Join Us for This Amazing Peace Event
and Share the Vision

The Shift Network will present “VOICES for PEACE” – the Opening Festival for Summer of Peace 2012
on June 22-23, 2012, at the Scottish Rite Center in Oakland (get directions) at 1547 Lakeside Drive
Summer of Peace 2012 is a 3-month global celebration of and call to action for inner and outer Peace
featuring weekly online tele-summits; calendar of international events, youth outreach and multi-cultural
dialogue.

The two-day festival begins Friday, June 22, with the “VOICES for PEACE” benefit concert from
7:30 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. All profits from the concert will go to support the Urban Peace Movement whose
mission is to transform the culture and conditions that lead to urban violence, by building communities
that foster non-traditional leaders who are key to ending this crisis. At the concert, there will be an ask to donate to the Urban Peace Movement.

The concert will feature Maria Muldaur and Friends, the Vukani Mawethu Choir, Emmit Powell and
the Gospel Elites, Earth Amplified, with additional performers to be announced.

The festival’s focus on creating a culture of peace will continue on Saturday, June 23, from 9:00 a.m. to
6:30 p.m. with the “VOICES for PEACE” Conference. This all-day event will feature lively panel
discussions, interactive breakout sessions and dynamic keynote speakers, including Marianne
Williamson, Barbara Marx Hubbard, James O’Dea and peaceleaders from Oakland and the Bay area.

The “VOICES for PEACE” Conference will address diverse and interconnected pathways to peace that
transcend national, ethnic, racial, religious, age or gender differences – and will cover the spectrum of
peace, from the inner to the international. Participants will hear from experts in the fields of conflict-
resolution and community building to explore different ways to implement peace-building skills. The
conference will address themes such as: Inner Peace; Forgiveness; Communicating Peace; Education;
Urban Peace; Justice; Military, Politics and Healing Cultural Wounds.

CONFERENCE BONUS: Included in the purchase price for the conference, you will receive one
copy each of Barbara Marx Hubbard’s book “Birth 2012 and Beyond” and James O’Dea’s book
“Cultivating Peace”. You may pick up your copies at the event venue.

Youth under age 21 can attend the conference for FREE!

June 22 Concert:

Emmit Powell and the Gospel Eilties is an internationally renowned, and three
time Grammy Award nominated, Gospel group led by Emmit Powell one of
America’s leading Gospel radio and television broadcasters.

Maria Muldaur was one of the central figures in the Folk Music movement of the
1960s, top selling recording artist in the 1970s with her song “Midnight at the
Oasis”, Grammy Award nominated musician, backing singer with the Grateful
Dead and performer in San Francisco’s Teatro ZinZanni.

The Vukani Mawethu Choir is a multiracial choir that sings freedom songs of
South Africa, and gospel, spiritual, labor and civil rights songs. The Choir was
formed by the late great James Madhlope Phillips, an ANC union and cultural
organizer. Vukani Mawethu has performed for Nelson Mandella at the Oakland
Colisiem and through out the cities and townships of South Africa.

Earth Amplified is a four-piece band that has heated up stages across the nation
with artists ranging from Blackalicious, Dead Prez, Midnite, The Rebirth Brass
Band and more. The band plays hard hitting, conscious ‘Roots-Rap-Reggae’, and
is here to uplift the people and the planet. Earth Amplified bridges the “Occupy
Wall Street” movement and the urban underground. This is eco-culture that bangs.

Country Joe McDonald straddles the two polar events of the 60s — Woodstock and the Vietnam War. After 48 albums and more than four decades in the public eye as a folksinger, Country Joe McDonald qualifies as one of the best known names from the 60s rock era still performing. He travels the world and continues to sell records

Frank Olivier is a nationally acclaimed comedian who has performed with Dana Carvey, Robin Williams, Whoopi Goldberg, and others. He has appeared on The Tonight Show, HBO’s ‘Just for Laughs’, Comic Strip Live, and shows for PBS, HBO, BBC, Disney and more. He also headlines Las Vegas, comedy and theater festivals, and performs countless corporate shows.

