Alex de Waal
alex.dewaal@tufts.edu
Alex de Waal is a Research Professor at The Fletcher School, Tufts University, and leads the WPF research programs on African Peacemaking and Mass Starvation. Considered one of the foremost experts on the Horn of Africa, his scholarly work and practice has also probed humanitarian crisis and response, human rights, pandemic disease, and conflict and peace-building. His latest book is New Pandemics, Old Politics: Two Hundred Years of War on Disease and its Alternatives. He is also author of Mass Starvation: The History and Future of Famine and The Real Politics of the Horn of Africa (Polity Press, 2015) Following a fellowship with the Global Equity Initiative at Harvard (2004-06), he worked with the Social Science Research Council as Director of the program on HIV/AIDS and Social Transformation, and led projects on conflict and humanitarian crises in Africa (2006-09). During 2005-06, de Waal was seconded to the African Union mediation team for Darfur and from 2009-11 served as senior adviser to the African Union High-Level Implementation Panel for Sudan. He was on the list of Foreign Policy’s 100 most influential public intellectuals in 2008 and Atlantic Monthly’s 27 “brave thinkers” in 2009 and is the winner of the 2024 Huxley Award of the Royal Anthropological Institute. Professor de Waal regularly teaches a course on Conflict in Africa at the Fletcher School, Tufts University. During this course, students should gain a deeper understanding of the nature of contemporary violent conflict in Africa. Students will be expected to master the key theoretical approaches to violence in Africa, and to become familiar with a number of important case studies. The focus is on the origins and nature of violence, rather than policy responses and solutions. The course is inter-disciplinary and involves readings in political science, international relations, and social anthropology, while also touching on economics, environmental studies, and history.
Budour Hassan
budour.hassan@amnesty.org
Budour Hassan is Amnesty International’s researcher on Israel and the Occupied Palestinian territories. Before joining Amnesty International, she worked as a legal researcher and advocacy officer at the Jerusalem Legal Aid Centre.
Afeef Nessouli
anessou@gmail.com
Afeef is a journalist and host of “__With Afeef Nessouli.” He previously worked for Spotify, The Wall Street Journal’s daily news podcast “The Journal,” and “The Daily Show with Trevor Noah.” His reporting focuses on politics, the Middle East and queer stories around the world. Afeef lived through the 2006 Lebanon war and went to prison in Beirut for covering Palestine in 2011.
WHEN:
Friday, Aug. 8, 2025, 11:00 am -12 noon PT | 1:00 – 2:00 pm CT | 2:00 – 3:00 pm ET
WHERE:
CLICK HERE to register in advance for this meeting. A confirmation email containing your individual link will be sent. Simultaneous interpreting in Spanish and Mandarin provided. When you register you will be asked to choose a language. If you wish to listen to the original audio in English simply choose ‘none’.
WHY:
After nearly two years of war between Israel and Hamas, Gaza is in ruins. Over 60,000 people have been killed—18,000 of them children, according to UNICEF. The majority of Gaza’s 2 million residents have been displaced, left without homes, clean water, or consistent access to food. For months, many have faced what international agencies now describe as catastrophic levels of hunger. Despite repeated denials by Israeli officials, the global consensus is clear: Gaza is on the brink of famine. Religious leaders, humanitarian groups, and global heads of state, including President Donald Trump, have acknowledged that starvation is taking place. UNICEF, the UN Fund for Children’s emergencies, last week called for more
humanitarian and commercial traffic to come into Gaza, calling for “flooding the strip with supplies using all channels and all gates” to combat the spiraling death rates that accompany aid blockades, war and hunger. Join us for a critical conversation exploring the roots of this crisis, the conditions on the ground, and what must be done to protect the lives of Gaza’s children and families.
WHO:
Alex de Waal, Executive Director, World Peace Foundation; expert on famine and mass atrocity, Fletcher School of Law & Diplomacy, Tufts University Budour Hassan, Amnesty International’s researcher on Israel and Palestine Afeef Nessouli, Journalist and aid worker, just returned from 9 weeks volunteering in Gaza
CONTACT:
Sandy Close — sclose@americancommunitymedia.org
Pilar Marrero — pmarrero@americancommunitymedia.org
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