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Speaker Bios
Fatema Abdul Rasul recently completed her studies at the Al-Mahdi Institute, a Shia Islamic Institute, in Birmingham, UK. Before moving to the UK, she was a Coordinator in the Peace and Security Program at Citizens for Global Solutions. Fatema received her BA in Political Science and Global Studies (Middle East focus) from the University of Minnesota in December 2004. In the summer of 2004, she worked as a grant writer for the Minneapolis Red Cross. She also interned with Friends for a Non-Violent World & Peace in the Precincts. Fatema currently lives in Austin, Texas with her husband.
Tad Daley is a political author, an international policy analyst, and an activist for enduring world peace. He holds a bachelor's degree in political science, a master's degree in international studies, a Ph.D. in public policy analysis...and a law degree to fall back on if neocon Republicans stay in power forever.
He's served as a political advisor to Congresswoman Diane Watson (D-Cal, 2001-Present), the late U.S. Senator Alan Cranston (D-Cal, 1969-1993), and Congressman Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio, 1997-Present). He ran for U.S. Congress himself in a 2001 special election to represent mid-city Los Angeles. He spent many years at the RAND Corporation in Santa Monica, California, the world's oldest and largest think tank.
Tad focuses his research, writing, and advocacy on abolishing nuclear weapons, ending genocide forever, and reinventing the United Nations. He's published about 75 newspaper, magazine, and journal articles on positive future visions and the politics of hope. He's a dynamic public speaker and is presently serving as the Peace and Disarmament Fellow in the Los Angeles Office of Physicians for Social Responsibility, the Nobel Laureate anti-nuclear organization.
Scott Hoffman is the Director of the World Federalist Institute at Citizens for Global Solutions. He is also the guitar teacher at the Capitol Hill Day School and St. Peter's Interparish School, both on Capitol Hill in Washington. Mr. Hoffman served as Field Director of the World Federalist Association from 1990 to 2004 and Executive Director of the World Federalist Association of New England from 1985 to 1990. Mr. Hoffman earned a B.A. in English from Harvard College and an M.A.T. from the Harvard Graduate School of Education.
Mr. Hoffman's experience lies in U.S.-Global Engagement, Peace and Security, International Law and Justice and International Institutions. He is particularly interested in international institutions and believes that: "a portion of WFI's work should be devoted to detailed study of creating global institutions capable of preventing war and passing and enforcing binding global legislation.... I consider myself a combination of an idealist and a pragmatist. I have believed that world federation was the answer to the world's problems since I was in high school. However, I also believe it's important for Citizens for Global Solutions to have the professionalism and political savvy to convey our message with credibility so that we can influence other NGOs and decision-makers. It makes sense for it to focus most of its work on ‘first step' programs which are supported by other organizations and have a chance of succeeding within the next few years, like a U.N. Emergency Peace Service. Part of WFI's role should be to help CGS continue to frame its work within the context of our long-term goals".
Mr. Hoffman has published editorials in the American Friends Service Committee journal in New England and the World Federalist newsletter. He was also co-editor of A New World Order (WFA, 1991).
Didier Jacobs is Special Advisor to the President at Oxfam America, where he organizes the Board of Directors and senior management team, coordinates relations with Oxfam International, advises the President on the strategic direction of programs, and works on special projects such as strategic planning, impact assessment and the ONE campaign. He was previously a researcher in Oxfam America’s Policy Department, specializing on global governance and international finance. He authored the reports Global Finance Hurts the Poor and the article Democratizing Global Economic Governance.
Before joining Oxfam, Mr. Jacobs was a researcher at the London School of Economics and Catholic University of Louvain, as well as an aid worker for Médecins Sans Frontières in Liberia during the civil war. He earned a Master in Public Policy from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government and a Master in Economics from the Catholic University of Louvain.
Don Kraus is the Executive Vice President of Citizens for Global Solutions. He heads organization's government relations efforts and is the Director of its Political Action Committee. Previously he served as the Executive Director of the Campaign for UN Reform (CUNR) and its affiliated political action committee, CUNR PAC. Additionally, he currently co-chairs the Partnership for Effective Peacekeeping (PEP), an NGO working group. An expert in building U.S. legislative and government support for the U.N., Don brings his considerable enthusiasm and drive to lobbying and electioneering.
Don compiles the Global Solution Report Card, an annual assessment of congressional voting records. He has been quoted in the NY Times, the Washington Times, the Washington Post, the Boston Globe, and many other publications. He has been interviewed on CNN, BBC, NPR, and many other radio and TV shows.
Don is the president emeritus of the Center for UN Reform Education, a U.N. reform think tank. He currently serves on the advisory board of the United Nations Association, National Capitol Area. From 1980 through 1994 he was the president and co-owner of Atlanta-based United Office Supply Systems, Inc.
