After the September 11 terrorist attacks, most Americans were too intimidated to raise questions about dubious United States policies in the Middle East and Iraq.

But Rania Masri was not nearly so cowed.

Her works and philosophy grounded in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. A committed social justice advocate, Masri has navigated many regions of the world in conflict on behalf of peace. "We have a responsibility to make a difference," she says. "I believe in finding links between struggles, and striving for unity."

Masri has been a staunch critic of U.S. plans for economic transformation of Iraq. And as a young Arab woman with citizenship in Lebanon and the U.S., she continues to bring an important perspective to national and international debates on peace and war, which usually leave out voices of marginalized groups.

In 2002, Masri joined the Institute for Southern Studies as a New Voices Fellow. Located in Durham, NC, the Institute for Southern Studies is a research, media, and education center that works with disenfranchised communities in the South seeking social and economic justice. Its core programs include a voting rights project, an environmental and economic justice program, and a project that supports farm workers and new immigrants. The organization publishes the award-winning Southern Exposure magazine.

Masri conducts community-based policy research for the Institute, and organizes public forums in low-income communities to share the institute's research. She has also been key in developing constructive working relationships between diverse groups around common issues of environmental and economic justice.

When Masri joined the organization as director of what is now the Southern Peace Research and Education Center, she helped forge critical links between poor, marginalized groups in the South and destructive military action in other parts of the world.

"We look at the impact of militarization on the South and on the world," she explains. "And the reason we are looking particularly at the South is because it is the most militarized region in the U.S. We look at the way militarization affects the South, and we look at how the weapons that are produced in the South are reaching and affecting people all over the world."

Born in Beirut, Masri grew up in Bahrain, and has been living in the U.S. since 1986. An environmental scientist, she received a Ph.D. in Forestry from North Carolina State University. Long before joining the Institute for Southern Studies, she was recognized for her efforts to improve U.S. foreign policies affecting Iraq and Palestine and her proposals for improving environmental management policies in Lebanon.

Since joining the Institute as a New Voices Fellow, Masri has become one of the peace rally's most sought after speakers on the war in Iraq. In March 2003, Masri led 300 peace activists to protest a Democratic senator's unquestioning support of President George Bush's policies in Iraq. She is a vigilant critic against war profiteering and helped form the Campaign to Stop War Profiteers and End the Corporate Invasion of Iraq. The campaign, launched in August 2003, quickly galvanized veteran, peace, and other public interest groups across the country.
She has written about the situation in Iraq and Palestine in local, national, and international news magazines, and has spoken at conferences and universities throughout the United States and Canada about peace, justice, racism and the sanctions against Iraq. Her articles on the situation in Iraq have been published internationally.

A dynamic speaker, she has also appeared on local, national, and international news networks, including NPR, CNN, Fox National, Pacifica Radio, and Voice of America.

She works with and represents a number of peace organizations in the U.S., including Peace Action, the Education for Peace in Iraq Center, the Iraq Action Coalition, the Arab Women's Solidarity Association and Al-Awda, which works for justice for the Palestinians.

"Without New Voices," she says, " I simply would not be able to focus my time on this work. I would have had to figure out how to support myself financially. Instead, New Voices gave me the liberty to really devote myself to this work and gave me the time to—for the first time—think about my own heart's desires."