Breakfast Briefing on the Ebola Crises in SF
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Left Coast Voices
"I would hurl words into the darkness and wait for an echo. If an echo sounded, no matter how faintly, I would send other words to tell, to march, to fight." Richard Wright, American Hunger
Archive for the tag “justice”
Rape is a Crime. So is Silence.
Disclaimer: I am writing about a topic I know nothing about. I am a man. I have never forced myself upon a woman, never been forced, and it is a topic that I feel no one is talking about. I live in the progressive San Francisco Bay Area and I am experiencing a wave of shock at the three incidents I have heard about recently.
This is America…California…San Francisco…and it feels like I am living in a primitive or totalitarian society.
All three incidents (as much as I was told) involved women who reached a point where during the attack they went still, played dead, from fear that they could not stand more physical abuse and pain, or maybe for fear of their lives. They tried to mentally detach, to distance themselves from what was being done to them.
As far as I understand, this desperate survival act, compromised their ability to have the criminals who did this to them brought to justice. The fact that the physical evidence could have been from just having ‘rough (consensual) sex’ means that they are not believed that they were raped, and are often treated as sluts, liars, or unstable.
The fact that the women I spoke with were apprehensive about reporting the crime to the police is a terrible reflection of our police force. Why are they having to report this to a man, in a uniform, who symbolizes ‘power-over’? Do we not have enough women in the police force that it is standard procedure for a woman police officer to interview the (female) victim?
So this is a man’s world. Maybe, but here is California we are blessed with some amazing women in leadership. Where the fuck is Nancy Pelosi, Diane Feinstein, Barbara Boxer, and the other strong women leaders I look up to and admire? In my work, and the activism part of my life, I meet such incredibly strong, empowered women. Why the silence? Where are the men in power who have the responsibility to protect all citizens?
When I first came to California, a gay friend was explaining the fight to crush DOMA here. He said something like: It has to start here. California is a start-up nation, not only in hi-tech, but in social policy. If it can be done anywhere, California must lead the way to change.
That a person must walk around for the rest of his/her life with this crime eating away inside, constantly in a state of hyper-vigilance, being a painful reminder every time someone close tries to be intimate with them, is a life sentence.
Bringing the rapist to justice will never erase what they did to the victim, but it might go some way to closure. At least there is not that haunting feeling that the assailant is still walking free.
If we are to suggest that America has any claim to moral and social leadership, if we are to preach freedom to the world, then we must eradicate this criminal act and the damaging silence that surrounds it.
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Alon Shalev is the author of the 2013 Eric Hoffer YA Book Award winner, At The Walls of Galbrieth, Wycaan Master Book 1 and The First Decree, Ashbar – Book 3 – all released by Tourmaline Books. Shalev is also the author of three social justice-themed novels including Unwanted Heroes. He swears there is a connection. More at http://www.alonshalev.com and on Twitter (@elfwriter).
Elves, Dwarves and Political Activists
“You can’t be serious!” she exclaimed, wrinkling her nose as though I had just made a pass at her, or uttered a politically incorrect sentiment. “You write about elves and dwarves running from one end of the world to another killing each other and making long speeches? I thought you were a serious writer.”
In honesty, she had not seen me for a few years, and even then, knew me in the context of my more political work environment. To her credit, she recovered and apologized, and I was able to refrain from pouring my drink into her lap. It was, after all, a good scotch.
Friend or not, intentional or not, it still hurt. I thought I had passed this stage, smoothly presenting myself as ‘an author who writes in two genres’. I have practiced my opening line and it is now delivered with confidence.
I am involved in social justice causes. Even in my short eight years living in the US, I have built a fair resume of involvement. I have taken students almost every year to New Orleans, not only to help rebuild a community, physically and emotionally, but to bear witness so that the millennials will not make the mistakes my generation did. I have been involved in various campaigns here and abroad. I know my local food bank well. Hey, you never had a black President before I came to the US!
