Just World Educational is thrilled to welcome Joe Catron, who has agreed to come on board as our part-time Director of Outreach based in New York City.
Some of you may have heard Joe on the International Solidarity Movement tour this spring, when he spoke at nearly thirty venues up and down the U.S. East Coast about his experiences over three and a half years in the Gaza Strip. (The photo above shows him, second from left, along with Cindy and Craig Corrie of the Rachel Corrie Foundation, Islam Maraqa of ISM, and members of the Madison-Rafah Sister City Project, during an event in Madison, WI.)
Or, you may have seen Joe in Max Blumenthal and Dan Cohen’s new documentary, Killing Gaza; or you may have read about him in Ramzy Baroud’s most recent book, The Last Earth: A Palestinian Story.
He has reported from or about Palestine in Briarpatch, The Electronic Intifada, Middle East Eye, MintPress News, Truthout, and other places, and he’s been interviewed by ABC News, the BBC, McClatchy, the New York Times, and Newsweek.
Joe is a weathered supporter of Palestine whose work has run the gamut from helping edit The Prisoners’ Diaries: Palestinian Diaries from the Israeli Gulag to frontline nonviolent direct action in defense of Gaza ambulances, demonstrations, farms, fishing boats and hospitals to social media and Web management for more organizations than he cares to count.
Originally from Virginia, he studied folklore and mythology at the College of William & Mary. After graduating, he moved to New York in 2006, immersing himself in the city’s labor and tenant movements before starting to organize intensively for Palestine.
A longtime friend of Just World Ed, Joe worked closely with several contributors to Just World Books’s Gaza Writes Back anthology while he was in the Strip. He says that his engagement in the issues our projects have highlighted, from Palestine to militarism and ecology to the Holy Land Five, has made our activities “invaluable” for him, adding that he’s “excited and humbled to work with an organization that’s done so much to inform so many people on such a wide range of crucial topics.”
His work at JWE will include finalizing next month’s U.S. speaking tour by Mohammad Sabaaneh, the celebrated Palestinian cartoonist and author of White and Black: Political Cartoons from Palestine, developing JWE’s presence on the Web and social media, and strategizing with JWE’s board about priorities for our activities in 2019.
We are, obviously, delighted to bring a person with this range of skills and depth of commitment join us in our work. Welcome aboard, Joe Catron!
You can reach him at: joecatron@justworldeducational.org.