East Timor 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!

Pamela Sexton Watsonville CA pam @ etan.org, 831-724-8051
Pam is a public school teacher who studied and taught in Indonesia in the early 90s, and has been active with ETAN since then. During 1999 she made three trips to East Timor first with an exploratory team for Peace Brigades International, then as an IFET Observer (in Suai), and later to assess needs for Timor Aid and Grassroots International. From May through August 1999, she coordinated the recruitment, selection and training of the 40 IFET observers from the U.S. From 2000-2002, Pam lived and worked in East Timor, where she helped to establish La'o Hamutuk (The East Timor Institute for Reconstruction Monitoring and Analysis) as one of its first staff members. Before her return to the U.S., she also spent a month in each West Papua and Aceh, areas of severe Indonesian military repression.

Ben Terrall San Francisco, CA 510-647-3702 bterrall@igc.org
In early September 1999, Ben returned from his second trip to East Timor, where he was part of the IFET Observer Project. Two years earlier, Ben founded the East Timor Relief Fund, which distributes U.S. contributions to East Timorese individuals and organizations. His articles on East Timor and Indonesia have appeared in Indonesia Alert!, Counterpunch, In These Times, The Progressive, and the Christian Science Monitor; since 1996 he has been co-editor of ETAN's newsletter Estafeta. Ben coordinated a major book drive for the People's Library of East Timor and the University of East Timor, and is continuing to support educational initiatives in East Timor. He coordinates ETAN/SF.

Sue Severin San Francisco, CA 415-453-5810 (h), 415-507-2564 (w) sseverin@igc.org
Sue was one of two electoral officers for the IFET Observer Project. She also observered East Timor's elections in 2007 with the Solidarity Observer Mission for East Timor (SOMET) In addition to her work in East Timor, she has experience observing elections in El Salvador, Southern Mexico (Chiapas and Guerrero), and most recently in Haiti. Sue has slides from her time in East Timor. In addition to presentations for general audiences, she is available for Spanish language presentations and presentations to young people.

Garrick Ruiz Los Angeles, CA 626-284-7116, grok@riseup.net
Garrick spent over two months in East Timor in 1999 as a field coordinator of the IFET Observer Project. He's a graduate of University of California, Los Angeles where he studied American literature. Garrick has been involved with the East Timor Action Network since 1996 and spoke on a nationwide tour with East Timorese activist Luciano Valentin da Conceicao. In addition to work with the ETAN, he is a volunteer youth organizer with Youth Organizing Communities in Los Angeles. Garrick recently volunteered for several months with the International Solidarity Movement on the West Bank and Gaza.

Lisa Rosen Los Angeles, CA 323-653-6284 lisarosen@aol.com
Lisa has been a member of the ETAN/LA chapter for four years. In 1999 went to East Timor as part of the IFET Observer Project, to monitor the referendum. She has worked with ETAN since 1997.

Mark Rhomberg Los Angeles, CA 310-207-5600 work4whirledpeas@earthlink.net

Mark, an ETAN activist since 1993, is a high school social studies teacher. He first visited East Timor in Nov./Dec. 1998, and then returned in June/July 1999 as a logistics coordinator for IFET-OP. He returned to East Timor in July 2002 to monitor its progress. In 2007 he was a SOMET election observer for the Parliamentary election. He has compiled an outstanding slide show of his travels throughout East Timor.

Kristin Sundell Baltimore, MD e-mail kristin@etan.org
Kristin Sundell first traveled to East Timor in August 1998, three months after the fall of the Indonesian dictator Suharto. While there she witnessed the beginnings of the first "above-ground" independence movement in East Timor since the Indonesian invasion in 1975. One year later, Kristin traveled to East Timor for a second time to serve as a UN-accredited observer for the vote on independence. As an International Federation for East Timor (IFET) observer in the town of Same, she witnessed the effects of the Indonesian military-backed violence against supporters of independence there. Kristin currently works with both the ETAN.

Barbara Nash Silver Spring, MD (301)384 8583 mdnash@us.net
Barbara Nash is a grandmother of six who was a member of the IFET Observer Project team in Dili, East Timor. She has been a human rights advocate for most of her life and has been active on the issue of East Timor since 1997. Barbara is also an English-as-a-Second-Language tutor and works with the homeless in Washington, DC.

Bob Doolittle Boston, MA 617-876-7442 krdoo@aol.com
Bob has traveled to East Timor several times, is a member of the Boston Catholic Task Force for East Timor, and is a main organizer of the Youth Bridges partnership between the Archdiocese of Boston and the Diocese of Dili. Youth Bridges, inaugurated in June 2001, is currently comprised of three pairs of parish youth groups. On each end of the bridge, a commission of ten youth and adults meet regularly to send letters of friendship; to send a monthly list of prayers of thanks and petitions for each other; and to devise projects for which the U.S. group can assist by finding resources. The first Youth Bridges project is gathering instruments from Boston-area parish communities for East Timor.

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. In addition to coordinating ETAN's New York chapter, John directs the Foreign Bases Project. 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 in January 2003. John has appeared on CNN, CNBC, BBC, Canadian Broadcasting, Pacifica's Democracy Now! and a numerous other local radio programs.

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.

Joseph Nevins Poughkeepsie, NY 845-437-7823 office, joe@etan.org
Joe, is a professor of geography at Vassar College. Under the name Matthew Jardine, is the author of East Timor: Genocide in Paradise (Odonian Press and Common Courage Press, 1999, 2nd edition) and co-author with Constancio Pinto of 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. He helped to found La'o Hamutuk, the East Timor Institute for Reconstruction Monitoring and Analysis. He has made six trips to East Timor since 1992. His most recent book is A Not-So-Distant Horror: Mass Violence in East Timor from Cornell University Press.

Will Seaman Portland, OR 360-212-4029 (o) 503-235-4986 (h) 503-888-7455 (cell) carriea@mail.e-z.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.

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 continues to advocate for Maasai rights in Tanzania and is involved with several Washington, DC area social service organizations.

Diane Farsetta Madison, WI 608-255-4598 (h) diane@etan.org.
Diane was ETAN's national field organizer. She has been a member of ETAN since 1993, and was the ETAN/Madison chapter coordinator for over 4 years. Diane was based in Suai, East Timor as a United Nations-accredited observer of the 1999 referendum with IFET, and was evacuated from Dili on September 6th. She coordinated the effort to join Madison, WI and Ainaro, East Timor in a sister relationship, which in February 2001 made Madison the first U.S. city to have an official sister city in East Timor. Diane accompanied Madison's first delegation to Ainaro June and July 2002 and again visited in 2005. Diane has also counseled victims of hate crimes, worked with the Wisconsin Coordinating Council on Nicaragua, and continues to volunteer with a feminist news collective at Madison's community radio station.

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.

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