EQUALSHOT

December 10 is International Human Rights Day, the anniversary of the first global expression of the rights to which all human beings are inherently entitled.   It was on that day in 1948, with Eleanor Roosevelt front and center, that the United Nations officially adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. 

My latest piece, published on Katya's Non-Profit Marketing Blog, a daily blog I highly recommend to all you nonprofit leaders out there!

Every year I teach a course at Columbia University's masters program in strategic communications called "Communications for Social Change." What I love most about teaching is having the chance to show my students how their careers can align with their innermost interests. How they can apply their considerable skills in strategic communications to issues they really care about to make a meaningful difference in their communities and the world.

Here's my latest article on Huffington Post about a very unique approach to teaching nonviolent resistance in the Middle East: 

In 1958 Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was the real-life superhero
of a comic book that inspired disenfranchised American youth to take action against segregation. Today, the comic is finding a new audience in the Middle East.

A few years ago, I worked on an op-ed with the human rights activist Rafael Marques about abuses against local populations in Angola carried out on behalf of large international diamond corporations. The Wall Street Journal just helped take this a step further, exploring the role of the Angolan military in these abuses. In September, to name one instance, Angolan soldiers buried 45 miners alive.

Here's my latest article from On the Issues Magazine, including the story of how I ended up working with President Obama's mother to promote the field of microfinance:

Dispatches from the Road: A Travelogue of True Stories
by Barbara Becker

I wanted to share this radio interview I did regarding the latest on the human rights situation in Western Sahara. In this piece, I speak about Aminatou Haidar, the "Sahrawi Gandhi," and the courage she demonstrated while she was on the hunger strike that nearly killed her.

My colleague in the strategic communications program at Columbia, Simon Sinek, has a new book out. “Start With Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action” focuses on the key to how leaders think, act and communicate.

Those who inspire, Simon says, always start with the WHY.

But don’t I already do that, you ask yourself? If you do, hats off to you! But the vast majority of people don’t.

Here's my latest piece on Western Sahara, published in On The Issues magazine:

When I was in college, I had a small book of questions meant to serve as conversation starters for social gatherings. There was one question in particular that I had no idea how to answer, and not having a response seemed to indicate some form of personal shortcoming in my young and idealistic mind: “Is there a cause for which you’d be willing to sacrifice your life?”

I wrote this entry for Huffington Post to call attention to my colleague, Aminatou Haidar, who is in the 3rd week of a hunger strike. Scroll to the end to take action & watch my Twitter account for updates. 

Say the words "hunger strike" and many will recall images of an
emaciated Mahatma Gandhi enduring several famous fasts to protest
British rule of India.