001). John has worked for the United Farm Workers, spent 7 weeks inside Wounded Knee during the 1973 occupation (he is a member of the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe) and cooked in a Black Panther Party Breakfast Program. Iversen's community service has been recognized with awards from Bay Guardian Local Hero (1993), East Bay Express Activist of the Year (1999), California Nurses Association, City of Berkeley, Alameda County among others

Nov 22, 8:30 pm: Kevin Danaher – Co-Founder,  Global Exchange, will speak and lead a discussion after the film Surplus: Terrorized Into Being Consumers. Described by The New York Times as the "Paul Revere of globalization's woes," Dr. Kevin Danaher's analytical expertise, sense of humor and blunt eloquence make him an exceptionally dynamic speaker. As Global Exchange's co-founder, Dr. Danaher has spoken at universities and for community organizations throughout the U.S. He conducts workshops on issues ranging from the dynamics of the global economy to how we can replace the power of transnational corporations with local green economy networks. A longtime critic of the so-called "free trade" agenda, Dr. Danaher explains how we must work with other countries to reduce poverty and inequality if we want the cooperation of the world's people in ending terrorism. Dr. Danaher is the author and/or editor of 11 books, including his latest, "Insurrection: Citizen Challenges to Corporate Power." His other titles include: Ten Reasons to Abolish the IMF and World Bank; Democratizing the Global Economy; Corporations are Gonna Get Your Mama: Globalization and the Downsizing of the American Dream; and Globalize This: The Battle Against the World Trade Organization and Corporate Rule.

Nov 29, 8:30 pm: Deborah Koons Garcia – Director, Writer, Producer of the film Future of Food will be present and lead a discussion after the film.  Deborah has a Master of Fine Arts from the San Francisco Art Institute and her previous films have won numerous awards.  Her educational series All About Babies, narrated by Jane Alexander, won a Cine Golden Eagle and a Gold Medal from the John Muir Medical Film Festival, among other awards. Her feature film, Poco Loco, won awards at the Philadelphia, Rivertown and Orlando Film Festivals. She was the instigator and chief Creative Consultant for Grateful Dawg, a documentary about the musical friendship between her husband Jerry Garcia and David Grisman.  Grateful Dawg premiered at the Telluride Film Festival and went on to a lively run in film festivals, in theaters and on television.  The Future of Food was shown over a dozen times as a work in progress in Mendocino County, California before the March 2004 election and was the primary element in passing Measure H which bans the planting of genetically engineered crops in the county.

Dec 6, 8:30 pm: Jesse SwanHuyser – Director, California Coalition for Fair Trade & Human Rights will speak and lead a discussion after the film Bottom Line: Privatizing the World.   Jesse is a dynamic speaker and has worked on environmental and social justice in Central America and also lived there in the late 90's.  He has been working on changing the US trade policies for the last 3 years to promote economic justice, human rights, healthy communities, and a sound environment. The California Coalition for Fair Trade & Human Rights is a state wide coalition of of Labor, Environment, Immigrant Rights, Women and Family Farm groups who are working to reform US Trade Policy at the congressional level. The organization works to promote that international trade and investment are not ends unto themselves, but instead must be viewed as a means for achieving other societal goals such as economic justice, human rights, healthy communities, and a sound environment. The rules which govern the global economy must reflect the views and needs of the majority of the world's people on issues such as jobs, wages, the environment, human rights, food and consumer safety, access to essential services, and public health.