text:
Stratford restaurant picks
- c
- Cinderella Apr 20, 2006 10:41 PM
Venturing out of Toronto a little, does anyone have any recommendations for must-dine places out in Stratford, Ontario?
I have only eaten at one place in Stratford and that was The Church Restaurant. It was divine!! As you can deduce from the name, it is a church that has been turned in to a restaurant. I have dined there twice and both times it was up in The Belfry. The Belfry is a small, more casual bar area. They offer the same food as the lower part, just a bit less stuffy.
I highly recommend the lobster bisque.
I have included a link to their web page.
re: happybelly
My experience at the Church was simply this: overpriced, pretentious, and just O.K. The cheaper Belfry upstairs is a better deal. Better yet go to the Bijou.
I have eaten twice in Stratford and both times were at The Church Restaurant. It was divine. As you can deduce from the name, it was church that has been renovated into a fine dining restaurant. Both times I was there, we dined in the Belfry which is a smaller, cosier, more casual restaurant upstairs from the main dining area. It serves the same food as the main area.
I highly recommend the lobster bisque if it is available during your visit.
I have included a link to their web site.
Happy Eating
re: happybelly
Try the Belfry which is upstairs at the Church. It's being renovated right now and should reopen mid May. Cool atmosphere and great food. Downstairs at the Church itself is a great experience with a very creative menu. Go to the website to get an idea of the choices. Have been there many times and never went away disappointed
We spent a couple of weekend in Stratford recently, and had dinner at both Fellini's (next to Bentley's on Ontario street) and Pazzo Pizzeria. I would recommend both; the food and service were good at both.
I'll second Pozzo. And try the Sunroom. It's tucked away, but I was there a couple of years ago and it was the best meal I've ever had in Stratford. A friend who works at the festival also said to try the Green Door. There's no sign, just a green door, but apparently it's the best game in town.
re: Mary Z
Bijou, from our perspective, is the best, more creative dining in Stradford. Woolfy's is quite good in St. Mary's.
re: Mary Z
Ate at Bijou the other weekend and it was really good. Pickerel and breaded veal plus cheese course. Will go back the next time we are there.
Bijou, Pazzo (downstairs for more casual, less expensive but still scrumptious food - upstairs for upscale, pricier meals), Keystone Alley, The Sunroom and Carter's On Downie are all wonderful, but I must agree that The Church Restaurant/Belfry take the cake. You can't beat the atmosphere/surroundings - it's really an old church. A smaller place is Foster's Lounge - the brunch is incredible. For a VERY intimate place for a quick bite, check out Down The Street (Ontario St.).
I live in the Stratford area, so here are some local favourites, and a couple comments.
First, there is no restaurant called "Green Door". The staff and artists who work at the theatre can eat in the "Greenroom," but that is not open to the public.
There is a huge difference between Pazzo (not "Pozzo"), a chef-centred restaurant, and Fellini's, which is a "family dining" experience with a cookie-cutter, Olive-Garden-style menu. Chowhounds, take note.
Pazzo has a fine dining restaurant upstairs, including a three-course lunch for the price of the year (this year, $20.06); downstairs are the best pizzas in the city, thin-crust with your choice of whole wheat or regular. I ate there last year with a 13-year-old New Yorker who's eaten in every great pizza place in New York, and he declared Pazzo pizza his favourite of all.
Four Stratford restaurants are included in Where to Eat In Canada: Bijou, Church, Old Prune and Rundles. The latter three are quite pricey but all special in their own way: Old Prune and Rundles are the co-founding restaurants of the Stratford Chefs School and Rundles is regularly included as one of the top restaurants in the province in an annual review by Toronto Life Magazine. Church also has Belfry, upstairs, with a "tasting dishes" style new this year (2006). Bijou is a gem and I've had nothing but good experiences there although a couple American friends have not been as pleased with the place -- issues with service and small portions.
For less-pricey but lovely fare:
Globe -- international "tapas" -- all small dishes to share. Great tastes. I never in my life thought I'd like sweetbreads until eating them here. Amazing homemade ice cream and the lobster bisque "shot glass" likely will throw your blood cholesterol to ruin, but it's worth it.
