2017 Sunday Morning Plenary –
“Global Impact of U.S. Militarization”
Keynote Panel
Amal Nassar, West Bank Farmer and Peace Advocate
Amal Nassar and her family cultivate peace and reconciliation through children’s summer camps, education for women, and inviting visitors to their West Bank farm called the Tent of Nations. Guided by their desire for bridge-building, the Nassar family has spent 20 years welcoming people from all over the world and teaching those around them in the West Bank about nonviolence, love of the land, and reconciliation, saying boldly, “We refuse to be enemies.”
Ezekiel Gebissa, Professor of History & African Studies, Kettering University
Ezekiel B. Gebissa, Ph.D. is Professor of History and African Studies at Kettering University, Michigan. He is the recipient of numerous awards, including Outstanding Researcher Award, and author of numerous articles, book chapters, encyclopedia entries, and book, including Leaf of Allah: Khat and the Transformation of Agriculture in Harerge Ethiopia, 1875–1991, Contested Terrain: Essays on Oromo Studies and Politically Engaged Scholarship. Dr. Gebissa’s research which spans across Africa, Asia and the United States focuses on investigating and understanding chains of historical, political and economic forces that shape global discourses on human security, sustainability in development, and social movements and the broader implications for exploring people’s response to incentives, decision-making processes based on indigenous knowledge systems, and the political, cultural, and socioeconomic transformations (state-society or church-society relations). He is the translator and editor of Evangelical Faith Movement in Ethiopia: The Origins and Establishment of the Ethiopian Evangelical Church and the former editor of the Journal of Oromo Studies. He is the Current President of the Oromo Studies Association and a frequent guest on TV and radio on social protest movement. His media appearances include Al-Jazeera, TRT Word (Turkey), Sputnik Radio (Russia), Polish National Radio, Oromia News Network TV, Ethiopian Satellite Television and the Voice of America (VOA) TV.
Fr. Pat Cunningham, SSC, Missionary Society of St. Columban
Download the slides from Fr. Cunningham’s presentation (PDF).
Fr. Cunningham is a member of a Catholic order of missionary priests located in 15 countries around the world. He has lived and served in South Korea for many years, and is an active member of the movement for peace and nonviolence to save Jeju Island. The South Korean government has begun construction of a naval base on Jeju Island, which threatens the peace of the region, contaminating the water sources and destroying the biodiversity of God’s Creation. Last year, Fr. Pat shared the story of Jeju Island at a conference in Rome on “Nonviolence and Just Peace,” convened by Pax Christi International and the Pontifical Council on Justice and Peace.
Raed Jarrar, Policy Impact Coordinator, American Friends Service Committee (Moderator)
Since his immigration to the U.S. in 2005, Raed has worked on political and cultural issues pertaining to U.S. engagement in the Arab and Muslim worlds. He is widely recognized as an expert on political, social, and economic developments in the Middle East. He has testified in numerous Congressional hearings and briefings, and he is also a frequent guest on national and international media outlets in both Arabic and English.