Ken Livingstone: Part 1 Defend Freedom of Religion, Conscience and Thought Rally
Ken Livingstone has been the Mayor of London since the creation of the post in 2000. He was previously Leader of the Greater London Council from 1981 until 1986. Among other achievements, he has been active in tackling racism and building strong links with community groups. He has instituted a number of events seeking to reflect the diversity of London, including reviving the free Anti-racism Music festival now called Rise: London United, hosting a Jewish Hanukkah ceremony, introducing the annual Saint Patrick's Day festival, and organising the first ever "Eid in the Square" in Trafalgar Square, in commemeration of the Muslim Eid ul-Fitr festival.

Ken Livingstone: 2nd Part Defend Freedom of Religion, Conscience and Thought Rally 

Lord Nazir Ahmed: Defend Freedom of Religion, Conscience and Thought Rally
Lord Ahmed was made Britain's first Muslim peer in 1998. He distinguished himself as a particularly proactive local councillor, and founded the British Muslim Councillors’ Forum in 1992. Lord Ahmed was also made a Justice of the Peace in the same year and chaired the South Yorkshire Labour Party for some years. As a Muslim peer, much of his activities relate to the Muslim community, both at home and internationally. He led one of the first delegations on behalf of the British Government on the Muslim pilgrimage of the Hajj, to Saudi Arabia and has advocated legislation against religious discrimination, international terrorism and forced marriages. At home, Lord Ahmed speaks on wider equality issues, and has spoken several times on issues of race, religion and gender.

Jon Cruddas: Defend Freedom of Religion, Conscience and Thought Rally

Jon Cruddas is the Member of Parliament for Dagenham, and former Deputy political secretary to Tony Blair. Since 1989, he has worked for the Labour Party, and is former Chief Assistant to the General Secretary of the Labour Party (1994 - 1997) and Policy adviser to Labour Party (1989 - 1994). He has played a leading role in the fight against the BNP in east London. He is the current Secretary of the London Group of Labour MPs.

Dominic Grieve: Defend Freedom of Religion, Conscience and Thought Rally
Dominic Grieve is Member of Parliament for Beaconsfield, Shadow Attorney General, and former Conservative Spokesman on criminal justice and community cohesion. He has been a Member of the London Diocesan Synod of the Church of England and is a deputy Church Warden. As Conservative Spokesman on community cohesion, he developed strong connections with ethnic and religious minority communities in Britain.

Dr Mohammad Abdul Bari: Defend Freedom of Religion, Conscience and Thought Rally

Dr. Muhammad Abdul Bari is Secretary General of Muslim Council of Britain (MCB), chair of the East London Mosque Trust, and former chair of Islamic Forum Europe. Born in Bangladesh, Dr. Bari is an educationalist and author of several books on parenting, and issues of youth and identity, including Race, Religion & Muslim identity in Britain. He has worked as an Air Force Officer, researcher in physics, science teacher and SEN specialist in London, latterly advising the London Borough of Tower Hamlets.

Shami Chakrabarti Defend Freedom of Religion, Conscience and Thought Rally
Shami Chakrabarti commenced as Director of Liberty in September 2003, after having worked on a number of Liberty's high–profile cases and assisting with Liberty's campaigning work by contributing to the development of policy and strategy. She is one of Britain’s most prominent political and human rights activists and commentators, regularly appearing as Liberty spokesperson on a wide range of issues. She has become a recognised expert on the UK's anti-terrorism laws in recent years and was shortlisted in the Channel 4 Political Awards 2006 for the "Most Inspiring Political Figure" award.

Soumaya Ghannoushi: Defend Freedom of Religion, Conscience and Thought Rally
Soumaya Ghannoushi is an academic, freelance writer, and director of research at IslamExpo. Having been awarded a bachelor and masters degrees in philosophy from the University of London, she moved on to oriental studies. She has a keen interest in medieval history and is currently completing a doctorate thesis on the medieval origins of the Orientalist discourse. Her research interests range from political philosophy to medieval history and contemporary Middle Eastern politics. She is a researcher in philosophy and the history of ideas at the School of Oriental and African Studies and a columnist on al-Jazeera.net. She is also a regular contributor to The Guardian.

Christine Odone: Defend Freedom of Religion, Conscience and Thought Rally
Cristina Odone is a journalist, editor, and writer. She has written for several newspapers, and is former editor of The Catholic Herald and former deputy editor of the New Statesman. She currently writes for The Observer and The Daily Telegraph, and was a regular contributor to the BBC Radio 4 programme Thought for the Day. She has published two novels, The Shrine (1996) and A Perfect Wife (1997), and contributed to Why I am still a Catholic (2005).

