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