Our webinar on “Palestine and Global Peace” took place on Wednesday, April 3rd, at 6 pm, Sydney time, and was broadcast across an array of social media channels. It was a privilege for Fighting Fathers Ministries to be able to bring together three world authorities on this subject. I will give a brief bio of each of speakers below. If you’d like to see and hear the other six webinars we have broadcast on this issue, visit Father Dave’s sermon and article blog here.
Father Dave
Bishop Riah Abu El-Assal is a Palestinian Anglican bishop. He was the Bishop of Jerusalem from 1997 to 2007. Born: 6 November 1937, he is now 86 years old and has not slowed down. Indeed, he joins us on a tight schedule, departing for Cyprus within an hour of this webinar’s conclusion!
Riah’s origins are in Nazareth, I believe, where he was a member of the Progressive List for Peace – a joint Jewish-Arab political party which existed between 1984 and1992, and profoundly influenced subsequent Israeli politics.
My best memories of Riah are from his trip to Sydney in the early 2000’s, and most especially for the role he played in saving the life of my friend, Mordechai Vanunu – the ‘nuclear whistle blower’ – to whom Riah gave sanctuary in his Cathedral in Jerusalem after Morde’s release from gaol in April, 2004.
Rev Dr Stephen Sizer is the founder and director of Peacemaker Trust, chair of the Convivencia Alliance and the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions – ICAHD-UK.
Dr. Chandra Muzaffar is the President of the International Movement for a Just World (JUST), an international NGO based in Malaysia, which seeks to critique global injustice and to develop an alternative vision of a just and compassionate civilisation guided by universal spiritual and moral values.
He has published extensively on civilizational dialogue, international politics, religion, human rights and Malaysian society. The author and editor of 32 books in English and Malay, many of his writings have been translated into other languages. Among Chandra’s latest publications are, A World in Crisis: Is There a Cure? and Reflections on Malaysian Unity and Other Challenges.
In l977, he founded a multi-ethnic social reform group called ALIRAN which he led for 14 years. Today, apart from his role in JUST, Chandra sits on the board of a number of international NGOs concerned with social justice and civilizational dialogue.
Chandra was Professor and Director of the Centre for Civilisational Dialogue, University of Malaya (1997-1999) and Professor of Global Studies at Universiti Sains Malaysia (2007-2012) Chandra travels abroad frequently, giving lectures and speaking at seminars and conferences. He is also a regular speaker at meetings at home in Malaysia.
Chandra is the recipient of a number of international awards related to his scholarship and social activism. He is married to Mariam and they have two daughters.
