Nathan Kleinman
Encyclopedia
Nathan Kleinman is a human rights activist and political organizer. He is mainly noted for undertaking two political fasts and for his role as a top aide to former Congressman Joe Sestak during his 2010 campaign for the U.S. Senate.
outside the White House
to raise awareness of the situation in Darfur. On July 10th he was joined by another hunger striker, Jay McGinley, who fasted for eight days.
In April 2006, Kleinman participated in the first Sudan Freedom Walk
, a three-week march from the United Nations
in New York
to the US Capitol in Washington, D.C.
organized by Simon Deng
, a former child-slave from Southern Sudan, and David Bredhoff. In addition to being a featured speaker at events along the way, Kleinman also organized a large rally outside Independence Hall
in Philadelphia (featuring the late Manute Bol
, among others), midway through the walk.
In August 2006, Kleinman organized the Philadelphia Darfur Festival, a celebration of Darfuri culture featuring traditional music, dance, food, and poetry readings. It was held at the Arden Theatre Company
in Philadelphia's Old City
neighborhood, with proceeds benefiting the Philadelphia-based Darfur Human Rights Organization.
In December 2006, Kleinman and Deng organized a 2nd Sudan Freedom Walk, from NATO headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, to the International Criminal Court
in The Hague, The Netherlands. One day after the walk ended, the ICC announced for the first time that it would indict members of the Sudanese government for crimes against humanity. Deng and Kleinman later organized in a one-day march and rally with Sudan Sunrise
in Des Moines, Iowa, on January 1, 2008 (Sudanese Independence Day), two days prior to the 2008 Iowa caucus. Bol and Samantha Power
were featured speakers.
, Mexico
, and the APPO-affiliated struggle for human rights in the Sierra Mazateca. It was originally published on Kleinman's short-lived blog, The International Aurora, and later by the Philadelphia Independent Media Center.
On October 6, 2009, Kleinman began his second water-only political fast in support of the non-violent resisters to the Honduran coup regime of Roberto Micheletti
along with an international group of fasters coordinated by the National Resistance Front Against the Coup d'Etat in Honduras
. Other participants in the fast began while besieged in the Brazilian embassy with ousted President Manuel Zelaya
, following his secret return to Honduras a few weeks earlier. After two weeks of fasting, Kleinman suspended his fast at the request of President Zelaya, relayed to him by Andrés Thomas Conteris
, following a change in strategy.
Kleinman became involved in the Honduras fast after taking part in a human rights delegation to the country organized by Witness for Peace
in September 2008. The delegation met with some of the most prominent resisters to the military coup regime including Bertha Oliva de Nativí, Dr. Juan Ángel Almendares Bonilla
, Father Ismael Moreno, S.J., poet Blanca Guifarro, Via Campesina
leader Rafael Alegría, and Father José Andrés Tamayo Cortez
(known as Andrés Tamayo, or Padre Tamayo), who was in hiding at the time. He had aimed to fast a day for each of those killed by the coup regime, using the latest count at the time from the Committee of Relatives of the Disappeared in Honduras (or COFADEH).
's presidential campaign of in Pennsylvania. He was also elected and served as an Obama Delegate to the Democratic National Convention from Pennsylvania's 13th Congressional District, which is located in eastern Montgomery County and Northeast Philadelphia.
In 2010, Kleinman served as a top political and communications aide to former Admiral and Congressman Joe Sestak during his successful primary campaign against then-Senator Arlen Specter
and his unsuccessful general election campaign against Patrick J. Toomey.
in Jenkintown, Pennsylvania
(2000), and a graduate of Georgetown University
's Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service
, with a degree in Culture & Politics (2004). His professors at Georgetown included Madeleine K. Albright, Donna Brazile
, and the late Jeane J. Kirkpatrick. He was very active in campus theater groups, especially the Mask and Bauble Dramatic Society
and Nomadic Theatre
. He later studied Archaeology and Native American History at Leiden University
from 2006 to 2007.
