[van-announce] Interfaith Summer Institute - Public Forum - Prophetic Religion and Solidarity

[itrath]

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The Interfaith Summer Institute for Justice, Peace and Social Movements and
the JS Woodsworth Lecture Series announce:







Prophetic Religion and Solidarity







with Junaid Ahmad 

April 1, 2007
SFU Harbour Centre, Room 1800
515 West Hastings, Vancouver
3:30PM - 5:00PM 







The call to justice is paramount in all religious traditions. We see the
realization of the theory and practice of the ideals of social justice and
liberation in the lives of all the great prophets. The prophetic paradigm of
resistance to injustice and common cause with the weak and oppressed is a
part of our common faith-based and secular history . The task for us today
is to translate this prophetic tradition into concrete social justice work
of solidarity with those who suffer oppression and exploitation.












Junaid S. Ahmad is a JD candidate in law at the College of William and Mary
School of Law, Williamsburg , VA. He is on the Executive Board of the
Domestic Violence Resource Project (DVRP). For the past few years, he has
worked with the National Interfaith Committee on Worker Justice - building
alliances with some of the leading religious figures - of all faith
backgrounds - who are working on issues of worker and social justice. He has
presented on this theme of interfaith solidarity for worker justice at the
previous two annual meetings of the largest gathering of Muslims in North
America , the Islamic Society of North America convention. In addition, he
has worked as a labor organizer in Washington , DC , on two principal
campaigns, the "Justice for Janitors" campaign and the Hotel and Restaurant
Workers campaign, as part of the national organization, Service Employees
International Union (SEIU). He has been active in campus and community
living wage campaigns, and is at present part of the Williamsburg, VA-based
group, Tidewater Labor Support Committee (TLSC), a group advancing the
rights of workers on the campus of the College of William and Mary.

Junaid is an editor of the Richmond Independent Media Center . He has been a
longtime activist on issues related to corporate-led globalization, HIV/AIDS
and gender justice, and militarism and war, working in organizations such as
Amnesty International and the Mobilization for Global Justice (MGJ). He
writes for webzines (such as ZNet, Counterpunch, Hot Coals, Left Hook, etc)
and has written for magazines and journals such as Left Turn, Chowrangi
(progressive Pakistani-American magazine), Muslim Public Affairs Journal,
Studies in Contemporary Islam, and Islamic Studies. In Pakistan , he has
worked with groups such as Educate Pakistan and the Peoples Rights Movement,
the latter being at the forefront of issues related to social and economic
justice in Pakistan . He continues to maintain an association with Positive
Muslims, the Cape Town-based organization working on issues related to
Muslims, HIV/AIDS, and gender justice, a group with which he worked while he
was in South Africa in 2004.

He is currently involved in a collaborative project with the International
Islamic University, Islamabad , on developing an annual "State of the Muslim
World" report. Most recently, he, along with other Muslims, has formed the
Abu Dharr Collective, which is committed to the ideal of social justice and
to articulating an Islamic theology of liberation.


This lecture is free but reservations are recommended: 604.291.5100 or
cs_hc at sfu.ca