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An NSP Activist Sums it Up Neatly Email Article To a Friend View Printable Version 

NSP activist Bruce Fisher's letter to a group of Minnesota activists sums up neatly our present situation with NSP. Your feeeback is also welcome. We add two points: 1. The reason why a concern with passing flawed legislation to show that SOMETHING was accomplished is a huge mistake is that unless you change the essential framework from those of the capitalist marketplace and the military industrial complex, there is little reason to believe that your changes will survive when a new Congress and new President get elected. The most important accomplishment a President can make is to convince people of a new way of thinking about their situation, and from that, legislation flows. That was what made Roosevelt, for the Left, and Reagan, for the Right, the most significant presidents of the 20th century. Obama did not have to win a single legislative victory--what he did need to do was to talk honestly to the American people and help them see the world from a progressive perspective.  2. Failing to do that (our point 1), and instead putting forward legislation that was flawed from the start rather than legislation that embodied concretely the theme of a Caring Society, Obama created huge disillusionment and despair among those who had momentarily allowed themselves to hope that something fundamental could be changed in America. From that despair arises either passivity and humiliation (on the Left) or anger and willingness to move to the Right (from the Centrists who feel misused and manipulated by Obama and hence willing to listen to the fascistic-based anger coming from Tea Party rightists).

Our only hope now is to build an independent movement that does not look to Obama but instead demonstrates and organizes for its own POSITIVE VISION. Unfortunately, most on the Left who have not given up remain focused on critique of what's wrong rather than articulating a positive vision. And that is why supporting the Global Marshall Plan and the ESRA-Environmental and Social Responsiblity Amendment to the US Constitution becomes so important. 


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Israel and the Anti-Muslim Blow-up Email Article To a Friend View Printable Version 

Columnist M.J. Rosenberg gives us an insight into the way anti-Muslim rhetoric has been nourished by the "pro-Israel" hard Right.

 


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An Open Letter to the Iraqi People Email Article To a Friend View Printable Version 

From Soldiers who are repenting for their role
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Forgiveness Email Article To a Friend View Printable Version 

Editor's Note:

Every night since the attack on my home by right-wing Zionists, I've been saying a prayer of forgiveness for them. While the political meaning of that act, and of the demeaning of critics of Israel, will be explored more fully in the July/August issue of Tikkun, on the spiritual level it is very important to not let negativity, even terrorism or violence, get the upper hand by bringing us down to the same level of anger or hatred that motivates those who act violently attack  or those who demean and attempt to delegitimate the critics of Israel's treatment of Palestinians.

If we are to build a world of love, we have to constantly work against the impulse to respond to anger and hatred with our own angry or hateful response. So,  every night,  I work on forgiving those who have assaulted my home, those who publicly demean me or Tikkun or the NSP, and those who spread hatred against the many people in our world who legitimately critique the policies of the State of Israel toward Palestinians.

It was in this context that I thought I'd forward you some notes taken by therapist Linda Graham at a recent weekend retreat on Forgiveness conducted by Jack Kornfeld and Fred Luskin. Fred is author of Forgive For Good and Jack is the author of The Art of Forgivenes, Loving Kindness and After the Ecstasy The Laundry (and teaches at Spirit Rock Meditation Center in northern California). Linda Graham who took these notes is a Marriage and Family Therapist in San Francisco--her website is www.lindagraham-mft.com.  

--Rabbi Michael Lerner  RabbiLerner@Tikkun.org   www.spiritualprogressives.org

P.S. if you haven't signed up for the Tikkun/NSP conference yet, please do so now at www.spiritualprogressives.org/conference.


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Chomsky: On Tea Partiers  Email Article To a Friend View Printable Version 

'We should not underestimate the depth of moral indignation that lies behind the furious, often self-destructive bitterness about government and business power."
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Ha'aretz story about Tikkun's Award to Judge Goldstone after he was denied right to attend his grandson's Bar Mitzvah Email Article To a Friend View Printable Version 

We are proud to have been part of the effort (made also by the Ta'anit Tzedeck, Shalom Center, and others) to publicly challenge the attempt by the Zionist movement in South Africa to bar Judge Goldstone from attending his own grandson's bar mitzvah!
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Extremes of Unequal Wealth in the U.S. Actually Impacts Directly on YOUR Life and the Life of Your Family and Friends Email Article To a Friend View Printable Version 

It's worse than you think! The bottom 50% of the US population own only 2.5% of the total wealth in the U.S. The top 10% own
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Does the Flag Condone Murder? Do our "chariots" impoverish Us? Email Article To a Friend View Printable Version 

Arthur Waskow's prophetic voice challenges the murder done in our name and with our tax dollars. Rabbi Waskow will be speaking at the NSP/Tikkun conference in DC June 11-14
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Responses to the Health Care Debate Email Article To a Friend View Printable Version 

As is always the case, we post articles that we think present a variety of perspectives that are not given adequate attention in the public debate without necessarily agreeing with what they say. Tikkun's perspective is articulated only in the editorials in the magazine. You can subscribe at www.tikkun.org or support our efforts by joining the Network of Spiritual Progressives at www.spiritualprogressives.org
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