But yes, I love to lose myself in Middle Earth, Alaegasia, Westeros and, dare I add it to the list: Odessiya. It’s a nice break from the intensive campus environment to deal with stubborn dwarves and idealistic elves. While closeted in an urban concrete jungle, I can escape on a horse and gallop through ancient forests, over great ice plains, and to quaff an ale or puff a pipe (without the health risks) with good friends, all from a computer screen or ebook reader.
The San Francisco Bay Area is intensely populated by a variety of the human species often identified by salt-and-pepper haired, wrinkled, colorful attire, and provocative bumper stickers. These aging ideologues have rich resumes of demonstrating against wars, civil rights. Watergate, and more recently, more wars, gay rights, and gun control.
While there are many who have fallen by the wayside, succumbing to burnout, those who have maintained their energy to keep demonstrating and fighting for what is right, all seem to have a secret place they go to recharge, relax, and to return energized to help create a better world to live in. It might be literature, meditation, family, friends, food, nature … it doesn’t matter. As a friend once said: Fixing the world is a marathon, not a sprint.
Yeah, I write about elves and dwarves doing brave acts and striving for justice and honor. Sure I write about battles and loves, about friendships and magic, about the power of nature and good fighting evil.
It energizes me and often provides clarity and vision. And if I do occasionally wonder what Seanchai or Shayth might do about gun control or why some people are denied the rights and opportunities their neighbors have, well that’s because fantasy is not quite as far-fetched and detached from reality as my shocked friend might think.
God created the world in six days and on the seventh s/he rested…and may well have deservedly read Lord of the Rings.
Here’s to whatever it takes for each of us to continue the journey we’ve chosen!
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Alon Shalev writes social justice-themed novels and YA epic fantasy. He swears there is a connection. In celebration of the upcoming launch of Ashbar, the third in the Wycaan Master series, Tourmaline Books are offering for August only, the 2013 Eric Hoffer Book Award for YA – At The Walls Of Galbrieth – for 99 cents (kindle only).
Little Quotes That Teach – Roger Ingalls
Freedom
“There is no such thing as a little freedom. Either you are all free, or you are not free.” Walter Cronkite
“A friend is someone who gives you total freedom to be yourself.” Jim Morrison
“Those who deny freedom to others deserve it not for themselves.” Abraham Lincoln
“Conformity is the jailer of freedom and the enemy of growth.” John F. Kennedy
“The secret to happiness is freedom and the secret to freedom is courage.” Thucydides
Politics
“Suppose you were an idiot, and suppose you were a member of Congress; but I repeat myself.” Mark Twain
“One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors.” Plato
“We hang the petty thieves and appoint the great ones to public office.” Aesop
“We have, I fear, confused power with greatness.” Stewart Udall
Religion
“The World is my country, all mankind are my brethren, and to do good is my religion.” Thomas Paine
“Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind.” Albert Einstein
“Whether one believes in a religion or not, and whether one believes in rebirth or not, there isn’t anyone who doesn’t appreciate kindness and compassion.” Dalai Lama
“It is in our lives and not our words that our religion must be read.” Thomas Jefferson
“Superstition is to religion what astrology is to astronomy the mad daughter of a wise mother. These daughters have too long dominated the earth.” Voltaire
Peace
“When the power of love overcomes the love of power the world will know peace.” Jimi Hendrix
“An eye for an eye only ends up making the whole world blind.” Mahatma Gandhi
“If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other. Peace begins with a smile.” Mother Teresa
“Observe good faith and justice toward all nations. Cultivate peace and harmony with all.” George Washington
Closing Arguments
“The mind is not a vessel to be filled but a fire to be kindled.” Plutarch
“All the great things are simple, and many can be expressed in a single word: freedom, justice, honor, duty, mercy, hope.” Winston Churchill
“Wisdom, compassion, and courage are the three universally recognized moral qualities of men.” Confucius
“If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need.” Marcus Tullius Cicero
Lior Tsarfaty and The Prayer Songs Project Recording CD
I love the concept of Kickstarter – a grassroots start up opportunity wherein people donate as little as $5 to a project and only pay if the project reaches its financial goal. A friend of mine, a talented musician, Lior Tsarfaty, is trying to raise $12,000 (he has over $8,000 pledged) to record a project that includes music with Hebrew, Arabic and Sanskrit. He must complete the fundraising by Wednesday. Please take five minutes to check out his project and consider joining me with a small gift.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xc5DCo184bQ
In his own words:
“…record a musical collaboration CD where Hebrew and Jewish music, Arabic prayers, Sanskrit chants and English poetry intertwine in a sacred space of art and community. I play with an ensemble of international musicians that bring together prayers, art and music with the intention of creating healing. The CD will be mainly based on songs that I wrote and composed in Hebrew and then other musicians weave in their languages and music.