June 23 Conference Presenters:

Marianne Williamson is an internationally acclaimed spiritual author and lecturer.
Six of her ten published books have been New York Times Best Sellers. Four of
these have been #1 New York Times Best Sellers. A Return to Love is considered
a must-read of The New Spirituality. A paragraph from that book, beginning “Our
deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are
powerful beyond measure…” – often misattributed to Nelson Mandela’s Inaugural
address – is considered an anthem for a contemporary generation of seekers.
Marianne’s other books include The Age of Miracles, Everyday Grace, A Woman’s
Worth, Illuminata, Healing the Soul of America and The Gift of Change. Marianne’s
latest New York Times Best Seller is A Course in Weight Loss: 21 Spiritual Lessons for Surrendering Your
Weight Forever. A Course in Weight Loss was selected by Oprah to be one of her Favorite Things in 2010.

Barbara Marx Hubbard has been called “the voice for conscious evolution of our
time” by Deepak Chopra and is the subject of Neale Donald Walsch’s new book
“The Mother of Invention.” A prolific author, visionary, social innovator, evolutionary
thinker and educator, she is co-founder and chairperson of the Foundation for
Conscious Evolution. She is the producer and narrator of the award-winning
documentary series entitled Humanity Ascending: A New Way through Together
and has recently partnered with The Shift Network as a global ambassador for the
conscious evolution movement; a shift from evolution by chance towards evolution
by choice. Along with Stephen Dinan, she has launched the “Agents of Conscious
Evolution” training and is forming a global team to co-produce a global multi-media event entitled, “Birth
2012: Co-Creating a Planetary Shift in Time” on Dec. 22, 2012 (http://www.birth2012.com) — a historic, turning-
point event; awakening the social, spiritual, scientific, and technological potential of humanity.

James O’Dea is a Fellow of the Institute of Noetic Sciences and was until recently
its President. James also spent ten years as the Director of the Washington Office
of Amnesty International, where he testified before Congress, met with U.S.
presidents and numerous foreign heads of state and government leaders, and
represented Amnesty International to the State Department, the White House, and
the World Conference on Human Rights. He lectures all over the world, and has
essays published in numerous magazines and books including currently the
Mystery of 2012 (Sounds True); Consciousness and Healing: An Integral Approach
to Mind Body Medicine (Elsevier) and Earthrise: The Dawning of a New Civilization
in the 21st Century (Goi). His new book, Creative Stress: A Path for Evolving Souls living through
Personal and Planetary Upheaval, is due out March 2010. He is a well-known figure in international social
healing and is The Shift Network’s lead faculty for Peace Ambassador Training. His latest book Cultivating
Peace: Becoming A 21st Century Peace Ambassador (May 2012) has been heralded as a brilliant new
roadmap for peacebuilding by thought leaders, academics and activists.

Reverend Dr. Elouise D. Oliver is the Senior Minister of the East Bay Church of Religious Science in Oakland, California. Under the leadership of Rev. “E” the Church has grown from 37 members to 1200 members since 1991. As a spiritual leader, the essence of her ministry is unconditional Love. She teaches that love and forgiveness is the answer to all human discord. Rev E has received numerous awards, honors and recognition and continues to have a tremendous impact on people’s lives around the globe, showing others how to create positive life changes and opportunities to experience greater love and joy.

Stephen Dinan, is the CEO of The Shift Network and a member of the prestigious
Transformational Leadership Council and Evolutionary Leaders groups. As the
former Director of Membership and Marketing at the Institute of Noetic Sciences,
he was the driving force behind the Shift in Action program, which grew to 10,000
paying members, and the One Minute Shift video series, which was seen by more
than one million. He is also the author of Radical Spirit (New World Library), and a
forthcoming book Sacred America. Stephen directed and helped to create the
Esalen Institute’s Center for Theory & Research, a think tank for leading scholars,
researchers, and teachers to explore human potential frontiers.

Reverend Buford is Director of Prophetic Justice Ministry at Oakland’s Allen Temple Baptist Church. The Church is a long-standing contributor to the greater Oakland community. He is a member of the National Commission on Environmental Justice on the Gulf Coast that documented the environmental impacts of Hurricane Katrina. From that experience he learned about, and presented a summary of concerns regarding Hurricane Katrina related human rights violations to the United Nations Human Rights Committee in New York and in Geneva, Switzerland. He has conducted Undoing Racism workshops throughout the United States, South Africa, Japan and Puerto Rico since 1980. He has been a stalwart proponent of dismantling the cradle to prison pipeline affecting many African American and other minority communities throughout the USA. He is a Board member and past president of the Meiklejohn Civil Liberties Institute which uses human rights concepts and peace law to promote individual civil rights and rights to peace, education, jobs, justice, and a healthy environment.

