Post-truth is pre-fascism; Girl confronts bull; headlines from IWD; father ignores his kids; Israel bans tourists for political views; Revolutionary new drug - Impeacharia?
LETTY COTTIN POGREBIN NEWSLETTER #39 March 14, 2017
Fifty days into the new administration and here's where we are:
DOWN THE RABBIT HOLE
"Post-truth is pre-fascism" says Yale historian Timothy Snyder, who studies fascist & communist regime change and totalitarian rule. Snyder believes that the current occupants of the White House "inhabit a different ideological world in which they would like for the United States not to be the constitutional system that it is now." Based on historical patterns, he warns that Americans have one year to save democracy from fascism because ",,,things move fast. Nazi Germany took about a year. Hungary took about two and a half years. Poland got rid of the top-level judiciary within a year." However terrifying it is to dive down the rabbit hole, I recommend you read this important analysis before it's too late.
WHICH TRUMP DO YOU BELIEVE?
Here's what POTUS tweeted last week on International Women's Day: "I have tremendous respect for women and the many roles they serve that are vital to the fabric of our society and our economy."
Here's how he showed "respect for women" when he didn't know he was being taped: "I did try and f*ck her… I moved on her like a bitch, but I couldn’t get there...Then all of a sudden I see her, she’s now got the big phony tits and everything. She’s totally changed her look … I just start kissing them, it's like a magnet. I don't even wait. And when you're a star they let you do it ... Grab them by the pussy"
ISRAEL/PALESTINE
Last week, when the Israeli government passed a new law banning people who've criticized settlements, I wrote "Am I Too Dangerous To Enter Israel?", a brief op-ed in the English language Haaretz (the Israeli equivalent of the NYTimes). The essay details my lifelong relationship to the Jewish State and my strong emotional reaction to the law. If you have a personal connection to Israel/Palestine and a gut-level (not political) response to the ban, please send me your response in 200 words or less. I'll reprint excerpts from various essays in future Newsletters.
Pragmatic advice about the new Israeli law. What to do if you are stopped at Ben Gurion airport.
Proactive protest against the ban. More than 100 Jewish Studies scholars signed a letter threatening to not visit Israel. Sounds like a great strategy to oppose the right-wing's antidemocratic legislation: Discourage tourism, especially by Americans with strong connections to the Jewish State. If you do go and get turned away, tell your Member of Congress and post it on Facebook & Twitter.
ACTIVISM
Incubate talent. Mentor. Train. Run. Win. "She Should Run" guides women on how to enter politics or help others do it. And why shouldn't YOU run for office? Don't tell me you have no experience. Trump & his appointees prove you don't need it. Just assess your skills, fire up your passion, and run. )
It's easy to build political philanthropy into your life. Just register at Give12now.org.
Thanks to an activist initiative organized by Daughters of the Vote, 338 young Canadian women filled every seat in the House of Commons (photo below) on Intl. Women's Day. Currently, females hold only a quarter of the seats in the Canadian legislature.
WOMEN POWER
Wonder Women +3. In honor of International Women's Day, Karin Lippert, former longtime publicity director of Ms. magazine, posted this 2012 photo taken at New York's City Hall during the ceremony marking the magazine's 40th anniversary. Great Hera! Karin. Great memories, all.
(l-r) Karin Lippert, Letty Cottin Pogrebin, Gloria Steinem, Joanne Edger
The Statue of Liberty went dark overnight on the eve of International Women's Day. Was it a simple power outage? Or was Lady Liberty "signaling her solidarity with #DayWithoutWomen," a strike called for the following day that asked women to skip work to show the world what life would be like without them.
"Fearless Girl" stands her ground before the charging bull on Wall Street. The statue of a defiant little girl was unveiled last week as part of a campaign by State Street Global Advisors (a $2.5 trillion asset manager) to pressure companies to add more women to their boards. [Sadly, a smart ass jerk in a suit and tie despoiled the symbolism by humping the statue. Would someone please show this to his mother.]
The Australian Women's Manifesto, conceived and written by Anne Summers, and released on March 8th, is a four-part plan to achieve gender equality in Australia by the year 2022. Hope it inspires feminists in other countries to produce and promote similar agendas.
CULTURE
Attention fans of the beloved Theodore Bikel. New website lets you mainline the life and music of the late, great actor, singer, peace activist, and all-around mensch, Theo Bikel.
Watch the mouth-watering trailer for "In Search of Israeli Cuisine" (which, of course, includes Palestinian cuisine) and I guarantee you'll want to rush out to see the film (& eat falafel). Screening dates here.
VIDEOS
Just what the doctor ordered. Depressed? Can't sleep? Panic attacks? Suicidal? Try Impeachara.
BBC clip goes viral: Cute kids interrupt their professor father's super-serious TV interview while the stiff-necked dad pushes his children away without looking at or speaking to them. ( I can't imagine a women expert in the same situation doing that, can you?)
The parody is hilarious. A cool-headed young man, his little brother and his game dad send up the BBC video in this charming re-enactment. The father in the parody mimics the frenzied reaction of the mother in the original. (Can't help sensing that the poor woman feared her self-important husband would reprimand her for not controlling the kids, as wives of self-important husbands are expected to do.
Check out dates and venues for "This is hunger!" Created by Mazon: A Jewish Response to Hunger., this powerful exhibit, installed in a 54-ft trailer truck, exposes the extent of food insecurity in America.
REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS
Emily Bazelon decodes Trump's abortion strategy. Don't say you didn't know.
Abortion vs. Guns. To counter Republican attacks on Planned Parenthood, consider this rebuttal: "How about we treat every young man who wants to buy a gun like every woman who wants to get an abortion — mandatory 48-hr waiting period, parental permission, a note from his doctor proving he understands what he's about to do, a video he has to watch about the effects of gun violence, an ultrasound wand up the ass (just because). Let's close down all but one gun shop in every state and make him travel hundreds of miles, take time off work, and stay overnight in a strange town to get a gun. Make him walk through a gauntlet of people holding photos of loved ones who were shot to death, people who call him a murderer and beg him not to buy a gun. It makes more sense to do this with young men and guns than with women and health care, right? I mean, no woman getting an abortion has killed a room full of people in seconds, right?" (author of above quote unknown but much appreciated)
EVENTS IN NYC
Rabbi Joy Levitt will interview Abigail Pogrebin about her entrancing new book, MY JEWISH YEAR: 18 HOLIDAYS, ONE WONDERING JEW. JCC of Manhattan, tomorrow, Wed, 3/15, 7:30
"Women have always worked" is a free course with terrific instructors (i.e. Prof. Alice Kessler-Harris) jointly sponsored by Columbia University and the New York Historical Society. Register here.
Danae Elon's poignant, provocative film, "P.S. Jerusalem," opens 3/17 at Lincoln Plaza, 1866 Bway.
ODE TO JOY ON A COLD SNOWY DAY (in the East at least)
A little girl gives money to a street musician and look what happens! If only such magic could materialize in town squares throughout the underdeveloped world so poor kids could hear Beethoven's 9th.
HAVE A GREAT WEEK.