By Donald Gilpin

The Rev. Jesse Jackson will be the keynote speaker at the Princeton University Chapel on November 11, preaching at the 39th Annual Multifaith Service sponsored by the Coalition for Peace Action (CFPA).

For the CFPA’s Conference for Peace that afternoon at the Nassau Presbyterian Church, the renowned civil rights, religious, and political figure will be joined by Wendy Sherman, lead U.S. negotiator for the Iran nuclear agreement; Ray Acheson, steering group member for the International Campaign to Ban Nuclear Weapons and part of the Nobel Peace Prize-winning effort last summer to pass the nuclear weapons prohibition treaty at the U.N.; and Bill Hartung, internationally-recognized expert on the issues of Pentagon spending and the global arms race.

“I’m thrilled to have such a dynamite collection of speakers, with Jesse Jackson kicking it off,” said CFPA Executive Director the Rev. Bob Moore.

“There’s a great lineup of speakers,” CFPA Assistant Director Niki VanAller concurred. “Jesse Jackson has been a leading voice for peace for so long. He speaks to a wide audience, different
generations, and different backgrounds.” She went on to note Jackson’s involvement in working for a peaceful resolution to the current Korean nuclear arms conflict. “He recently returned from South Korea, where he was spreading a peace message, advocating more humanitarian approaches to Korea,” she said.

Twice a candidate for president, Jackson has played key roles in numerous movements for empowerment, peace, civil rights, gender equality, and economic and social justice over the past 40 years. In 2000 he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor.

VanAller noted that Sherman, in addition to leading the U.S. negotiations with Iran, earlier served as a special advisor to President Bill Clinton and as a policy coordinator on North Korea.

Sherman is a senior counselor at Albright Stonebridge Group and a senior fellow at Harvard Kennedy School’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs. She served for a number of years as undersecretary of state for political affairs at the U.S. Department of State, overseeing the bureaus for Africa, East Asia and the Pacific, Europe and Eurasia, the Near East, South and Central Asia, the Western Hemisphere, and International Organizations.

VanAller also mentioned the importance of Acheson and her “strong feminist voice” as head of the Reaching Critical Will organization and at the United Nations, “speaking against the toxic masculinity and bravado of the disarmament dialogue.”

Acheson provides analysis, research, and advocacy across a range of disarmament and arms control issues, leading the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom’s work on stigmatizing war and violence.

Hartung, author of numerous books and articles on war and weapons, currently runs the Arms and Security Project at the Center for International Policy, and was previously director of the Arms and Security Initiative at the New America Foundation.

The November 11 Multifaith Service will take place at 11 a.m., and is free and open to all with no pre-registration required. The Conference for Peace will take place from 1:30 to 5 p.m.