Vittorio Arrigoni's body was found last night. His murder in an internecine, Palestinian struggle is a loss to Westerners who support Palestinian liberation. More importantly, his murder is a heavy blow to the people of Gaza.
I hope that Vittorio Arigoni's death gives greater weight to his commitment to the Palestinian people.
Solidarity with the Palestinian people draws together the children of Jews who suffered under the Nazis with Italians who fought Mussolini's fascism.
Phil Weiss at Monodweiss posted this moving video footage.
Friday, April 15, 2011
Thursday, April 14, 2011
Free Vittorio Arrigoni!
Salafi Jihadis, perhaps based in Saudi Arabia, have kidnapped Italian activist Vittorio Arrigoni in Gaza. As far as we know, Vittorio is alive. His kidnappers posted a video of him blindfolded and bleeding in the face with one of his captors holding up his head by his hair. They are demanding that Hamas release one of their members in return for Vittorio.
This is deeply troubling as the Gazan people have few conduits to the outside world. If international activists are chased out of Gaza, this will be a terrible disservice to the people of Gaza.
Tomorrow morning at 10am in Al Manara Square in Ramallah and at 12 in Bethlehem, Nablus and Gaza Palestinian and international associations and NGOs will demonstrate for the immediate liberation of Vittorio Arrigoni, Italian ISM volunteer kidnapped today in Gaza.
This is deeply troubling as the Gazan people have few conduits to the outside world. If international activists are chased out of Gaza, this will be a terrible disservice to the people of Gaza.
Tomorrow morning at 10am in Al Manara Square in Ramallah and at 12 in Bethlehem, Nablus and Gaza Palestinian and international associations and NGOs will demonstrate for the immediate liberation of Vittorio Arrigoni, Italian ISM volunteer kidnapped today in Gaza.
Monday, April 11, 2011
David's Slingshot
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| Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu showing off the new Iron Dome system |
I'm happy Israelis from Ashdod to Beersheba and Tel Aviv will sleep easier under the protection of this system, but I have some questions:
1) Defense Minister Ehud Barak agreed to fund the system with the understanding that it will destroy "90% of all incoming missiles." This has not yet been demonstrated. Even if that high number is achieved, what then? Won't the Gazans who do this kind of thing just find another violent way to vent their anger and desperation?
2) Israeli military types have a penchant for cuteness. Such was the murderous onslaught on Gaza's population that was given the name "Cast Lead." This, as has been pointed out many times, was lifted from a classic, Zionist Hanukka song. In the song it's a dreidl - not a missile - that is made of cast lead.
Now, the missiles in the Iron Dome system have been named "David's Slingshot." Nothing illustrates the Israeli establishment's warped grasp of reality than to cast itself as David and Gaza as the Goliath.
In dollar amounts, each of the Gazan rockets costs several hundred dollars. That explains why they are so wildly inaccurate. By contrast, the Israeli missiles cost upwards of $70,000 each. The system itself costs in the tens of millions.
The next four batteries will cost $205m. All paid for by the US taxpayer, in addition to the regular annual $3b military payments to the Israeli military.
Thursday, April 7, 2011
Hyatt Negotiations - Levelling the Playing Field
Here's my report from the Hyatt workers' negotiations. I represented the American Conference of Cantors. My report is cross-posted on the AFL-CIO blog:
At a time when collective bargaining is under threat, the workers of Hyatt hotels in Chicago invited clergy to observe their negotiations with management in February. I was honored to attend the negotiations as a local clergy community leader and was representing the American Conference of Cantors.
Being with the workers during negotiations was a remarkable experience. In the morning, before the negotiations began we had the opportunity of meeting with the 80-plus workers. I heard moving testimonies by union workers from Chicago along with nonunion workers from Indianapolis. They laid out their work-related struggles and spoke eloquently of the deep unfairness of their employment situations. One Chicago worker told of being required to work overtime over the Christian holidays while fellow workers were sent home with no work or pay. Neither of them had a good holiday.
At its nonunion hotels, such as the Indianapolis Hyatt Regency, many Hyatt employees and subcontracted employees start at the minimum wage, $7.25 an hour, and clean as many as 30 rooms a day; few, if any, receive health insurance. By contrast, union Hyatt employees at the Chicago Hyatt Regency start at $14.60 an hour with benefits and clean 16 room a day. In several cities, such as Indianapolis, workers have called on Hyatt to accept a fair process to enable them to choose whether or not to join a union. Hyatt has refused.
At Chicago union Hyatts, workers have been without a contract for 18 months. Hyatt is demanding unacceptable benefit cuts for new employees and contract language that does not adequately protect their jobs from outsourcing and overwork when others are laid off.
It was heartening to see union workers and nonunion workers agree to stand up for each other with the goal that they all may collectively bargain for fair wages, benefits and working conditions and command respect for their human dignity from their managers and employers.
