Scholars · Advocates · Champions of Democracy
01 / Co-Founder
President · Activist · Author · Abolitionist
A Harvard-educated human rights activist from Newark, New Jersey, who has spent over nearly 40 years fighting persecution and injustice worldwide.
In 1993, he co-founded the American Anti-Slavery Group, which raised money to liberate tens of thousands of enslaved African Christians in Sudan, himself flying there illegally in 2001 and 2011 to witness slave liberations. For that work, he received the Boston Freedom Award from Coretta Scott King in 2000. That same year, the AASG's activism helped force New York City to no longer invest public employees' pensions in Talisman, a Canadian energy company which extracted oil from southern Sudan. He has testified before Congress multiple times and, after nearly two years of intense lobbying, was present at the White House for the signing of the 2002 Sudan Peace Act.
He has since founded or co-founded several major organizations combating antisemitism, terrorism, and threats to democratic values. In 2007, The Forward recognized him as one of America's top 50 Jewish leaders.
He is the co-editor of the book Betrayal: The Failure of American Jewish Leadership (Wicked Son, 2023).
Education
Ed.D., Harvard University, 1988 · Social Policy
Award
Boston Freedom Award, presented by Coretta Scott King (2000)
Media
CNN, CBS, Fox News, NPR, PBS; The New York Times & The Boston Globe
Recognition
Named one of America's Top 50 Jewish Leaders by The Forward
Organizations Founded
02 / Co-Founder
Vice-President · Professor · Policy Advisor · Author
Dr. Walid Phares was born in Beirut in 1957 and immigrated to the United States in 1990.
He holds a Ph.D. in International Relations and Strategic Studies and has spent over three decades as one of America's leading experts on terrorism, jihadist movements, and Middle Eastern politics.
He has taught international relations and counter-terrorism strategy at Florida International and Atlantic Universities, the National Intelligence University, the Center for Counterintelligence and Security Studies, the Daniel Morgan Academy, and Bay Atlantic University International.
He is the author of The Lost Spring, The War of Ideas, Future Jihad, The Coming Revolution: Struggle for Freedom in the Middle East, and The Arab Spring: The Great Upheaval, among other books, and is widely credited as the only analyst to publicly predict the Arab Spring a full year before it began.
Education
Ph.D., International Relations & Strategic Studies, University of Miami
Media
Fox News Terrorism Expert since 2007; NBC/MSNBC Analyst 2003–2006; Newsmax 2022–present
Academic Posts
National Defense University, Florida Atlantic University, Intelligence University (DIA)
Languages
English · Arabic · French
Notable Contributions
"The defense of freedom requires both the scholar who understands history and the activist who refuses to accept injustice — together, they make change possible."
The Founding Vision
