| Ralph Nader, born on the 27th of February, 1934 is an American lawyer and political activist. Nader supported the rights of consumers, feminism, humanitarianism, environmentalism and a democratic government. In last decade, Nader also criticized the foreign policy of the USA, which, Nader considers corporative, imperialistic and not keeping the fundamental values of the democracy and human rights intact. His activism played an important role in the formation of a series of state and nongovernmental organizations, such as EPA, OSHA, Public Citizen, PIRG groups and many more.
Three times Nader participated in the presidential elections of the USA (1996, 2000 and 2004). In 1996 and 2000, he was the candidate of the Green Party; his candidate for vice-president ship was Winona LaDuke. In 2004, he was an independent candidate with the green activist Peter Miguel Camejo as candidate for the post of vice-president.
Apart from English and Arabic, Nader is comfortable speaking Spanish, Chinese and Russian languages.
Hundreds of young activists, inspired by the work of Nader have joined his projects. They became known as “Nader's Raiders”. Lead by Nader, the activists investigated corruption cases in the government and published dozens of books with results.
In 1971, Nader formed the nongovernmental organization “Public Citizen” as an "Umbrella" for all these projects. As of today, “Public Citizen” has more than 140000 members and carries out a set of investigations on the activities of congress, public health services, the use of the environment, etc. The activity of the organization, in particular, facilitated in the signing of the “Safe Drinking Water Act” and the “Freedom of Information Act”, and also in the formation of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), EPA (United States Environmental Protection Agency, EPA) and the Consumer Product Safety Commission, CPSC.
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This Sunday, Arab American attorney and political activist Ralph Nader has announced that he is running for President these elections. Nader stated that many Americans are sick of corporate interests represented by Republicans and Democrats, and they need a third party candidate who is not a corporate marionette, and will represent the interests of American people.
This is Nader's fifth attempt to run for US President - he had already run in 1992, 1996, 2000 and 2004. Nader is often said to have cost Al Gore the 2000 election, by siphoning the votes from Gore.
Ralph's native language is Arabic - his parents, Nathra and Rose Nader, were Lebanese immigrants.