After the worker meeting, the management negotiating team entered the room. Union workers gave testimony about how work conditions have deteriorated over time. I was moved to see a low-paid worker sit across the table from the team of executives and address them courteously, yet firmly, and as an equal. One worker berated the executives for describing the workplace as a "family." He spoke passionately about his own family. I found it powerful and refreshing to see him call out the manipulation of the word “family" by corporate executives.
Do you know how, sometimes, in a moment of heightened emotion, people who you never thought capable of eloquence, speak words of great beauty and power? When officiating at a funeral, I'm often moved by the words that mourners share in their eulogies. The rich storytelling by someone who never does public speaking and gets up to speak with deep love and beautiful, simple directness.
Listening to the workers’ testimonies, before and during the negotiations, I felt a similar sense of wonder. The workers that do the manual labor in our city’s hotels got up to speak their truth. They did so courageously—sometimes with trembling fear in their voices—and with great integrity.
It will take some time before a full agreement is reached. Hyatt hotel workers have called for a boycott of certain Hyatt hotels. I am proud to report that the American Conference of Cantors pledges in its conference business to honor the workers' boycott and will not patronize any of the boycotted hotels until a just resolution is reached.
About the American Conference of Cantors
Founded in 1953, the American Conference of Cantors (ACC) is the pre-eminent professional organization of Cantors in North America, currently representing more than 450 cantors in North America and around the world. As clergy committed to Judaism and Jewish music, the membership of the ACC serves the diverse needs of the Jewish people. As an affiliate of the Union for Reform Judaism, the ACC supports its members in their sacred calling as emissaries for Judaism and for Jewish music, providing a unique and dynamic vision of programs and initiatives that respond to the needs of the greater Reform community.
April 6, 2011
At a time when collective bargaining is under threat, the workers of Hyatt hotels in Chicago invited clergy to observe their negotiations with management in February. I was honored to attend the negotiations as a local clergy community leader and was representing the American Conference of Cantors.
Being with the workers during negotiations was a remarkable experience. In the morning, before the negotiations began we had the opportunity of meeting with the 80-plus workers. I heard moving testimonies by union workers from Chicago along with nonunion workers from Indianapolis. They laid out their work-related struggles and spoke eloquently of the deep unfairness of their employment situations. One Chicago worker told of being required to work overtime over the Christian holidays while fellow workers were sent home with no work or pay. Neither of them had a good holiday.
At its nonunion hotels, such as the Indianapolis Hyatt Regency, many Hyatt employees and subcontracted employees start at the minimum wage, $7.25 an hour, and clean as many as 30 rooms a day; few, if any, receive health insurance. By contrast, union Hyatt employees at the Chicago Hyatt Regency start at $14.60 an hour with benefits and clean 16 room a day. In several cities, such as Indianapolis, workers have called on Hyatt to accept a fair process to enable them to choose whether or not to join a union. Hyatt has refused.
At Chicago union Hyatts, workers have been without a contract for 18 months. Hyatt is demanding unacceptable benefit cuts for new employees and contract language that does not adequately protect their jobs from outsourcing and overwork when others are laid off.
It was heartening to see union workers and nonunion workers agree to stand up for each other with the goal that they all may collectively bargain for fair wages, benefits and working conditions and command respect for their human dignity from their managers and employers.
After the worker meeting, the management negotiating team entered the room. Union workers gave testimony about how work conditions have deteriorated over time. I was moved to see a low-paid worker sit across the table from the team of executives and address them courteously, yet firmly, and as an equal. One worker berated the executives for describing the workplace as a "family." He spoke passionately about his own family. I found it powerful and refreshing to see him call out the manipulation of the word “family" by corporate executives.
Do you know how, sometimes, in a moment of heightened emotion, people who you never thought capable of eloquence, speak words of great beauty and power? When officiating at a funeral, I'm often moved by the words that mourners share in their eulogies. The rich storytelling by someone who never does public speaking and gets up to speak with deep love and beautiful, simple directness.
Listening to the workers’ testimonies, before and during the negotiations, I felt a similar sense of wonder. The workers that do the manual labor in our city’s hotels got up to speak their truth. They did so courageously—sometimes with trembling fear in their voices—and with great integrity.
It will take some time before a full agreement is reached. Hyatt hotel workers have called for a boycott of certain Hyatt hotels. I am proud to report that the American Conference of Cantors pledges in its conference business to honor the workers' boycott and will not patronize any of the boycotted hotels until a just resolution is reached.
About the American Conference of Cantors
Founded in 1953, the American Conference of Cantors (ACC) is the pre-eminent professional organization of Cantors in North America, currently representing more than 450 cantors in North America and around the world. As clergy committed to Judaism and Jewish music, the membership of the ACC serves the diverse needs of the Jewish people. As an affiliate of the Union for Reform Judaism, the ACC supports its members in their sacred calling as emissaries for Judaism and for Jewish music, providing a unique and dynamic vision of programs and initiatives that respond to the needs of the greater Reform community.
April 6, 2011
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