World Affairs Council of Northern California

World Affairs Council of Northern California

The World Affairs Council of Northern California is an international affairs organization based in San Francisco, and is the largest such organization on the West Coast of the United States. It was founded in 1947, out of the interest generated by the founding of the United Nations in San Francisco in 1945. In addition to its headquarters in San Francisco's Union Square, it serves its 10,000 members through chapters in Contra Costa County, Marin County, and San Mateo County. It is the largest affiliate of the national [http://www.worldaffairscouncils.org/ World Affairs Councils of America] . Jane Wales, its President and CEO since 1998, often presides over its programs.

The organization hosts more than 200 events every year with leading political and business leaders, academics, journalists, and artists. Council events are an opportunity to engage in candid discussions with people who are shaping the world. Most events are open to the general public, and they encourage open discussion.

Notable speakers

Some of their notable speakers from the recent past include:

*Tony Blair, former Prime Minister, First Lord of the Treasury, and Minister for the Civil Service, Her Majesty's Government, the United Kingdom; current representative for the Middle East Quartet
*HRH Prince Bandar, former Saudi Ambassador to the United States
*Willie Lewis Brown Jr., former Mayor of San Francisco
*Zbigniew Brzezinski, former National Security Advisor to President Jimmy Carter
*Wesley Clark, four-star general and former presidential candidate
*Frederik Willem de Klerk
F. W. de Klerk, former President of South Africa, and Nobel Peace Prize recipient
*Stuart Eizenstat, former U.S. Ambassador to the European Union
*John Kerry, U.S. Senator (D-MA) and presidential candidate
*William Kristol, founder and editor of "The Weekly Standard"
*Vandana Shiva, founder and director of the Research Foundation for Science, Technology, and Natural Resource Policy in New Delhi, India
*William Perry, former Secretary of Defense
*George Shultz, former Secretary of State
*Sam Nunn, former US Senator
*Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the House and Representative for the 8th Congressional District of California
*Lech Wałęsa, former President of Poland and head of Solidarity
*Milos Zeman, Czech Prime Minister
*Joschka Fischer, former Vice Chancellor and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Germany
*Richard Myers, former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
*Paul Wolfowitz, former US Deputy Secretary of Defense
*Graça Machel, President, Foundation of Community Development (Mozambique)
*Andrew Grove, Co-founder and Chairman of Intel Corporation
*David Halberstam, Pulitzer Prize-winning author
*Jorge G. Castañeda, Secretary of Foreign Affairs of Mexico
*Fareed Zakaria, Editor of Newsweek International and ABC News Commentator
*Ehud Barak, former Israeli Prime Minister
*Thomas Friedman, "New York Times" columnist
*Joseph Stiglitz, economist and Nobel Prize Laureate
*Paul Krugman, "New York Times" columnist
*Óscar Arias, Nobel Peace Prize winner
*George Soros, international financier
*Desmond Tutu, archbishop

External links

* [http://www.itsyourworld.org Homepage]
* [http://fora.tv/wac/ World Affairs Council of Northern California] video


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