Palestine

Announcing the 2017 Rosemary Radford Ruether Conference by Grace Yia-Hei Kao

On October 7, 2017, five distinguished panelists will speak at a one-day event: the Rosemary Radford Ruether Conference for Justice and Peace. Co-sponsored by the Friends of Sabeel—North America (FOSNA), Claremont Area FOSNA, Claremont School of Theology, and the Women’s Studies in Religion program at Claremont Graduate University, the conference will be held at Pilgrim Place (Decker Hall)–the retirement community for folks serving in religious or charitable organizations where Dr. Ruether currently resides.

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(((Israel))) by Ivy Helman

me hugging tree The BBC just ran a story about white supremacist and neo-Nazi groups targeting Jews by signaling each other to their presence on various social media sites through the use of (((this symbol))). Of course, this is all based on the assumption that a “typically” Jewish last name signifies the bearer is also Jewish. Through a Google app (since removed) that could recognize patterns such as ((())), these Jewish people began to receive anti-Semitic comments. There has been a general outcry of disgust among Jews and other minority groups as to the problematic targeting of Jews in this fashion.

The same cannot be said about the BDS movement and people’s willingness to call it out for what it is. This to me is hypocritical! According to its website, the BDS movement, or Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions, seeks to end what it understands to be the colonialism, apartheid and oppression of Palestinians in Israel through various financial, commercial and international means. It accuses Israel of human rights violations, genocide, ethnic cleansing and other war crimes as well as illegal occupation (of the Palestinian lands, not just the occupied territories). Continue reading “(((Israel))) by Ivy Helman”

#IceBucketChallenge – Raising Awareness While Being Good Stewards by Michele Stopera Freyhauf

In a space that has been flooded with negativity and scenes of war and violence, I find my Facebook newsfeed lit up with people from all walks of life engaging in this challenge. For those that may not be aware of how this works, you are invited to take the challenge by either donating $100 to ALS research or dumping a bucket of ice water over your head. Those with means seem to be doing both, even exceeding the minimum donation amount. However, despite millions of dollars raised for important research, there are critics of this challenge. They vary widely from diverting donations from the ALS Association because foetal stem cells are used in their research, a violation of Catholic Social Teaching, to objections to a display of privilege; watching those with means wasting precious resources to perform this challenge.

For me, I have been torn over this debate. I think today, more than ever, we are in desperate need of levity. More than that, we need to rebuild our sense of community and can do so while raising awareness about ALS, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as Lou Gehrig’s Disease, an incurable, progressive degenerative neurological disorder. I think that this challenge has accomplished all of these goals. From former presidents to billionaires, CEOs of Fortune 500 companies to professional sports stars (even teams), movie stars and musicians, to my neighbours, friends, and family members – there is something about this that ties everyone together – a common bond, if you will, forged by this challenge. Not to mention, over $90 million has been raised to support research so far, with a record breaking $10 million raised in one day alone. To put this in perspective, the annual average annual donations received by the ALS Association is usually around $2.1 million. Continue reading “#IceBucketChallenge – Raising Awareness While Being Good Stewards by Michele Stopera Freyhauf”

The Israel-Palestine Conflict and Ecofeminist Insights for Lasting Peace By Ivy Helman

On Thursday, November 29, 2012, the United Nations officially recognized the Palestinian Authority as a sovereign state and granted its petition for observer status within the international decision-making body. Sixty-five years before the United Nations had approved a two-state solution for the region, UN Resolution 181, that officially ended the British occupation of the territory and sanctioned the possibility of two states. It says:

“The resolution recommends that the United Kingdom (as mandatory power for Palestine) evacuate; armed forces should withdraw no later than August 1, 1948; independent Arab and Jewish States and the Special International Regime for the City of Jerusalem administered by the United Nations should come into existence; the City of Jerusalem should preserve the interests of Christian, Jewish, and Muslim faiths.”

While the Palestinian Arab population disagreed with that solution, when British forces left on August 1, 1948, Israel declared statehood. The United States recognized its statehood the same day. Russia was soon to follow suit.

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