The Law

The Project for Integrating Spirituality, Law, and Politics (PISLAP)

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Started some 15 years ago after the first conference on The Politics of Meaning in Washington DC, The Project for Integrating Spirituality, Law, and Politics (PISLAP) is a nationwide group of lawyers, law professors, and law students who seek to shift the focus of American law and legal institutions away from the individualism, self-interest, and materialism that undergirds all of American law and toward seeing law as a central cultural arena for fostering empathy, compassion, and mutual understanding. We have taken to heart Martin Luther King Jr.’s definition of Justice as “love correcting that which revolts against love” and are seeking to build a new movement in law that makes restoring community through understanding and social healing our highest value. Sometimes out-and-out adversarial battles are necessary, but the principal shift that needs to take place in legal culture is toward the new bottom line articulated by the Network of Spiritual Progressives (NSP) — that institutions be valued according to how much love and generosity they generate rather than only focusing on a material war of all against all in a socially separated, self-interested world. That’s why PISLAP is glad to be the “legal arm” of the NSP, serving as its task force in this important professional and cultural arena. Below is the welcoming letter and agenda for our upcoming gathering in New York, an agenda-building gathering for the coming year among the organization’s leadership group.

Politics & Society

The Audacity of Hoping for Torture Prosecutions

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On February 14th, David Frum, the Bush speechwriter-turned-pundit, published an Op-Ed for CNN.com that was truly Orwellian in nature. For those who enjoy seeing politics and facts totally at odds in print, Frum’s column was cause for celebration. I’m calling it here — 2011 already has a strong contender for the top prize of most hilarious Doublespeak! Despite strong opposition, the winner for 2010 was Defense Secretary Robert Gates’s accusation that Europe’s general commitment to peace was a threat to its security. Gates’s “War is Peace” formulation was classic Age d’Or Bush administration rhetoric- a sentiment so at odds with reality that one has to laugh.

Politics & Society

Tests of Courage Part 3 – Our Role in Maintaining the Status Quo

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On Saturday I attended the first annual “Love Warriors’ Convocation” – an event that was put together by Seminary of the Street, one of my favorite local organizations in Oakland. For the last few years I have had the good fortune of having regular walks with Nichola Torbett. I accompanied her, in conversation, through a process of resigning from her last job and founding this organization. Hers is the courage that takes people into confronting their deepest fears and opening up to life. Over the course of Saturday’s event we were asked to do just that.

Politics & Society

Opposing Arbitrary Power: The Patriot Act, Torture, and Extraordinary Rendition

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Last week in the House, eight Tea Party Republicans (along with 18 others) joined with 122 Democrats in Congress in refusing to extend the Patriot Act. Opposition was expressed in particular towards parts of the Patriot Act that would authorize the government to continue to monitor the library records of American citizens, use roving wiretaps during surveillance operations, and spy on non-citizens who are not connected to any identified terrorist group. In an interview on MSNBC, progressive Rep. Dennis Kucinich praised the Tea Party Congressmen who opposed the Patriot Act, saying they are clearly serious about civil liberties and about preventing the government from reaching into people’s private affairs. He hopes to work with Tea Party Caucus members in the future on anti-war initiatives. What Kucinich failed to mention, however, was that 44 out of 52 members of the Tea Party Caucus actually backed the extension of the Patriot Act, which is stunning, given the libertarian principles professed by the movement.

Politics & Society

Mubarak Resigns! What Comes Next — Democratic Transformation or Military "Stability"?

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Jews and spiritual progressives of every religious community are rejoicing at the triumph of the democratic uprising in the streets of Cairo and other Egyptian cities and at the resignation of President Mubarak. But we have no illusions that the struggle for democracy has been won. We are fearful that the United States and others who seek “stability” rather than democracy may accept a new autocratic regime under the leadership of Vice President Omar Suleiman (the U.S. ally who played a significant role in the torture operations in Egypt) or under the leadership of a “soft” military coup in which the Army becomes the primary force in Egypt. Nor would we welcome a government dominated by the Muslim Brotherhood, though they have a legitimate role to play in any new government. It remains to be seen if a genuine democratic process takes place, or merely a process controlled by the military and security forces resulting in elections that reflect the desires of the military, which might continue to control the media.

