JUST ENGAGE

Thousands of protestors came from across the country to rally against Ahmadinejad and his extreme views.

Photo taken by Martine Katz (JCPA-NY)

The past few days have been a bit crazy for the Israel Advocacy Initiative (IAI) staff in NY. Last week when we were gearing up for yesterday's rally to end the threat of Iran we heard that President Ahmadinejad would be speaking at Columbia, as well.

It seemed all anyone in New York would speak about was President Ahmadinejad's visit. Should he be allowed at Ground Zero? Should he be allowed to speak at Columbia? What would he say? What would it mean for Jewish students on campus?

While, he wasn't allowed to visit Ground Zero, a decision Ahmadinejad did not seem to understand. He was able to visit and address students and faculty at Columbia University.

On Sunday afternoon, I took the subway up to the Kraft Center to provide training for students on "Building Coalitions" as part of a Student Training Workshop to educate and empower students in preparation for Monday's speech. There was lots of activity at the Kraft Center as student leaders called coalition members, spoke to student leaders, and prepared their speeches. They told me that most students on campus believed it was important for Ahmadinejad to be given a right to speak because of a commitment to free speech. They were, however, very prepared to protest the event with their own student rally outside Lerner Hall.

Quarter sheets handed out on campus announcing the rally said, "Why we Rally Ahmadinejad comes to Columbia" and on the back said:

"Who is Ahmadinejad?

A supporter of International Terrorism

A Holocaust Denier

Anti Free Speech

Anti Womens Rights

Anti Academic Freedom

Anti-Homosexuals

A Promoter of Mass Murder

Campaigns to ‘counter public immorality'"

Those were the exact things community members were protesting outside the United Nations yesterday at Dag Hammarskjold Plaza. Our staff arrived early to help set up and receive our rally marshall assignments. Salomon and I were stationed on 47th and 2nd blocking the sidewalk, which gave us the opportunity to view the thousands of participants as they approached the rally. The first rally participants were a group with large colorful signs from Christians United For Israel, followed by numerous Jewish day school groups, Federation buses, people on their lunch hour, and a small, but vocal group of Iranians. Countering our rally was a group of ten Neutrei Karta, who seemed to puzzle the NYPD officers near us.

At about noon, with Dag Hammarskjold Plaza just about full the speeches began. Three JCPA board members were given the honor of introducing elected officials and other speakers: David Steirman introduced Congressman Scott Garrett from New Jersey, Len Cole introduced Sentator Robert Menendez also from New Jersey, and Elihu Davison introduced the President of Columbia/Barnard Hillel Josh Rosner. Additional speakers included Congressman Anthony Weiner, who opened his speech by declaring "Am Yisrael Chai" followed by thunderous applause; Congressman Elliot Engel and Congressman Jerrold Nadler. Israel Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni also gave a great speech (more on her speech later from Jessica).

Today, President Ahmadinejad will be given the opportunity to speak at the UN General Assembly. I think because of yesterday's rallies New Yorkers and Americans are even more curious to here what he has to say. Stay tuned....

Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is scheduled to address the United Nations. His record on hate speech, Holocaust denial, terror, weapons of mass destruction, and war is all too clear. Teheran's effort to secure nuclear weapons represents the most urgent threat to regional and global stability.

In that spirit, we are working with a broad coalition to hold a rally to coincide with Ahmadinejad’s appearance at the UN. This coalition includes the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, the Jewish Community Relations Council of New York, UJA-Federation of New York and United Jewish Communities. JCRCs from across the country will be flying, driving, and training in for the rally. We will also be joined by our interfaith partners.

The rally will take place on Monday, September 24^th 12:00 noon across the street from the United Nations (Dag Hammarskjold Plaza - First Avenue @ 47th Street).

Speakers include: Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, Congressman Anthony Weiner, Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney, Speaker Christine Quinn, Ambassador Richard Holbrooke, and Karnit Goldwasser.

We learned earlier today that Ahmadinejad will also be speaking at Columbia University on Monday from 1:30–2:30 p.m.at Roone Arledge Auditorium, Alfred Lerner Hall. Registration to the event is closed and only those with Valid Columbia IDs will be allowed on campus during the speech.

This food stamp challenge is different than I imagined. I thought that, because it would happen between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, it would enhance my spiritual life and bring me to new heights…..Rather, I have discovered that it is, indeed, a yicchy way to have to live. The food choices are limited; coffee is non-existent; the world seems constricted and small.

Before I began, I wondered if I would become less empathetic and discover that a food stamp diet is not so bad…. However, after 5 days on approximately $1/meal, I can attest that it is simply horrible. I am in day 5 feeling as if it is day 50 realizing what limits this diet places on life’s fulfillment were it to be a constant. To grow up on this over-starched way of being limits our humanity. Physically, it is not healthy; emotionally it is constricting, sort of like I imagine one feels when they are way over-sedated; and spiritually, it feels like living in a dim light wondering about where and how the presence of G-d ever shows its beautiful face.

The press conference yesterday was phenomenal. I enjoyed writing and giving my remarks (click here to read a copy of the transcript). Several members of Congress, great colleagues in Hadar Susskind, Melissa Boteach, and Jared Feldman, terrific work done by Rabinowitz and Dorf, our public relations folks, and a lot of press. I challenged the press to do their part. Hunger and poverty are not going to end because a couple of hundred people around the country are taking the challenge but because a few million people simply decide that the richest country in the history of the world must not tolerate the state of affairs in which tens of millions live in a nutritionally debased way and have no health insurance at all. That will take all of us including the press.

