Tikkun (https://www.tikkun.org/category/other_voices/editorials__actions/page/37/)
The Year of Sustainable Development
by Jeffrey Sachs December 9, 2014
NEW YORK – The year 2015 will be our generation’s greatest opportunity to move the world toward sustainable development. Three high-level negotiations between July and December can reshape the global development agenda, and give an important push to vital changes in the workings of the global economy.
We at Tikkun Magazine urge you to read Rabbi Lerner’s impassioned plea on Huffington Post to stand with African Americans this Sunday morning when they have called for a Solidarity Sunday in suport of the position that Black Lives Matter. It’s a nonviolent and sweet way to show solidarity with our African American brothers and sisters, many of whom have felt largely abandoned by the rest of society as they listen to equivocal statements from President Obama and denials that there is any problem of racism by many in the media and politics. If you live in the Bay Area, look below for some relevant places to attend church services that morning [though many of us, like myself, are not Christian–but solidarity requires going to one of the major places in which African Americans will be seeking support this weekend as the media switches the focus, leaving behind the ongoing problem of American racism, to focus (importantly) on the torture crimes of the Bush and Obama Administration–can you believe that Obama, through his Sec. of State Kerry, tried to convince the Senate not to release this report ‘at this time’ which would have left it in the hands of a Republican Senate that would have never released it?]. We have made that solidarity a theme of our Reclaim America conference that afternoon Dec.
From Tikkun Magazine www.tikkun.org, the Network of Spiritual Progressives www.spiritualprogressives.org, and the Metta Center for Non-violence
The new Congress is going to be a catastrophe for the environment and for those most dependent on everything from social security, safety and health protections for our food and work places, safety for our personal deposits in banks and financial institutions and Obamacare to social programs that provide some minimal protections from the worst impact of the competitive marketplace, not only for the poor and the powerless, but also for most of us in the middle class. That’s one reason it’s so important for you to come and invite everyone you know to a 6 hour strategy conference aimed at developing strategy for the years ahead (and if you know anyone in the media, contact them too and ask them to make sure this event gets covered–it’s a rare public confrontation by liberals and progressives of the need to rethink our direction, so it’s newsworthy though media people hate to “work” on Sunday). You’ve probably been at many meetings focused on “what’s wrong,” but this one is focused on “what we can do to change the dynamics in American society,” in short, strategizing in place of whining and blaming everyone else for why we are not winning. After the 2014 elections and facing a Congress determined to dismantle environmental protections and health and social benefits for middle income Americans and the poor in 2015-2016,
it’s critical that ethically sensitive people develop a strategy to:
RECLAIM AMERICA
YOU ARE INVITED TO PARTICIPATE IN
A Town Hall Meeting & Strategy Discussion
Sunday December 14, 1 p.m.
At the University of San Francisco McLaren Hall
(Golden Gate Ave near Roselyn Terrace)
(If you can’t come, would you organize a similar event in your area–and some of us might be available to come to speak. For more info: cat@spiritualprogressives.org)
Among the presenters at our strategy conference:
Marianne Williamson Author: Healing the Soul of America, A Return to Love, and Imagine What America Could Be in the 21st Century
George Lakoff Prof of Cognitive Science and Linguistics, author of Don’t Think of an Elephant and Moral Politics,
Rabbi Michael Lerner Editor of Tikkun, rabbi of Beyt Tikkun Synagogue, Author: The Left Hand of God: Taking Back our Country from the Religious Right and Spirit Matters,
Matthew Fox Liberation Theologian, Author of Original Blessing, and The Coming of the Cosmic Christ
Cat Zavis Attorney, Executive Director, the Network of Spiritual Progressives, and teacher of Empathic Communication
Other speakers that day include: Reginald W. Lyles (from Allen Temple Baptist Church in Oakland former advisor to Assemblyman Sandre Swanson), liberation theologian Jorge Aquino (of the Theology and Religious Studies Dept. of USF), Oakland city council chair Rebecca Kaplan and more.
After the 2014 Elections and Facing a Congress determined to dismantle environmental, health and social benefits for middle income Americans and the poor in 2015-2016
It’s critical that ethically sensitive people develop a strategy to:
RECLAIM AMERICA YOU ARE INVITED TO PARTICIPATE IN
A Town Hall Meeting & Strategy Discussion
Sunday December 14, 1 p.m.
