Healing Israel/Palestine

Non-Violent Palestinian Resistance: Echoes of the U.S. Civil Rights Movement

By |

Across the West Bank, Israel’s occupation has given rise in recent years to a nonviolent “popular resistance” movement that should be an inspiration to people across the globe. On my trip to the West Bank, Leaders of the Palestinian popular resistance – from intellectuals to grassroots villagers who’d been repeatedly jailed – spoke to us about universal human rights, about a human family in which all deserve equal rights regardless of religion or nationality.

Culture

Was the March on Washington Really Part of a Violent Struggle?

By |

There have been many threads of coverage and commentary surrounding the March on Washington’s 50th anniversary, and one of them is naturally about nonviolence: the nation’s leadership had assumed that the march would turn violent, but August 28, 1963, turned out to be one of the most notably peaceful days in the history of the District of Columbia. Still, the nonviolent character of the movement that the march defined is being questioned. There has been some interesting historical revisionism surrounding Rosa Parks and other civil rights figures who, unlike Martin Luther King, were less-than devoted to nonviolence as an abiding moral principle. (For my take on that, go here.) And now comes a book that, among other provocations, makes the case that King’s struggle was arguably a violent one. The author is Benjamin Ginsberg, and his forthcoming title is The Value of Violence (Prometheus Books).

Politics & Society

The Question Americans Can't Ask About Egypt And Syria

By |

The result of the U.S.’s engagement with Egypt and Syria has been bad for the U.S. and horrendous for the Egyptians and Syrians. Bloody stalemate has become the status quo. What would happen if the U.S. exerted all of its diplomatic, moral, and economic force based on the principles of nonviolence? Politicians, policymakers, and the media never ask this question, and so the U.S. public never learns to ask it either.

Healing Israel/Palestine

Will Jewish Democracy Please Phone Home

By |

Universal human dignity, individual rights and collective responsibilities are the Jewish values of democracy that I was taught to take pride in as a Jewish youngster. During our current “Age of Zionism,” we have distorted Jewish ethics, forming a sort of Jewish Orwellian “doublethink.”

Politics & Society

Here Are The 76 Senators Who Told Obama To Give AIPAC The Iran War It Wants

By |

Yesterday Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ) released the letter he sent to President Obama urging more sanctions on the Iranian people to prevent a nuclear Iran and, failing that, to get ready for war. It’s the same old, same old with the added element that AIPAC/Israel/Congress is doing this to deter any diplomacy that might resolve the issue now that Iran has a more moderate new president.

Culture

Global Way to Coexist

By |

This May, I had the joy of taking part in the first International Conference on Faith and Reconciliation in Peja, Kosovo. Little did I realize that in this corner of the Balkans, social media would have such an impact. Posting on Facebook about an upcoming dinner at the conference, I quickly received a reply from a friend in Washington, D.C. telling me that her father would be present. About an hour after that, her father came and sat down with me at a table full of diplomats from around the globe. It was a wonderful evening of dialogue.

Politics & Society

Say No to the Prosecution of Whistle-Blowers after the Conviction of Bradley Manning

By |

By going after Snowden and Manning, the Obama administration is sending a message to all whistle-blowers: don’t tell the public what the government is doing wrong, lest you risk being severely punished, accused of being a traitor, and finding yourself hunted, jailed, and hurt in many ways. Don’t think that because you trust Obama, things will never get out of hand. The precedents now being set by the Obama administration will be used by future and potentially more fascistic presidential administrations and military commanders.

Politics & Society

On Thug Parents, Thug Generals, and Their Cannon Fodder

By |

That a military judge, Denise Lind, would even have to consider a charge against American hero and truth-teller, Bradley Manning, that Manning “aided the enemy” speaks volumes about the warped institution that claims to defend our country from foreign enemies, even as it has become a collective expert in creating new enemies for the American people. Often overlooked, however, in discussions on PFC Manning and our current military enlistment system are the warped American parents who push their adult children into the Sparta subculture called the U.S. military.