Biographical Sketch of Joseph
Gerson
[Includes lists of books, recent
articles, important speaking
engagements, major campaigns and events organized,
honors received, and research-related travel]
Taken from:
http://www.afsc.org/ht/d/ContentDetails/i/4517
(I have placed it here because
the AFSC website is under reconstruction)

Joseph Gerson
addresses Indian
Anti-War Assembly, Hyderbad,
Dec. 18, 2004.
(Photo courtesy of Akahata.)
Dr. Joseph Gerson has served the American Friends Service committee since 1976
and is currently Director of Programs and Director of the Peace and Economic
Security Program for the AFSC in
New England.
His program work focuses on challenging and overcoming
U.S. global hegemony: its
preparations for and threats to initiate nuclear war, and its military
domination of the Asia-Pacific and the
Middle East.
He
has been involved in the U.S. justice and peace movements since the mid-1960s,
when he became active on the margins of the Civil Rights Movement. As a
Vietnam-era draft resister, he was Director of Arizonans for Peace and Field
Representative for Clergy and Laity Concerned About Vietnam. Following the
signing of the Paris Peace Accords, he joined the staff of the War Resisters'
International in London and Brussels, where he was privileged to work with
extraordinary people who had resisted World War I, Nazi rule and occupations,
leading figures from across the Middle East working for resolution of the
Israeli-Palestinian and other regional conflicts, and with people who later
launched the European nuclear disarmament movement of the 1980s. While in
Europe, he served on the board of the International Confederation for
Disarmament and Peace.
His work with AFSC has included helping to launch the nuclear freeze movement of
the 1980s, preventing New England harbors from being transformed into nuclear
weapons bases, helping to build the U.S. and global anti-bases and nuclear
weapons abolition movements, and helping to create peace and anti-war coalitions
in the Boston area, across New England, and to a lesser extent nationally and
internationally.
His recent work has focused on education, organizing and mobilization to end the
U.S. war and occupation in Iraq, preventing nuclear war and advancing the
struggle for nuclear weapons abolition, the establishing of the global "No Bases
Network", and peaceful resolution of the U.S.-DPRK and U.S.-Iran nuclear
confrontations. His book Empire and the Bomb: How the United States Uses Nuclear
Weapons to Dominate the World will be published by Pluto Books and the
University of Michigan Press in April, 2007.
Building on three decades of collaboration with Asian and European peace
movement, since Sept. 11,
2001, he has played a
unique role in linking these movements to resist the Bush Administration's
global military crusade and its efforts to impose "the arrangement for the 21st
century." In addition to working with Asian and European peace and justice
movements, he participated in the launch conferences of the Asia Peace Assembly,
the European Network for Peace and Human Rights, and the No Bases Network, and
he remains actively deeply engaged with each. He has also played the lead role
in organizing three New England Wide post-9-11 peace and justice organizing
conferences.
Over the past year has given keynote talks at the World Conference against A-
and H- Bombs in Hiroshima, at the No Bases Conference in Quito, Ecuador, and the
Mouvement de la Paix conference in Istres, France. In the same period, he has
published articles analyzing the U.S. Congressional election, U.S. nuclear
weapons and war policies, alternatives to the U.S. war in Iraq and threats
against Iran, U.S. efforts to create permanent military bases in
Iraq,
and the global infrastructure of U.S. military bases. He is currently working
with AFSC, Peace Action and the N.H. Council of Churches to influence the
content of the 2008 residential election - especially on U.S. nuclear weapons
and war policies.
In
2004, he was a leading organizer of the Boston Social Forum and, in conjunction
with the European Network for Peace and Human Rights, organized an international
peace conference - "A World Working Together For Peace" - within the Boston
Social Forum. He was also involved in organizing or supporting peace
demonstrations during the Democratic and Republican national conventions. He
helped to build popular pressure on the U.S. and other nuclear powers during the
Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty Review Conference approaches in Spring. 2005..
