Alvin Toffler was an American writer, who wrote on futurism related to communication, digitalization and corporate growth. He was known to be the ‘world’s most famous futurologists’ and is considered as an important influence in shaping of the modern China.

He started as being an associate editor at the ‘Fortune’ magazine and did analysis for them in the field of business and management. Before that, he devoted some of his youth in working at the labor’s level and then became a labor columnist, shared his experience and analysis on the working class. His earlier writings focused on the expansion of technology and its impact on the society which got him research works form companies like IBM and AT & T.

Toffler from there on wrote books like ‘Future Shock’, ‘The Third Wave’, etc. in which he addressed the problems of information overload, increasing military hardware, weapons and technology proliferation, and capitalism. Owing to his impeccable understanding of the future impact of the current revolutionary technological changes, he was a member of the International Institute for Strategic Studies, serves on the advisory board of the Comptroller-General of the United States, and has been elected a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

He married to Heidi Toffler, who was a futurist and intellectual in her own right and had an active influence on Toffler’s professional growth.

James George Abourezk was a Democratic United States Representative and United States Senator, and was the first Arab-American to serve in the United States Senate. He represented South Dakota in the U.S. Senate from 1973 until 1979.

He was elected as a Democrat to the House of Representatives, and served from 1971 to 1973. He then was elected to the U.S. Senate, where he served until 1979.

As a senator, he criticized the Office of Public Safety (OPS), a U.S. agency linked to the USAID and the CIA that provided training to foreign police forces. He also was the chair of the Senate Select Committee on Indian Affairs and of the American Indian Policy Review Commission. Abourezk was an early supporter of the National initiative and with fellow Senator Mark O. Hatfield (R-OR) introducted an amendment allowing more direct democracy. However, this initiative failed.

In an interview with Counterpunch on April 16, 2006, Abourezk called the groups Hamas and Hezbollah "resistance fighters". [1] He repeated this statement in a 2007 interview on Hezbollah's Al Manar television network and stated that that he "marveled at the Hezbollah resistance to Israel. ... It was a marvel of organization, of courage and bravery.

In th Counterpunch interview, Abourezk also argued that America's support of Israel endures because "the Congress is pretty much reliant on money from radical Zionists".

He reiterated this statement in an editorial for Electronic Intifada on July 30, 2006, where he wrote:"...the U.S. Congress is despicable in its silence. They are all bought off by the Israel lobby and are afraid to criticize. If this were happening in any other country by any other country, there would be speeches on the floor of Congress, legislation introduced to stop aid and other help to whomever would be committing this cruelty. But since their campaign money comes from the Israeli lobby, we hear only silence."

In a letter dated December 2006, Abourezk wrote: "I can tell you from personal experience that, at least in the Congress, the support Israel has in that body is based

completely on political fear - fear of defeat by anyone who does not do what Israel wants done. I can also tell you that very few members of Congress—at least when I served there—have any affection for Israel or for its Lobby. What they have is contempt, but it is silenced by fear of being found out exactly how they feel. I’ve heard too many cloakroom conversations in which members of the Senate will voice their bitter feelings about how they’re pushed around by the Lobby to think otherwise. In private one hears the dislike of Israel and the tactics of the Lobby, but not one of them is willing to risk the Lobby’s animosity by making their feelings public...

I see no desire on the part of Members of Congress to further any U.S. imperial dreams by using Israel as their pit bull. The only exceptions to that rule is the feelings of Jewish members, who, I believe, are sincere in their efforts to keep U.S. money flowing to Israel. I believe that divestment, and especially cutting off U.S.  aid to Israel would immediately result in Israel’s giving up the West Bank and leaving the Gaza to the Palestinians. 

Such pressure would work, I think, because the Israeli  public would be able to determine what is causing their misery and would demand that an immediate peace

agreement be made with the Palestinians."

In an August 30, 2007 interview on the Hezbullah TV network Al-Manar, as translated by MEMRI, Abourezk stated that "the Arabs who were involved in 9/11 cooperatedwith the Zionists. It was a cooperation. They gave them the perfect excuse to denounce all Arabs."

In 1980, Abourezk founded the American-Arab Anti Discrimination Committee, a grassroots civil rights organization. In 1989, he wrote Advise and Dissent: Memoirs of South Dakota and the U.S. Senate  and he is the co-author of "Through Different Eyes: Two Leading Americans — a Jew and an Arab — Debate U. S. Policy in the Middle East."

Abourezk now works as a lawyer and writer in South Dakota.

Arun Gandhi - Grandson of Mahatma Gandhi

Info: Mahatma Gandhi was a leader and a friend to all throughout his life. He dedicated his life to fostering the philosophy of nonviolent action, and spreading this concept throughout the world. Born on October 2, 1869, Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi did not live an easy life. He struggled to find freedom for his countrymen and to spread his belief in nonviolent resistance. Given the name Mahatma, meaning “great soul,” he spread his message across the globe.

Mahatma Gandhi's grandson, Arun, continues the work of his grandfather through the M.K. Gandhi Institute for Nonviolence founded in 1991 by Arun and his wife founded in 1991 by the grandson of Mahatma Gandhi, Arun and his wife, Sunanda.  

