A troubling portrayal in the New York Review of Books by Peter Beinart of American Jewish leadership and Israeli society is a must reading.
OneVoice Palestine participated in the Strengthening Nonviolence in Palestine, organized by Realizing the Dream, Inc. Middle East Nonviolence and Democracy Center, and The Center for Democracy and Community Development. More than 200 people attended the conference, in which Martin Luther King, III- the oldest son of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and the founder of Realizing the Dream, INC talked about his father’s nonviolent struggle to grant the African Americans their civil rights in the U.S.A. Johnny Mack, the executive vice president of Realizing the Dream, talked about the need for adopting nonviolent technique to reach a solution to the Israeli/Palestinian conflict.
A new poll by Dr. Nader Said confirms that Palestinians are disenchanted with those who govern them. Even though Palestinians are traditionally very loyal to one political faction or another, they are fed up with corruption and destruction and are increasingly favor independent technocrats. Below are some of the highlights from the poll:
by Adeena Schlussel on behalf of Daniel Lubetzky
Tom Friedman wrote an interesting article about a period that he sees as a turning point in Islamism. He tells the story of Islamic Fundamentalism but strikes a hopeful tone.
In a remarkable sermon, Syria’s highest Sunni religious authority spoke courageously and powerfully about religions requiring humanity and respect, including these statements:
“If the Prophet Mohammed had asked me to deem Christians or Jews heretics, I would have deemed Mohammed himself a heretic."
Sheikh Ahmed Hassoun also “said Islam was a religion of peace, adding: ‘If Mohammed had commanded us to kill people, I would have told him he was not a prophet.’”
My friend Naif Al-Mutawa is one of the best and most impressive social entrepreneurs, and greatest hopes for this century. He created a compelling series of Comics, headquartered out of Kuwait and primarily aimed at Muslim youth – creating positive role models with a foundation from Islamic religion. The 99 is a group of super-heroes, each of whom possesses a super-power derived from the 99 attributes of Allah in the Koran. The execution and story are so well done, they should appeal to all. Check out this trailer…
Afshin Ellian wrote an excellent piece in the Wall Street Journal. He concludes it with:
The emergence of a democratic Iran is therefore not only a moral imperative but should be the foreign policy priority of every cold-hearted realist as well as multicultural engager. That’s why it is so incomprehensible that the Obama Administration still prefers dialogue with the apocalyptic ayatollahs over uncompromising support for the people crying out for freedom.
If the protesters shake off the yoke of theocracy and savagery, their success could herald the failure of political Islam way beyond Iran. At this turning point in history the West has no logical alternative but to unequivocally support the Green Revolution. The fate of this movement far outweighs the useless nuclear talks that will only buy the regime time and undeserved international legitimacy. The demonstrators in Iran on Dec. 7 rightfully exclaimed: "Obama, are you with them [the regime] or with us?" History will not judge him lightly if he chooses the wrong side.
For years I have wondered how so many diplomats (including many who are esteemed friends that I admire) delude themselves into believing they can actually get the Iranian regime to drop their quest for nuclear weapons. Never mind that the regime has invested its entire reputation into asserting that the nuclear option is its G’d-given right. And never mind that their entire geo-strategic existence relies on nuclear hegemony, not to mention the scary messianic imperatives they seem to want to accelerate with nuclear holocaust, as Ahmadinejad himself explicitly avowed. If history teaches us anything is that we should take people in power at their word when they proclaim threatening visions in the public fora.
Several years ago, pundits dismissed "regime change" as naive and advocated nuclear containment with Iran instead. I remember thinking they all had it upside down. Nuclear containment is unlikely with the present regime. Admittedly it may also be difficult with a future Iranian leadership. But at least we won’t have apocalyptic messianics holding on to the red button. Now that a viable grassroots opposition has risen in Iran demanding freedom and democracy, it will be devastating if they are not given all forms of global support, moral AND otherwise.
Amman (the capital of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan) recently hosted a comedy festival organized by Arab-American comedians.
Beyond being a constructive exercise, it exposed the need to encourage more introspection and independent thinking in Arab education, which is not just valuable to comedy (self-deprecating humor, sarcastic humor) as the article points out, but would also strengthen democratic institutions and foster entrepreneurial values, innovation, and balance of power.
Bono just wrote an opinion piece advocating, among other things for 2010:
So it seems OneVoice should invite Bono to join its Honorary Board, alongside music and change icons like Sir Paul McCartney.
Article pasted below…
Very much in OneVoice, and very much with a sentiment like that of the KIND Movement, Starbucks bested all videos I got this season with this awesome compilation (which I received from Jason Alexander): musicians and ordinary citizens across the world joined on the same day at the same time to sing the same song:
Among all of KIND’s retail partners, Starbucks certainly ranks among the classiest, most professional and most sincerely committed to truly make this a better world. In this case the above is part of a partnership with Project RED to fight AIDS.