Nicole Lee is the founding Executive Director of Urban Peace Movement, an
emerging Oakland-based organization that works to transform the mindset and
culture of urban violence. Urban Peace Movement has it’s roots in the Silence The
Violence Campaign that Lee founded in 2006 originally as a project of the Ella Baker
Center for Human Rights. She is a fourth-generation Oaklander and has spent the
past 12 years in labor, community, and youth organizing and policy advocacy work on
economic justice and juvenile justice issues.

Ronald Wysinger is a Violence Interrupter and Street Outreach Area Team Lead for East Oakland. Ron was born in Oakland and has been an Oakland resident his entire life. He lost two children to violence and vowed to make a difference in the community. He has dedicated his life to community service, because he does not wish any parent to feel the pain of the death of a child, as he did. He has been employed with California Youth Outreach (CYO) since 2010, is well known in the community, and uses his connections to better serve the youth and young adults on the streets of Oakland. His skills and expertise include violence interruption and conflict mediation.

Kenny Johnson devoted his life to crime, beginning in his early teens and served
over twenty years in various city, county, state, and federal prisons. During his early
years in prison, he spent most of his time participating in all sorts of religious and
substance abuse groups. Hopefully, in one of these groups he would hear the magic
words that would release him from the grip of his inner and outer prisons. It was his
inner desire for freedom that led him and a band of truth-seekers to a meeting in the
prison chapel. Antoinette Varner, his spiritual teacher answered his most pressing
question. Paroled from prison in 1997 and successfully discharged from supervision,
Kenny now resides in California. He visits inmates at the San Quentin Prison, and
around the world. Kenny has founded This Sacred Space a non-profit corporation dedicated to sharing the
timeless message that real freedom resides within each one of us.

Michael Nagler, Professor emeritus of Classics and Comparative Literature at
UC, Berkeley, where he co-founded the Peace and Conflict Studies Program.
He is the author of The Search for a Nonviolent Future, which received a 2002
American Book Award and has been translated into Korean, Arabic, Italian and
other languages; Our Spiritual Crisis: Recovering Human Wisdom in a Time of
Violence (2005); The Upanishads (with Sri Eknath Easwaran, 1987), and other
books as well as many articles on peace and spirituality.

Frederick Marx is an internationally acclaimed, Oscar and Emmy nominated producer/director with 35 years in the film business. He was named a Chicago
Tribune Artist of the Year for 1994, a 1995 Guggenheim Fellow, and a recipient
of a Robert F. Kennedy Special Achievement Award. His film HOOP DREAMS
played in hundreds of theatres nationwide after winning the Audience Award
at the Sundance Film Festival and was the first documentary ever chosen to
close the New York Film Festival. It was on over 100 “Ten Best” lists nationwide
and was named Best Film of the Year by critics Roger Ebert, Gene Siskel, Gene
Shalit, and Ken Turran and by the Chicago Film Critics Association. Ebert also named it Best Film of the
Decade. It is one of the highest grossing non-musical documentaries in United States history. It has
won numerous prestigious awards, including an Academy Nomination (Best Editing), Producer’s Guild,
Editor’s Guild (ACE), Peabody Awards, the Prix Italia (Europe’s top documentary prize) and The National
Society of Film Critics Award. The New York, Boston, LA, and San Francisco Film Critics all chose it as
Best Documentary, 1994. Utne Reader named it one of 150 of humanity’s “essential works,” the Library
of Congress recently added it to its prestigious National Film Registry and the International Documentary
Association named it the Best Documentary Ever.

