Can I Name-Drop for a Moment?

Thursday evening I accompanied Nir to an event at the Rabin Center, which our group visited before on our one-day tour of Tel Aviv. The event was surprisingly meaningful – especially for me as an American University student. I had no idea but apparently there is a 25 year-old partnership between the American University Washington College of Law (WCL) and the New Israel Fund. Called the Israel-US Civil Liberties Law Program, it is “a two-year program which includes a year of studies at the American University Washington College of Law, internships with leading US civil and human rights organizations and a year working with a public interest organization in Israel.” Founded and spearheaded by Professor Herman Schwartz, it has launched 55 students in careers as civil rights lawyers and advocates of social justice. The event at the Rabin Center was a three-fold celebration: first, to honor the program’s quarter-century birthday; second to honor Professor Schwartz for his mentorship and unstinting service; and, third, to present the first annual Human Rights Prize, given in Professor Schwartz’s name, to an outstanding graduate of the program.

I hate to name drop, but I guess in a blog entry it will do no harm. The guest of honor (so much honoring going on!) last night was US Ambassador to Israel James B. Cunningham (gotta put that B. in there). Fun fact: I went to middle school with former US Ambassador Martin Indyk’s son, Jake. We were friends in passing. But back to last night. Ambassador Cunningham gave a very decent speech – and a very diplomatic one – weaving together America’s protracted battle for civil rights and Israel’s nascent struggle. He spoke of the Israeli Declaration of Independence and its parallels with the US Declaration. He chronicled some of the highlights of the American civil rights movement, including the Dred Scott case, the women’s suffrage movement, the “separate but equal” doctrine and its dismissal by Brown v. Board of Education. He quoted President Obama several times, once – a kind of quote within a quote – mentioning the words of Martin Luther King’s as used by Obama: “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.” He used these words as a kind of touchstone for the rest of his speech. In Cairo, President Obama spoke of those universal rights that all human deserve. Ambassador Cunningham, though cognizant of the fierce and often bloody fight, ended his speech by saying that it is these ideals – justice, equality, human rights and civil liberties – that ultimately succeed.

Ambassador Cunningham was followed by former Meretz party member of Knesset Zahava Gal’on. She spoke in Hebrew so I was not able to understand her speech. I did, however, pick out the name Tzipi Livni, leader of the Kadima party, as well as a word that sounded something like “oppositsia.” Perhaps it means “opposition”? For certainly Kadima is now the opposition party in Israeli politics. Anyway, Ms. Gal’on was followed by two graduates of the civil liberties program, Dan Yakir, Chief Legal Council for ACRI, and Hassan Jabareen, a Palestinian fellow and founder/director of Adalah. The latter’s speech was particularly moving since Jabareen told a personal story of Professor Schwartz’s mentorship – how Schwartz advised Jabareen to become an advocate for his people instead of pursuing a career in academe.

Larry Garber, CEO of the New Israel Fund, spoke next, dropping the phrase “social change” several times, along with explaining the thinking behind the annual Herman Schwartz Law Fellow Alumni Prize. Instead of presenting Professor Schwartz his own prize, which everyone agreed that he richly deserved, his associates decided upon a prize in his honor. The first such prize was awarded to (I believe I got her name) Dr. Neda Aziz. Professor Schwartz spoke briefly, on the genesis of the program, which he said was intended to cultivate Israeli lawyers focused on specifically Israeli problems. He also said that he designed the program with only one basic requirement: one woman must be admitted every year. So it seems fitting that with the first recipient of the award happened to be a woman. Dr. Aziz did speak, briefly, upon her acceptance, but she didn’t speak much about her current undertakings, but rather thanked all those involved in bringing her to this place. Another “musical interlude” – and then we departed.

Oh – but I did forget one interesting aside that took place during the event. I was approached by a reported for the “Epoch Times” – not a periodical I had previously heard of – and was asked some questions about the WCL – NIF partnership, about Ashoka, etc. Apparently the newspaper has reporters in some 30 countries or so, but their main emphasis is China. They were founded by persecuted Falun Gong practitioners, who had fled to the US and decided to create a newspaper devoted to truth-telling – unlike the Communist newsweeklies that were strictly Party-line. Admittedly, a newspaper founded by the Falun Gong sounds a bit “out there,” but I’ve checked out their website and their reporting and all of it, so far, seem legit. We’ll see whether I get quoted or not.

On the internship front, Nir was in Nazareth yesterday to talk to Abbas Abbas, the blind Arab who wants to change the way blind and other disabled people are treated in the Arab world, more particularly in Israel. Tonight I need to do some research and writing, comparing other Ashoka fellows working on disability/blind rights with Abbas’s work to see if he truly has an original idea/methodology. Tomorrow or the next day I’ll meet again with Nir to further hone our still nascent collaboration. Amazingly, it’s already been two weeks and I only have four more to go. I wonder how in-depth I’ll be able to go with Ashoka in this short time. In any event, the association, for what I’d potentially like to do in life, is invaluable.

P.S. Here’s a link to the Epoch Times – http://www.theepochtimes.com.
See for yourself.