Born in 1934 in Durban, South Africa, Arun is the fifth grandson of India’s legendary leader, Mohandas K. “Mahatma” Gandhi. Growing up under the discriminatory apartheid laws of South Africa, he was beaten by “white” South Africans for being too black and “black” South Africans for being too white; so, Arun sought eye-for-an-eye justice. However, he learned from his parents and grandparents that justice does not mean revenge, it means transforming the opponent through love and suffering.

Grandfather taught Arun to understand nonviolence through understanding violence. “If we know how much passive violence we perpetrate against one another we will understand why there is so much physical violence plaguing societies and the world,” Gandhi said. Through daily lessons, Arun says, he learned about violence and about anger.

Arun shares these lessons all around the world. For the past five years, he has participated in the Renaissance Weekend deliberations with President Clinton and other well-respected Rhodes Scholars. This year, some of his engagements included speaking at the Chicago Children’s Museum and the Women’s Justice Center in Ann Arbor, Michigan. He also delivered talks at the Young President’s Organization in Mexico, the Trade Union Leaders’ Meeting in Milan, Italy, as well as the Peace and Justice Center in St. Louis, Missouri. Sometimes, his journeys take him even further. Arun has spoken in Croatia, France, Ireland, Holland, Lithuania, Nicaragua, China, and Japan. Also, he is a very popular speaker on college campuses. In the past year, he spoke at the University of Rochester, North Dakota State University, Concordia College, Baker University, Morehouse College, Marquette University, and the University of San Diego.

Arun is very involved in social programs and writing as well. Shortly after Arun married his wife Sunanda, they were informed the South African government would not allow her to accompany him there. Sunanda and Arun decided to live in India, and Arun worked for 30 years as a journalist for The Times of India. Together, Arun and Sunanda started projects for the social and economic upliftment of the oppressed using constructive programs, the backbone of Gandhi’s philosophy of nonviolence. The programs changed the lives of more than half a million people in over 300 villages and they still continue to grow. Arun is the author of several books. The first, A Patch of White (1949), is about life in prejudiced South Africa; then, he wrote two books on poverty and politics in India; followed by a compilation of M.K. Gandhi's Wit & Wisdom. He also edited a book of essays on World Without Violence: Can Gandhi’s Vision Become Reality? And, more recently, wrote The Forgotten Woman: The Untold Story of Kastur, the Wife of Mahatma Gandhi, jointly with Sunanda.

Dennis Kucinich was born in Cleveland, Ohio on October 8, 1946. He is the eldest of 7 children of Frank and Virginia Kucinich. He and his family lived in twenty-one places, including a couple of cars, by the time Kucinich was 17 years old. "I live each day with a grateful heart and a desire to be of service to humanity," he says.

In his fifth term in the United States House,  Congressman Kucinich was a leader for Universal Health Care, a full employment economy, fully-paid tuition at public colleges and universities, repeal of the Patriot Act, the development of bio-fuels as alternative energy and restoration of America's basic manufacturing and infrastructure. He lead an effort to support the role of NASA in the development of basic research for civil aeronautics.

Kucinich's 2008 presidential platform had a comprehensive plan for universal healthcare, withdrawal from Iraq, free primary, secondary and college education, abolishing the death penalty and repealing the Patriot Act.  In addition, he has plans for clean energy, social security plan for those at 65, banning handguns, women's right to choose abortion and ratifying the ABM Treaty and the Kyoto Protocol.

Dennis Kucinich and wife Elizabeth formed Kucinich Consulting which works with institutions, companies, causes and individuals to bring global social, economic, health, food, agricultural and ecological systems into balance.

Wangari Muta Maathai (born April 1, 1940 in the village, Nyeri District) is a Kenyan environmental and political activist. In 2004 she was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for "her contribution to sustainable development, democracy and peace" — the first African woman to receive the award.  Dr. Maathai is also an elected member of Parliament and served as Assistant Minister for Environment and Natural Resources in the government of President Mwai Kibaki between January 2003 and November 2005. She is a member of Kikuyu ethnic group.

In 1977, Maathai founded the Green Belt Movement, a grassroots environmental non-governmental organization, which has now planted over 30 million trees across the country to prevent soil erosion. She has come to be affectionately called "Tree Woman". Since then, she has been increasingly active on both environmental and women's issues.

Maathai was also the former chairperson of Maendeleo Ya Wanawake (the National Council of Women of Kenya). In the 1980s her husband divorced her, saying she was too strong-minded for a woman, and that he was unable to control her. The judge in the divorce case agreed with the husband.

During the regime of President Daniel Arap Moi, she was imprisoned several times and violently attacked for demanding multi-party elections and an end to political corruption and tribal politics. In 1989 Maathai almost single-handedly saved Nairobi's Uhuru Park by stopping the construction by Moi's business associates of the 60-story Kenya Times Media Trust business complex.

In 2002 Maathai was elected to parliament when the National Rainbow Coalition, which she represented, defeated the ruling party Kenya African National Union. She has been Assistant Minister in the Ministry of Environment, Natural Resources and Wildlife since 2003. She founded the Mazingira Green Party of Kenya in 2003.

