Facing Conflict / Making Peace

Meditations on Activism - January 19, 2005

Topic:  Activists and martial artists are often portrayed as angry and violent people. These stereotypes can discourage individuals from getting involved in both types of activities. They also can prevent martial artists or activists from seeing their commonalities and the potential for working together as allies. Join us as Martha Thompson moderates a panel of activists discussing how the principles of conflict resolution espoused at Thousand Waves do or do not resonate within their activist work. They’ll also discuss the catalyst for their initial activism, its emotional components, and their understanding of the cycle of violence and how their work seeks to interrupt it.

Picture (Left to Right): Martha Thompson, Moisés Villada, Mehrdad Azemun, Chris Inserra and Jeff Edwards

Martha Thompson (moderator) is a Professor of Sociology and Women’s studies at Northeastern Illinois University where she has taught since 1977. Her current academic projects include: passionate analysis in the college classroom, breastfeeding in public, and using popular media to explore intersections of class, gender, race, and sexuality. As a student at Kent State University (1965-1970), Martha attended anti-war, civil rights, and student movement activities. In 1970, she joined the first women’s liberation movement group at Kent which combined with the National Guards’ killing/injury of students and its aftermath cemented her commitment to working actively for social justice and social change. She has focused on issues as they arise within the communities with which she has connections (e.g. child care, educational and employment discrimination, health, homophobia, housework, racism, reproduction, sexism, sexual harassment, violence) and has used various strategies (e.g. advocacy groups, alternative structures, guerrilla theater, lawsuits, liberatory pedagogy, marches, negotiations, rallies, sit-ins). She is currently the coordinator and an instructor for IMPACT Chicago Self-Defense and was most recently a picket captain and assistant “strike diva” for the strike at Northeastern Illinois University. Martha is a second degree black belt in Seido Karate at Thousand Waves, and has studied karatedo for 13 years. 

Mehrdad Azemun is Senior Organizer with the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights. He has over 10 years of social change experience in community organizing, immigrant rights and environmental sustainability. Mehrdad was born in Iran; his family came to the United States shortly before the start of the Iran Hostage Crisis and the Iranian Revolution. He has built issue-based and electoral campaigns aimed at change on the local, state and federal level and is now engaged in working with the Muslim, Arab and South Asian community and post-9/11 civil liberties and immigration issues. He is also a board member of the Institute for Conservation Leadership and a founder of Stone Soup Cooperative, a housing cooperative in Chicago focused on building joy and justice.

Jeff Edwards is an Associate Professor of Political Science at Roosevelt University, where he has taught since 1988. As an academic he is currently studying the economics and politics of urban gentrification, and is at work on a report on the issue for the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force's Policy Institute. He is a lifelong political activist and grassroots organizer who over time has worked across a number of different issue areas (anti-war, anti-racism, labor rights, AIDS, prisoner rights, anti-death penalty, anti-gentrification/pro-affordable housing, and gender and sexual freedom and equality), in a number of different modes (electoral politics, street protest, propaganda production, and advocacy/lobbying within the political system.) Since arriving in Chicago in 1988 his activist home has been in ACT UP/Chicago, and then in Queer to the Left, an organization of LGBT people devoted to issues that address simultaneously issues of class, gender, race, and sexuality. The group's most sustained work has been around the issues of gentrification and the death penalty. He recently joined the steering committee of the Chicago Workers Rights Board, an advocacy project of the Chicago Federation of Labor that focuses mostly on the welfare and rights of immigrant and low-wage workers. Jeff is a brown belt in Seido Karate at Thousand Waves, and has studied karatedo for 5 years. 

Chris Inserra is a local and national organizer for the School of the Americas Watch. She is a founder and ongoing member of the political folk group, Voices. Voices combines original music with protest songs to continually build coalitions and lift spirits for the ongoing struggle. She is a frequent singer at rallies, anti-war protests, and benefits for organizations involved in ending the violence, challenging militarism, and ending discrimination. From 1980-88 Chris taught seventh and eighth grades to families from the primarily low income and refugee population of Uptown. From 1988-1996 she codirected Women for Guatemala. Currently, as an active volunteer in the Chicago Public School system, a few of her many commitments include a focus on the local community, tutoring children in her neighborhood, volunteering at Senn High School peer jury project, serving on Peirce Elementary Local School Council, participating in the Peirce Multilingual Parent Teacher Student Organization, and teaching music. Most recently, she has worked with the Save Senn Coalition. She is a mother of three children who have truly blessed her life. Eight year old Gabriel has been training at Thousand Waves for over two years. 

Moisés Villada is an undergraduate student at Roosevelt University where he is majoring in Integrated Communications (Advertising). His activist work relating to LGBT issues is centered at the local level. He has been the president of Roosevelt University’s LGBTQ&A student group, RU Proud, for the past three years. His leadership in RU Proud, earned the group “Student Organization of the Year” (2003). For the past two years, he has been working with About Face Youth Theatre (AFYT), Chicago’s art-based program for LGBTQ youth and their allies. He is currently part of the AFYT Youth Leadership Council. With AFYT, Moises has collected stories from all over Chicago and neighboring suburbs of LGBT indivduals and their allies. These stories were then transcribed and performed at the Goodman stage. As part of the AFYT Leadership Council, Moises and other youth are now developing new ways that youth can take an active role in the LGBT community. Moisés is also the only openly gay person showcased in the “Teen Chicago” exhibit at the Chicago Historical Society. In the summer of 2004, he was chosen by Windy City Times as one of the 30 activists under 30. He has appeared on National Public Radio, Homofrecuencia, CLTV, Contratiempo, and featured in the Chicago Tribune’s Red Eye.