Bruce kent Vice President of Pax Christi

Bruce Kent (Catholic peace campaigner and Vice-President of Pax Christi)

Bruce Kent is a political activist and one of Britain's best-known peace campaigners. He is Vice-President of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND), of which he served as General Secretary from 1980 to 1985, and as Chair from 1987 to 1990. He was ordained as a catholic priest in 1958 and retired from the active ministry in 1987. He has been at various times the President of Abolition 2000 UK and of the London Region of the United Nations Association, Chairperson of the Culture of Peace Committee and of the British overseas development agency War on Want. He has travelled to many places around the world in the cause of peace based on justice.
 

Edie Friedman: Defend Freedom of Religion, Conscience and Thought Rally
Edie Friedman was born in Chicago, and was a student there in the 1960's when she was deeply influenced by the civil rights and peace movements. She came to England to study and subsequently worked for Oxfam and a local community relations council. She started the Jewish Council for Racial Equality (JCORE) in 1976, of which she is currently Director. JCORE is concerned with three main areas of activity: Anti-racist education, Black/Jewish dialogue and asylum and refugee issues.

Salma Yaqoob:  Defend Freedom of Religion, Conscience and Thought Rally
Salma Yaqoob is the vice-chair of RESPECT The Unity Coalition   and a Birmingham City Councillor. She is also the head of the Birmingham Stop the War Coalition and a spokesperson for Birmingham Central Mosque. She has encouraged Muslim and non-Muslim unity around common principles of peace, social justice and equality. She is a regular commentator on current affairs on the television and radio and has had articles published in a number of newspapers. She is author of British Muslim radicalism post 9/11 in Islamic Political Radicalism: A European Comparative.

Davinderjit Singh: Defend Freedom of Religion, Conscience and Thought Rally
Dabinderjit Singh OBE is a campaigner for Sikh rights, and is a spokesman for the Sikh Secretariat. He was awarded an OBE, and has been active in community work, with various Sikh organizations such as the British Sikh Federation. 

Michelle Stanistreet: Defend Freedom of Religion, Conscience and Thought Rally
Michelle Stanistreet is Vice-President of the National Union of Journalists. The union was founded in 1907 and has fought for journalists, their pay, working rights and professional freedom, and is among the biggest and best-established journalists' unions in the world. She is also journalists union representative at The Daily Express.

Andrew Stunall: Defend Freedom of Religion, Conscience and Thought Rally

Andrew Stunell is Liberal Democrat Member of Parliament for Hazel Grove. He is the Lib Dems' Chief Whip and spokesman on the office of the deputy prime minister. His other political interests include campaigning on environmental issues and against nuclear power and he is a strong supporter of Third World debt reduction. He is a former Baptist lay preacher and an active member of his local Methodist Church. 

Tony Benn: Defend Freedom of Religion, Conscience and Thought Rally
During half a century in the Commons, Tony Benn's strong opinions and powerful rhetoric made him one of Parliament's most entertaining advocates, but also the thorn in the side of more than one government. No longer an MP, he is now in a position to, as he describes it, "spend more time with politics". He is the longest serving Labour MP in the history of the party, which he joined in 1942. He is a member of the Transport and General Workers Union and the National Union of Journalists, and an honorary member of the National Union of Mineworkers. The holder of seven honorary Doctorates from British and American universities, he has just been appointed as a Visiting Professor at the London School of Economics and is a regular broadcaster.

Paul Mackney: Defend Freedom of Religion, Conscience and Thought Rally
Paul Mackney is a trade unionist, political activitst and social campaigner. He is Joint General Secretary of University and College Union, the largest trade union for academics, lecturers and academic-related staff working in further and higher education in the UK. He was first elected General Secretary of NATFHE in December 1997, a position he held for almost 10 years. He was previously NATFHE’s West Midlands regional official. He is a member of the TUC’s general council.

Kate Hudson: Defend Freedom of Religion, Conscience and Thought Rally
Kate Hudson is a political activist and leading anti-nuclear and anti-war campaigner nationally and internationally. She is currently Chair of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament and has been since September 2003. She is also Head of Social and Policy Studies at London South Bank University and edits the journal Contemporary Politics. She is author of CND Now More than Ever: The Story of a Peace Movement.

Billy Hayes: Defend Freedom of Religion, Conscience and Thought Rally
Billy Hayes is the General Secretary of the Communication Workers Union (CWU), the seventh largest union in Britain. He represents the union in its relations with the Labour Party and the Government, on the Trades Union Congress General Council, and at the international level on Union Network International. CWU has been active in addressing racism in the workplace, hosting an international conference in 2004 to discuss the best ways to tackle a rising tide of racism and xenophobia across the continent.

Lindsey German: Defend Freedom of Religion, Conscience and Thought Rally
As Convenor of Stop the War Coalition, Lindsey German led the anti-war movement to unprecedented success, mobilising millions of people to take to the streets in protest. She has been active in broadening the diversity of the anti-war movement. She was editor of Socialist Review for twenty years until 2004. She is the author of numerous books and articles including Stop the War: The story of Britain's biggest mass movement.