On 17th July 2018 about 80 families, including children and elderly left behind the brick houses they have been living in, with water, toilets, furniture, kitchen and other household goods, and moved to live in tents in a forest like area. The move was to resettle in their beloved, traditional village, Mullikulam, after nearly 11 …
Read MoreYears ago, while giving a talk at a Jewish high school in New York City, I showed students a video of a Sesame Street skit from 1975 that demonstrated the relationship between “Near” and “Far.” As the #MeToo movement continues to build momentum in the United States and around the world, I am grappling with how we …
Read MoreA number of anti-LGBTI organizations participated in a three-day religious freedom conference the State Department held this week in D.C. The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom on Thursday tweeted a picture of Family Research Council President Tony Perkins “welcoming attendees” of a workshop that focused on U.S. government grants.
Read MoreA number of anti-LGBTI organizations participated in a three-day religious freedom conference the State Department held this week in D.C. The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom on Thursday tweeted a picture of Family Research Council President Tony Perkins “welcoming attendees” of a workshop that focused on U.S. government grants.
Read MoreThe announcement came on a Friday afternoon, late in the second half of the World Cup quarterfinal match between Belgium and Brazil, the national team adopted by most Haitian soccer fans. Minutes later, Brazil had lost the match. And soon after, thousands of Haitians were in the streets, though not because of the game’s disappointing …
Read MoreMany years ago, when I was in government, Mario Cuomo, then New York’s Governor announced the “Year of the Woman”; we joked that what we needed was not one year but as many years as it would take to realize full gender equality. It did not happen then, and it has not happened yet, despite …
Read MoreI’m writing from 7,640 feet above sea level in Quetzaltenango, Guatemala. Yes, you read correctly. Here’s my hotel. I’m here participating in the American Jewish World Service Global Justice Fellowship. I’m one of 13 rabbis in Guatemala to meet with and support advocates fighting for legal protections for human rights activists at risk of violence; …
Read MoreIt is difficult to imagine the contours of my life without the influence of one of my heroes: Harvey Milk, a social justice giant and the first openly gay elected official in California. I immigrated to the United States from South Africa in 1977, one year before Harvey’s assassination. As a young Jew who was …
Read MoreWhen I visited Bangladesh a few weeks ago, I heard heart-wrenching stories from some of the hundreds of thousands of Rohingya people who have fled atrocities in Myanmar. I met women who had been raped by soldiers, children who had seen their parents shot dead before their very eyes, and families who had lost everything. …
Read MoreAs the stakes become ever higher for global human rights defenders, the international organizations supporting them feel the strain of protracted conflicts, impunity, and funding shortages. An estimated 197 land and environmental human rights defenders were killed in 2017 — and this number likely falls short, according to Robert Bank, chief executive officer of the …
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