By Jeff Leys
Jeff Leys, 43, is Co-Coordinator of Voices for Creative Nonviolence. He traveled to Iraq to nonviolently oppose the impending U.S. led invasion in February 2003 with the Iraq Peace Team project of Voices in the Wilderness. He returned to Iraq in November 2003 to learn first hand the impact of the U.S. invasion upon Iraqi citizens in order to more effectively organize to end the U.S. occupation upon return home.
Leys moved to Chicago to work full time with Voices for Creative Nonviolence in May 2004. He organized and participated in three water only fasts between June 2005 and March 2006 which sought to draw attention to and build opposition to the U.S. occupation of Iraq and the manner in which Iraq is being economically exploited by the international community. He organized and participated in the Walk for Justice, a 30 day, 320 mile walk through Illinois to build opposition to the U.S. war in Iraq in June 2006.
Before joining Voices, Leys worked as a labor union organizer (1995 to 2004) and as an advocate for those experiencing homelessness. In the early 1990’s his work focused upon advocating for youth experiencing homelessness, assisting in the establishment of the first two shelters in Minnesota designed specifically for youth experiencing homelessness.
In the 1980’s, Leys served two years in prison for participating in a Plowshares-Disarmament action: acting to nonviolently dismantle Project ELF, then a key component of the emerging U.S. policy and strategy of using nuclear weapons first in a conflict with another nation. Also in the 1980’s, Leys engaged in active nonviolent resistance to draft registration and to the U.S. proxy wars in Central America. He was arrested numerous times at Honeywell Corporation’s headquarters in Minneapolis, resisting Honeywell’s role in the manufacture of cluster bombs and guidance systems for first strike nuclear weapons.
He can be reached via email,