Just over a month ago, right before the August Congressional Recess, on a Saturday, the House of Representatives approved the Protect America Act.  This bill, touted by the Bush Administration makes sweeping changes to the landmark Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978.  As Congressional Democrats acquiesced to the Administration's demands for increased spying powers, they also inserted a "sunset provision" into the legislation.  Essentially this legislation will self-destruct six months after enactment.  This quick sunset, forces Congress to revisit these powers quickly. 

Regardless of the merits of the legislation, it is clear that the process was deeply flawed. Not a single hearing was held on this legislation.  Just days before the recess, President Bush threatened to hold Congress in session over August if no amendments were made to FISA.  Suddenly, even in Washington standards, there was a bill, and it was on the Senate floor, then in the House on Saturday, and then law.  FISA issues have been percolating since the New York Times reported that the Administration and the National Security Agency have been engaged in warrant-less surveillance since 2001.  The operational details and legal rational for this program (or potentially programs-depending on your definition) are still highly classified. 

Over my next couple blog posts, I will address some of the issues currently being debated and discussed as Congress revisits these issues.  The first issue will be Telecom Immunity.  President Bush and his Administration are pushing hard for Congress to include retroactive immunity for the Telecom companies that complied with Justice Department orders to turn over the communications of Americans without warrants.  Now here is the problem, those original orders rest on questionable legal foundations-and the telecom companies should have known it.  In fact, one Telecom Company, Qwest, refused to turn over communications to the Administration without a court order. 

Hi Everybody. I am Justin Gage the fictional character that represents JCPA online. I will moderate this blog and post some interesting articles. You can also be friends with Justin Gage online at Facebook.

Anyway, so down to business. Today the Washington Times printed an editorial criticizing the Food Stamp Challenge as simply a cheap ploy. At JCPA we deeply disagree. This isn't about ploys at all, but rather about calling attention to the inadequacy of the food stamp benefit. The average food stamp benefit is just $21 a week. The minimum benefit is just $10 a week. And that hasn't moved since the 1970's. Those benefits are paltry by any standard. Just as a basis of comparison, the average price for a gallon of gas in 1975 was $0.53. We know how inflation corrodes the value a dollar. Every day that goes by, these benefits are less and less. The minimum benefit has been degrading for about 30 years. This is simply shameless.

Three Democratic congressmen are descending from their plush seats of power to gain firsthand experience with the pangs of plebeian hunger. Unfortunately, their political stunt, which is meant to highlight problems with the nation's welfare program, does little to address the policy changes needed to streamline and bolster outreach for those who need a hand up, not a hand out.

The Food Stamp Challenge is in full swing. People from all across the country taking the Food Stamp Challenge with JCPA to call attention to inadequacy of the food stamp benefit and the importance of healthy nutrition for all Americans.

Yesterday the JCPA officially launched the its new poverty campaign, "There Shall Be No Needy Among You." This campaign is based on the combining service and advocacy in a holistic approach to activism. In that spirit, JCPA Executive Director Rabbi Steve Gutow and Congressman Keith Ellison volunteered today at soup kitchen in Washington DC.

September 19, 2007 – Day Five

I am starting to feel a change in my moods. I am getting irritable, easily distracted, and more easily annoyed. This is not something I had really counted on.

I am getting enough calories. At least I think I am. I am not going to bed hungry, which is a positive thing. But something is missing, and I am not sure what. I am not a nutritional expert, so I can’t tell you if it is Vitamin B, C, D, A, Q, X, or any other. But those are the things that are absent in my diet this week. My one windfall is my orange juice, which is basically saving my sanity (and health).

I was interviewed this morning by Mike Cassidy from the San Jose Mercury News. A thoroughly enjoyable experience all in all, he asked me a question that got me thinking. He asked if I had big plans for my first meal after this Challenge, which will be Saturday evening after the end of Yom Kippur. I said that I hadn’t really thought about it, but that I was looking forward to really eating again.

Thinking on that now, I guess that is really the point of this whole Challenge. For me, this all has an end. I know that, come Saturday evening, I will be back on a normal diet. My mood will get better. My focus will return. Those people really living on $21 a week don’t have that. When this week is over, they will go shopping again for next week. My “game” is their life.

I can’t even imagine that.

September 18, 2007 – Day Four

I had a very scary thought last night. I was making my white and pink bean chili with diced tomatoes, which my schedule and budget say has to last me until dinner on Thursday, and I thought, “What if I drop this?”

One of the advantages to having some money to play with is that if I drop my chili, or burn my toast, or just flat out don’t like my soup, it’s ok. It might inconvenience me, mess up my evening, even ruin a plan or two, but in the grand scheme of things, it is not a big deal. I can just make something else. Living on $21 a week, that is not possible.

Had I dropped my pot of chili, I would have had to see how much I could gather back up, and how many meals I could stretch out of that. I would have to see just how far my two loaves of bread could take me, and where I could find enough nourishment to make up the difference.

I did not drop my chili, but somewhere out there last night, I am sure someone did.

That thought, more than anything so far, put this whole thing in perspective for me.