Daniel Lubetzky

by Adeena Schlussel on behalf of Daniel Lubetzky

The Geneva Initiative has launched a new campaign in partnership with USAID which broadcasts messages from Palestinian leadership for the Israeli public.  The short clips featuring different Palestinian leaders all vary but pivot around one shared message- that there is a Palestinian partner for a peace and the opportunity to reach an agreement should not be missed.  To date, figures in the campaign include Cheif Palestinian Negotiator Saeb Erakat, Secretary-General of the PLO Executive Committee Yasser Abed Rabbo, Palestinian Foreign Minister Riad Malki, Memer of the Fatah Central Committee Jibril Rajoub, and Former Member of the Negotiating Team and PA Minister Sufyan Abu Zaidah.  Each message begins with “shalom” and ends with uniform, powerful promise: “I am your partner.  Are you mine?”  To watch the first three clips, click on the following image:

by Adeena Schlussel on behalf of Daniel Lubetzky

The furor over the inaccurately dubbed "Ground Zero Mosque" has done nothing but reinforce al Qaeda propaganda. This, Nawaz says, is because many commentators confuse traditionalist Muslims with Islamists. But Islamism is not Islam. Islam is a faith, which, like all other faiths, has a spectrum of progressives and conservatives fighting over interpretation. Islamism, on the other hand, seeks to impose an interpretation over everyone else through state law. Throughout history Muslims have rejected the (al Qaeda) agenda of enforcing one view of Islam over all society. Nawaz concludes that it is time to challenge misleading and divisive views that see Muslims pitted against non-Muslims.  Read an excerpt of the article below.

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Guy Deutscher wrote a fascinating article about the impact of our mother tongues on our alternating perceptions of life. He quotes Roman Jakobson’s maxim to summarize that “Languages differ essentially in what they must convey and not in what they may convey.”

But the insights go so well beyond what you might think. This article is a must read.

What it does not explicitly conclude (but I would like to infer) is that learning additional languages helps us expand our horizons in yet more ways than you’d ever had realized.

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I received the following email forward from a friend who is skeptical about my work to build bridges between the West and Islam.  I find the point persuasive that even if extremists are a minority, they can cause enormous devastation when they rule and the moderate majority is silent and hostage.  But it seems to prove rather than dispute the importance of efforts like OneVoice’s to amplify the voice of moderates and empower ordinary citizens who cherish co-existence and respect.

What I asked my friend and ask everyone who reads emails like the below is, what are you doing about it? And is it more effective to draw lines in the sand and turn an entire civilization into the enemy, or to align all moderates together to isolate, discourage and neutralize violent extremists all across?

