When did liberal religion start valuing personal autonomy over collective values of love and justice? We need to prioritize a new kind of freedom.
Activism
Fascism in Ukraine: Assessing the Threat of the Ultranationalist Right
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Remember the fascists in Ukraine? Turns out the Ukrainian far right does not seem to pose as much of a threat to the democratic development and security of Ukraine as some have claimed.
2014
Generative Justice: The Revolution Will Be Self-Organized
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Whereas previous generations of revolutionary activists demonized technology, today’s generation has recognized the incredible opportunities to engage citizens that new technology affords. The emergence of the Open Source movement, which emphasizes continual modification and improvement, points to a future defined by generative justice: the constant generation of value within harmonious local networks.
2014
What the Left Needs to Be Heard
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To steer our culture aggressively in a different direction, the Left needs what right-wing groups have long used effectively—power, influence, and, perhaps most importantly, money. By utilizing a concentrated and ongoing stream of funding from a diverse group of sources, small voices will again have the chance to speak out and be heard.
2014
To Be Realistic, Demand the Impossible: Toward a Visionary Left
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In the last forty years, the Left has utterly failed to articulate any viable alternative to neoliberalism’s vision of a fully marketized society. Still, the current global crisis of capitalism has made clear the contradiction of a civilization directed toward profit accumulation rather than human need and thus defined the task of an emancipatory Left: we must master capitalism’s own drive toward universality by making its benefits truly common.
2014
Life After Debt: Why America Needs an Anti-Capitalist Left
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America needs a Left that approaches social change without “economistic” blinders, countering capitalism not by appealing to it, but by opening space for people to no longer be dominated by its logics. Making efforts to relieve the debts of those in need—while striving to reimagine our debt-financed society—is a logical starting place.
2014
Political Posters for the Twenty-First Century: A Spotlight on the Justseeds Artists’ Cooperative
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Surveillance. War. Immigration. Palestine. Social justice heroes. Occupy. The political posters of the Justseeds collective take on all this and more.
2014
Enter the Alter-Left: Reviving Our Revolutionary Nerve
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Anti-neoliberal mobilizations in Latin America, WTO protests in Seattle, and Occupy Wall Street have catalyzed a promising force: the Alter-Left.
Activism
“Our Nation Is Only a Nation in Its Torah”: On Haredi Refusal and Democratic Discourse
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The Haredi community has always been a thorn in the side of secular Israelis because the Haredi community does not buy into the Zionist ideology or the militarist symbology of the state. To move forward, Israel has to make room for this political and religious voice in the conversation.
Activism
How Jews Brought America to the Tipping Point on Marriage Equality: Lessons for the Next Social Justice Issues
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The story of Jews’ contributions to the campaign for marriage equality offers valuable lessons for how to break through public resistance on other issues that Jewish groups are now addressing, including economic justice initiatives like paid sick leave, rights for domestic workers, and raising the minimum wage.
Activism
Accounting for Egyptians’ Exuberance for Violence
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It was very hard to come to grips with the fact that on the third anniversary of the outbreak of the Egyptian revolution, tens of thousands of Egyptians were chanting nationalist slogans while waving photos, placards, banners and posters of General Abdel Fattah El-Sissi, exhibiting a kind of hero worship and cult of personality that was unimaginable in the Mubarak era.
Articles
Alona Kimhi’s Magical Brutalism
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Lily La Tigresse is unsparing in its critique, but it’s also seminal in terms of launching its indictment of Israel—a society that, in Kimhi’s view, is no more generous or compassionate than the barbarous terrain of Europe, not to mention the U.S.S.R.
2014
Three Books Responding to the Repercussions of Slavery
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by Frederick Douglas, Byron Williams, and Jeannine Bell
2014
Beyond Allyship: Multiracial Work to End Racism
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How can we create powerful, cross-race movements for change? A child of the Civil Rights Movement wrestles with the idea of allyship.
2014
Trayvon Martin: Reflections on the Black and Jewish Struggle for Justice
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Since the 1960s, efforts at coalition building and solidarity work between Jewish and Black communities have suffered and never reached the pinnacle that was reached during the early days of the Civil Rights Movement. In 2013, the lack of deep and abiding connections between Black and Jewish activists became apparent in the disparate responses from Jewish communities to the events surrounding the killing of Trayvon Martin and the subsequent acquittal of George Zimmerman. To reinvigorate a coalition among blacks and Jews we need to forge deeper ties across racial lines.