Support Obama to Be Obama
The many memos in this issue of Tikkun call on Obama to live up to his highest ideals. To strengthen this call, the Network of Spiritual Progressives (NSP) is building a national campaign to support Obama's return to the policies and principles he articulated during the Democratic Party primaries and urge him not to capitulate to the logic and pressures of inside-the-Beltway politics. The NSP wants to bolster the hope-oriented, social justice-oriented, anti-militarist, and environmentally concerned version of Obama that won him the nomination. We will bring people to Washington, DC, this spring to strengthen that Obama, and we will also be running an advertising campaign. More details will be available at www.spiritualprogressives.org and via email. If you have not been receiving our emails, please send your name, address, and email to kay@tikkun.org and ask to be added to the list.
Obsession
The 2008 elections had many low points, among them the lies and distortions that the campaigns put out about their opposition. A particularly egregious incident was the mass distribution of millions of copies of a hate-oriented DVD called Obsession, which was circulated in "swing states" a few months before the voting began. The film purports to identify the allegedly huge threat to civilization posed by "radical Islam." By interspersing images of Muslims at prayer with pictures of violence, it portrays Islam as a religion of hate and all Muslims as a danger to Americans.
Praised by Jewish right-wing commentators, who have long thought that generating anger at Islam would strengthen American support for Israel, Obsession is a dangerous piece of propaganda that may yet lead to an upsurge of demonization of the sort that produced the war in Iraq. Distorted speech should not be banned, but it needs to be countered, not only in print (see the excellent detailed analysis of the film at www.jewsonfirst.org/obsession provided by Rabbi Haim Dov Beliak, Eli Clifton, Jane Hunger, and Robin Podolsky), but also by another DVD with an equally high production value. This second DVD should help Americans understand that the greatest dangers we face in the world today come from the triumph of selfishness and materialism. Our global economic and political order-a market fundamentalism backed by militarism and more subtle forms of imperialism-has generated wars, hatred, and irrational forms of resistance, including Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, and other fundamentalisms.
Instead of fostering hatred, we need to support the many wonderful efforts to build mutual understanding among the world's religious, ethnic, and national groupings, and to encourage the understanding that the security we all deserve will come from generosity rather than through domination. Our Global Marshall Plan is far more likely to increase our well-being than singling out yet another "enemy" to blame for the collapse of our current global economic order. If only we could find a funder to supply the millions of dollars needed to help us produce that kind of mass-distributed DVD!
Extremists of Every Stripe
Yes, they're still with us, as the news reminds us every day. On November 26, 2008, teams of heavily armed gunmen stormed hotels, a popular restaurant, a Jewish cultural center, hospitals, and a crowded train station in coordinated attacks across Mumbai, India, killing over 180 people and wounding over 300. Among the dead were family friends of our art director, Sabiha Basrai; this loss brought the attacks home very personally to us here at Tikkun. We stand in prayer and solidarity with the people of Mumbai as they mourn their loved ones and set about the difficult task of returning to normalcy.
The horrible violence in Mumbai has tapped anti-Muslim and anti-Pakistani sentiments in India that might lead to a new India-Pakistan war, with devastating consequences for both sides. Hindu extremists and terrorists have their own history of provocative actions, and the continuing conflict between Pakistan and India over Kashmir can be counted on to provoke more violence in the future unless both (now) democratic societies seek to arrive at a lasting settlement.
Meanwhile, Israeli settlers continue their violence, sometimes against the Israel Defense Forces themselves, and more frequently against Palestinian civilians. Until these settlers are disarmed and removed from the West Bank, Jewish extremism will have its way, and Israeli politicians will continue to appease rather than confront their own homegrown terrorists. It's always important to remember, however, that the greatest pain is inflicted not by these various haters, but by the structural violence of our global economic system. It's only because the militarists and fearmongers shape our media and public discourse that we are not confronted daily with the faces and stories of the 20,000 to 30,000 young children who die every day of diseases related to malnutrition and inadequate funding for health care.
