- University Centre Guelph, ON N1G 1Y4
- Septemper 21-22
Our Speakers
Let’s come together to learn, mobilize and show support for the Palestinian people
Meet PALESTINIAN The People’s Conference for SOLIDARITY Speakers
Amina Ally
Speaker
Amina has been an Ontario teacher for almost 20 years. She is part of a divestment campaign along with many other dedicated active and retired Ontario teachers of conscience that have partnered with World Beyond War to pressure the OTPP to divest from weapons manufacturers profiting from Palestinian death.
Ghada Sasa
Speaker
Ghada is a Palestinian activist-scholar, completing her PhD in Political Science (International Relations) at McMaster University, where she writes on Israeli green colonialism. She uncovers Israel's appropriation of environmentalism to colonize Palestine, as well as Palestinian memories. Since 2014, she has been heavily engaged in Palestine solidarity organizing while advocating for the liberation of women, queer and Black folks, and other oppressed communities. Ghada has published an article in Politics. Workshop: A De-populated Paradise: Recovering Palestine by Decolonizing Environmentalism
Dr. Miles Howe
Speaker
Miles Howe is an adjunct professor in the department of sociology/critical criminology at Brock university. His current research addresses Zionist philanthropy in Canada. Workshop: The Case of the Jewish National Fund: Abuse of Canada's Charitable Status by Zionist Organizations
Nick Joseph
Speaker
Nick Joseph is a student and organizer with the Palestinian Youth Movement in Kitchener-Waterloo. Panel: Divestment Now! A Reportback from Campus Divestment Campaigns Across the Region
Robert Massoud
Speaker
Robert Massoud is a Palestinian-Canadian. In 2004, he founded Zatoun, Fair-Trade olive oil from Palestine, to serve as a bridge of hope and peace connecting Canadians to Palestine. He also co-founded "Trees for Life Palestine," a worldwide project to plant 10,000 olive trees each year in Palestine. Zatoun has donated over $600,000 to projects in Palestine. Robert has a unique message of creative participation and nonviolent resistance engaging people to learn and be in solidarity with Palestinians. His core message is that Palestine-Israel is of direct interest to all, and its resolution is vital to peace in the world and, ultimately, to the planet. He will be speaking of Palestinian land stewardship and dispossession.
Suhaila
Speaker
Suhaila is the Operations Officer of Sporas, a local non- profit dedicated to empowering the Palestinian diaspora to be leaders of positive change in their community through the enrichment of Palestinian heritage and tradition. Suhaila is an educator at heart who has worked to empower Muslim and Palestinian youth for the past ten years in community organizations and, more recently, within school boards in the Waterloo region and beyond. She will facilitate a workshop introducing people to the history of the occupation of Palestine. Further, she will facilitate a meet-up for high school students who want to mobilize around Palestine in their schools. Students will learn about resources, tools, and strategies to include Palestine in the classroom through this meet-up.
Tasha Nadia Matar
Speaker
Tasha Nadia Matar is a mixed-race Palestinian-Polish registered Social Worker and Therapist, currently writing her thesis for her master's in Art Psychotherapy. She is passionate about offering play and art-based trauma therapy to diasporas and displaced people who are silently carrying stories of survival in their new homes. Trauma-informed, somatically focused, and culturally safe approaches are at the heart of her practice. Her workshop will focus on art therapy for movement- builders. This guided art therapy and somatic practice session is intended to sustain resistance in those committed to collective liberation.
Bayan Abuarqoub
Volunteer
Bayan is a Palestinian living in the Waterloo Region, and is a member of the Palestinian Youth Movement. She has an undergrad in Sociology and is committed to global liberation from world imperialism. Workshop: Mask off Maersk
Kevin Ranney
Volunteer
Kevin has worked in the fields of corporate responsibility and sustainable finance for over 25 years. His areas of focus have included research on the environmental, social and governance (ESG) performance of publicly traded companies, the provision of advisory services to investment managers integrating ESG into investment management, and the development for institutional investors (including pension funds and endowment funds) of policies addressing environmental, human rights and other impacts. Workshop: Analyzing Corporate Involvement in the Occupation
Moe Alqasem
Volunteer
Workshop: The Problem of the Unionized War Machine: Labour and the Canada-Israel Arms Trade
Omar Ramahi
Volunteer
Omar M. Ramahi was born in Jerusalem, Palestine. He is the son of a Nakba survivor. He writes and lectures on topics related to the Middle East and Islam. he is the author of "Muslims' Greatest Challenge: Choosing between Tradition and Islam." Presently, he is Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Waterloo.
Rabbi David Mivasair
Volunteer
Rabbi David Mivasair served as the spiritual leader of several synagogues in the U.S. and Canada for nearly 25 years. For nearly all his adulthood, he was a liberal or progressive Zionist. He lived for four years in Jerusalem and Tiberias. In recent years, he has become clear that the only correct position is to be an anti-Zionist. Rabbi Mivasair is an active member of Independent Jewish Voices Canada and of the rabbinic council of Jewish Voice for Peace in the U.S. He will speak on the abuse of Canada's charitable status by Zionist organizations.
Simon Black
Volunteer
Simon Black is a lead organizer with Labour Against the Arms Trade, a coalition of labour and peace activists working to end Canada's participation in the international arms trade. Black teaches in the Department of Labour Studies at Brock University. Simon’s workshop will examine the relationship between arms industry workers and the movement for a free Palestine. Participants will learn about the role of the labour movement in the campaign to end Canada's arms trade with Israel. This workshop will touch on workers and unions in the campaign to impose a two-way arms embargo on Israel and offer practical steps for building labour movement support for the campaign.