. He is also an active board member of the Philadelphia-based Jewish Social Policy Action Network (JSPAN), and runs the Baederwood Cultural Heritage Garden Project, an all-volunteer effort to preserve rare food plants from around the world, with a focus on cultivars indigenous to Philadelphia and the mid-Atlantic region.
Sudan
From June 30, 2005 to July 11, 2005, he undertook a water-only hunger strikeHunger strike
A hunger strike is a method of non-violent resistance or pressure in which participants fast as an act of political protest, or to provoke feelings of guilt in others, usually with the objective to achieve a specific goal, such as a policy change. Most hunger strikers will take liquids but not...
outside the White House
White House
The White House is the official residence and principal workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., the house was designed by Irish-born James Hoban, and built between 1792 and 1800 of white-painted Aquia sandstone in the Neoclassical...
to raise awareness of the situation in Darfur. On July 10th he was joined by another hunger striker, Jay McGinley, who fasted for eight days.
In April 2006, Kleinman participated in the first Sudan Freedom Walk
Sudan Freedom Walk
On April 5, 2006 Sudan activist and former slave Simon Deng and a band of supporters completed an arduous 300-mile trek on foot from New York City to Washington, D.C. as part of the historic Sudan Freedom Walk...
, a three-week march from the United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
in New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
to the US Capitol in Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
organized by Simon Deng
Simon Deng
Simon Aban Deng is a Sudanese human rights activist living in the United States. He is a victim of child slavery. A native of the Shilluk Kingdom in southern Sudan, Deng spent several years as a domestic slave in southern Sudan.-Biography:...
, a former child-slave from Southern Sudan, and David Bredhoff. In addition to being a featured speaker at events along the way, Kleinman also organized a large rally outside Independence Hall
Independence Hall
Independence Hall is the centerpiece of Independence National Historical Park located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, on Chestnut Street between 5th and 6th Streets...
in Philadelphia (featuring the late Manute Bol
Manute Bol
Manute Bol was a Sudanese-born basketball player and activist. At 7 feet, 7 inches , Bol was one of the tallest players ever to appear in the National Basketball Association, along with Gheorghe Mureşan. Unlike Mureşan, however, Bol was naturally tall and did not have a Pituitary disease...
, among others), midway through the walk.
In August 2006, Kleinman organized the Philadelphia Darfur Festival, a celebration of Darfuri culture featuring traditional music, dance, food, and poetry readings. It was held at the Arden Theatre Company
Arden Theatre Company
The Arden Theatre Company is a leading regional theatre company located in Stockton-on-Tees, England. Founded in 2002 by Robert Icke and Daniel Hill, the theatre has grown quickly to become one of the premier theatre companies in the region...
in Philadelphia's Old City
Old City
-Neighborhoods :*Old City , Azerbaijan*Old City *Old City *Old City , Pakistan*Old City Multan, Pakistan*Old City , Tennessee, United States*Old City, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States...
neighborhood, with proceeds benefiting the Philadelphia-based Darfur Human Rights Organization.
In December 2006, Kleinman and Deng organized a 2nd Sudan Freedom Walk, from NATO headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, to the International Criminal Court
International Criminal Court
The International Criminal Court is a permanent tribunal to prosecute individuals for genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and the crime of aggression .It came into being on 1 July 2002—the date its founding treaty, the Rome Statute of the...
in The Hague, The Netherlands. One day after the walk ended, the ICC announced for the first time that it would indict members of the Sudanese government for crimes against humanity. Deng and Kleinman later organized in a one-day march and rally with Sudan Sunrise
Sudan Sunrise
Sudan Sunrise, Inc. is a non-profit organization based in Lenexa, Kansas, USA, whose aims are to* facilitate the efforts of South Sudanese Christians to aid and stand in solidarity with Darfurian Muslims,...
in Des Moines, Iowa, on January 1, 2008 (Sudanese Independence Day), two days prior to the 2008 Iowa caucus. Bol and Samantha Power
Samantha Power
Samantha Power is an Irish American academic, governmental official and writer. She is currently a Special Assistant to President Barack Obama and runs the Office of Multilateral Affairs and Human Rights as Senior Director of Multilateral Affairs on the Staff of the National Security Council...
were featured speakers.
