Let Anti-War Rabbi Michael Lerner Speak

Rabbi Michael Lerner has been banned from speaking at the antiwar rally in San Francisco this Sunday, February 16. One of the rally organizers, Act Now to Stop War and End Racism (ANSWER), has stated that it will not allow a "pro-Israel" speaker to take the stage -- despite the fact that Rabbi Lerner has been an outspoken critic of Israeli policy in the occupied territories, has endorsed ANSWER's antiwar rallies in the past, has signed the Not in Our Name petition against the war, and is widely known to be among the most progressive of American rabbis. Other coalitions organizing the rally, including Not in Our Name and United for Peace and Justice, have acceded to ANSWER's opposition to Lerner, on the grounds that they had previously accepted as a condition for participation in the demonstration the agreement that if one of the groups vetoed a speaker that all would have to agree.

We, the undersigned, protest ANSWER's refusal to let Rabbi Lerner speak at this Sunday's rally. At a time when the antiwar movement needs as broad a platform and as broad an appeal as possible, ANSWER has chosen instead to put the interests of sectarianism ahead of the interests of all those who oppose this foolish and unnecessary war. We believe this is a serious mistake, and that it exemplifies ANSWER's unfitness to lead mass mobilizations against war in Iraq.

Partial List of Signers:

Greg Goldin, writer
Robert W. McChesney, writer
Jack Newfield, writer
Howard Zinn
Doug Ireland, writer
Ariel Dorfman, writer
Marc Cooper, writer
Michael Berube, Penn State
Candace Falk
Janine Jaquet, Nation Institute
John Powers, writer
Katha Pollitt, writer
Suzi Weissman, professor and author
Eric Alterman, writer
Kateri Butler, writer
Todd Gitlin, writer
Suzy Marks
Wally Marks
Michael Pugliese
Judy Bertelsen
Nelson Lichtenstein
Richard Falk
Tom Christie, writer
Eyal Press, writer
Jon Wiener, historian UCI
Mark Schubb
Lee Smith, writer
Michael Balter, writer
Carl Bromley, Editorial Director, Nation Books
Harold Meyerson, writer
Stew Albert
Judy Albert
Al Wasserman
Anne Wasserman
Celeste Fremon, writer
Matthew Rothschild, Editor, The Progressive
Stanley Aronowitz
Isaac Balbus
David Bensman
Ken Brociner
Shirley Bryant
Chaz Bufe
Leo Casey
Bogdan Denitch
Tom Edminster
Stuart Elliott
Irene Theodore Heinstein
Maurice Isserman
Peter Kosenko
Justin Paulson
Jason Schulman
Timothy Sears
Clifford L. Staples
Luke Weiger
Arthur Wilke
Ian Williams
Ellen Willis
Adam Shatz, writer
Emily Jane Goodman
Sonia Jaffe Robbins
Phyllis Chesler
Richard Healey
Dorothy Healey
Roy Ulrich, attorney
Naomi Glauberman, writer
Judith Long, The Nation
Maurice Zeitlin, author and professor
Bruce Shapiro, writer
Tad Daley, UCLA
Andrew Gumbel, journalist
Dr. Aryeh Cohen, University of Judaism, Los Angeles
Nalini Lasiewicz, Lasiewicz Foundation
Barbara Osborn, Liberty Hill Foundation
Fr. Chris Ponnet, Co-Chair Pax Christi USA, Los Angeles Chapter
Anita Frankel, former Public Affairs Dir. Pacifica Radio
Roane Carey, The Nation
Reverend Ed Bacon, Rector, All Saints Church, Pasadena CA
Prof. Steve Ross, USC
Dr. Lawrence Littwin, CSUN
Kenneth Pomeranz
Ella Taylor, writer
Daniel Sokatch, Executive Director, Progressive Jewish Alliance
Francisco Letelier, writer
Devra Weber
Jules Tygiel, SFSU
Ellen Carol DuBois, UCLA
Mike Davis, UCI
Marla Stone, Occidental College
Terrence McNally
Vicki Ruiz
Peter Dreier, Occidental College
Bobbi Murray, Journalist
Ginger Varney
Kevin B. Anderson, Purdue University
Jody Zonenchin
Robert H. Silk, Attorney
Susan T. Silk. PhD, Biochemist
Frank Smyth, journalist
Laurie Salen
Dave Anderson
Sam Bottone
David Nasaw, CUNY Grad Center
Moshe Machover
Robin Arie-Donch
Amie Potsic
Ana Villa-Lobos
Constance Bernstein
Gretchen Mackler-Lipow
Arthur Lipow
Maggie Helwig, writer
Rabbi Shaya Isenberg, University of Florida
Richard H. Schwartz, College of Staten Island
Marcia Diaz
Howard A. Rodman
Rabbi Rachel Cowan, Nathan Cummings Foundation
Scott Tucker
Daniel Pope, University of Oregon
Jordan Elgrably, Open Tent Middle East Coalition
Don Bustany, host "Middle East in Focus" KPFK
Marge Piercy
Richard Applebaum