Vasanthi Venkatesh
Volunteer
Vasanthi is a member of Justicia for Migrant Workers (J4MW) and teaches at the Law faculty at University of Windsor where she co-directs Canada's first migrant farm worker legal clinic, which is based on law and organizing principles. She is part of the Faculty 4 Palestine network and the Chair of the Transnational Law and Racial Justice Network and has organized for Palestine liberation for several years. She has spent time in Occupied Palestine researching the migrant labour programmes instituted by Israel as a tool of dispossession and immobilization and has worked with migrant and border justice movements in several countries. She will share ideas on how communities of solidarity can be built between the migrant rights movement and Palestine liberation. How can radical resistance be mobilized to simultaneously fight against systems of dispossession, occupation, and border imperialism?
Ehab Mustapha
Speaker
Ehab is a Palestinian and advocate. He works with community groups and regional/National NPO and others to help advance policy that will assist Palestinian liberation. Panel: Divestment Now! A Reportback from Campus Divestment Campaigns Across the Region
Keyanna Jones Moore
Speaker
Keyanna is a Political and Social Justice Activist and Community Organizer in Atlanta, Georgia. She serves as Co-Pastor of Park Avenue Baptist Church, and is the proprietor of E Equals MC Squared Educational Services, LLC, where she works as a Homeschool Curriculum Consultant, IEP Advocate and German Translator. Keyanna is the the wife of Jerrod Moore and mother to their 5 unique and extraordinary children. Panel: Solidarity Between the Paths of Struggle
Dr. Nahla
Speaker
Nahla is a Syrian psychiatry resident living on (stolen) traditional lands of the Anishinaabek, Haudenosaunee, Lūnaapéewak & Attawandaron. She is an outspoken advocate for the Palestinian liberation struggle and has been working to counter the silencing of healthcare workers speaking out against the genocide in Palestine. Panel: Mobilizing Healthcare Workers for Palestine
Dr. Rabia Khan
Speaker
Rabia is the lead physician at the East Wellington Family Health Team and at EWFHT's Memory Clinic. Rabia graduated from Queen's University's medical school and McMaster's family medicine program. After graduation she practiced in Northern Ontario in a rural setting as well as overseas. Rabia moved to Rockwood with her family in 2011 and is active in the community, being a founding member of The Rockwood Farmers’ Market, member of the Upper Grand District School Board’s Diversity Committee and University of Guelph's Multi-faith Resource Team. She has been active with Guelph’s Syrian refugees settlement program.
Sheryl Nestel
Speaker
Sheryl Nestel holds a PhD from the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education of the University of Toronto, where she taught sociology and equity studies from 2000-2012. She is the author of numerous referenced journal articles, book chapters, and reports on race and racism in the health profession. She recently completed a ground-breaking research project, Unveilling the Chilly Climate: The Suppression of Speech on Palestine in Canada, written with Rowan Gaudet. She served on the steering committee of Independent Jewish Voices from 2012-2022 and is a founding member of Global Jews for Palestine. She is an Affiliated Scholar at New College, University of Toronto. She will be speaking on the IHRA definition and its use as a tool to suppress Palestinian voices.
Shatha Mahmoud
Speaker
Shatha Mahmoud is a Palestinian refugee, student, and organizer for the Palestinian Youth Movement. Shatha moderate a panel on building alliances of solidarity across liberation movements and struggles for self-determination.
Dr. Yasser Khan
Speaker
Dr. Yasser Khan is a surgeon and humanitarian. He is an Ophthalmologist and Oculoplastic surgeon who resides in the Toronto Area. He is an Associate Clinical Professor at McMaster University and the University of Toronto. He teaches innovative surgical techniques to surgeons nationally and globally. Dr. Khan is also the founder and CEO of GIVE – Global Initiative for Vision and Eyecare. Dr. Khan has done humanitarian work in regions of conflict and post-conflict in over 40 countries. He will speak about his recent return from two missions at the European Hospital in Gaza in December 2023 and March 2024.
FAQ
The conference is free for all attendees, except for the dinner on Saturday evening which will require a separate ticket. You are welcome to add a donation at check out to help cover the costs of the conference. Any additional funds will be sent directly to organizations on the ground in Gaza.
A light breakfast on both days and a lunch on Saturday will be free for all participants. Donations are welcome but not required. Saturday dinner will require a separate ticket. There will be complimentary lunch on Sunday only for Speakers, Faculty, Volunteers, G4P, Encampment Students, etc.
Please follow the link to this campus map to find parking and the University Centre: https://www.uoguelph.ca/maps/
The University Centre is accessible via Go Transit and Guelph Public Transit. Go Transit: https://www.gotransit.com/en/find-a-station-or-stop/00201/station-details Guelph Public Transit: https://guelph.ca/living/getting-around/bus/schedules/transferring-at-the-university-centre/
The venue is scooter and wheelchair accessible. Masks will be handed out at the registration desk. Please stay home if you are getting sick.
Together, we will engage in meaningful conversations, learn and share lessons and resources, and continue to propel efforts to support a free Palestine. Register now to participate in this event and support the movement during this critically important time.
- info@guelph4palestine.com
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