The author of this email is said to be Dr. Emanuel Tanay, a well-known and well-respected psychiatrist. A German’s View on Islam A man, whose family was German aristocracy prior to World War II, owned a number of large industries and estates.   When asked how many German people were true Nazis, the answer he gave can guide our attitude toward fanaticism. ‘Very few people were true Nazis,’ he said, ‘but many enjoyed the return of German pride, and many more were too busy to care. I was one of those who just thought the Nazis were a bunch of fools.   So, the majority just sat back and let it all happen. Then, before we knew it, they owned us, and we had lost control, and the end of the world had come.   My family lost everything. I ended up in a concentration camp and the Allies destroyed my factories.’ We are told again and again by ‘experts’ and ‘talking heads’ that Islam is the religion of peace and that the vast majority of Muslims just want to live in peace.   Although this unqualified assertion may be true, it is entirely irrelevant.   It is meaningless fluff, meant to make us feel better, and meant to somehow diminish the spectre of fanatics rampaging across the globe in the name of Islam. The fact is that the fanatics rule Islam at this moment in history.   It is the fanatics who march.   It is the fanatics who wage any one of 50 shooting wars worldwide.   It is the fanatics who systematically slaughter Christian or tribal groups throughout Africa and are gradually taking over the entire continent in an Islamic wave.   It is the fanatics who bomb, behead, murder, or honour-kill.   It is the fanatics who take over mosque after mosque.   It is the fanatics who zealously spread the stoning and hanging of rape victims and homosexuals.   It is the fanatics who teach their young to kill and to become suicide bombers. The hard, quantifiable fact is that the peaceful majority, the ‘silent majority,’ is cowed and extraneous. Communist Russia was comprised of Russians who just wanted to live in peace, yet the Russian Communists were responsible for the murder of about 40 million people.   The peaceful majority were irrelevant.   China’s huge population was peaceful as well, but Chinese Communists managed to kill a staggering 70 million people. The average Japanese individual prior to World War II was not a warmongering sadist.   Yet, Japan murdered and slaughtered its way across South East Asia in an orgy of killing that included the systematic murder of 12 million Chinese civilians; most killed by sword, shovel, and bayonet. And who can forget Rwanda , which collapsed into butchery.   Could it not be said that the majority of Rwandans were ‘peace loving’? History lessons are often incredibly simple and blunt, yet for all our powers of reason, we often miss the most basic and uncomplicated of points: · Peace-loving Muslims have been made irrelevant by their silence. · Peace-loving Muslims will become our enemy if they don’t speak up, because like my friend from Germany , they will awaken one day and find that the fanatics own them, and the end of their world will have begun. · Peace-loving Germans, Japanese, Chinese, Russians, Rwandans, Serbs, Afghans, Iraqis, Palestinians, Somalis, Nigerians, Algerians, and many others have died because the peaceful majority did not speak up until it was too late. As for us who watch it all unfold, we must pay attention to the only group that counts–the fanatics who threaten our way of life. Lastly, anyone who doubts that the issue is serious and just deletes this email without sending it on, is contributing to the passiveness that allows the problems to expand.   So, extend yourself a bit and send this on and on and on!   Let us hope that thousands, world-wide, read this and think about it, and send it on – before it’s too late.

As this latest study confirms, obesity rates across America continue to rise to epidemic proportions.

As obesity rises, so does diabetes, and countless other threats to health.

The above study observes the need for more exercise and better eating. But the way our modern lives are structured, people are increasingly consuming junk food on the go.

This is why it is vital to create innovative solutions that provide consumers healthful choices on the move, without sacrificing taste, wholesomeness or convenience.

It is so easy to say it, but as we test at KIND every day, coming up with more solutions that are true to our commitment of using only premium all natural “ingredients you can see and pronounce” that are “KIND to your body, your taste buds and the world” is not that easy.  It has taken us years, but beyond our award-winning line of KIND Fruit & Nut bars, we are working on a few very exciting fronts that should not just help counteract these societal problems, but also yield DELICIOUS healthy options!

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Bradley Burston wrote a column that is quite on-target regarding the problem with boycotts of Israel.  He highlights how the progressive Olympia Food Co-op decided not to support a boycott against Israeli goods as it realized it was riddled with anti-Semitic statements and propaganda.  Most of the international boycotts that claim to be against settlement goods, end up targeting ordinary Israeli products.  And most of the organizers behind these boycotts state their goal is to end their occupation (a goal I support), where in fact their goal is the eradication of the State of Israel.  While people tend to focus primarily on the obvious moral advantages of non-violent civic actions in lieu of violence against civilians, it is not enough to be non-violent for an action to warrant support.  The goal itself should also be clear and transparent.  A campaign that advocates an offensive goal does not cease to be offensive because its tactics are non-violent.  Beyond the tactics, it is important for activists to make sure they realize what is their goal, and, in the case of Israelis and Palestinians, whether that goal is truly going to yield peace, security, respect and prosperity.  If you analyze the realistic options, only the goal of two states for two peoples can accomplish that.

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You’d think that the most important question in our lives would get sufficient attention and introspection by us all.  Alas, as we live every day with little distractions, many people never ask themselves, “why am I here?”, “what is my purpose?”