In
association with Focus on Global South, he has worked to help launch the "No
U.S. Bases" network, a network that includes more than 100 organizations in more
than 40 countries, and he has worked closely with anti-bases activists and
scholars in the United States and globally.
His previous books include The Sun Never Sets…Confronting the Network of
Foreign U.S.
Military Bases and With Hiroshima Eyes: Atomic War, Nuclear Extortion, and Moral
Imagination. They
reflect more than twenty-five years of collaboration with leading anti-bases and
disarmament organizers and analysts in many countries, with Asian and European
peace movements, and nuclear weapons victims/resisters from Japan and many other
countries. His work with A & H Bomb survivors, including Korean A-bomb
survivors, has included organizing many speaking tours in the U.S., and
co-organizing "Global Hibakusha" and delegations to the Vancouver World Peace
Forum, the Hague Peace Appeal, and the United National NGO Millennium
conference.
Joseph Gerson has spoken at numerous international conferences, lectured at more
than 70 U.S.
colleges and universities, and spoken to and worked with countless
community-based peace and justice organizations. He is a
Vietnam
era draft resister who received his under graduate degree from Georgetown
University's School of Foreign Service in 1968 and his PhD in Politics and
International Security Studies from the Union Institute and College in 1995.
Address:
Joseph Gerson, Ph.D.
American Friends Service Committee
2161 Massachusetts Ave.
Cambridge, MA 02140 USA
Phone: (w) 617-661-6130 (h) 617-876-3392; Cell: 617-216-0576; Fax: 617-354-2832
e-mail:
Jgerson@afsc.org
Education:
·
B.S.F.S. Georgetown
University, 1968
·
Ph.D. in
Politics and International Security Studies, Union Institute, 1995
Employment:
-
Director of Regional Programs, American
Friends Service Committee, New England Regional Office (and of its Middle East
and Peace & Economic Security Programs) 1976-present
-
Tufts
University,
1996
-
Regis
College,
1991 & 1996
-
Holy
Cross College, 1994
-
Staff Coordinator, War Resisters'
International, London and Brussels 1973-75
-
Director, Arizonans for Peace 1969-1973
Books:
-
Empire and the Bomb: How the United States
Uses Nuclear Weapons to Dominate the World,
Pluto Press and University of Michigan Press, 2007
-
With Hiroshima Eyes: Atomic War, Nuclear
Extortion and Moral Imagination -
New Society Publishers, 1995
-
The Sun Never Sets… Confronting the Network
of U.S. Foreign Military Bases -
South End Press, 1991
-
The Deadly Connection: Nuclear War and U.S.
Intervention - New Society
Publishers, 1984
Recent Articles:
-
"Enduring U.S. Bases in Iraq: Monopolizing
the Middle East Prize", Fellowship, Winter, 2007
-
"Stopping the War in Iraq & Iran: Why Not Ask
for More?", Peacework, March 2007
-
"10 Reasons U.S. Military Bases Must Go",
AFSC, February 2007
-
"Letter from the United States - The
Implications of the Recent U.S. Election", Gensuikyo December 2006.
-
"Understanding the Meanings of the U.S.
Election", Shin Fujin January, 2007
-
"Are Americans Becoming More Peaceful? Z
Magazine, January 2007
-
"Preventing Nuclear War in Korea", A Net ,
Common Dreams, and The New Nation (Bangladesh),
December 18, 2006.
-
"Empire and Resistance in an Increasingly
Dangerous Era", Z Net, April, 2006 and", in Giano (Rome) February 2005.
-
"No More Nuclear Hypocrisy: Defending the
Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty", Common Dreams, February, 2005
-
"Colonizing the Globe: One Base at a Time (In
Stop the Newt War Now: Effective Responses to Violence and Terrorism
edited by Medea Benjamin & Jodie Evans) 2005.
-
Interview "Occupation on the Edge: US and
Iraqi activists speak out", Socialist Review, November 2005.
-
"Why I Committed Civil Disobedience to Stop
the Killing", Common Dreams & Cambridge Chronicle and Peacework June, 2005
-
"Understanding and Resisting the War
Economy", Peace3work October 2004.