"38" -- two young Stratford Chef School grads in the kitchen. Limited choices, but wonderful tastes. Duck and steak are both good choices for mains,
Raja -- new Indian spot. Dishes are wonderful although service was a bit slow the night we were there.
Sunroon -- a local favourite. Don't be put off by the dated decor -- the kitchen is solid, with generous portions and the bonus of a low mark-up on wine. Lobster ravioli is fantastic.
Down the Street -- a favourite spot with the artists of the Stratford Festival. Best for lunch or light dinner, or after theatre.
York Street Kitchen: humongous and wonderful sandwiches and other takeout (or eat-in) treats for lunch. Dinner is down-home cooking with a twist, and great prices for Stratford. Very funky.
International Grounds -- a new spot in Stratford at the corner of Water and Waterloo Streets. No liquor licence, and service is semi-cafeteria style (you order at the counter and then the meal is brought to you at your table). It's a coffee shop with a strong kitchen behind it -- very reasonable prices for well-prepared food.
Some other recommendations:
for coffee: Balzac's; International Grounds; Sputnik.
for a patio drink: Olde English Parlour; good for lunch too.
for a quick lunch or picnic takeout (people in Stratford often get food "to go" and eat in the parks strung along the Avon River): Tango; York Street Kitchen; Pass da Pasta; Bella Della.
Hope this gets you started. I'll posted anon (as they say in this Shakespeare-saturated town) about other choices and also some great places nearby.
re: nasturtium
just ate at Globe about a week and a half ago - very nice. I wasn't expecting much - our table was over the moon! Everything we ate was delicious. Not too expensive either. surprisingly. although we thought they served tapas too fast for our liking (but I guess they cater the theatre crowd)
re: nasturtium
I would absolutely agree with the York Street Kitchen recommendation. Excellent food! Try getting a sandwich from there and having it as a picnic over by the festival theatre. Nothing better!
re: Otonabee
York Street all the way-I've been there a zillion times over the years-never fails to disappoint.
re: nasturtium
I agree with most of nasturtium's comments, they seems pretty much right on.
I had the misfortune of dining at Fellini's on Saturday evening. We don't know what made us go there. It always looks packed. What a mistake! The deep dish lasagna was terrible, and my penne pesto dish was undercooked and blah.I had the oil taste in my my mouth for hours after. I understand that Tango and Fellini's are the same owner. Tango used to be a comfortable spot to drop in for a coffee, not certain now.
Whenever we have dined at Bijou the portions have been small, and we leave there feeling that something is missing......food! We have dined at 38 twice and not impressed enough to return, but gave it 2 chances.
Dined at The Church, The Old Prune (we attend a couple of Chef school dinners every winter) Keystone Alley, etc. Bentley's have wonderful soups, and basically the food is good and honest. We plan on dining at Rundles in the New Year.
re: Francine
An update from Stratford, now at the beginning of 2008:
Closed from 2006 (my earlier post): 38, Globe, International Grounds.
Opened in their place: Asie (an established Asian-influenced-menu restaurant from nearby New Hamburg moved into the "38" space); and Pearl Sushi (moved into the Globe space). Also, "Carter's on Downie" is closing and Sapori, which serves hearty, mama-Italian-style food, is moving into that spot (it's a bigger restaurant space). Along that Downie Street area, you now have Japanese (with some Korean dishes, such as bul-go-gee) at Pearl Sushi, "mama Italian" at Sapori, Indian (at Raja, which has settled in nicely) and German/Austrian at Schnitzel House. Pearl Sushi is run by a family that has another restaurant in Toronto and the sushi/sashimi is excellent, for a "nowhere near the ocean" restaurant.
Another great new spot: Sirkel Foods on Wellington Street. Family friendly but still quite chic/funky with low prices ($5 Eggs Florentine, anyone?). Owners are chef school grads: Open for breakfasts and lunches only in the winter, and for dinner until 8 p.m. during theatre season. Very good food.
Our favourites for a great meal out (without a second mortgage), beyond the newer restaurants already mentioned: Pazzo, Foster's, Down the Street, Sun Room, York Street Kitchen. There's a fun new coffee spot opened since 2006 -- Sputnik on Ontario Street; Balzac's is stlil going strong, as well. For lunches/quick meals, Boomer's on Erie Street is worth checking out: sweet potato fries and great homecooking burgers and fish.
