Founder of Palestine Fair Trade Association To Speak in Ohio -- September 16 and 17, 2010
Nasser Abufarha, PhD, will describe to Northeast Ohio audiences how his research on suicide bombers in Jenin, West Bank, led to his founding of the Palestine Fair Trade Association. His work merited an invitation to the Presidential Summit on Entrepreneurship in Washington, DC, April 2010. President Obama described this meeting of international Muslim entrepreneurs and American business and government leaders as a "new beginning" in deepening business ties with the Muslim world.
Dr. Abufarha will speak on "Insisting On Life" at:
John Carroll University on September 16, 7:00 PM, Lombardo Student Center
Oberlin College on September 17, Noon, West Hall
*CLICK HERE FOR A FLIER ABOUT THESE EVENTS WITH MORE INFORMATION*
The Palestine Fair Trade Association now has 49 national cooperatives with over 1700 small farmers. Its corporate partner, Canaan Fair Trade (CFT), has a state-of-the-art olive oil refinery and world-wide distribution of organic, certified fair trade olive oil. CFT sells to such major corporations as Dr. Bronner's Magic Soaps, Whole Foods, and Williams and Sonoma. It also supports economic and social empowerment programs, including:
· College scholarships
· Micro-loans for women and marketing of their products
· Replanting of thousands of uprooted olive trees
· Jobs for this growing industry
The people of Jenin once lived in one of the most volatile areas of the West Bank. Now the Palestine Fair Trade Association and Canaan Fair Trade have given them reason to hope.
Dr. Abufarha received his PhD in anthropology from the University of Wisconsin. His PhD dissertation has recently been published by Duke University Press, entitled "The Making of a Human Bomb: An Ethnography of Palestinian Resistance".