-
"From Empire to Common Security: A Prophetic
Vision of Worldwide Justice", (in The Prophetic All: Celebrating Community,
Earth, Justice and Peace, edited by Hugh Sanborn,) 2004.
-
"U.S. Foreign Military Bases & Military
Colonialism: Personal and Analytical Perspectives,", Z Net, December 2003
-
"The Bush Administration's Nuclear Weapons
Policy: A Double Standard with Lethal Implication:, American Friends Service
Committee June, 2003
-
"The East Asian Front of World War III",
Peacework, Dec.2001/Jan.2002
-
"Continuity and Change in the Aftermath of
September11", in Communiqué, ANERA (Hong Kong)
-
"Politics & Geopolitics of Missile Defenses",
Z Magazine, July/August 2001
-
"Okinawa's
Message for the G-8 Summit"
Boston Globe, July 19, 2000
-
"Architecture of U.S. Asia-Pacific Hegemony:
The U.S.-Japanese-Chinese Triangle" Peace Review, Fall 1999
-
"Why Are We in Kosovo?" Peacework, May 1999
-
"From Hiroshima to Baghdad" PS: The
Intelligent Guide to Jewish Affairs, February18, 1998
-
"U.S.-Japan Alliance for 21st
Century Hegemony" Peace Review, June 1997
-
"Asia/Pacific Peace and Security Issues"
Interhemispheric Resource Center,
January 1997
-
"Asian/Pacific Realpolitiks" Z Magazine,
July/August 1996
-
"I Refuse- Voices of Okinawan Women" Bulletin
of the Atomic Scientists, July/August 1996
-
"Hibakusha Memories" Boston Globe, August
1995
-
"The Smithsonian's Final Act" Peace Review,
7:2, 1995
-
"Desert Storms, Deadly Connections" Peace
Review, 6:3, 1994
-
"Legacies of the Storm: Desert Shield, Desert
Storm and the Diplomacy of the Israeli-Palestinian-Arab Conflict" Scandinavian
Journal of Development Alternatives June-September 1993
Public Speaking
-
Lectures on Peace and Justice issues at more
than 70 .S. Colleges
and Universities and in countless community forums focusing on: Asia-Pacific,
Nuclear Weapons, and Middle East Issues; including Harvard
University's
Kennedy School of Government Harvard Divinity School, M.I.T.,
Brown
University, etc.
-
Mouvement de la Paix, Istres, France, October
21, 2006 "The American Friends Service Committee, Its Work for Abolition, and
the Pacifist Movement in the United States."
-
World Conference Against A & H. Bombs August
3, 2006, (Hiroshima and Nagasaki) "the Current Crises, Preventing Nuclear War,
and Overcoming the U.S.-Japan Military Alliance"
-
Vancouver World Peace Forum, Vancouver,
Canada June 2006. Talks about U.S. nuclear weapons and war policies, defending
Article 9 of the Japanese Constitution, and Global Hibakusha.
-
Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament Annual
General Meeting (London,) October 15, 2005, ""From the 'Belly of the Beast': A
Report About Corruption, War, Nuclear Terrorism and Resistance in the United
States."
-
World Conference Against A & H. Bombs August
3, 2005, (Hiroshima and Nagasaki,) "Nuclear Terrorism, Remembrance, and
Resistance."
-
Japan Peace Conference, Sasebo, Nagasaki,
November 19,2005 ""Empire and Resistance in an Increasingly Dangerous Era."
-
Hyderbad Anti-War Assembly, December 16-19,
2004.
-
World Conference Against A & H. Bombs August
3, 2004, (Hiroshima and Nagasaki) "Nuclear Hypocrisies, Dangers & The
Imperative of Abolition."
-
"Towards A World Without Violence:, Barcelona
June 23-27, "Economic Drives of U.S. Wars", and "U.S. Foreign Military Bases &
Military Colonialism: Personal and Analytical Perspectives."