On 28 March 2005, she was elected as the first president of the African Union's Economic, Social and Cultural Council.  In 2006 she was one of the eight flag bearers at the 2006 Winter Olympics Opening Ceremony. Also on May 21, 2006 she was awarded an honorary doctorate by and gave the commencement address at Connecticut College.

Her autobiography, Unbowed: One Woman’s Story, was released in 2006 for which she is currently on speaking tour in the United States.

A native of East Syracuse, New York, Tom Kenny began his career doing stand-up comedy. He hosted the TV series An Evening at the Improv before making his first foray into acting with a role in the feature film How I Got Into College (1989), starring Anthony Edwards and Lara-Flynn Boyle. A stint as the host of Friday Night Videos (1990-1994) followed. He soon established himself as an accomplished voiceover artist in addition to guest roles on series such as Brotherly Love, Malibu Shores, Just Shoot Me and Roswell.

After providing voices on TV for Mr. Show (he also wrote for it), Dumb and Dumber, Dragon Ball Z, Godzilla: The Series and Dilbert, he landed the lead role as the voice of SpongeBob SquarePants in 1999. He also continues to play small roles in movies and on television, and in 2004, again provided the voice of SpongeBob in the feature The Spongebob SquarePants Movie. Some of his more recent work include the voice of Zilius Zox in the television show The Green Lantern: The Animated Series and a character in the animated film Back to the Sea (2012).  Other works: The Spongebob SquarePants Movie - Family Favourites (2012), The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water (2015,  LEGO DC Super Hero Girls: Brain Drain (2017) and what will be the 3rd SpongeBob film The SpongeBob Movie (2019).

Kenny has one child with his wife, actress Jill Talley.

Ward Churchill is a writer, political activist, and academic. He is a tenured full professor of ethnic studies at the University of Colorado at Boulder, and author of over 20 books and hundreds of essays. In addition to his academic writing, Churchill has written for several general readership magazines of political opinion. His work is primarily about the U.S. and its historical treatment of political dissenters and of American Indian peoples.

Churchill was widely discussed and criticized in the mass media in 2005, for a 2001 essay in which Churchill questioned the innocence of many of the people killed in the World Trade Center attacks, labeling them as "technocrats" and "little Eichmanns."  The University of Colorado stated support for Churchill's right to engage in controversial political speech.

Following an investigation of Churchill's past research, the University's Standing Committee on Research Misconduct recommended Churchill be sanctioned for repeated acts of "serious research misconduct." On June 26, 2006, CU Interim Chancellor Phil DiStefano issued a notice of intent to dismiss Churchill from his faculty position at the University of Colorado Boulder.  Some observers concerned with academic freedom argue that the investigation is in retaliation for Churchill's controversial statements about the World Trade Center attacks.  Churchill has filed an appeal against his proposed dismissal.

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Ward Churchill is perhaps one of the most provocative thinkers around. A Creek and enrolled Keetoowah Band Cherokee, Churchill is a longtime Native rights activist. He has been heavily involved in the American Indian Movement and the Leonard Peltier Defense Committee. He is Professor of Ethnic Studies at the University of Colorado and has served as a delegate to the UN Working Group on Indigenous Populations.

One of Churchill’s areas of expertise is the history of the U.S. government’s genocide of Native Americans—the chronic violation of treaties and systematic extermination of North American indigenous populations. His many books include A Little Matter of Genocide: Holocaust and Denial in the Americas: 1492 to Present (1998) and The COINTELPRO Papers: Documents from the FBI’s Secret Wars Against Dissent in the U.S. (2nd edition, 2002). His new book, On the Justice of Roosting Chickens: Reflections on the Consequences of U.S. Imperial Arrogance and Criminality,  published by AK Press (www.akpress.org).

Archbishop Desmond Tutu is a South African Anglican cleric who became one of the central leaders of the global peace movement. An outspoken defender of human rights and campaigner for the oppressed, Desmond Tutu’s eloquent advocacy and brave leadership lead to the end of South African apartheid in 1993 and the installation of Nelson Mandela as the nation’s first black President. The Archbishop has dedicated his life to reshaping conversations about peace, equality and forgiveness. In 1984, Tutu earned the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts as a global peace maker and now devotes his time with the Desmond and Leah Tutu Legacy Foundation and the Desmond Tutu Peace Foundation to teaching youth the powerful role and voice they play in creating a more compassionate and peaceful world.

Since the demise of apartheid, Desmond Tutu has been active in the defense of human rights and uses his high profile to campaign for the oppressed. He has campaigned to fight HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, poverty,racism, sexism, the imprisonment of Chelsea Manning, homophobia and transphobia. He received the Nobel Peace Prizein 1984; the Albert Schweitzer Prize for Humanitarianism in 1986; the Pacem in Terris Award in 1987; the Sydney Peace Prize in 1999; the Gandhi Peace Prize in 2007; and the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2009. He has also authored several books including the Book of Forgiving which he co-wrote with his daughter, the Reverend Mpho Tutu, and the forthcoming Book of Joy which he is co-authoring with his friend the Dalai Lama.