Our team
Elizabeth Arif-Fear: Founder and Director
Elizabeth is a young British Muslim and award-winning activist, passionate about protecting human rights, promoting peace and strengthening intercultural/interfaith cohesion.
Her main interests include: women’s rights, refugee and migrant rights and issues surrounding multiculturalism, anti-extremism and community cohesion – in particular, Jewish-Muslim relations.
Committed to human rights activism from a young age, Elizabeth studied languages/translation and human rights at postgraduate level, including some study within Islamic Studies (Feminism in the Muslim World). She converted to Islam whilst in her final year at university.
A dedicated writer and campaigner, Elizabeth works with a range of organisations and bodies dedicated to protecting human rights, promoting peace, reconciliation and inclusion, strengthening interfaith cohesion and eradicating prejudice, including:
Elizabeth has worked with a range of human rights and development organisations including: Amnesty International UK, Child to Child, Muslims Against Antisemitism (MAAS), Grandmother Project (GMP) and Croydon Community Against Trafficking (CCAT) in communications, community organising/campaigning and translation/editing, focussing on a range of issues such as Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), child marriage, freedom of expression, labour rights, forced veiling and child participation and combatting antisemitism.
She has written for a range of organisations/publications including: Globe Post, Haaretz, She Speaks We Hear, Sister-hood magazine and Jewish News. Passionate about languages, Elizabeth has also worked as a volunteer translator/proofreader for non-profit organisations and outlets including Global Voices and Cafe Babel.
As a Muslim activist, Elizabeth remains committed to fighting antisemitism and providing a platform for more nuanced views of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Elizabeth is a member of Nisa-Nashim (including their Israel-Palestine working group), a trustee for Muslims Against Antisemitism, a member of the steering committee of the UK Friends of the Bereaved Families Forum (FBFF) and member of the outreach committee at Holocaust Memorial Day Trust (HMDT). She attended London-based synagogues for several years’, with experience volunteering on interfaith and social action projects at a central London synagogue.
In 2019, Elizabeth won the St. Ethelburga’s award for Sacred Activist of the Year and also became a published poet. Her debut poetry collection “What If It Were You?” (2019) focuses on a range of critical human rights issues, including FGM, child marriage, modern slavery and the rights of refugees and was submitted for the 2019 People’s Book Prize (fiction).
Elizabeth was most recently a fellow on the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations (UNAOC) 2020 fellowship programme focussed on peace in the age of new media and a graduate Fellow on the KAICIID 2022 Fellowship Programme focussed on intercultural and interreligious dialogue.
In 2023, she is now participating in the European Network for Countering Antisemitism through Education (ENCATE) certificate training programme on “Current Forms of Antisemitism”.
Contributors
Roni Roseberg: Writer
Roni is a Jewish-American educator, based in the USA.
She graduated with a BA in Anthropology from UCLA, obtained her Adult Education teaching credential from UC Berkeley, and her MA in Integrative and Holistic Education from California State University, San Bernardino.
Dedicated to building peace through education, Roni has worked as an educator since 1972. With students of all ages, she has taught English as a Second Language to adults from over 70 cultures and countries in colleges and adult schools.
From 1990 to 2000, she was a safety educator and spokesperson for Santa Monica Fire Department.
She taught for Santa Monica College from 2000 to 2004, and the Inland Center for Career Education from 2005 to 2020, most recently teaching ESL and high school subjects in the California State Re-entry Initiative Center for those on parole.
In 2022, she relocated to central Mexico where she works on writing projects and blogs for Voice of Salam.
Matt Pointon: Writer
Matt is a practising Anglican from Stoke-on-Trent. He has been interested in world religions and interfaith activities since 2000.
His passions are pilgrimage and writing.
He has travelled to holy sites from Jerusalem and Amritsar to Iona to Eihei-ji. In 2021, he completed the 500-mile Camino Frances and in April 2023 will be walking from Florence to Rome along the Way of St. Francis.
His particular interests are Celtic Christianity, Orthodox monasticism, early Islam, Sufism and the life of Guru Nanak.
His day job is working for the trade unions.
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