At the University of San Francisco McLaren Hall
(Golden Gate Ave near Roselyn Terrace)
Among the presenters at our strategy conference:
Mathew Fox Liberation Theologian, Author of Original Blessing, and The Coming of the Cosmic Christ
Rebecca Kaplan Oakland City Council President,
George Lakoff Prof of Cognitive Science and Linguistics, author of Don’t Think of an Elephant and Moral Politics,
Rabbi Michael Lerner Editor of Tikkun, rabbi of Beyt Tikkun Synagogue, Author: The Left Hand of God: Taking Back our Country from the Religious Right and Spirit Matters,
Marianne Williamson, author: Healing the Soul of America, A Return to Love, and Imagine What America Could Be in the 21st Century, ,
Cat Zavis Attorney, Executive Director, the Network of Spiritual Progressives, and teacher of Empathic Communication
And more. (Our speakers will start the discussion, but the most important person to be there is YOU). Pre-registration at: spiritualprogressives.org/reclaimAmerica
The Congress that will shape America in the next two years is committed to defunding government so that it cannot enforce the minimal environmental protections currently in place, provide health care coverage for those who need it,so that it, provide safety and health protection for our food or for our work places, or protect the old, the young, the vulnerable—while at the same time that Congress will seek to decrease still further the taxes on the super-rich and the corporations they own and control. This is an ethical and spiritual and religious crisis of monumental proportions—and calls for secular liberals and progressives to join with spiritual or religious activists to work together to develop strategies to save our planet earth and protect middle income and working people and the unemployed from the assaults of the selfish. That’s why we, spiritual progressives of every variant (including atheists and secular humanists as well as people in every religious community) must now take action to present a different worldview, one based on the Biblical call to “love our neighbor” but also “love the stranger (the Other/the powerless)., to pursue justice and peace.
Repetitive Motion Disorder: Black Reality and White Denial in America
by Tim Wise
I suppose there is no longer much point in debating the facts surrounding the shooting of Michael Brown. First, because Officer Darren Wilson has been cleared by a grand jury, and even the collective brilliance of a thousand bloggers pointing out the glaring inconsistencies in his version of events that August day won’t result in a different outcome. And second, because Wilson’s guilt or innocence was always somewhat secondary to the larger issue: namely, the issue of this gigantic national inkblot staring us in the face, and what we see when we look at it—and more to the point, why? Because it is a kind of racial Rorschach (is it not?) into which each of these cases—not just Brown but all the others, from Trayvon Martin to Sean Bell to Patrick Dorismond to Aswan Watson and beyond—inevitably and without fail morph. That we see such different things when we look upon them must mean something.
This is a sad day. The grand jury’s decision is yet another sign that all of America’s sons’ lives are not yet valued equally in the eyes of our courts. All of America’s fathers, mothers and children should stay outraged and in motion for progress until we are finally what we say we are: One Nation, Under God, Indivisible, with Liberty and Justice for All. We must finally ensure police can be held accountable for killing unarmed civilians. We must win national standards for both the use of force and use of force training.
5 Bedrock Washington Assumptions That Are Hot Air
by Andrew Bacevich
Cross-posted with TomDispatch.com
“Iraq no longer exists.” My young friend M, sipping a cappuccino, is deadly serious. We are sitting in a scruffy restaurant across the street from the Cathedral of St. John the Divine on Manhattan’s Upper West Side. It’s been years since we’ve last seen each another. It may be years before our paths cross again. As if to drive his point home, M repeats himself: “Iraq just doesn’t exist.”
His is an opinion grounded in experience. As an enlisted soldier, he completed two Iraq tours, serving as a member of a rifle company, before and during the famous Petraeus “surge.” After separating from the Army, he went on to graduate school where he is now writing a dissertation on insurgencies. Choosing the American war in Iraq as one of his cases, M has returned there to continue his research. Indeed, he was heading back again that very evening. As a researcher, his perch provides him with an excellent vantage point for taking stock of the ongoing crisis, now that the Islamic State, or IS, has made it impossible for Americans to sustain the pretense that the Iraq War ever ended.
China’s New Global Leadership
by Jeffrey D. Sachs
The biggest economic news of the year came almost without notice: China has overtaken the United States as the world’s largest economy, according to the scorekeepers at the International Monetary Fund. And, while China’s geopolitical status is rising rapidly, alongside its economic might, the US continues to squander its global leadership, owing to the unchecked greed of its political and economic elites and the self-made trap of perpetual war in the Middle East. According to the IMF, China’s GDP will be $17.6 trillion in 2014, outstripping US output of $17.4 trillion. Of course, because China’s population is more than four times larger, its per capita GDP, at $12,900, is still less than a quarter of the $54,700 recorded in the US, which highlights America’s much higher living standards. China’s rise is momentous, but it also signifies a return.
After the 2014 Elections and Facing a Congress determined to dismantle environmental, health and social benefits for middle income Americans and the poor in 2015-2016
It’s critical that ethically sensitive people develop a strategy to:
RECLAIM AMERICA
You, dear reader, are invited to:
A Town Hall Meeting & Strategy Discussion
Sunday December 14, 1 p.m.
