Staff
Mubarak Awad founded Nonviolence International in 1989 after being expelled from Palestine for helping the creation of a nonviolent action campaign and the first intifada. He has worked for 30 years as an advocate for youth and started many programs that provide services for thousands of troubled and neglected young people across the United States. He is married to Nancy Nye, has 2 children and 1 grandchild.
Michael Beer has been the Executive Director of Nonviolence International since the 1998. He takes a special pride in biking 9km to work everyday. Michael is a long-time activist for human rights, minority rights and against war and casino capitalism. He has trained activists in many countries, including Burma, Kosovo, Tibet, Indonesia, Thailand, Cambodia, India, USA and Zimbabwe. Michael is the co-parent of 2 children along with his life partner, Latanja.
Saeed Uri is a graduate student in the International Peace and Conflict Resolution program at American University. He is Nonviolence International’s webmaster, as well as the Director of Arab Educational Programs. He completed high school in Ramallah, Palestine.
Mariam Abuhaideri earned her Bachelors of Arts degree in Journalism and Global Studies, cum laude, at the University of West Georgia in 2009. She joined NI as a Research Fellow and has a particular interest in human rights and conflict resolution. She is fluent in five languages including Farsi and Hindi. Mariam was born and raised in Pune, India, has visited Uganda and Southern Sudan, and will be visiting Thailand and Burma in August. She intends to use her journalistic skills to become the voice of those from whom it has been taken away.
Asna Husin serves as the Indonesia Country Director for Nonviolence International. in 2001 she founded the program of Islamic Peace Education in the high schools of Aceh in the middle of a civil war. She was able to convince the government and rebels to support the program, which was designed to educate young people about how to fight for peace and justice without picking up a gun. Dr. Husin has more recently produced another peace education curriculum for religious high schools and clerics in Aceh, through which over 100,000 children have received education on nonviolent struggle. She is married to Dr. Karim Crow (former Director of Islamic programs for Nonviolence International).
Andre Kamenshikov serves as the Director of Nonviolence International’s programs in Russia and Commonwealth of Independant States. He is a leader in peace building programs in the region and particularly the Caucuses. He was the first and most prominant voice to warn of a pending civil war in Chechnya, and since then, he has devoted himself to promoting reconciliation and understanding in many parts of the former Soviet Union. He is a father of 2 children.
Andres Thomas Conteris serves as Director of Latin America Programs. He founded and supports the Spanish Headline News for Democracy now. For decades, he has worked to end US’s unproductive and often itnrusive policies in Latin America and even went on a famously 40-day hunger strike in front of the White House to end the US military occupation of Vieques, Puerto Rico. He is based in Marin County, California.
Matthew Chandler is the Deputy Director of Nonviolence International as of August 2009. He has a BA in Philosophy and Christian Ministries from George Fox University in Newberg, Oregon, and an MA in International Peace and Conflict Resolution from American University in Washington, DC. He previously served three years as a full-time member of Christian Peacemaker Teams in Iraq and the West Bank.