After 3 years of many concerts, rehearsals and after playing with many musicians almost each of my songs found an Indian chant, or an Arabic prayer or a poem, or a Bossa Nova melody from Brazil. One song combines Hebrew and Portuguese, another contains English, Arabic, Sanskrit and Jewish melodies, and some of the songs are songs in which only I am singing. Some songs preferred to stay simple – with my voice and Hebrew lyrics. Some of the songs in this project are coming from a deep place of healing, some to promote peace and justice and some to create a personal musical connection between different cultures and musicians from around the world.
I have finalized the list of songs I will be including on this CD, I have contacted all the musicians that will be a part of this project and they have all agreed to be a part of the recording. The money will be for paying the recording studio – studio time, editing mixing and mastering, and paying the musicians that are participating in the project, and for all the expenses of designing a cover and manufacturing the CD.
You can help take part in this project with any sum – the reward list is on the right. This is an open invitation to join me in this project and help reach the goal of raising $12,000.
Thank you very much for your support,
Lior
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Alon Shalev is the author of The Accidental Activist and A Gardener’s Tale. He is the Executive Director of the San Francisco Hillel Foundation, a non-profit that provides spiritual and social justice opportunities to Jewish students in the Bay Area. More on Alon Shalev at http://www.alonshalev.com/ and on Twitter (@alonshalevsf).
Water or Tea Party
Allow me to assert my credentials as an Englishman: there is no tea without water. It has always been thus, since the Earl of Grey accidentally dropped the rind of his bergamot orange into a cup of hot water he was sipping (I’ve no idea…don’t bother the Wiki Goddess).
Though it is the silly season of Republican debates and strange voting habits of the primaries (Ohio – yes I’m talking about you), there emerges a call for sanity, not to balance the Tea Party and Occupy Movement, but to create a framework that might actually work.
And so, with much aplomb, I wish to introduce The Water Party (here on Facebook if this is your preferred medium). Percentages seem to be the defining element these days, so the Water Party claim to represent the 70%, slightly less ambitious than Occupy (99%) or Tea Party (103%). This is not based upon some empirical equation, rather inspired by Mother Nature herself.
“70% of the earth is covered by water, but you don’t think of it, because the land is right in front of you most of the time. Likewise, 70% of Americans favor accuracy, fairness, civility and helping others, but it doesn’t seem that way with angry opinionated people dominating the news and airwaves spouting falsehoods to further their agendas and vendettas. The Water Party represents the 70% of Americans from all political spectrums who are the true majority in America. It’s time for us to stand up and be counted.”
What I like about The Water Party is that they welcome people of any political persuasion, from any party, as long as there is a commitment to “support truth and accuracy, reasonableness, kindness and sanity.”
Friends – this is a political landscape game changer right here. Close your eyes and try to imagine a Republican Presidential debate based on these principles. Admit it, you would be forced to channel surf to try and find those insipid, hate ads that the candidates are absolutely not putting out there against each other.
Back to The Water Party and I want to focus on their three principles. The first suggests that we all commit to being truthful in our political debates – I can go for that. The third suggests that we emulate the founding fathers – I am really not sure about this but maybe I’ve been reading the wrong books and articles about them.
But the second principle really got my attention because it has very concrete actions that can impact the world.
