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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
Barbara Ehrenreich
Janine Jaquet, Nation Institute
John Powers, writer
Katha Pollitt, writer
George Regas, Rector Emeritus of All Saints Church, Pasadena CA
Suzi Weissman, professor
EricAlterman, writer
Kateri Butler, writer
Todd Gitlin, writer
Herbert J Gans, Columbia University
Suzy Marks
Wally Marks
Jo Ellen Green Kaiser, Tikkun
Michael Pugliese
Judy Bertelsen
Richard Falk
Paul Buhle
John Nichols, journalist
Peter Gray
Tom Christie, writer
Eyal Press, writer
Jon Wiener, historian UCI
Salam Al-Marayati
Michael Kazin, Georgetown University
Kim Chernin
Linda Gordon
Rabbi Leonard Beerman
Maxine Phillips
Jeffrey Ballinger
Francis X. Tobin
Lily Rivlin
Nelson Lichtenstein
A. Tom Grunfeld
Robert Vitalis
Ruth Indeck
Laura Tillem
Mark Levine, UCI
Shulamith Koenig
Fred Myers, NYU
Sylvain Nagler
Dr. Jeffrey Levine
Frances Fox Piven
Christopher Lowe
Moss Roberts, NYU
Erik Olin Wright
Lee Smith, writer
Michael Balter, writer
Carl Bromley, Nation Books
Harold Meyerson, writer
Stew Albert
Judy Albert
Al Wasserman
Anne Wasserman
Horace Small, Union of Minority Neighborhoods
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
Ellen Bollinger, 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
Devra Weber
Jules Tygiel, SFSU
Ellen Carol DuBois, UCLA
Mike Davis, UCI
Michael Hudson
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
Joe Domanick, writer
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, “Middle East in Focus” KPFK
Marge Piercy
Habiba Alcindor
Richard Applebaum
Chester Hartman, Exec. Dir., Poverty & Race Research Action Council.
Sean Strub, POZ Magazine
Larry Gross, University of Pennsylvania
David E. James
Rita Adessa
Susan Windle, poet
Flavia Potena
Sule Ozler
Mike Feinstein, Santa Monica City Council
Paul Isaacs
Kelly Candaele
Karen Schanche
Arlene Stein, Rutgers University
Sandy Polishuk
Vicky Loel
Juan Romano
Perry Loel
Susan Katz
Daniel S. Beagle
Elaine Fresco
Ron Sherman
Zora L. Kolkey, MFT
Catherine Vibert, producer New Dimensions Radio
Sally Dinsmore
Susan Mogul
Robert A. Rosenstone
Judith Stacey, USC
Stephen Holman
Ellise Holman
Helen E. Tevlin
Bernard Rosen
Jan Lee
Judith Malamut
Ruth Elkin
Alissa Hirshfeld-Flores
Michael Charlesworth
Frank Fried
Mark Cullen
Claire Kahane, UCB
Pamela M. Cooke
Jennifer Kenny, Portland State University
Rabbi Steven B. Jacobs
Marjorie Becker, USC
Hilary McQuie
Janice Steinberg, author
Doris Bittar, Artist, Arab-American
Susan Orlofsky
Ruth Heifetz UCSD
Ruth Wallen, artist, Goddard College
Julie Novkov, University of Oregon
Lisa Henderson, UMass
Gene Warren
Gerald A. Gerash
Dick Walker
Sam Fleischacker, VP Chicago Peace Now
Ben Page
Sara Halprin
Alan Horowitz
Peter Curtis
John Baumann
Debbie Goldman
Jane Garry
Dan Halpern
Roy Money
Jennifer Gwirtz
Dr. William Barclay
Ralph Palmer, Keene State College
George Warburg
ARON KAY
E Haberkern, Center for Socialist History
David Kleiman
Seth Segall, Ph.D.
Racheli Gai
Rev. Natalie Shiras
Gordon Fellman, Brandeis
Pam Rosenthal
Tara Cohen
Corla Varney
Jon Snyder
Dalia Karpel
Sybil Adelman Sage
Susan Littwin, writer
Peter Thacker
Jim Berger, Hofstra
Dr. Michele Ritterman
Larry George
Ellen Greist
Aaron rosenfield
Carmiya Kasse
Rabbi Aryeh Hirschfield, Portland, OR
Rachel Goldstein
Terri Stern
Andrea Resnick
Spencer Pack, Connecticut College
Rachel Antell
Abby Ginzberg, filmmaker
Hope Singer, labor lawyer
Maxine Phillips
Joel Bellman
Roger Waldinger, UCLA
Roger Lowenstein, L.A. Leadership Academy
Mark Schubb
Noah Isenberg
Irena Klepfisz, poet
Alan Mandell
David Theo Goldberg, UCI
Ira Katznelson
Nick Braden
Chuck Munson
Christopher Rhoades Dykema
Mary Ellen Strote, writer, editor
Janet Sternberg, author and photographer

This is old news darling, and not true.
After this letter originally came out, it was revealed that Michael Lerner had never actually asked to speak at the rally. Other representatives from the Jewish community and from Tikkun magazing with similar philosophies to his were invited.

...beware of these claims...their purpose is to divide and distract...I and most of those attending the rallies could give a rat's ass about ANSWER...this is a cointelpro effort, obviously....

Micheal Lerner urged his supporters and followers to attend the rally despite his being "banned." He promised to bring out Tikkun sympathizers in the thousands. Well... 20 Tikkun community people showed up. Wow... what a mighty, important, bloc of constituents Lerner leads. Most impressive indeed.

i think Lerner makes some valid points but the bottom line is stopping this war.

This was a set up by Marc Cooper and his gang. Even
Noam Chomsky was taken in -- though he has since
realized that the claims of the petition are probably false.

Isn't M.Lerner an old Stalinist? And the WWP a sect -type political- with inspired leaders and a history of jumping on social currents like disabled people or homeless people. Doesn't M.Lerner support the Jewish peoples right to self - determination? a concept invented by Stalin? Hidden Agenda vs Hidden Agenda.