Bishop Thomas Gumbleton is the Auxiliary Bishop of the Catholic Archdiocese of Detroit. He served on the committee of The National Conference of Catholic Bishops that wrote the landmark document “The Challenge of Peace: God’s Promise and Our Response.” Bishop Gumbleton has received many awards for his peacework in the United States and in places or conflict around the world. He has been an expert witness in numerous trials of those who have committed nonviolent civil disobedience. He was the founding President of Pax Christi, USA and the former President of Bread for the World.
Mark Lance is Professor of Justice and Peace at Georgetown University. He is the co-editor of Peace and Change, the former director and founder of the Justice and Peace program at Georgetown University, and the former board co-chair of the Consortium on Peace Research Education and Development (now merged with the Peace Studies Association to form the Peace and Justice Studies Association). He is an activist, organizer, and frequent speaker on issues of social justice.
Mwiza Munthali is the Director of Information at TransAfrica Forum, a major research, educational, and organizing institution for the African-American community offering constructive analyses of issues concerning U.S. policy as it affects Africa and the Diaspora in the Caribbean and Latin America. He was part of TransAfrica’s campaign of civil disobedience against Apartheid in the 1980s and was arrested at the Sudanese embassy last summer.
Eric Reeves is Professor of English Language and Literature at Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts. He has spent the past six years working full-time as a Sudan researcher and analyst, publishing extensively both in the US and internationally. He has testified several times before the Congress, has lectured widely in academic settings, has written articles for more than 30 newspapers, including The Washington Post, and has served as a consultant to a number of human rights and humanitarian organizations operating in Sudan. He has written on all aspects of Sudan’s recent history, working independently and receiving no external funding support. He is presently at work on a book surveying the international response to ongoing war and human destruction in Sudan (Sudan — Suffering a Long Way Off).
Barbara Wien serves as Co-Director of Peace Brigades International/USA, a non-governmental organization which protects human rights and promotes nonviolent transformation of conflicts. When invited, they send teams of volunteers into areas of repression and conflict. The volunteers accompany human rights defenders, their organizations and others threatened by political violence. Perpetrators of human rights abuses usually do not want the world to witness their actions. The presence of volunteers backed by a support network helps to deter violence. This creates space for local activists to work for social justice and human rights. Currently, they have volunteers protecting human rights activists in Colombia, Indonesia, and Mexico, as well as a project restarting in Guatemala and a joint project with other organizations in Chiapas, Mexico.