“Justice: Nobody should have to “try to live” on less than $1 a day, as one billion people are. 8 million children a year (one every 4 seconds) should not die from lack of food and clean water. I will take less so children can have the basics to live. One option is the water pledge to drink more water, and less alchohol, coffee and soda, and give some or all the money to the poorest. If 100,000 people drink $5 less a month, that will create $6.7 million a year that will save tens of thousands of lives. We’ll also live longer, and save time and money not having to work out and diet as much.”
If you click on the water pledge you get to a page where you can actually translate the pledge into an individualized and measurable commitment.
Joking aside, I love the concept that the Water Party represents, that we could actually sit people from all political directions for a nice cup of te–water, and work on a way together to fix what ails this country. It would require a commitment to rational debate, to listening to the other side and being willing to compromise.
Perhaps we might even be surprised and discover that behind all the slogans we shout at each other, there just might be more consensus than we care to admit. Maybe the 70% can make a difference.
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Alon Shalev is the author of The Accidental Activist and A Gardener’s Tale. He is the Executive Director of the San Francisco Hillel Foundation, a non-profit that provides spiritual and social justice opportunities to Jewish students in the Bay Area. More on Alon Shalev at http://www.alonshalev.com/ and on Twitter (@alonshalevsf).
Organizations That Matter: The Progressive Jewish Alliance (PJA)
The Progressive Jewish Alliance (PJA) was founded in 1999 to create “an authentic progressive Jewish presence in the campaigns for social justice in Southern California.” The PJA has a double agenda. Within the Jewish community (the LA Jewish community is the second biggest in the US) they serve to invigorate and motivate the Jewish social progressives. As a Jewish organization they serve as a vehicle to educate, advocate and organize around a broad array of issues including diversity, equality, justice and peace. In February 2005, the PJA opened a San Francisco Bay Area chapter, which is proving just as impressive.
Why do we need a Jewish progressive organization? Why not just join up with activists of all races, religions, and classes? I believe the answer lies in honoring our own rich heritage of social activism. Jews have been involved in high proportions in the anti-Apartheid movement, the civil rights struggles and the democratic agenda in almost every country where Jews can live freely and openly.
Jewish identity, whether from positive or negative angles, is strong within our psyche. Jewish tradition teaches that we have an obligation to work for Tikkun Olam (fixing the world). As the PJA bumper sticker says: to kvetch (complain) is human, to act…divine.
As a minority, even the tolerant climates of California, Jews gravitate towards Jews. For those of us who do not bond in the prayers, study and rituals of our religion, the drive to fight social injustices can be a rallying cry. The synagogue, the foundation of Jewish fabric for so many generations can be replaced for many by such agencies as the PJA, the American Jewish World Service and Jewish Funds for Social Justice (more on these great organizations another time).
“We fight for economic justice by educating Jews about our obligation to stand with the working poor, and then we organize the Jewish community to join in campaigns to improve working conditions and secure a living wage for low-wage workers. We work to reform the criminal justice system and to promote a more just and humane system of restorative, rather than retributive, justice through a ground-breaking program that trains volunteers to mediate between non-violent juvenile offenders and their victims throughout Los Angeles. We work to promote understanding and tolerance by facilitating several tracks of Muslim-Jewish dialogue.
Through organizing around the values of tikkun olam, through encounter with Jewish sources and learning, and through strategic social justice work, we work to create a Jewishly-literate membership that examines core Jewish values in a new way, and to “bring back” to Jewish communal life many individuals who would be otherwise disconnected. Under the rubric “tikkun ha ir, tikkun olam” (repair of the city, repair of the world), we also participate in the broader community coalitions working to build a better California (and America) for all of its inhabitants.”
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Alon Shalev is the author of The Accidental Activist (now available on Kindle) and A Gardener’s Tale. He is the Executive Director of the San Francisco Hillel Foundation, a non-profit that provides spiritual and social justice opportunities to Jewish students in the Bay Area. More on Alon Shalev at www.alonshalev.com
The Accidental Activist
Alon Shalev is an author of novels that highlight social injustice. His latest novel is The Accidental Activist. Click on the icon above for more about the author and his books.
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