A Foodie’s Take on the Farm Bill

By Marissa Miley Friedman  |  May 11, 2012

Originally posted on the Global Circle blog.

I think of myself as a foodie. Maybe not a spend-25%-of-my-salary-on-pickled-lamb-tongue omnivore—not even someone who would choose pickled lamb tongue off the menu—but someone who buys organic, goes to the farmer’s market on Sundays, and appreciates not only how my food tastes, but how it was grown, made, packaged and sold. I also read enough to know that the story of how my food got to my plate is hardly straightforward, shaped by a tangled web of political, economic, and cultural forces. (Global ones, too: just see where your salad comes from.) Read More »

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Dvar Tzedek: Parshat Emor 5772

By Sarah Mulhern  |  May 9, 2012

Parshat Emor closes with one of the most famous and controversial pronouncements in the Torah:

If anyone maims his fellow, as he has done so shall it be done to him; fracture for fracture, eye for eye, tooth for tooth. Just as he inflicted an injury upon a person, so shall it be inflicted upon him.

On the surface, the idea of punishing assault by physically harming the perpetrator makes a certain kind of sense. The threat of physical punishment would have likely been an effective deterrent for many potential assailants and it fulfills an instinctual desire for fairness and revenge, as the perpetrator must experience exactly the same pain and physical limitation he inflicted. Yet for most people, this law is deeply disturbing. Many of us reject its suggestion of violence as an ethical tool for meting out justice. It also strikes me as risky: punishing violence with violence could create situations ripe for reprisal and could set off spiraling violent feuds. Read More »

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Organizing, Fundraising and JOIN’s National Summit

By Leah Kagan  |  May 4, 2012

Karla Van Praag, executive director of JOIN for Justice, speaks at the opening assembly of JOIN for Justice's National Summit (Photo: Matthew Reber)

What exactly is “organizing”? It’s a term people are using a lot more these days. From Wall Street to Tahrir Square, people are organizing for different kinds of change. But the idea of organizing from the ground up toward a common goal often makes people uncomfortable. Why is that?

As a fundraiser at AJWS, I can relate to this discomfort. Asking someone to make a financial gift is often met with apprehension, similar to the kind of apprehension someone feels when asked to sign a petition, call their member of Congress, or participate in a protest. It’s the “ask” that often puts people in a place where they are forced to think about how they tackle issues of injustice and whether they are willing to step up and take action. To get people to say “yes,” you need to build a relationship—which is really what organizing is all about. Read More »

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An Ethiopian Girl’s Journey to Build a Better World

By Naboni Etansa  |  May 3, 2012

Naboni Etansa

 

From April 19-22, AJWS staff and 25 grantees attended the AWID International Forum on Women’s Rights in Development in Istanbul, Turkey. Seventeen-year-old Naboni Etansa from Ethiopia traveled to the Forum with the Jerusalem Children and Community Development Organization (JeCCDO)—an AJWS grantee and a partner in the Nike Foundation’s Grassroots Girls Initiative. Below are Naboni’s reflections on her experience.

My time at the AWID Forum in Istanbul was so fantastic for me. I left my country, Ethiopia, for the very first time to go to a very big conference with about 2500 people, mostly women, from 150 countries.

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A Jew in India: Orwell Had it Wrong

By Jamie van Wagtendonk  |  May 2, 2012

Jamie van Wagtendonk, AJWS World Partners Fellow

Originally published in The Berkshire Jewish Voice.

“It’s great that you are going to India. But why do you have to travel over there? There is so much to do for your own people here. Or in Israel.”

As I boarded the British Air flight lugging my pack overflowing with antibiotics and sunscreen, this question, posed by a family friend, swam through my mind. I tried to dismiss it. After all, I was going wrapped in a Jewish framework. I was accompanied by ten other recent college graduates chosen by the American Jewish World Service (AJWS) as part of their World Partners Fellowship. Yet, landing in the intensity of swirling heat and cacophony of Northwest India, it was immediately apparent how far I was from the recognizable, from what my friend had termed “your own people.”  Read More »

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Defending Defenders: Providing Support to Grantees at Risk

By Rosalie Nezien and Jesse Wrenn  |  April 27, 2012

Originally posted on the Nonprofit Quarterly blog.

In mid-March, following the news that Thomas Lubanga Dyilo, a warlord from the DRC, had been convicted of war crimes by the International Criminal Court (ICC), activists lauded the long-awaited verdict, calling on the ICC and the Congolese government to implement the arrest warrants of others who are also suspected of serious war crimes committed in the DRC. These calls for justice were met with hostility by warlords and their supporters, including some from within the DRC’s armed forces. Activists who have long worked on campaigns to bring justice to their communities received messages to stop meddling—and veiled threats of violence—from powerful actors.

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My Alternative Spring Break in Nicaragua

By Missy Goldstein  |  April 25, 2012

Students from the University of Florida Hillel on an AJWS Alternative Spring Break in Nicaragua

Originally posted on the blog of RJ.org, News and Views of Reform Jews.

Last fall, as a junior attending the University of Florida (UF), I was considering all the possibilities for the upcoming spring break. I know that typical UF students spend their spring breaks on cruises and at beaches, drinking and getting awkward tan lines. I was not excited by the prospect of getting sunburned or putting myself in a bathing suit. Sure, I could visit my parents in Texas, but since it was a recent relocation, there would be no friends there for me and sitting on the couch all week just sounded boring. Read More »

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Strengthening the Global Women’s Movement at AWID 2012

By Susan Rosenberg  |  April 19, 2012

Who needs a larger piece of a poisoned pie? If international development comes at the cost of a toxic environment—corporate theft of indigenous peoples’ land, escalating violence against women and sexual minorities—isn’t the price too high? How can we have justice if the end is profit and the means are human beings? Read More »

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Ikal Angelei, Director of AJWS Grantee in Kenya, Wins the Goldman Prize!

By Jaron Vogelsang  |  April 16, 2012

Ikal Angelei, director of AJWS grantee Friends of Lake Turkana

It brings me great pleasure to share that Ikal Angelei, director of AJWS grantee Friends of Lake Turkana in Kenya is one of the winners of the 2012 Goldman Prize! She was awarded this prestigious prize for risking her life fighting the construction of the massive Gibe 3 Dam that would block access to water for indigenous communities around Lake Turkana. The Goldman Prize annually honors grassroots environmental heroes from Africa, Asia, Europe, Islands and Island Nations, North America, and South and Central America. The Prize recognizes individuals for sustained and significant efforts to protect and enhance the natural environment, often at great personal risk. Read More »

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Congressional Meetings for a Just Farm Bill: Part 2

By Benjamin D. Singer  |  April 14, 2012

Farm Bill debates are picking up in Washington, so now is the time to reach out to members of Congress and share our vision for a just Farm Bill. People committed to AJWS’s work in New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles and Chicago have been organizing other AJWS supporters and activists to participate in meetings with congressional representatives. These meetings are a rare and exciting opportunity to speak directly with elected officials to ensure that our voices heard. Benjamin Singer shared he thoughts about his meeting with senators in Chicago…

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