Global Project Against Hate and Extremism

Join us on April 18 as we welcome special guest Wendy Via, Co-Founder, CEO and President of the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism, to learn how we can all fight against the tide of hate and violence.

RClick  here to watch on Secular AZ’s YouTube channel.

Launched in 2020, the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism (GPAHE) was founded by Heidi Beirich and Wendy Via to address the gap in efforts to stop transnational hate and far-right extremism movements, particularly U.S.-based activity that is exported to other countries and across borders.

GPAHE tackles the issue of hate and extremism by working to reduce the associated violence that terrorizes communities and our society and tackling systemic problems rooted in hate in our governments and societies. As we’ve seen in recent years in the U.S., as well as in countries around the world, we can no longer separate hate and extremism from our leaders and politics.

Wendy Via  is an expert in the intersection of technology and far-right extremism and the effect on democracy as well as in achieving change and influencing narratives and actions around some of the most pressing civil and human rights issues of our time, including far-right extremism, systemic racism, economic inequality, immigration, criminal justice reform, and LGBTQ+ rights. For the last two decades, she has successfully directed high-impact philanthropy initiatives, exposed hate and extremism in institutional systems, designed influential policy and advocacy campaigns, leveraged research, and highlighted storytelling to educate the public and create lasting change.

In 2020, Via cofounded the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism to address the transnational nature of hate and far-right extremism and how these movements harm flourishing and diverse democracies. She serves on the core committee of the Christchurch Call Advisory Network, founded by the governments of France and New Zealand, which seeks to stop the proliferation of online violent extremism and terrorism, and is the author of numerous reports on transnational extremism.  She regularly provides expert advice to members of Congress, including testimony to the January 6 select committee and the Canadian Parliament, and other intragovernmental bodies, is regularly interviewed by leading media outlets, and serves as advisor to various tech companies.

Prior to co-founding GPAHE, Wendy was the Chief Communications and Development Officer at the Southern Poverty Law Center, where she led numerous teams. She also helped launch Justice for Migrant Women, dedicated to ensuring that migrant women can live and work with dignity and free from violence, and worked with Jeremiah Program, dedicated to disrupting generational poverty for single moms and their children. She holds a BA in Humanities from Auburn University, Montgomery.