Georgia Kelly is the Founder and Executive Director of Praxis Peace Institute. She has produced and directed three 7-day peacebuilding conferences in Dubrovnik, Croatia (2000, 2002, and 2007), a fourth conference, “The Alchemy of Democracy” in California (June 2004) and, in 2009, The Economics of Peace Conference in Sonoma, CA. Georgia continues to create educational programs for Praxis Peace Institute as well as leading workshops in Conflict Resolution.  A long-time active citizen, Georgia has chaired many issue-based political organizations and educational forums. She chaired the Marin County chapter of Jerry Brown’s presidential campaign in 1992 and was a delegate at the Democratic National Convention that year. Since 1988, Georgia has spent considerable time in the Balkans and has published several articles on the region. She is also a harpist, composer, writer, and recording artist who founded her own record label and distribution company in 1978. Website: http://www.georgiakelly.com

Rayna Smith lives in Oakland and is an active member of Urban Peace Movement. She is a vocal leader for both the Good Jobs Organizing Academy and UPM’s Peace Ambassadors. The Good Jobs Organizing Academy brings trains youth in civic engagement and community organizing alongside the Revive Oakland Coalition (RO). RO’s goal is to secure quality jobs for Oaklanders at the future redevelopment of the Army Base. As a Peace Ambassador, Rayna helps with culture change projects such as the latest public awareness poster campaign that highlights the impacts of gun violence on youth in Oakland. Rayna loves working for her community, cooking, public speaking and meetings with Oakland City Council Members!

Stephanie Van Hook is the Executive Director of the Metta Center for Nonviolence Education. She is an earnest student of principled nonviolence, passage meditation and Gandhian thought (and action). She is currently working under the mentorship and guidance of Prof. Emeritus Michael Nagler. She earned an M.A. in Conflict Resolution and Mediation at Portland State University, and a B.A. in French and Philosophy at Mary Washington College. She also served in the U.S. Peace Corps (Benin 2005-2007). She is on the board of the Peace and Justice Studies Association for issues relating to women and gender. Publications include chapters in Beyond Forgiveness: Reflections on Atonement (Jossey-Bass), The Encyclopedia of Domestic Violence (ABC-CLIO: forthcoming), and a co-authored chapter with Michael Nagler in Nonkilling Korea: A Six Country Exploration, (Seoul National University Press). She also regularly publishes articles on alternative news sites.

Alexis Neely is a truth-telling lawyer and evolutionary strategist. She is the founder of the New Law Business Model, a company that has revolutionized the way personal legal services are provided to families and small business owners throughout the United States and Canada. In addition, she is a leader in the field of discovering and implementing evolutionary new paradigm models that help you serve more people, more effectively in the emerging economy. Alexis is a regular legal commentator for CNBC, Fox, CNN and has been featured on national broadcasts such as Good Morning America, Today Show and Oprah’s Radio Network.

Nancy Kahn, is the Director of Organizational Services at Bay Area Nonviolent Communication (BayNVC), and a collaborative coach. She brings a rich combination of over eleven years of training in NVC, and nonprofit management experience, social work practices, and her consistent application of Emotional Intelligence through the tools of Nonviolent Communication to her teaching and consulting practice. Nancy has held leadership roles as a trainer for the BayNVC Leadership Program and coordinator of the BayNVC Diversity Project.

Matthew Albracht is the Executive Director of The Peace Alliance an alliance of organizers and advocates throughout the United States taking the work of peacebuilding from the margins of society into the centers of national discourse and policy priorities.

Sahar Kordahi is a Women’s Community Builder, who assists women to create powerful communities that foster personal and business growth and leadership. A Palestinian woman, Sahar lived in Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and Jordan before immigration to the Bay Area. Her life work is inspired by her late mother, Nuha Nafal, a widely respected Palestinian poet and peace activist. 
In 2001, Sahar co-founded Castro Valley Citizens for Middle Eastern Awareness, a group of Christian, Muslim, and Jewish women who educated their local community about the cultures of the Middle East through personal stories and human connection. In 2008, Sahar founded the Bright Side of Life Women’s Gatherings, which bring together women of diverse backgrounds in a nurturing and supportive environment. As a speaker, Sahar shares her signature message, “I Belong.” In 2009 Sahar was named Woman-Owned Business of the Year by the Women’s Initiative for Self-Employment.

