Spirit in Action

Iyad Burnat is a full-time non-violent activist against the Israeli occupation in Bel'in, in the West Bank. Jailed numerous times, dedicated to the creative act of non-violence, Iyad has 4 children and is currently speaking for 3 months in the USA, sharing first-hand experience of activism. His village has had some success in facing down the expropriation of their land, including at the Israeli Hi...

Aaron Ableman & Dave Room have founded Balance Edutainment to use a wide range of media in order to light young people's dreams with a vision of making a better world. They've just released Pacha's Pajamas and are rolling it out in many different forms - video, audio, app and book - with prominent names like Talib Kweli & Mos Def taking part.

Chuck Fager has served 11 years with Quaker House , situated right next to Ft. Bragg, the largest army base in the USA, and dealing daily with soldiers & the war machine, They provide peace education, advocacy & counseling, both directly & through the GI Rights Hotline (call   877-447-4487   ).

Gar Alperovitz is author of "America Beyond Capitalism: Reclaiming Our Wealth, Our Liberty, and Our Democracy", about democratizing wealth and empowering communities through worker-ownership, co-ops, community land trusts, decentralizing control, and many other strategies.

Carl Bunin is founder of PeaceButtons.info , and he's provided over 110,000 peace buttons to the world (plus lots of other stuff) and he provides a "This Week in Peace & Social Justice" email newsletter, mapping out the movements and actions that have produced remarkable changes in the last century. Formerly on the front of demonstrations, teach-ins, and the like, Carl now does his bit for the...

Pat Humphries & Sandy O are Emma's Revolution and they use their music in the service of activism and, as their web site notes, they're "like Rachel Maddow and Jon Stewart with guitars". Their latest CD, Revolutions per Minute, chronicals & participates in many of this year's dramatic movements & concerns - like Iraq, Arab Spring, the Wisconsin Uprising & the Occupy Movement. They...

John Heagle, author of Justice Rising: The Emerging Biblical Vision , has been a Catholic priest for 48 years, early working as the first director of the Office of Justice & Peace in La Crosse, WI. He’s also a licensed psychotherapist and co-director of Therapy & Renewal Associates in Lincoln City, Oregon, and the author of seven books.

The Biodynamic Farming & Gardening Association is holding their North American conference in Madison, Wisconsin, on November 14-18, 2012. Executive director, Robert Karp, speaks about the organization, biodynamics, and the conference, while keynoter & workshop leader Dennis Klocek shares about Sacred Agriculture and alchemy.

Mary Rockefeller Morgan's book is Beginning With the End: A Memoir of Twin Loss and Healing , where Mary traces the trauma and the route to healing which she experienced and now passes on to other "Twinless Twins", like the group created by the events of 9/11/2001.

Jane Dwinell's third and newest book is Freedom Through Frugality: Spend Less, Have More, an inspirational in very practical guide to saving your life's energy through frugality. Jane is lively, insightful and spiritual -- she's a Unitarian Universalist minister.

Judy Lumb is the author of Ending Cycles of Violence: Kenyan Quaker Peacemaking Response after the 2007 Elections , where she captures the historical context, the eruption of violence, and efforts in the aftermath the restore safety & connection, and to promote healing.

Guest host Robert Wolf of American Mosaic shares the poetry, prose, and voices of the homeless people he's worked with over the years. The voices are gritty and real, providing an honest glimpse of life most of us never see. In 1989 Robert started his writing workshops with the homeless of Nashville, and he's gone on to gather writings from all over the country, creating an American Mosaic, both b...

Minnesotans United for All Families is trying something new in their struggle for marriage equality - listening & telling personal stories - and it's working like nothing before has ever worked. Liz Oppenheimer & Jeanne Burns share their experience with "conversations" and Grant Stevensen, director of the Faith Dept. of Minnesotans United for All Families talks about the united effort of m...

Glen Retief paints vivid pictures and addresses vital questions of identity & social justice in The Jack Bank: A Memoir of a South African Childhood . His stories deal with race, apartheid, homosexuality and homophobia, physical violence, sexual abuse - and much more - and he leads us on a journey of discovery and insight. And I learned that Post-Apartheid South Africa was the first country to...

Dan Dieterich is a founding member of ICE - Interfaith Community for the Earth, an organization formed to fight global warming and promote ecological well-beling. ICE is a member of Wisconsin Interfaith Power & Light. Working at the local level, ICE is a good example of how a small group of folks can harness their energy, in community, to bring about the big changes our world needs.

Dan Dieterich is a founding member of ICE - Interfaith Community for the Earth, an organization formed to fight global warming and promote ecological well-beling. ICE is a member of Wisconsin Interfaith Power & Light . Working at the local level, ICE is a good example of how a small group of folks can harness their energy, in community, to bring about the big changes our world needs.

Wendy Call spent 3 years with organizers in southern Mexico, the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, facing the threat of globalization in the form of a Megaproject to develop the area.

David Campbell, co-author of American Grace, speaks about the rise of non-religious affiliated "nones" in the USA, issues like abortion & same-sex marriage (and how they divide us), how the hippie 60's led to the rise of the Religious Right, and much more. With piercing insight, solid documentation & historical richness, American Grace is an invaluable resource to make sense of the religio...

Noa Baum is an Israeli-born woman now living in the USA who has found her avocation in telling stories, who came to my attention through her one-woman story-telling show called A Land Twice Promised , about the personal stories of people vying for or sharing the land variously called Israel or Palestine. Stories can change hearts and find a way forward in places where argument is powerless or coun...

The topic is the Transition Town movement and the experience of Steve Chase, Director of Advocacy for Social Justice and Sustainability at Antioch University New England and involved with the Keene, NH, transition, and Ruah Swennerfelt, former long-time long-time General Secretary of Quaker Earthcare Witness and is currently involved with the Transition Town implementation in Charlotte, VT.

Azher Usman is an author, artist, activist, philanthropist, lawyer, but most of all he's a very serious comedian. He gave the keynote address at the Ways of Peace II Conference on Nonviolence in the Islamic Tradition sponsored by FNVW . He's been part of the Allah Made Me Funny - Official Muslim Comedy Tour , The Laughing Peace Tour and The Make Chai, Not War Tour .

Mel Duncan is a founder and force behind Nonviolent Peaceforce , an important evolution in the work of unarmed, well-trained, civilian peacekeepers. With active programs in Sri Lanka, the Philippines, Sudan and engaging soon in South Caucasus, Nonviolent Peaceforce has drawn widespread recognition and support, including funding from UNICEF, an upcoming training at the UN, and invitations from head...

Our racism is mostly invisible to us because all the assumptions around it seem "normal" to us, The authors of Seeing White: An introduction to White Privilege and Race lead us through a rigorous inspection of the history and present of racism in the USA - and the way out of this ingrained social construction.

Peter Edelman's new book is So Rich, So Poor: Why It's So Hard to End Poverty in America , and he brings great credentials an passion to the concern. As an aide to Senator Robert Kennedy, having servied in Washington in various posts, including the one he resigned from during the Clinton administration in protest of the "welfare reform" that Clinton signed, he knows the nuts & bolts as well as...

Guest host today is Robert Wolf of American Mosaic and Free River Press , and he takes us on a visit to the Pine Ridge Reservation, a place of poverty and Spirit, and site of Wounded Knee and the stand-off with the American Indian Movement.