-
Japan Peace Conference, Naha,
Okinawa,
January 29-Feburary 1, 2004. Speech on the U.S. War in Iraq, U.S. Foreign
Military Bases, and the U.S. Peace Movement.
-
World Social Forum, Mumbai, India, January
16-21, 2004. Keynote and other speeches in six conferences, panels and
workshops on issues relating to U.S. foreign military bases, U.S. Korea and
Asia-Pacific Policy, The U.S. invasion of Iraq and the Bush Administration's
Global Strategy, U.S. Nuclear Weapons and War Policies, and the 2004 U.S.
Presidential Elections.
-
Pyunghwa: Alternatives to the American War,
Seoul, Nov. 26 - December 2, 2003, "U.S. Foreign Military Bases & Military
Colonialism: Personal and Analytical Perspectives."
-
International Conference of the European
Network for Peace and Human Rights, Brussels, Belgium, June 2003 "Ulysses or
Icarus? The Bush Administration's Global Agenda and U.S. Resistance."
-
International Conference in Commemoration of
the Third Anniversary of the June 15 Joint Declaration, Seoul,
South Korea
June 2003
-
Bikini Day International Forum, February 28,
2003 , Shizuoka, Japan, "In This Fateful Hour: The U.S., Iraq, Korea & Nuclear
Weapons"
-
Cordoba Dialogue, Cordoba, Spain. Organized
by Bertrand Russell Peace Foundation, November 2002.
-
Launch Conference - Asia
Peace Assembly, Manila, September 2002
-
World Conference against A- & H- Bombs,
(Hiroshima & Nagasaki), August 3, 2002, "Resisting the Bush Administration's
Global Military Crusade."
-
Launch Conference - European Network for
Peace and Human Rights, Brussels,
Jan.2002
-
International Conference for Korean
Reconciliation and Reunification, "In Dark Times: First Strike 'Missile
Defenses" & the Rumsfeld Military Doctrine for the Asia-Pacific",
Seoul,
Korea Aug. 2001
-
Keynote speaker, Nagoya Global Peace
Festival, "In Dark Times: Resisting the Bush- Cheney-Rumsfeld Star Wars
Agenda", August 2001
-
World Conference Against A & H Bombs, , "In
Dark Times: Resisting the Bush-Cheney-Rumsfeld Star Wars Agenda", Hiroshima,
August 2001
-
Keynote speaker, 2001 NGO Forum, "Agendas
Driving Bush's Star Wars and Opposition in the US and the World," Gothenburg,
Sweden, May 2001
-
Keynote speaker, Sakerhetspolitisk konferens,
Stockholm, October 2000
-
South and Southeast Asia Nuclear Disarmament
Conference, February 2000 and Okinawa International Forum on Human Security,
July 2000
-
Keynote speaker, World Council Against Atomic
and Hydrogen Bombs, Hiroshima
and Nagasaki, 1989, 1991, 1993, 1995,
1997, 1998, 2000, 2001, 2002
-
Keynote speaker, Peace Conference of the
Council of Religionists, Nara,
Japan, November 1998
-
Conference on Alternative Security in the
Asia/Pacific, Manila, July 1998
-
Keynote Speaker at the Founding Conference of
Peace Depot, Yokohama, Japan, November 1997
-
"U.S.-Japan Mutual Security Treaty Alliance:
Military Keystone for New World (Dis)Order, "New Directions", National Peace
Studies Association and COPRED
Georgetown University, 1997
-
Keynote speaker, International Symposium:
Fifty Years Since the Atomic Bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Hiroshima,
1995
-
Keynote speaker, Crossroads 1991: Conference
for a Bases Free, Nuclear Free Philippines, Manila, 1990
-
European Nuclear Disarmament Conference, Lund,
Sweden, 1988
-
North Atlantic Network Conference, Bergen,
Norway, 1984
Major Organizing Campaigns &
Events:
-
New England Speaking Tour for 20 member
Gensuikyo Delegation, including Harvard and Tufts
Universities,
Dover & Keene,
N.H. & Boston area high schools. October,
2006.
