General News

Tens of Thousands of Protesters Return to Israel's Streets as the Struggle for Economic Equality Continues

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With the Knesset set to reconvene, and with the Occupy Wall Street protests reverberating from America, tens of thousands of protesters marched in cities across Israel, reigniting their struggle for social and economic justice. Protesters railed against a host of social and economic injustices, including the growing gap between the rich and poor in Israel, with many protesters echoing refrains now heard at Occupy Wall Street protests in America. Many held signs that read “We are the 99 percent,” and several protesters mirrored the occupation language that has become synonymous with Occupy Wall Street. One particularly poignant sign read “Occupy Tel Aviv, Not Palestine.” The rallies across Israel were held against the backdrop of tragic escalations of violence in the southern portion of the country.

General News

Pat Robertson Condemns "Occupy Wall Street"

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What does the Christian Right have to say about the Occupy Wall Street (OWS) movement? I have been asking that question for weeks and have not found much about it on the websites I regularly visit. Now, Pat Robertson has finally spoken out. He says Christians should not be involved in the OWS movement. I think this is a rebellion.

General News

If We Are the Early Adopters, America is Becoming the Early Majority | Thoughts on Occupy Wall Street

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Several days ago, I described how Occupy Wall Street is approaching – or has reached – its Tipping Point. However, there’s a much more subversive, and equally interesting, way to view the manner in which Occupy Wall Street is quickly being embedded into the American consciousness. And that is by thinking about the movement’s progression in consumerist terms.
The chart below illustrates the general way in which a new technology or inventive product becomes firmly entrenched in the marketplace:

First you have the inventors, those who create a product and launch it into the marketplace. In the case of Occupy Wall Street, the inventor – the creator of the idea to occupy Wall Street as a Tahrir-style tactic – would be Adbusters magazine and the 700 brave souls who marched to Zuccotti Park on September 17. (An argument could be made to include those who began to increase that initial encampment in its first week, as well as those who have begun occupations in different cities around the country.)
Next, you have the early adopters, those souls who choose – at a very early stage – to try out a product before it catches mainstream appeal and sales.

General News

Does Nonviolence Work? Notes from OccupyOakland October 24th

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On my third visit to OccupyOakland, I co-led two workshops hosted by Nichola Torbett, founder of Seminary of the Street. In both of them I collaborated with Nichola and with Kazu Haga, an Oakland-based Kingian Nonviolence trainer. The conversations that emerged in these workshops, along with a recent post by Sharif Abdullah about vision implementation, form the basis of what I am writing below. Effectiveness of Nonviolence vs. Commitment to Nonviolence
Although only one of the people who came to either workshop expressed an active disagreement with a commitment to nonviolence, her presence was sufficient to spark a profound conversation about the topic.

General News

Occupy Wall Street's Tipping Point

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The moment inaccurate negative branding can be fractured and utterly torn asunder is the moment Occupy Wall Street will reach its tipping point. And I believe it’s now standing on the precipice, ready to make the mainstream plunge as both military veterans and even active duty police officers begin to stand in opposition against those forces intent on ending the Occupy movement.
United States Marine Corps. Sgt. Shamar Thomas confronts the NYPD after scenes of police brutality in Times Square.
Over a five week period, we have witnessed in our country the coalescence of thousands of small, meaningful moments that comprise an ever-expanding movement: The Brooklyn Bridge; Zuccotti Park’s canceled eviction; Times Square.

General News

In Search of Dialogue: Notes from OccupyOakland, October 22nd

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After my first visit to OccupyOakland I felt inspired. I was connected to the vision, to a sense of possibility. I was fully open to the unfolding, to seeing what would come. I’ve been very encouraged by the response I’ve been getting to my post about that visit. Before I posted those notes I had a second visit to OccupyOakland, and my current picture is very different, more nuanced, sober, intrigued, concerned, excited, and even more clear that I don’t know much.

Environment

Have You Been Eating Genetically Engineered Food?

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by Suzy Karasik
If you answered no, then you definitely need to review the information in this article. At the present time, there is no labeling requirement, so foods that have been altered at the molecular level are on your grocery shelves. Take soybeans for example: 94 percent of all U.S. grown soybeans are genetically engineered. GMO foods are an environmental peril waiting to happen and pose an irreversible threat to the gene pool of all living beings. Think about it.

General News

Homecoming— kama tov shebata habayta…

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by Hadas Marcus
The boy with the angelic face appeared dazed in the interview he was coerced into giving to the Egyptian news. Despite his pallid face, painfully thin body and the dark circles under his soulful eyes, he handled himself with incredible strength and self-restraint, struggling to speak in both English and Hebrew as he responded. Israeli newscasters criticized the harsh questions posed to him, and noted the fear in his eyes of saying something wrong that might invalidate his release. Israeli television showed innumerable times the gaunt young man being shuffled from one place to the next. News anchors commented on the weakness of his left arm, his inability to go down the stairs without gripping the rails, his hesitant speech and problems in focusing his eyes after years in a dark basement cell.

Christianity

"Just Camp Here and Stay:" Dr. King and the Occupy Wall Street Movement

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It’s clear that King’s concerns resonate with Occupy Wall Streets (OWS) protests against corporate greed, unending wars, dangerous foreign policy and a broken political system. He called for a “radical redistribution of economic, social and political power.” King had courageously spoken out against the U.S. for engaging in a war that “seeks to turn the clock of history back and perpetuate white colonialism,” at a time when 70% of the country still supported the war.