Albert Einstein Institution

The Albert Einstein Institution (AEI) as described in its own website:
 * Founded in 1983 by Dr. Gene Sharp, The Albert Einstein Institution is dedicated to advancing the study and use of strategic nonviolent action in conflicts throughout the world. It is committed to the defense of freedom, democracy, and the reduction of political violence through the use of nonviolent action. To further its mission, the Institution has supported research projects (for examples, see our publications section), actively consulted with resistance and pro-democracy groups (including groups in Burma, Thailand, Tibet, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Belarus, Serbia, and the Occupied Territories), and worked to publicize the power and potential of nonviolent struggle around the world through educational materials, analyses, translations, workshops, and media visibility.

In 1989, "The Einstein Institution’s Board of Directors, meeting in September, approved a grant of $6,000 to the Civilian-Based Defense Association, a one hundred percent increase over last year’s funding level. The grant is specifically to provide general support for the production and distribution of the Association’s newsletter, Civilian-Based Defense: News and Opinion."

In 1995, AEI noted that "The Program on Nonviolent Sanctions, which receives financial support from the Albert Einstein Institution, has now joined with the Cultural Survival Center, the research arm of Cultural Survival, a human rights organization, to run the Program on Nonviolent Sanctions and Cultural Survival (PNSCS) at Harvard University’s Center for International Affairs."

Funding
Between 2000 to 2004 they received some funding from :
 * Arca Foundation
 * California Community Foundation
 * Greenville Foundation
 * Mertz-Gilmore Foundation
 * Miriam G. and Ira D. Wallach Foundation

Between 1993 and 1999 they received funding from :
 * Arca Foundation
 * Burma Project of the Open Society Institute
 * Compton Foundation
 * C.S. Fund
 * Ford Foundation
 * Friedrich Naumann Stiftung
 * Greenville Foundation
 * International Republican Institute
 * Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust
 * Joyce Mertz-Gilmore Foundation
 * National Endowment for Democracy
 * New York Friends Group
 * Olof Palme International Centre
 * Ploughshares Fund
 * United States Institute for Peace

Principals

 * Robert Helvey – (Col., Defence Intelligence Agency)
 * Edward Atkeson – (Major General, US Army) advisor
 * Peter Ackerman – advisor

Board of Directors

 * Cornelia Sargent – Chair
 * Elizabeth Defeis
 * Mary King
 * Gene Sharp
 * Curt Goering

Director 2000
 * Peter Ackerman
 * Elizabeth F. Defeis
 * Curt Goering
 * Chester Haskell
 * Joanne Leedom-Ackerman
 * Dr. Stephen Marks
 * Hazel M. McFerson
 * Thomas C. Schelling
 * Gene Sharp
 * Martin Teitel

Former Directors
 * Hazel M. McFerson former chair
 * "*In 1994 “At the Albert Einstein Institution’s annual meeting in July, the board of directors elected Elizabeth F. Defeis as its new chair. She succeeds Thomas C. Schelling, who served as the board’s chair for five years… The board also re-elected Christopher Kruegler as president, and elected Hazel M. McFerson as secretary-treasurer. At its fall meeting, the board of directors will welcome a new member," Dr. Stephen Marks.
 * Richard Rockwell - 1994/95
 * Bob Helvey – President. (Helvey was on the board from approximately June 2003 and approximately October 2006 He authored a report, On Strategic Nonviolent Conflict: Thinking About the Fundamentals, which acknowledges funding from a United States Institute of Peace grant SG-127-02S.

Staff

 * Gene Sharp – Senior Scholar
 * Jamila Raqib – Executive Director

Staff 2000

Advisors (1993-1999)
pdf
 * Maj. Gen. Edward B. Atkeson (ret.)
 * Philip Bogdonoff
 * I. Roberto Eisenmann
 * Dr. Efrain Garza Fuentes
 * Rabbi Everrett Gendler
 * Prof. Donald Horowitz
 * Prof. Robin Remington Wallace
 * Admiral Gene R. La Rocque (ret.)
 * Prof. Adam Roberts
 * William Spencer
 * Prof. Hisham Sharabi
 * David Szanton
 * Peter Szanton
 * William Langer Ury

Former Advisors
 * James Farmer - 1994/95

Former Directors (1990)
Accessed August 2008:


 * Peter Ackerman
 * Philip Bogdonoff
 * Chester Haskell
 * Joanne Leedom-Ackerman
 * Christopher Kruegler
 * Richard Rockwell
 * Thomas C. Schelling
 * Gene Sharp

Contact information
The Albert Einstein Institution PO Box 455 East Boston, MA 02128 USA Phone: USA +617-247-4882 Fax: USA +617-247-4035 E-mail: einstein@igc.org Web: http://www.aeinstein.org

Related SourceWatch Articles

 * NED - former funder
 * Soros Foundation
 * Swarming Youths
 * Otpor
 * Uche Ewelukwa
 * Howard Clark
 * Stephen Crawford
 * Middle East Nonviolence and Democracy
 * Arthur Edelstein
 * Douglas A. Johnson - former fellow (in the 1980s)
 * Center for the Study of Strategic Nonviolent Defense
 * Albert Einstein Peace Foundation
 * Open Letter in Support of Gene Sharp and Strategic Nonviolent Action
 * Charles Bloomstein

External Articles

 * Jonathan Mowat, "The new Gladio in action?: Ukrainian postmodern coup completes testing of new template", Online Journal, March 19, 2005. Contains references to the role played by AEI in Ukraine.
 * Jonathan Mowat, "Who is Col. Bob Helvey?", Online Journal, March 19, 2005. Contains discussion of the instigator of AEI.
 * Jonathan Mowat, "The Coup Plotters: The Albert Einstein Institution", Online Journal, March 19, 2005. Contains discussion of AEI.
 * Thierry Meyssan, "The Albert Einstein Institution: non-violence according to the CIA", Voltairenet, January 4, 2005.
 * George Ciccariello-Maher, "Einstein Turns in His Grave: AEI and Venezuela", CounterPunch, April 16, 2008.
 * Michael Field, "Fiji claims NZ diplomat interfering in Govt", Stuff, June 22, 2008.
 * Stephen Zunes, Sharp Attack Unwarranted, Foreign Policy in Focus commentary, 27 June 2008.
 * Stephen Gowans, "Defending the Indefensible: Sham Democracy Promoter Defends Imperialist Ties", What's Left, June 29, 2008. (Response to Zunes article: "Sharp Attack Unwarranted")
 * Michael Barker, "Sharp Reflection Warranted: Nonviolence in the Service of Imperialism", Swans, June 30, 2008. (Response to Zunes article: "Sharp Attack Unwarranted")
 * George Cicariello-Maher & Eva Golinger, "Debate on the Albert Einstein Institution and its Involvement in Venezuela", Venezuelanalysis, August 5, 2008.