-
Policy Impact: N.H. Presidential Primary &
Iowa Democratic Caucus 2006-07.
-
Eyes Wide Open - The Human Costs of the Iraq
War, Boston Common & Copley Square,
Boston, November 2005
-
"Hope & Hard Work: Another America is
Possible" MIT, April 8 & 9, 2005
-
Eyes Wide Open - The Human Costs of the Iraq
War, Boston Common & Copley Square, Boston, July 2004 (University of
Massachusetts/Boston Social Forum, Boston Common & Copley Square - coincident
with Democratic Party's National Convention
-
Boston Social Forum & International Peace
Conference , University
of Massachusetts, July 23-25 coincident with Democratic Party's National
Convention"
-
Primary Organizer, "Empire is Not Healthy for
Children and Other Living Things - Exploring the Dynamics & Human Costs of the
U.S. Empire", a New England-wide conference held at Simmons College, October
2003.
-
Primary Organizer, Eight city national
speaking sour for members of (South Korean) National Council for Peace on the
Korean Peninsula June, 2003
-
"Paths to a Just and Secure Future: Resisting
Washington's Endless War", a New England-wide conference held at Simmons
College,
October, 2002
-
Primary Organizer, "No More Victims" Speaking
tour: 9-11 family members, Afghan, Filipino, Iraqi and Japanese speakers - 7
states - Sept. 2002
-
Extensive public speaking in response to the
September 11, 2001 - 2007 attacks and Bush Administration mobilization for
"World War III"
-
"After September 11: Paths to Peace, Justice
and Security", a New England Regional Conference held at the Fletcher
School
for Law and Diplomacy, Tufts
University
(Dec. 7&8, 2001)
-
Initiated United for Justice With Peace, the
Post-Sept. 11 Boston Metropolitan Area Coalition
-
Co-Organizer Global Hibakusha Delegations to
the Hague Appeal for Peace, The Hague, May 1999, United Nations NGO Millennium
Forum, May 2000
-
Boston Okinawa Committee's petition, signed
by 2,000 U.S. academics, elected officials and others calling for the
withdrawal of U.S. Military bases from Okinawa - appeared as a full page
advertisement in the Okinawa Times during the July 2000
-
National speaking tour of Global Hibakusha
delegation, May 2000
-
Consultant to Tufts
University
in preparations for exhibit from the Hiroshima
Peace
Museum, 1998
-
Principle organizer Boston area protests
against U.S. War against Serbia, 1998.
-
Organizer: "Reaping What We Sow" - The New
England Organizing Conference for Nuclear Weapons Abolition, Boston
College,
October 1997
-
Smithsonian Institution 50th
Anniversary of Hiroshima and Nagasaki: member of Scholar's Delegation, 1995
-
Boston Campaign to Prevent, and Oppose, the
Gulf War, 1990-1991
-
Coordinator of Safe Boston Harbor Campaign,
preventing the homeporting of the nuclear-armed Battleship Missouri naval task
force Boston, 1983
-
The Nuclear Weapons Freeze Movement,
1979-1983
-
Co-Founder: (British) Campaign Against the
Arms Trade, 1974
-
Founder and Director, Arizonans for Peace,
1969-1973
Honors:
-
Co-Chair: World Conference Against Atomic and
Hydrogen Bombs, Hiroshima, 2000
-
Massachusetts Peace and Justice Commission
Annual Award, Cambridge, 1999
-
George Kennan Peace Award, New Jersey Peace
Action, 1995
-
Edward Douglas White Award for Outstanding
Student Service, Georgetown
University, 1968
Research-Related Travel:
-
China and Philippines, 1998
-
Japan and
Okinawa
frequent visits between 1984 and 2001, including Visiting Researcher, Tokyo
Metropolitan
University, 1998
-
Israel/Palestine, Lebanon, Syria, Jordan,
Egypt 1975, 1989, 1981, 1984, 1989
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