Jewish Students Circulate Letter of Support as Labor Union Prepares for Vote on BDS

This Thursday, members of UAW 2865, the union that represents 13,000 graduate student instructors, readers and tutors at the nine undergraduate teaching campuses of the statewide University of California system, will vote on whether to endorse joining the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement as a labor union. Nearly fifty current and former Jewish members and officers of the union have signed on to an open letter in support of the resolution.

Why Ferguson Matters

Fourteen teens have been killed by the police since Michael Brown was gunned down on August 9th and young African Americans are killed by cops 4.5 times more often than people of other races and ages. We are obviously watching our police shift their mission from saving lives to prosecuting drug wars, social injustice and an increasingly visible militarized police state

Justice, Justice, Shall You Pursue: Grad Students Organize for BDS Policy at the University of California

On December 4, U.C. graduate students will have the opportunity to pursue justice by exercising their vote on two related issues. The first is whether our union, Local UAW 2865, should join the global movement for Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) to be enacted against Israel until that nation-state has complied with international law and respects the rights of all Palestinian people. The second measure asks each of us to personally commit to participation in the academic boycott against Israeli educational institutions. As a grad student, a labor activist, and as a Jew, I will be voting yes on both questions.

Responding to Violence with Love for All

In my position of privilege, I can write whatever I want about Ferguson, and I don’t risk losing a job, alienating people who can make my life miserable, or possibly even more imminent physical risks to my body. In this particular case I want to name, explicitly, that this piece is written for a white audience: I am offering one idea about what we, as white people, can do.

Tikkun is thankful for YOU!

We at Tikkun would like to wish you all a Happy Thanksgiving! Whatever this holiday may mean to you, we hope you get to enjoy it safely and pleasantly with the ones you love. If you feel thankful for those at Tikkun and Tikkun Daily, please consider letting us know.

Remembering Leslie Feinberg—A Queer and Trans Fighter for Justice

I will never forget the first time I saw Leslie Feinberg speak—New York City, 1996. The auditorium was full of young people like me who had read Stone Butch Blues and wanted to hear about gender and queerness. Leslie spoke about those things, but also about war and labor struggles and racism and U.S. militarism, refusing to deliver the narrow single-issue politics that the mainstreaming gay rights discourse had trained us to expect.