Tzvia Shalaf co-founded “The Gift of Acceptance Movement” with Sahar Kordahi. Tzvia is internationally recognized TV, Film and commercial Producer. She has won prestige awards for her work. Tzvia’s clients include PBS, Saatchi & Saatchi in Israel ,Levi’s, Centrum, Proctor & Gamble, Ford and Mazda. Tzvia also was Assistant Director to Steven Spielberg in “Schindler’s List.”; Worked with some of the best animators in the world such as Uli Meyer;  Produced more than 600 commercials for Saatchi & Saatchi, including numerous animated commercials. In addition Tzvia Produced a documentary of the life of Prime minister of Israel Ariel Sharon. Currently Tzvia is the Executive Director of the Silicon Valley Jewish Film Festival. Tzvia shares the passion for the mission of the film festival and the community relations.

Herb Behrstock President of the United Nations Association East Bay chapter; community activist/organizer. He has served an impressive thirty-plus year career with the United Nations where he served in 8 developing countries as well as Headquarter Division Chief of the Asian Bureau. In addition to contributing to global economic development, Herb was acting head of the UNDP in China during the Tiananmen Square incident, and experienced an attempted coup-d’état in Africa and the outbreak of the second Intifada in Gaza.

Jennae Wallach was born and raised in Newark, NJ during the height of the civil rights movement and deeply affected by experiencing the Newark riots as a child. Jennae’s passion has been to facilitate the growth of healthy, thriving urban communities by bringing resources and organizations together. Living in Oakland for the past thirty years, Jennae has worked as a consultant on complex public health initiatives. That career path involved developing the skills of a facilitator, mediator, negotiator, project manager, and peacebuilder – skills that help bring organizations to a common table to take on projects/intentions larger than any one organization could achieve alone.

Acting on a long-term vision to bring together the multi-disciplinary array of powerful peace-building organizations in Oakland, Jennae arranged for several dozen Oakland community leaders and activists to enroll in The Shift Network’s global Peace Ambassador Training to create a learning community. As a peace educator, Jennae is working with the circle of Oakland Peace Ambassadors to bring community-specific peace-building skills and tools to neighborhoods, community groups, and city staff.

June 23 Conference Schedule: JUNE 23, 2012 9AM – 6:30PM

8.15 AM Doors Open – Registration

9:00 – 9:20 Welcome & Opening Ceremony
Stephen Dinan, Reverend Dr. Elouise D. Oliver, Rev. Devaa Haley Mitchell, Vice Mayor Nancy Nadel, Nicole Lee, Barbara Marx Hubbard, James O’Dea

9:25 -10:35 PLENARY A: Keynotes: James O’Dea (Peace/Forgiveness), Marianne Williamson (Peace)

10:40-11:40 PLENARY B: Michael Nagler & Stephanie Van Hook (Inner Peace), Nancy Kahn (NVC – Communicating Peace); Georgia Kelly (Peace in Economics) Panel discussion and Q&A facilitated by James O’Dea. Panel members will also include Alexis Neely.

11:50-12:35 Breakout Sessions GROUP A – Michael Nagler (Inner Peace), Matthew Albracht (Peace in Politics)

12:00-12:30 Musical Performance in Main Auditorium: Devaa Haley Mitchell and Friends

12:35 -1:50 LUNCH

CONFERENCE SCHEDULE – JUNE 23, 2012 9AM – 6:30PM

1:50-2:50 PLENARY C: Sahar Kordahi and Tzvia Shelef (Healing Cultural Wounds), Matthew Albracht (Peace in Politics); Herb Behrstock (United Nations Association). Panel discussion and Q&A facilitated by James O’Dea.

3:10- 3:55 Breakout Sessions GROUP B – Sahar Kordahi and Tzivia Shelef (Healing Cultural Wounds), Nancy Kahn (Non-Violent Communication), Georgia Kelly (Peace in Economics)

4:05-5:05 Main auditorium only – large plenary and panel discussion – Oakland and Urban Peace.
Nicole Lee and Ron Wysinger, Rayna Smith, Kenny Johnson, Frederick Marx, and other Oakland peacebuilders

5:05-5:10 Musical Performance by youth performer Ya Boy Lil’ G

5:15-6:15 Keynote: Barbara Marx Hubbard. Closing Remarks: Stephen Dinan, James O’Dea, Philip Hellmich, Nicole Lee and Jennae Wallach.