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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.