People follow career paths and spend decades working without every asking themselves, “is this truly what makes me the happiest?” “Is this how I can best change the world and make it a little bit better?”

When asked for career advice, my only two pieces I tend to give is, “whatever you do, give it your best and your everything”, and “make sure you ask yourself what is your passion, what moves you, and then try to find a way for your work to be your passion.”

Think about it.  Beyond sleeping, your work life may be what you dedicate the most hours to in your life.  Why not make it something you truly enjoy and are passionate about?

The only problem with the above advice is that you may become so passionate that sometimes you become a workaholic and do not sufficiently appreciate the need to balance your life with other enjoyments like family and friends.  But may that be the problem you’ll have – that you enjoy your job so much that doing it is a hobby, a passion – your favorite thing to do.

More often, when I ask applicants about what is important to them, what gives them meaning, they draw blanks.

This column from David Brooks can be very useful for people who want to think about this issue.

David Brooks maintains that 24-year olds may not be capable of answering the big questions about their purpose in life.  I find that is often not true, that even far younger people can find some level of passion when they take the time to think about it. It doesn’t mean that every college graduate must know whether solving the Arab-Israeli conflict, or reversing global warming, or eradicating poverty is what most gives them a sense of fulfillment and what they most consider to be a priority.  For some it may just be directional – helping people feel better, giving structure to thoughts, organizing people, creating things, etc.  And each of these can give one a sense of the direction where they want to start discovering opportunities. 

Certainly when evaluating options, peoples’ circumstances will determine at least some of their vantage points and realistic options, as Brooks suggests.  But I think everyone has the right to take a couple hours to do some hard thinking and go BEYOND what may seem like limiting circumstances or options.  For it is in deep introspection that some will find purpose outside of their common circles, and, once they find it, will move mountains to journey in that direction.

For, just like purpose gives us fulfillment and satisfaction, it also gives us the drive and energy for maximum impact and accomplishment.

Purpose, then, is not about the world we live in, or about the person we are, but about the intersection between them and the energy that pours out when we find ours.

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Could it be that President Obama has a long lost twin from my hometown?

I have written repeatedly to defend Muslims from being discriminated against, including most recently with the establishment of a mosque in downtown Manhattan (see here, here, and here).

This video I just got raises serious valid concerns about extremists using religion to further illegal activities, and of them subverting Islam to their purposes.

To my mind, it makes it all the more clear why we want to support moderate Islamic role models and why people like Imam Feisal, Naif al-Mutawa and countless others deserve all our support.  Muslims leaders like Imam Feisal should not be asked to “choose sides.”  Theirs is not a culture of division.  By being themselves, they will continue to win by building bridges, rather than burning them on either side.

Additionally, this article illustrates the frightening opposition that many mosques face as they attempt to build across the country, where more and more opponents are beginning to admit their discomfort with Islam itself.  In reality though, budding mosques have proven to quell many of the fears of radicalism, according to a recent study that the articly quotes.

Muslims, like all other human beings, are overwhelmingly moderate and kind.  Extremists with ideologies of supremacy and domination feed off of the divisions between cultures that they try to foster.  We would only grant terrorists a victory if we were to cower into painting all the “others” as our enemy!  That was the main goal of Osama Bin Laden! If we want to win, we have to do so not just with weapons but also with brains and souls – with an ideology of inclusion best represented by Western and Muslim leaders that offers a better vision than that of an eternal struggle of us vs. them.

By Adeena Schlussel on behalf of Daniel Lubetzky

Tom Friedman discusses an appropriately complex documentary, “Precious Life” in this article and then compares its meaning to the appropriately complex reality of the Mideast conflict.  Friedman’s point is not to condone Israel’s behavior unilaterally, rather to encourage her opponents to give constructive criticism, which comes from a place of understanding- a place that “Precious Life” depicts very nicely, according to Friedman.

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