Politics & Society

The Egyptian Revolution

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The Egyptian Revolution is the latest, and most important of a new type of revolution that originated in the 1960s: spontaneous, bottom-up, decentralized, youth-dominated, non-ideological, non-violent, fueled by new media, and profoundly generative of dignity, media, social theory, and new moral practices. Predecessors include the French May of 1968, the Philippine Revolution of 1986, the East European and Chinese Revolutions of 1989, the Palestinian intifada of 2000 and the Tunisian Revolution of 2011. Unlike previous revolutions, made by parties and states, no one owns this new type of revolution, which is anti-authoritarian, anti-patriarchal, and even anti-organizational, at root. Barack Obama’s presidential campaign in 2008 was another example of this new, post-Marxist revolutionary wave. It seemed to come from nowhere, to be coordinated in new, polymorphous ways, and to represent the deepest instincts of youth.

Politics & Society

Obama Abandons Egyptian Democracy Demonstrators’ Demand to Oust Mubarak

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With the political crisis unresolved in Egypt, the volume of U.S. media coverage continues to dwindle — but remains considerable. For the first time since the protests began, not all three networks led with the story, which continues to receive coverage on the front pages of major dailies. Reports and analyses agree that the Obama administration, after what the AP describes as “several days of mixed messages about whether it wants to see [Hosni] Mubarak stay or go,” yesterday “conceded Monday that it will not endorse the demands of Egyptian protesters” for the “embattled” president Mubarak “to step down immediately, saying a precipitous exit could set back the country’s democratic transition.” The administration “coalesced around a position that cautiously welcomes nascent reform efforts begun by newly appointed Vice President Omar Suleiman that may or may not result in Mubarak’s resignation before September.” The CBS Evening News reported that President Obama “said …

Politics & Society

Staring Democracy in the Face

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As the popular revolt in Egypt surges toward an uncertain future, world leaders, particularly in the U.S. and Israel, are expressing fears about what democracy in Egypt might bring. Those anxieties make it abundantly clear that, contrary to popular American political rhetoric, promoting democracy around the world is not an absolute American value. American-interest-friendly dictators often seem to serve American interests more than the uncertainty and instability of democracy. Like many progressives, I am disappointed – when I’m not appalled – by the gulf between the short-term realpolitik of American diplomacy and American democratic ideals. But the public hand-wringing over whether the U.S. should support the democratic revolution in Egypt gives us an opportunity to reflect on how we really feel about democracy – not as an abstract universal value, but as a down-to-earth process of picking policies and leaders.

Politics & Society

How Stupid does Obama think the Egyptian People Are?

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Let me tell you a story from the 1960s. As so often happened in those fabled times, students at a major university occupied the university President’s office to protest a war-research laboratory. After a few hours, the President appeared and said “Thank you so much for bringing this to my attention. You have really performed a public service. This is what democracy is about.

Politics & Society

Obama’s Contribution to the Egyptian People

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Obama’s statement on Egypt was exactly what we have come to expect from him: a progressive veneer combined with cynical sycophancy toward all established power. After saying that the US stands up for “universal human rights” — the now familiar battle charge of American exceptionalism — he went on to say, “I just spoke to President Mubarak, after his speech, and told him he has a responsibility to give meaning to his words. Violence will not address the grievances of the Egyptian people. What’s needed is concrete steps that advance the rights of the people.” Given that every commentator has reported that what the crowds demand is not “reforms” but that Mubarak must go, everyone who understands diplomacy understands that Obama’s statement was a strong expression of US support for Mubarak.