About Nidal Sakr
Nidal Sakr is the Chair of The March For Justice, a human rights/social justice movement. In that capacity, he has focused on the disenfranchisement of Black and minority voters throughout Florida, election reform, civil rights abuses after September 11, issues of detainees and police brutality against Blacks, bias against Arabs and Muslims, adverse impact of the US war agenda and US/Israeli relations on US national interest, world peace and stability, promoting democracy, human rights, and the rule of law, as well as, improving community relations and promoting a more efficient government.
Nidal has been elected as member on the Florida Board of Directors of The American Civil Liberties Union as well as to its Broward (one the US most populated counties) Board of Directors. Nidal co-founded the Broward Bill of Rights Defense Coalition, which was responsible for passing a resolution against implementing the US Patriot Act in the county. After the 2002 Florida primary elections, Nidal co-founded, along with other organizations, the first US Election Reform Coalition, which was responsible for inviting outside independent elections monitors for the very first time in US history. Nidal, along with his fellow officers of The March, sit on various community and community development boards, joint government task forces, executive boards and committees of leading organizations and political parties. With affiliation in more than 50 countries and circulation in more than 20 languages worldwide, The March, as global grass roots justice/human rights movement, continues to further human rights and reform through chapters and affiliates in different parts of the world. Nidal has been appointed to the US Commission on Civil Rights. He is a lifelong civil libertarian, following a family history of commitment to humanitarian issues.
Nidal is an economist by training, and for over 30 years has managed, founded, and consulted a number of various-scale businesses, and NGO’s. Nidal also advised a number of government agencies and officials in various countries on various economic, political, cultural, and educational issues. While born in Providence, Rhode Island, Nidal spent many of his years in Jordan, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Egypt, where he was involved in struggles for human and civil rights and political reform. Nidal’s involvement in the struggle for social justice and political reform has been documented as early as the 7th grade where he was the official student leader and spokesperson for his school in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. In 1980, Nidal led the only strike of its kind in the history of the school system in Jordan. The strike was called for when the Jordanian Minister of Education announced extended school days, where students were to be discharged at 3:30 p.m. rather than 1 p.m. every school day. The strike’s position that the extended school day would create difficulties for poor students and those from refugee camps, who had to work after school to support their families. The strike lasted for one day and was ended only after the Jordanian Under-Secretary of Education met with Nidal at his school the morning of the first extended school day.
In 1990, as President of the Muslim Student Association in San Francisco, Nidal co-founded an anti-war campaign out of San Francisco, which soon spread to Berkeley, becoming a national campaign. This campaign against Gulf War was later continued under Ramsey Clark in protest of the war and the sanctions that were subsequently imposed against the people of Iraq. Nidal also led a national campaign against infringement on civil rights that accompanied the break of the Gulf War. In 1991, he was named as SFSU’s Student Leader of the Year, and in 1992, Nidal earned his first Masters in Economics from SFSU.
Nidal has fought civil rights violations in the higher educational system in both California and in Florida, involving discrimination on the basis of race, religion, national origin and disabilities, and in a number of cases leading to investigations by various agencies including the Office for Civil Rights, at the US Department of Education. He also has fought and continues to fight against hate speech and various forms of hate crimes against members of all communities. While pursuing his doctorate in Economics, Nidal launched a number of campaigns for higher education reform. Such campaigns directly contributed to drastic improvements in a number of university systems in both California and Florida.
Nidal is an outspoken advocate of resolving disputes through non-violent means. Under his leadership, The March For Justice has instituted a social justice program “The March For Peace,” which sheds light on the devastating impact of US wars on US inner cities and poor Americans. Members of The March are continuously elected, appointed and inducted to various bodies and communities of inner cities and “disadvantaged communities” throughout the US and various other countries. In addition, The March For Justice has been very active in organizing various forms of community functions including rallies, caravans, town hall meetings, and coalitions. Nidal, his work, and The March are frequently featured in national and international media outlets and publications. During “Operation Iraqi Freedom,” The March For Justice Website, www.MarchForJustice.com, gained worldwide notoriety with its “Shock and Awe Photo Gallery,” which documented the brutal civilian slaughter by Coalition Forces. At the peak of the “war,” the site received as many as 5,000,000 hits a day, and to this day, thousands of sites worldwide link to The Shock and Awe Gallery.
The March has been one of the most sought for organizations for lectures, media ventures, movie features, and political and academic research. Over the years, Nidal has published over 200 articles, in both Arabic and English, in hundreds of publications and websites on politics, economics, culture, human rights, and reform. During the last few years, due to lack of freedoms in Arab countries, Nidal has maintained key involvements in areas that are crucial to ongoing transformations in the region, and transitions leading to shaping the future of the region and the world.