Some of you may have seen Burma featured prominently in the news as the U.S. government decided to restore full diplomatic ties with the country. And, yes, it is big news. We’d like to put these developments in context and share our thoughts on what we will be looking for in the coming months. First, …
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This is the first installment of “The Global Giggle,” a series of posts that capture the funny side of global justice… because we can’t be serious all the time. Right? For those of us who work in the field of international development, sometimes the problems can seem so huge and so insurmountable that it’s easy …
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Originally posted on Pursue: Action for a Just World and cross-posted on eJewishPhilanthropy. How do you make giving meaningful? Tzedakah, the Jewish commitment to righteous giving, is something that most people are familiar with. Tzedakah boxes are things of childhood memory for many Jews, except me. I tithed. Growing up with a Baptist mother, a …
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On January 11, 2012, American Jewish World Service was pleased to co-sponsor the I-Witness Awards presented by Jewish World Watch at the Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles. I was among the standing-room only crowd gathered to honor Melanne Verveer, Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women’s Issues for her incredible work to address grave injustices faced by women …
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A few weeks ago, Chea Dara, a 33-year-old mother of two jumped off the Chruoy Changva bridge in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Desperate, Chea took her life after she learned of her family’s pending eviction from their Boeung Kak lake home after years of struggling with the government over the land dispute. Chea’s eviction battle with …
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Reuters reported late last month that Cyclone Thane ripped through Tamil Nadu state in India, devastating communities up and down the coast. Winds at a speed of up to 83 mph and tidal surges of up to five feet forced about 6,000 coastal villagers to find their way to higher ground. So far 33 people …
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In Parshat Shmot we read the famous story of Moses at the burning bush. Moses’s response to his first interaction with God can offer us powerful lessons about our own way of perceiving the world, and our relationship to the injustices that surround us.
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“Gay and Vilified in Uganda,” by Frank Mugisha (Op-Ed, Dec. 23), reminded me that the public narrative about lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex issues, particularly in the Western media, has radically changed — but not enough.
In the 1980s and 1990s, the narrative was about AIDS. Today, it’s about the right to marry and serve openly in the military.
Yet the need for justice extends far beyond these specific struggles.
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Foreign Policy Magazine recently released its list of the Top 100 Global Thinkers of 2011. We were disappointed—though not so surprised—by the paucity of women on this list. So, we’ve added six extraordinary women who deserve recognition. Leymah Gbowee, Liberia. You’ve probably heard a lot about Leymah Gbowee, in the news and on our blog. …
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Through its description of the devastating famine in ancient Egypt, Parshat Vayigash suggests two models that can inform our response to hunger today. By this point in the biblical narrative, Joseph, Pharaoh’s trusted vizier, has been reunited with his brothers in Egypt. The rest of his family, however, is still suffering from terrible famine in Canaan. …
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