Latin America
Kleinman's first-hand report "Something Beautiful in Remote Oaxaca: Real Democracy" is the only English-language account of the election of former political prisoner Agustin Sosa Ortega as mayor of the remote city of Huautla de Jimenez, OaxacaOaxaca
Oaxaca , , officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Oaxaca is one of the 31 states which, along with the Federal District, comprise the 32 federative entities of Mexico. It is divided into 571 municipalities; of which 418 are governed by the system of customs and traditions...
, Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
, and the APPO-affiliated struggle for human rights in the Sierra Mazateca. It was originally published on Kleinman's short-lived blog, The International Aurora, and later by the Philadelphia Independent Media Center.
On October 6, 2009, Kleinman began his second water-only political fast in support of the non-violent resisters to the Honduran coup regime of Roberto Micheletti
Roberto Micheletti
Roberto Micheletti Baín is a former de facto president of Honduras who served as a result of the 2009 coup d'état. The Honduran military was ordered by the Supreme Court to forcefully detain President Manuel Zelaya once the Court stated he was violating the Honduran constitution; Zelaya was exiled...
along with an international group of fasters coordinated by the National Resistance Front Against the Coup d'Etat in Honduras
National Resistance Front (Honduras)
The National Popular Resistance Front or National People's Resistance Front , frequently referred to as the National Resistance Front, is a wide coalition of Honduran grassroots organisations and political parties and movements that aims to restore elected President Manuel Zelaya and hold a...
. Other participants in the fast began while besieged in the Brazilian embassy with ousted President Manuel Zelaya
Manuel Zelaya
José Manuel Zelaya Rosales is a politician who was President of Honduras from January 27, 2006 until June 28, 2009. The eldest son of a wealthy businessman, he inherited his father's nickname "Mel," and, before entering politics, was involved in his family's logging and timber businesses.Elected...
, following his secret return to Honduras a few weeks earlier. After two weeks of fasting, Kleinman suspended his fast at the request of President Zelaya, relayed to him by Andrés Thomas Conteris
Andres Thomas Conteris
Andrés Thomas Conteris is Founder of , serves as the Director of the of Nonviolence International and is active with the International Network for the Abolition of Foreign Military Bases. He is a filmmaker with Raven’s Call Productions and Co-Producer of the award-winning documentary “.” Since...
, following a change in strategy.
Kleinman became involved in the Honduras fast after taking part in a human rights delegation to the country organized by Witness for Peace
Witness for Peace
Witness for Peace is an United States-based activist organization founded in 1983 that opposed the Reagan administration's support of the Nicaraguan Contras, alleging widespread atrocities by these counterrevolutionary groups. Witness for Peace brought U.S. citizens to Nicaragua to see the effects...
in September 2008. The delegation met with some of the most prominent resisters to the military coup regime including Bertha Oliva de Nativí, Dr. Juan Ángel Almendares Bonilla
Juan Ángel Almendares Bonilla
Juan Ángel Almendares Bonilla is a Honduran physician, politician and human rights activist. He ran as part of the Democratic Unification Party in the 2005 Honduran general election, finishing in third place with 1.5% of the vote. Almendares currently serves as the co-chair of the Honduran...
, Father Ismael Moreno, S.J., poet Blanca Guifarro, Via Campesina
Via Campesina
Via Campesina describes itself as "an international movement which coordinates peasant organizations of small and middle-scale producers, agricultural workers, rural women, and indigenous communities from Asia, Africa, America, and Europe"...
leader Rafael Alegría, and Father José Andrés Tamayo Cortez
José Andrés Tamayo Cortez
José Andrés Tamayo Cortez is a Honduran Catholic priest and environmentalist, a leader of the Environmental Movement of Olancho. He was awarded the Goldman Environmental Prize in 2005, for his efforts of organizing resistance against commercial logging in the Olancho Department.- References :...
