Eqbal Ahmad: Eqbal Ahmad (1933-1999) was Professor Emeritus of International Relations and Middle Eastern Studies at Hampshire College in Amherst, Massachusetts. He was managing editor of the quarterly Race and Class. His articles and essays appeared in The Nation and other journals throughout the world.

David Barsamian: One of America's most tireless and wide-ranging investigative journalists, David Barsamian has altered the independent media landscape, both with his weekly radio show Alternative Radio-now in its 30th year-and his books with Noam Chomsky, Howard Zinn, Tariq Ali, Arundhati Roy and Edward Said.

Edward W. Said was University Professor of English and Comparative Literature at Columbia. A member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the Royal Society of Literature and of Kings College Cambridge, his celebrated works include Orientalism, The End of the Peace Process, Power, Politics and Culture, and the memoir Out of Place. He is also the editor, with Christopher Hitchens, of Blaming the Victims, published by Verso. He died in September 2003.