Myron Kronisch is a retired attorney and Vice Chair of the Center for War/Peace Studies. Mr. Kronisch has a long history of pursuing world peace through a very distinguished legal career. He served as a trial attorney with the U.S. Department of Justice in Washington and then as an assistant Essex County prosecutor from 1956 – 1959. He continued to work in private practice in a variety of capacities.
Mr. Kronisch remains dedicated to the idea of peace within a global community. He served an eight-year term as U.N. Day Chair for the state of New Jersey and in 1947 founded the Bucknell Chapter of the World Federalist Organization. He frequently lectures on UN reform and The Binding Triad.
Betty McCollum is serving her fourth term in Congress representing the families of Minnesota’s Fourth District. In 2000 McCollum made history as only the second Minnesota woman elected to Congress since statehood in 1858.
Throughout her public career, Betty McCollum has been a champion for excellence in education, protecting the environment, expanding health care access and fiscal responsibility. In Congress, McCollum is also working to defend workers’ rights and civil liberties at home, while ensuring human rights are protected around the world.
As a member of the Appropriations Subcommittee on the State Department and Foreign Operations, McCollum believes our nation’s foreign policy must reflect the values of the American people. She is working to promote effective U.S. leadership in confronting the global AIDS pandemic while supporting investments that reduce extreme poverty and hunger while improving the status and health of women and children around the world.
William Pace has worked in an array of civil society sectors over the span of two decades including work as a human rights activist, teacher, environmentalist, peace-advocate, inner-city campaigner and opponent of unsustainable development. In 1987, Mr. Pace joined Amnesty International as a director of the “Human Rights Now!” campaign concert tour in support of the 40th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Since 1994, William R. Pace has served as the Executive Director of the World Federalist Movement-Institute for Global Policy, a six decade old peace movement dedicated to promoting international democracy, global justice and the rule of law. Since 1995, Mr. Pace has served as the Convenor of the NGO Coalition for an International Criminal Court, an international network which has grown to comprise more than 2,000 organizations.
Mr. Pace served as the Secretary-General for the Hague Appeal for Peace civil society conference in 1999, a monumental gathering for peace in the capitol of the Netherlands. From 2002 through 2004, Mr. Pace also served as the President of the Center for United Nations Reform Education. Mr. Pace is a co-founder of numerous NGO networks and steering committees, including the NGO Steering Committee for the UN Commission on Sustainable Development; the Washington Coalition for Human Rights; the International NGO Task Group on Legal and Institutional Matters; the NGO Working Group on the Security Council; and the Responsibility to Protect-Engaging Civil Society initiative.
Dr. Bharat Parekh received his PhD degree in physics from the University of Rochester, Rochester, New York. He was professor of Physics and research scientist for the ND State Water Institute at North Dakota State University (NDSU), Fargo, ND from 1974 to 1987.
He has resided in the Twin Cities since 1987. An educator and consultant to several U.S. and Indian companies and NGOs, he has worked in trade and technology transfer projects related to environment and rural development including modeling watersheds.
He is a board member of several civic and arts organizations including the United Nations Association of Minnesota. Currently he is spearheading the Minnesota Millennium Initiative (MMI), which hopes to engage Minnesotans to become active players in support of the U.N. Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
Joe Schwartzberg is Emeritus Professor of Geography and former Chair of the Dept of South Asia and Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Minnesota. He frequently speaks on U.N. reform and is offering free copies of his two books to all registrants: Revitalization of the United Nations: Reform through Weighted Voting and Universal Regional Representation as a Basis for Security Council Reform.
James A. Yunker was educated at Fordham University (B.A., 1965), the University of California at Berkeley (M.A., 1966), and Northwestern University (Ph.D., 1971). He is currently Professor of Economics at Western Illinois University (Macomb, Illinois), where his principal teaching responsibilities include microeconomic theory, mathematical economics and econometrics.
Over his 35-year academic career, Yunker has published eight books and 75 articles in professional periodicals. A special interest has been the application of economic methodologies to diverse real-world problems and issues ranging from the performance evaluation of college and university faculty to the potential effectiveness of capital punishment as a deterrent to homicide. An important component of Yunker’s research and writing deals with visionary projects in the areas of socio-economic organization (pragmatic market socialism), foreign development assistance (a global Marshall Plan), and world government in the form of a supernational federation tentatively designated the Federal Union of Democratic Nations. Although the great majority of people continue to regard these concepts as highly impractical if not downright dangerous, Yunker remains hopeful that his work might be planting seeds of thought that will ultimately germinate and develop into powerful instruments for securing the long-term prosperity and security of global human civilization.
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