Lara Kiswani is from Beit Iksa and Aqir, Palestine, and was born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area. She has been active in anti-war, Palestinian liberation, and Third World solidarity organizations and movements for over 20 years. She is the Executive Director of the Arab Resource & Organizing Centre (AROC) which serves thousands of poor and working class Arabs and Muslims across the San Francisco Bay Area. AROC leads campaigns to overturn racism, forced migration, and militarism, and builds political power among its base. AROC founded the Block the Boat campaign, which has stopped the Israeli shipping line, ZIM Integrated Shipping Services, from docking or unloading goods in the port of Oakland for over 10 years and counting. Lara has also built and led local, national, and international projects and coalitions to advance the Palestinian liberation cause, while simultaneously forwarding broad racial, social, and economic justice struggles. She is also a faculty member at San Francisco State University in the College of Ethnic Studies and a member of the California Faculty Association.
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