Tikkun (https://www.tikkun.org/category/politics__society/war__peace/page/12/)
Why would the Union for Reform Judaism give a right-wing Jewish leader a prominent platform from which to make hurtful, dehumanizing, and simplistic comments about Palestinian “culture”? Does inviting such a speaker honor the Reform movement’s history of moral certitude against injustice and discrimination?
News Release February 10, 2012 from TIKKUN Magazine
More info: Contact Ashley Bates 510 644 1200
Progressive Jews Demand an End to Syrian Genocide and a Boycott of Russian and Chinese Products as Long as Those Countries Refuse to Join in Active Measures to Replace the Assad Government!!! Rabbi Michael Lerner, editor of Tikkun magazine (the largest circulation progressive Jewish magazine in the world), called upon the world community to intervene and stop the genocide being waged by the Assad government against the people of Syria. In a statement sent to President Obama, the U.N. and world leaders of Western countries, Rabbi Lerner said, “The world must not sit idly by on the blood of the democracy- and human rights-seeking people of Syria against their brutal dictatorship. The Syrian regime has already killed more than 5,000 of its own citizens, and tens of thousands have been wounded, or arrested and tortured. This is a crime against humanity, and it deserves a powerful intervention from the West.”
In Darkness, Poland’s nominee and a finalist for this year’s Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film, immediately plunges the viewer into an unrelenting world of thuggery and mass murder in Nazi-occupied Poland.
Despite the many books and endless discussions on the Holocaust, Zimler offers a fresh voice, one that has endured anger and terror to offer us optimism.
This manifesto to Middle East revolutionaries is a congratulation, an aspiration, and a blessing that draws upon lessons from Che Guevara.
On 9/11 we had the brief fortifying message from folk around the planet, “We are all Americans now.” Not blessed with a president who knew how wisely to respond to that world outpouring of empathy, we catapulted into a “war” against terror from which we have scarcely recovered.
TARTUS, Syria — J. Toumajian was shocked when he heard about demonstrators chanting in his small town: “Christians to Beirut; Alawites to tabout [the coffin].” The murderous slogan was being chanted last July by some fifty Muslim extremists demonstrating against the Syrian government, according to Toumajian, an Armenian Catholic.
Especially this year, here in Guatemala, Yom Kippur is not so much the Day of Atonement as it is the Day of Discipline. For if there’s one lesson I have taken so far from my short time here in Guatemala, it is that of discipline.
In a flurry of recent activity Rick Perry made his national debut into the national debate on the Israel-Palestinian conflict with two op-eds and a press conference within a week of each other…. Perry’s unabashed endorsement of the settlement enterprise would mark a distinct shift in presidential rhetoric, but would it appreciably change the outcome of U.S. policy on the settlement issue?
Dr. Seuss was, and remains two decades after his death, the world’s most popular writer of modern children’s books. He wrote and illustrated forty-four children’s books characterized by memorable rhymes, whimsical characters, and exuberant drawings that encouraged generations of children to love reading and expand their vocabularies. But, equally important, he used his pen to encourage youngsters to challenge bullies and injustice. Generations of progressive activists may not trace their political views to their early exposure to Dr. Seuss, but without doubt this shy, brilliant genius played a role in sensitizing them to abuses of power.
The Network of Spiritual Progressives, Tikkun’s political action arm, is both pro-Israel and pro-Palestine. We are hopeful that UN recognition of Palestine would persuade Israel to freeze its expansion of settlements in the areas that were part of pre-1967 Palestine. We also hope that UN recognition would lead Israel to negotiate in good faith to create a Palestinian state and reach a just settlement of all remaining issues, ensuring security for Israel and Palestine.
In its short but meteoric rise to relevance in the American Jewish community, J Street has attempted to expand the Jewish American peace camp by taking nuanced positions and poaching supporters from traditional Jewish organizations like AIPAC. But there is a major discrepancy between J Street’s repeated call for “bold and creative action” in pursuit of a two-state solution and its position paper defending the U.S. veto.
The teenagers and twentysomethings who were barely old enough to light funeral candles after Yitzhak Rabin’s assassination in 1995 are now doing what today’s adults were unable to do back then: creating a new Israeli identity capable of living in peace with itself.
Over the last ten years, New York firefighters have been lionized, demonized, and everything in between. Often the reality of the vulnerable, emotional individuals under the fire hats gets lost. Time and again, firefighters’ stories have been sensationalized by the media or appropriated by conservative groups to bolster calls for war. But a deeper look at the experience of New York City firefighters brings us back to a core truth: that we are all vulnerable, scared, hurting people, and what we need to heal is not violence but a renewed sense of our interconnection.
Tuesday 30 August 2011
Lessons and False Lessons From Libya
by Stephen Zunes, Truthout | News Analysis
Rebels celebrate outside Col. Moammar Qaddafi’s Bab al-Aziziya compound in Tripoli, Libya, August 29, 2011. Residents returning to their homes have found that many have been heavily damaged by gunfire after they were used as fighting positions during the rebellion. (Photo: Tyler Hicks/The New York Times)
The downfall of Muammar Qaddafi’s regime is very good news, particularly for the people of Libya. However, it is critically important that the world not learn the wrong lessons from the dictator’s overthrow.