Daniel Lubetzky

A recent New York Times Magazine cover article promoted many self starters working to fill voids in the developing world who embody the old slogan “where there’s a will, there’s a way.” By quoting stories of D.I.Y. volunteerism (as in, Do It Yourself), Nicholas Kristof makes it clear that a passionate and determined individual holds tremendous power.  Although Kristof reveals that many of the self starters who set out to do good, run into many obstacles along the way, and although he the large possibility of failure in tackling the world’s largest problems, the reason this article is so inspiring is because it presents the possibilities that exist for those with a open heart and creative mind.  This article is really worth a read; the philosophy that one person can change the world through KINDNESS, is exactly what we believe in here at KIND.

Spotted by Daniel Lubetzky, redacted by Adeena Schlussel

[Read more →]

Adeena Schlussel on behalf of Daniel Lubetzky

Darya Shaikh and John Lyndon, OneVoice executives, published a poignant op-ed in the Huffington post.  Darya and John make the crucial point that peace talks on their own will not suffice in reaching a resolution for peace.  Without a newfound commitment to peace and a willingness to compromise, the talks will be empty and futile.  As OneVoice depicts in its “Imagine 2018” campaign, there are two very different possibilities for the future, and these talks may have the power to set the Mideast on the more favorable track.  It all depends on the commitment of the leaders.

[Read more →]

I agree with pretty much everything in this column by Thomas Friedman that a third party to challenge the ossified and bankrupt two party system is desperately needed.

The only thing that I disagree with is Friedman’s self-important hedge that this is such a bold and risky prediction by him, as if he gets it right he will be a mind-reader. The writing is on the wall, everywhere you turn. From the excitement for Bloomberg’s centrist independent thinking, to cultural revulsion towards extreme partisanship.

[Read more →]

by Adeena Schlussel on behalf of Daniel Lubetzky

“Daily Show” host, Jon Stewart announced that he will be running a rally on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., according to the New York Times.  The rally, first dubbed “Rally to Restore Sanity” and now called “Million Moderate March,” is meant to offset the extremist opinions that dominate the majority of political debate and promises to be as good a show as his regular one!

[Read more →]

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.

[Read more →]

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.

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.

[Read more →]

Beyond the earlier geo-political and human arguments I made supporting Imam Feisal Abdel Rauf’s courageous work for tolerance and the Islamic community center he is building in downtown NYC, Tom Friedman advanced beautiful additional arguments that center around the critical value of diversity to foster a creative culture that brings out the best for America and the world – and makes us most competitive.

[Read more →]

by Adeena Schlussel on behalf of Daniel Lubetzky

This article by Robert Wright features the harsh continued debate over the construction of a mosque near ground zero.  The debate is filled with intolerance, fears of radicalism, and biased players; the attacks on Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf are especially disheartening and the opposition of some NY politicians are incredibly disappointing.

[Read more →]