(known as Andrés Tamayo, or Padre Tamayo), who was in hiding at the time. He had aimed to fast a day for each of those killed by the coup regime, using the latest count at the time from the Committee of Relatives of the Disappeared in Honduras (or COFADEH).
U.S. politics
Kleinman was first a volunteer then a staff member in Barack ObamaBarack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...
's presidential campaign of in Pennsylvania. He was also elected and served as an Obama Delegate to the Democratic National Convention from Pennsylvania's 13th Congressional District, which is located in eastern Montgomery County and Northeast Philadelphia.
In 2010, Kleinman served as a top political and communications aide to former Admiral and Congressman Joe Sestak during his successful primary campaign against then-Senator Arlen Specter
Arlen Specter
Arlen Specter is a former United States Senator from Pennsylvania. Specter is a Democrat, but was a Republican from 1965 until switching to the Democratic Party in 2009...
and his unsuccessful general election campaign against Patrick J. Toomey.
Personal Background
He is a graduate of Abington Friends SchoolAbington Friends School
Abington Friends School, founded in 1697, is a K-12 private Quaker secondary school in Jenkintown, Pennsylvania . It is the oldest primary and secondary educational institution in the United States to operate continuously at the same location under the same management...
in Jenkintown, Pennsylvania
Jenkintown, Pennsylvania
Jenkintown is a borough in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, about 10 miles north of downtown Philadelphia. "Jenkintown" is also used to describe a number of neighborhoods surrounding the borough, which also are known by names such as Rydal, Jenkintown Manor and Noble...
(2000), and a graduate of Georgetown University
Georgetown University
Georgetown University is a private, Jesuit, research university whose main campus is in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Founded in 1789, it is the oldest Catholic university in the United States...
's Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service
Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service
The Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service is a school within Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., United States. Jesuit priest Edmund A...
, with a degree in Culture & Politics (2004). His professors at Georgetown included Madeleine K. Albright, Donna Brazile
Donna Brazile
Donna Brazile is an American author, professor, and political analyst affiliated with the Democratic Party. She was the first African American to direct a major presidential campaign, for Al Gore in 2000...
, and the late Jeane J. Kirkpatrick. He was very active in campus theater groups, especially the Mask and Bauble Dramatic Society
Mask and Bauble Dramatic Society
The Mask and Bauble Dramatic Society of Georgetown University is the oldest continuously running collegiate theatre troupe in the United States. Today, the Society is one of five theatre groups on the Georgetown campus and is entirely student-run...
and Nomadic Theatre
Nomadic Theatre
Nomadic Theatre is one of the Co-Curricular, student-led theatre groups at Georgetown University. It has dedicated itself to producing new works that have an aspect of social awareness.-Birth of Nomadic Theatre:...
. He later studied Archaeology and Native American History at Leiden University
Leiden University
Leiden University , located in the city of Leiden, is the oldest university in the Netherlands. The university was founded in 1575 by William, Prince of Orange, leader of the Dutch Revolt in the Eighty Years' War. The royal Dutch House of Orange-Nassau and Leiden University still have a close...
from 2006 to 2007.
Current work
Kleinman presently serves as a Legislative Assistant to Pennsylvania State Representative Josh ShapiroJosh Shapiro
Josh Shapiro is a Democratic member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, representing the 153rd legislative district since 2005...
. He is also an active board member of the Philadelphia-based Jewish Social Policy Action Network (JSPAN), and runs the Baederwood Cultural Heritage Garden Project, an all-volunteer effort to preserve rare food plants from around the world, with a focus on cultivars indigenous to Philadelphia and the mid-Atlantic region.
Sources
- Wells, Jane The Huffington Post
- DeBrosse, Jim Dayton Daily News
- Sudanese Online Freedom Walk information
- Website Sudan Freedom Walk (April 2006)
- Ayuno Por Honduras Fast for Honduras webpage
- Witness for Peace Witness for Peace
- Kleinman, Nathan The International Aurora
- Kleinman, Nathan Hunger Strike for Darfur
- Kleinman, Nathan Something Beautiful in Remote Oaxaca: Real Democracy