At the University of San Francisco McLaren Hall
(Golden Gate Ave near Roselyn Terrace)
Among the presenters at our strategy conference:
Mathew Fox Liberation Theologian, Author of Original Blessing, and The Coming of the Cosmic Christ
Rebecca Kaplan Oakland City Council President,
George Lakoff Prof of Cognitive Science and Linguistics, author of Don’t Think of an Elephant and Moral Politics,
Rabbi Michael Lerner Editor of Tikkun, rabbi of Beyt Tikkun Synagogue, Author: The Left Hand of God: Taking Back our Country from the Religious Right and Spirit Matters,
Marianne Williamson, author: Healing the Soul of America, A Return to Love, and Imagine What America Could Be in the 21st Century, ,
Cat Zavis Attorney, Executive Director, the Network of Spiritual Progressives, and teacher of Empathic Communication
And more. (Our speakers will start the discussion, but the most important person to be there is YOU). Pre-registration at: spiritualprogressives.org/reclaimAmerica
The Congress that will shape America in the next two years is committed to defunding government so that it cannot enforce the minimal environmental protections currently in place, provide health care coverage for those who need it,so that it, provide safety and health protection for our food or for our work places, or protect the old, the young, the vulnerable—while at the same time that Congress will seek to decrease still further the taxes on the super-rich and the corporations they own and control. This is an ethical and spiritual and religious crisis of monumental proportions—and calls for secular liberals and progressives to join with spiritual or religious activists to work together to develop strategies to save our planet earth and protect middle income and working people and the unemployed from the assaults of the selfish. That’s why we, spiritual progressives of every variant (including atheists and secular humanists as well as people in every religious community) must now take action to present a different worldview, one based on the Biblical call to “love our neighbor” but also “love the stranger (the Other/the powerless)., to pursue justice and peace.
Why does the Right keep winning in American politics, sometimes through electoral victories, sometimes by having the Democrats and others on the Left adopt what were traditionally right-wing policies and perspectives?
Why Have Jewish-Arab Relations Deteriorated in Israel? The View of Sikkuy’s Ron Gerlitz, by Phyllis Bernstein
What follows is a summary of remarks delivered by Ron Gerlitz, co-executive director of Sikkuy: The Association for the Advancement of Civic Equality, at an Inter-Agency Task Force for Israeli Arab Issues meeting on November 6, 2014 in New York.
“To hate Arabs isn’t racism, it’s having moral values! #Israeldemandsrevenge
By Phyllis Bernstein
This summer, and since the war in Gaza, we have witnessed a serious deterioration in relations between Jewish and Arab citizens in Israel. Unlike the events which took place in 2000 between the police and Arab citizens, since the summer of 2014 we’ve seen civil clashes between Jewish and Arab citizens. In most cases, Jews have attacked Arabs verbally or physically. What’s new is the frequency and intensity of these incidents. This is something we’ve never seen before in Jewish-Arab relations in Israel. A few examples: shouting “death to Arabs” on the street, demonstrations demanding the firing of all Arab employees in some shopping malls, organized pressure on employers to fire Arab employees, death threats against people who expressed sympathy for Arabs, including former Defense Minister Amir Peretz, physical and verbal attacks against Arab citizens, racist incitement in social media, dismissal of Arab employees by mainstream Jewish employers, and incitement by politicians such as Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman who called on Jews to boycott Arab businesses.
Editor’s note: this is a selection from a longer article by Uri Avnery
Isis as an Existential Threat to Israel by Uri Avnery
ISIS (“the Islamic State”) poses no military danger. The present and former generals who shape Israel’s policy can only smile when this “danger” is mentioned. A few tens of thousands of lightly armed fighters against the huge Israeli military establishment? Ridiculous. As indeed it is.
We live in a world filled with loving and caring people. We all crave a world filled with love and care. Yet most of us doubt that we can experience a loving and caring world beyond our own private lives and homes. Why? Because the ethos of the capitalist marketplace, which places greatest value on money and power, has infiltrated our personal lives, shaping our unconscious and conscious beliefs about “human nature.”
In the economic marketplace we are taught to look out for ourselves, maximize our profits, and do what we need to do to get ahead, even at the cost of people we care about.
New York Times
Minority Life in Israel
By RULA JEBREAL
OCT. 27, 2014
Credit Bratislav Milenkovic
My mother, Zakia, was so proud that my sister and I spoke better Hebrew than Arabic. Osman, my father, believed that by achieving the highest levels of education, we would one day be treated as equal in our country, Israel. He sincerely believed that Palestinians capable of articulating their narrative would win the hearts and minds of Israeli Jews. My parents believed in the promise of a democracy that transcends ethnicity.
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WHERE TWO WORLDS TOUCH by Rev. Dr. Jade C. Angelica. Skinner House Books. Boston, MA. 2014
Reviewed by Rabbi Richard Address
Jade Angelica introduces us to her approach to caregiving for people with Alzheimer’s by reminding us that it is about “the power and potential of true encounter”. That “true encounter”, inspired in many ways by Buber, Heschel and a host of others, is a motif that is unpacked in her readable and informative narrative about her personal journey with her mother. “Where Two Worlds Touch” joins a growing list books and articles that have begun to address the growing challenges to families and society that are emerging with the aging of the baby boomers.