Category: Activists

Reputation

On Shirin Ebadi, Iran Awakening: A Memoir of Revolution and Hope (With Azadeh Moaven) But a personal story is more powerful than any dry summary of why a given law should be changed. To attract people’s…

The Only Statement That Counts

for Yoshifugi In 1974 at an amazing conference was held at St. John the Divine Cathedral in New York. Christians and Jews gathered to confront the question, “Auschwitz: Beginning of a New Era?”  Catholic theologians…

Dangerous Solidarity

This week, March 24, marks the twenty-fifth anniversary of when El Salvadoran Archbishop Oscar Romero was assassinated while celebrating Mass.  A month before, he had sent a letter to then-president Jimmy Carter, imploring him to…

Joyfully Together

One of the recommendations I have given some of my students who want to move in the direction of a deeper commitment to social justice after university studies is:  Find and nurture a community. Without other…

In Gratitude for Howard Zinn

The other night at the Webster University Film Series, I saw the documentary-tribute: Howard Zinn: You Can’t Be Neutral on a Moving Train. It is an inspirational portrait of a working-class Jewish man who served…

Righteous Jews

for Hedy Epstein A reflection on Roane Carey and Jonathan Shanin, ed., The Other Israel: Voices of Refusal and Dissent (New York: The New Press, 2002). 1. When I came back from Palestine after working…

Beatitudes

In April 2004 Marc Ellis invited Hedy Epstein and me to come to speak at Baylor University.  Marc had been my professor at Maryknoll and had supported my work on Elie Wiesel.  During a visit…