What’s a Jew to do?

On November 1, 2011

Originally posted on Jspot.org. In the United States during the 1930s, revolution was in the air. With the stock market crash and the ensuing Great Depression, the broken economy was failing most Americans. This gave rise to a spectrum of responses, providing communists and socialists on the left and fascists on the right with a [...]

Continue Reading →

Occupy Wall Street and America’s Democratic Tradition

On October 27, 2011

I was recently talking with some friends who work at the Chicago Board of Trade. Hearing the opinions voiced by Occupy Wall Street protesters, the traders agreed that they’d seen disturbing changes within their industry. While they might have written off criticisms 15 years ago, they’ve since watched the financial sector become more and more [...]

Continue Reading →

New “Unity Unions” Self-Organize to Confront Workplace Abuses

On October 24, 2011

The last five years have been grim and isolating ones for immigrants and working people, right? Overall, this may be the case, but if you talk with organizers at Fuerza Laboral, an independent workers’ center in Rhode Island founded in 2006, you might get a different impression. Despite difficult times, the group has taken on [...]

Continue Reading →

YES! Magazine

Where Does the Labor Movement Go From Here?

Thousands of people gathered on the streets of St. Paul, Minnesota yesterday to take part in a "March for the Middle Class." As they made their way from the St. Paul Cathedral to the State Capitol, they carried signs defending the rights of working Americans and chanted, "We are one." The march in Minnesota was just one of hundreds of events that took place around the country.
Read More

Truthout

Walking the Walk

Across the country, under the guise of fiscal responsibility, Republican governors and state legislatures have been waging a war against the middle class and trying to undermine the rights of hard-working Americans. What these politicians didn’t count on, however, was the public outcry and show of solidarity that these attacks have provoked. In this new series, “Walking the Walk,” author, activist, social entrepreneur and labor veteran Amy Dean will take a look at the faces and strategies behind the real change that is happening across the country to fight back against this onslaught.
Read More

The Jewish Daily Forward

Around the Nation, a Rebirth of Jewish Social Justice

By Amy B. Dean and Simon Greer
Abraham Joshua Heschel, one of the most pre-eminent rabbis and theologians of the 20th century, was a Jewish leader who insisted that our faith be linked to the struggle for social justice in America. He lived this conviction by actively supporting causes such as the Civil Rights Movement and serving as an adviser to the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Read More