East Timor & Indonesia Action Network Speaker Roster

Each of the individuals listed below can be contacted to speak at public events, schools, universities, meetings and to peace and justice groups or other interested organizations. Honorarium and compensation for travel expenses should be arranged with each speaker individually.

Please let us know about any speaking events you set up so that we can keep track of East Timor-related activity around the country and help publicize the event to other interested people in your region. It's also helpful if you can inform us when you've issued invitations to speakers from outside your local area.

We can be reached at 718-596-7668, e-mail etan@etan.org.. Please don't hesitate to contact us with questions, problems, or requests for more information!

a luta continua,

ETAN

Check latest scheduled talks and events

California

Pamela Sexton Watsonville, CA 831-724-8051 pamelasexton@sbcglobal.net
Pam is a public school teacher who studied and taught in Yogyakarta, Indonesia in the early 90s, and has been active with ETAN since then, including as an executive committee member. During 1999 she made three trips to East Timor ­ first with an exploratory team for Peace Brigades International, then as an election observer with IFET-OP during the UN-organized referendum on independence, and later to assess grassroots needs in the wake of the extreme post-election violence. From 2000-2002, Pam lived and worked in Timor-Leste, where she helped to establish La'o Hamutuk (The East Timor Institute for Reconstruction Monitoring and Analysis) as one of its first staff members. Pam spent most of 2009 in Timor-Leste, working with the Ministry of Social Solidarity on a peacebuilding "Dialogue Project" and with Fokupers, a national women's organization. Pam has also spent time in both West Papua and Aceh.

New York

Primary New York Contact (please inform John of all New York events so he can help publicize & coordinate): 

John M. Miller Brooklyn, NY 718-596-7668, john@etan.org 
John M. Miller co-founded ETAN in 1991. He is ETAN's National Coordinator and has been on staff since late 1996. He co-coordinates ETAN's New York chapter. He, along with ETAN, received the John Rumbiak Human Rights Defenders Award for 2009. He oversees the east-timor listserv of english-language news. He is Treasurer of the War Resisters League, author of numerous articles and pamphlets, and editor and/or publisher for several newsletters and magazines. He served as staff for a Parliamentarians for East Timor observer mission to the 1999 referendum in East Timor and most recently visited East Timor and Indonesia in August-September 2009. John has appeared on CNN, CNBC, BBC, Canadian Broadcasting, Pacifica's Democracy Now! and a numerous other local radio programs. He has written for Foreign Policy in Focus, Inside Indonesia, Peacework, WIN Magazine and elsewhere.

Amy Goodman (contact John M. Miller, 718-596-7668)
Amy Goodman is a radio journalist and host of the nationally broadcast Pacifica Radio program "Democracy Now!" A survivor of the 1991 Santa Cruz massacre in East Timor, she was deported from Indonesia in 1999 while attempting to cover the United Nations-run consultation in East Timor. She describes her experiences in East Timor in her book The Exception to the Rulers.

Craig Hughes, Washington, DC, craigjessehughes[at]yahoo.com
Craig Hughes is a  former ETAN intern and a current member of the ETAN Executive Committee. He was a participant in the 2007 Solidarity Observer Mission for East Timor (SOMET) in Dili, Timor-Leste and often organizes ETAN events in New York City and elsewhere. In addition to work with ETAN, Craig has been involved with anti-neoliberal, youth, international solidarity, and homeless organizing efforts over past decade.

Joseph Nevins Poughkeepsie, NY  845-437-7823 office,  joe@etan.org
Joe is an associate professor of geography at Vassar College. He is the author of A Not-So-Distant Horror:  Mass Violence in East Timor  from Cornell University Press  (2005). Under the pen name Matthew Jardine, he also wrote East Timor: Genocide in Paradise (Odonian Press and Common Courage Press, 1999, 2nd edition) and co-authored (with Constancio Pinto) East Timor's Unfinished Struggle: Inside the Timorese Resistance (South End Press, 1997). During 1999, he served as a United Nations-accredited international observer for the referendum in the Indonesian-occupied territory. In 2000, he helped to found La'o Hamutuk, the Dili-based East Timor Institute for Reconstruction Monitoring and Analysis. Joe has made seven trips to East Timor since 1992.

Oregon

Will Seaman Portland, OR 360-212-4029 (o) 503-235-4986 (h)  503-888-7455 (cell), wseaman@comcast.net
Will is a long time human rights activist who has been working on the issue of East Timor since the early 1980's. He is the coordinator of the East Timor Action Network Oregon, and spent 7 weeks in East Timor as logistics coordinator of the IFET observer project. He is available to speak within driving distance of Portland on weekdays and is able to travel farther for weekend speaking events.

Washington, DC

Karen Orenstein, Washington, DC, karen@etan.org
Karen Orenstein is a former National Coordinator of ETAN and was on staff from July 1999 to July 2006. Through ETAN's grassroots network and direct lobbying, Karen worked to effect change in US foreign policy as it relates to East Timor, Indonesia, and human rights in general. In April 2000, she co-led a congressional delegation to investigate the conditions of East Timorese refugees in Indonesian West Timor. Prior to ETAN, Karen worked on a number of international human rights issues. She is currently on the staff of Friends of the Earth working on international issues.

Wisconsin

Diane Farsetta Madison, WI  608-255-4598 (h), diane@etan.org
Diane has been the coordinator of the ETAN/Madison chapter since 1997, and led the effort to join Madison and Ainaro in the first U.S.-East Timor sister-city relationship, which was approved in 2001. Diane has visited East Timor several times, including as a United Nations-accredited observer of the 1999 referendum with IFET, and as part of sister-city delegations. She also served as ETAN's national field organizer from 2000 to 2003. Currently, Diane does research and reporting for the Center for Media and Democracy (www.prwatch.org), a media watchdog group, and volunteers at WORT 89.9 fm, a Pacifica.

Eric Piotrowski Madison, WI (608) 244-4563, eric@etan.org 
Eric Piotroswki has been a member of the East Timor Action Network since 1996. In 1998 he helped start ETAN/Florida. A secondary school English teacher by day,  In 1999 he served as Assistant U.S. Coordinator for the IFET Observer Project. He designed the websites of IFET and La'o Hamutuk. Eric traveled to East Timor in 2005 with the Madison-Ainaro Sister City Alliance (MASA). In his spare time, Eric works with Amnesty International, the Labor Party, and various independent music and literature organizations.

Local Chapters and Contacts There may be one in your area.
East Timor/Worldwide Support

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