Tikkun Daily Blog Archive (https://www.tikkun.org/tikkundaily/category/politics/page/147/)
Posts about politics and social change, from a spiritual progressive perspective
What would it mean to put sacred calls like these into action? That is the question that our group—Sadhana: Coalition of Progressive Hindus—is seeking to answer. We are an all-volunteer group of New York–based Hindus who first came together in 2011. Our purpose is to bring a progressive Hindu voice into the public discourse, and to live out the social justice principles at the heart of Hinduism.
Thanks to the tag-team efforts of the GOP and the Supreme Court, millions of Americans are learning that they are technically “too poor” for Obamacare. And the personal tragedies resulting from this fact are too painful to bear as destitute, sick and dying citizens are being turned away with these words, “We can’t help you.”
It didn’t take much. Just the power of the presidency, the State Of The Union, and the whole country watching. Plus the president’s will. And AIPAC’s entire campaign to destroy America’s chance to reach an agreement with Iran crumbled. Within hours, three senators announced they were no longer cosponsoring AIPAC’s bill to kill the Iran negotiations (Gillibrand, Coons and Manchin), and AIPAC’s hopes to override Obama’s veto ended with a whimper, AIPAC’s whimper.
No, this does not mean that AIPAC and Netanyahu are giving up.
On February 1, women in more than a hundred countries will participate in the World Hijab Day. Women of all faiths, even Muslim women who don’t normally cover, will voluntarily wear this controversial piece of clothing for an entire day. The goal is not conversion, but to walk a mile in someone else’s shoes – or in this case headscarf.
Samantha Power, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, does not have the domestic toolkit to bring about a transformation of consciousness; a consciousness that would never permit innocent people to be gassed, burned and tortured by heads of state.
SNAP, the acronym for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, more commonly known in this country as the Food Stamp Program, suffered in November a nearly five percent cut to entitlements for the millions of Americans who depend on the program for daily sustenance. A Jewish Renewal community on the upper west side of Manhattan, joined others across the country in a five day commitment to curtail their food expenditures to no more than $5.00 a day.
Ariel Sharon was the father of the settlement movement, and his ideological and practical political moves were all about holding on to the West Bank as part of Israel. He was not a closet peacemaker, and the attempts in the media to portray him as such were nothing short of bizarre.
The story of me being barred from speaking about my book at UCSB Hillel gained national attention this week. And with this exposure came American Jewish leaders who exposed their desire for Hillel International, and Jewish organizations at large, to bar progressives such as myself from being allowed to stand within the communal tent.
This achievement-compassion nexus can make one’s head spin. A writer friend, Tarn, however, has an approach I admire: she always seems to consider her writing in a spiritual light, as part of her service and connection to others, not just a race for acclaim.
There can be little doubt that Hillary Clinton lost the 2008 nomination for president because she voted to authorize the Iraq war. If she had opposed it, there would have been no rationale for the Obama candidacy. It is likely that she, not President Obama, would now be in the White House. It seems crazy. But Clinton might see history repeat itself.