Lisa Fithian (born) is an American political activist and protest consultant.
Fithian was born in [1] and grew up in Hawthorne, New York. During high school, she founded the underground newspaper The Free Thinker. She began her work in the mid-1970s as a member of her high school's student government, where she served as president.[2] She continued advocacy work as president of the Skidmore College Student Government Association. She graduated from Skidmore in 1983.[3] Her brother David Fithian is the 10th president of Clark University in Worcester, MA.
As a member and coordinator of the Washington Peace Center for seven years during the 1980s, Fithian organized hundreds of events and demonstrations on a range of issues, locally and nationally, and helped lead an extensive anti-racism process that transformed the Peace Center into a multicultural organization.[4]
In the early 1990s, Fithian joined the labor movement, bringing her experience to the Justice for Janitors campaigns in Washington, D.C., Denver, and Los Angeles.[5] She continued her work for social, economic, and environmental justice, providing training and organizing support to many of the global-justice mobilizations around the world since the shutdown of the World Trade Organization Ministerial in Seattle in 1999.[6]
After Hurricane Katrina, Fithian worked with the Common Ground Collective in New Orleans.[7]
Fithian previously served as a National Steering Committee member of United for Peace and Justice, a coalition of over 1,000 local and national groups working to end the war in Iraq.[8] She was also a member of the national team of Extinction Rebellion.[9] [10]
In 2024, she worked with Columbia University students protesting for divestment from Israel, advising students who launched an occupation of Hamilton Hall on April 29.[11] [12] The New York City Police Department labeled her a "professional agitator" in footage released during a press conference.[13]
Fithian has written throughout the years, including the 2007 book anthology by South End Press.[14] She wrote the 2019 book Shut It Down: Stories from a Fierce, Loving Resistance.[15]