Today, we mark the International Day of Forests, a day to commemorate forests and to raise awareness about the vital role they play in the lives of people and in the health of our planet. Forests across the globe act as our lifelines. They sustain life for countless creatures, provide livelihoods to millions, and serve …Read More
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According to the UN, women in the developing world make up 43% of the agricultural labor force but own only 15% of the land. While I find this figure unsettling, I can’t say that I’m surprised.
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Everyone on the planet needs clean water. But 783 million people worldwide don’t have it. People in the developing world—particularly in low-income and indigenous communities—are at heightened risk of having their water supply polluted by corporations that are constructing dams, mining for natural resources, or undertaking other megaprojects. As companies proceed with these projects, they …Read More
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Indigenous peoples, estimated to be between 350-400 million worldwide, literally sit on the majority of the world’s natural resources—whether water, forests, land, or minerals—on the nearly 20 percent of the world’s lands that they inhabit.
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Leading Jewish human rights organization praises report’s focus on protecting the Karen community’s right to determine how their land should be used NEW YORK, NY – American Jewish World Service (AJWS) lauds Human Rights Watch’s latest report, “The Farmer Becomes Criminal,” which focuses on the endemic land confiscation in Burma’s Karen State and the impact …Read More
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Defending the land with his life
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Prosecuting powerful adversaries of indigenous rights
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Securing titles to ancestral lands
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Hundreds of Maya Achi people were murdered to make way for a dam in Guatemala. Decades later, their families finally find justice. Back in 1982, Carlos Chen Osorio was a young man with a family: his wife, Paulina, and their toddler children, Enriqueta and Antonio. Paulina carried their third child inside her, and expected to …Read More
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In 1996, Nicaragua issued permission for a corporation to cut trees on land owned collectively by an indigenous community known as the Awas Tingni, without the consent of the people. The Awas Tingni, only 630 people strong, have occupied their rich and fertile land on the Atlantic coast of Nicaragua for generations …
Read MoreWhile the Israelites are still wandering in the desert, God instructs them in the laws of the shmita year, which will take effect once they enter the Promised Land. Once every seven years, instead of farming, they are to let the land lie fallow. The people of Israel will forage communally from the trees and the fields, eating the fruits that grow naturally in the land. The shmita year, we learn in Parashat Behar, parallels Shabbat—the seventh day of rest—on a grander scale: a year of rest for the land, once every seven years.
Read MoreAs an activist, learning about the work of previous generations can be inspiring—and terrifying. I begin to wonder if I will ever be able to accomplish what the leaders of eras past did, or be willing to take the same risks. For example, when I was in elementary and middle school, the fight to end South African apartheid was often in the news and many of the young activists were not much older than I was. I remember thinking: “What would I be able to do to show such strong moral leadership and live up to their example?”
Read MoreThe landscape of global hunger can be efficiently surveyed through its statistical contours. Every day, hunger-related causes kill 25,000 people around the world. In 2007, the number of undernourished people increased by 75 million and in 2008 by 40 million—pushing today’s global tally past the one billion mark.
Read MoreAs I stood in the magnificent Magen Avot synagogue in Alibag, India, I felt the sweat trickle down the side of my face. Though it was hot, the sweat was born out of nervousness and intense regret, not the sweltering heat. The High Holidays were around the corner and I was at the synagogue teaching …Read More
Read MoreIn Parashat Chukkat, we read about the Israelites in a moment of desperation. Forty years into their journey through the desert, they once again find themselves in a new place without any water.[1] The people are distraught, but rather than voicing their fears in a calm, rational manner, the Israelites pick a fight. They approach …Read More
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