Wisconsin Wave- Speaker Biographies

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Ben Manski: He was the initiator of the Wisconsin Wave, a broad coalition that has played a leading role in the Wisconsin uprising, and is also the executive director of the Liberty Tree Foundation, an associate fellow with the Institute for Policy Studies, and a co-founder of the Move to Amend coalition. Politically engaged since his early childhood in Israel and Wisconsin, now in his mid-30s, Ben Manski has worked for a variety of causes, notably serving as co-chair of the Green Party of the United States. Manski was a primary figure in the student movements of the 1990s, serving then as national coordinator of the Democracy Teach-Ins in the lead-up to the Seattle WTO protests. Today is a public interest lawyer, teaches sociology at Madison College, and remains a committed pro-democracy advocate.

Erika Wolf: With 10 years as a community organizer, peer educator, and public advocate under her belt, Erika Wolf became a hub of information, strategy, and organizing in the Wisconsin mobilizations through her role in the State Capitol Occupation. Through rallies, public hearings, marches, Walkerville tent city, and many of the actions in between, she has been a trainer, adviser, facilitator, mediator, tactician, and voice of reason. Erika is the Advocacy Field Organizer for United Council of UW Students, a job which makes her privy to strategizing and planning in Madison and statewide with labor leaders, folks directly affected by budget cuts and concessions, non-profit organizations, community leaders, lawyers, elected folks, police, and everyday activists. In the fight against the rise of fascism—in Wisconsin and in the US—Erika has placed herself in both behind-the-scenes logistics teams and on the frontlines, shoulder-to-shoulder with others engaged in this struggle. Erika believes that we all the individual power to take action to move this world from human wrongs to human rights.

Damon Terrell: A student at UW-Madison and a lifelong resident of Madison. He spent all but one of the 18 days in the State Capitol. He was also there when the movement retook the building back on march ninth. Since then he helped to found the Autonomous Solidarity Organization, a local nonprofit engaged in community buiding and organizing efforts. Additionally, Terrell has been active in working with United Council of UW Students to mobilize students on a statewide level.