We are happy to announce that Rana joined the ranks of Next Up Coordinators in the Fall of 2014. She's coordinating Next Up's third cohort in Ottawa. Here's Rana, in her own words:
I am an activist, student, artist, and writer. I consider myself a community organizer, both locally in Ottawa, and in my second home, Palestine.
While working on my BA in human rights and law at Carleton University, I became interested in organizing for students' issues, from food poverty to reviving the fight for accessible tuition. I am working for the establishment of an ethical investment policy with Students Against Israeli Apartheid (SAIA), and I sit on the board of the Ontario Public Interest Research Group (OPIRG), a social and environmental justice resource centre. In Palestine, I worked as an independent journalist and with grassroots collectives, training new activists in nonviolent direct-action.
I am interested in creating spaces where oppression and colonization can be addressed and deconstructed, for the betterment of our movements and ourselves. I always contend that change is possible when we know which buttons to push and am happy to be working with young change-makers through Next Up!
-Rana Hamadeh, Next Up Program Coordinator, Ottawa