Hope you enjoy your travels to Stratford in 2008. If you do decide to dine at one of the "big four" (Church, Old Prune, Rundles, Bijou), I'd recommend seeing a show in the afternoon and then booking the 7:45 or 8 p.m. sitting, once the evening theatre crowd has cleared out. You can then enjoy the dining experience fully and in a leisurely way.
re: nasturtium
Many thanks for the update! We're taking our annual pilgrimage in a week and your comments are very useful.
re: nasturtium
Thank you so much for this Nasturtium... I'll be headed to Stratford soon for my interview with Stratford Culinary School and I am excited to try one of these spots for lunch (and dinner if I have time :) )
Also, of these choices, which would you recommend for the brunch inclined (do any of these places offer weekday brunch fare)?
This morning I had breakfast at Let Them Eat Cake (http://www.letthemeatcake.ca/) on Wellington Street. They had wonderful service and very good, standard, home cooked breakfasts. It just... tasted good!! I had pancakes and sausage links. It was just perfect, non-pretentious, Sunday morning breakfast. I will definitely be eating there again.
For breakfast or lunch, I highly recommend York Street Kitchen (http://www.yorkstreetkitchen.com/) Great ingredients put to expert use in traditional and internationally inspired dishes. Fantastic sandwiches and soups. And try the brownies--- divine! Funky home cooking - hip atmosphere.
Also a great lunch at Sirkel Foods on Wellington. Probably 'lighter' choices than YSK, but just as delicious. I had a chicken club wrap, and my boyfriend had the meatloaf sandwich. Both were so good. Oh yeah, also should mention both YSK and Sirkel are licensed and have good selections in that area as well.
For dinner, so far I've only been to Bentley's, which has traditional pub fare and some more elaborate entrees. I really enjoyed my pesto chicken dish - and, again, a fine wine and beer list. It is probably one of the larger (square footage) restaurants I've been in so far, so it felt roomy, though I'm sure it will feel different when packed with patrons during the summer.
If you are jonesing for sushi - as my boyfriend often do, being used to having it weekly in LA, Mr. Kim's is really great! He works out of the General Store on Ontario Street; granted, it looks like a rinky dink take-out operation, but the sushi was high quality and quite satisfactory.
I will be posting more ... as I experience it over the next several months!
re: piperjs
I also highly recommend York Street Kitchen (their strawberry rhubarb pie was simply divine - better than my mom's which is hard to beat). There were some discounts through the Stratford play-on program last year.
re: piperjs
I also highly recommend the YSK. And those brownies are great – dry no-icing variety.
Just went to the Old Prune and the techniques for the desserts used were very diverse and creative. The complex methods used showed themselves well in their rhubarb three ways (delightful strusel, vodka shooter and gelee) and the funnel cakes with a middle eastern flair (the cakelets were in a saffron sauce and accented with two ice creams pistachio and mango). their chocolate dish was a mexican spiced chocoalte sauce wth a coconut cake. the last was a masterful layer upon layer apple dish: with a bed a apple sauce (a lovely golden and slightly sticky concotion) centred with a sable which soaked up the sauce. a peeled baked apple wedge was on top, spooned on that was a fluffy goat cheese mousse and crowning the dessert was a tuile.
the tastes were sensational.. and while i hate to say it, the drawback were the immensely small portions and the $15 charge per dessert. but i did realise these two aspects going into the restaurant. i chose to go because i knew it was an experience i couldn't miss.
If you could only pick one place to have a nice father-daughter Saturday dinner with a world-class food lover, would you dine at Bijou, Church, Old Prune or other in Stratford after a matinee at the festival? Prefer innovative with great service but would also consider more casual but still top-notch food quality, maybe like Belfry? Thanks.
re: Food Tourist
I'm with 'fresh' above (though can't personally speak for Bijou); Not the Church. Food does not match the hype or cost. Atmo's depressing to boot (think 80s chapel reno.)
re: Food Tourist
I'd dine at Bijou. The food is fresh tasting and innovative, and you get the feeling the menu changes daily. The dishes are contemporary, and the portions are large enough that I felt satisfied but not overly full with 2 courses. It's possible to order a 2 course or 3 course prix fixe off their menu that's posted on a blackboard.
The last time I was at the Church, the servings were miniscule, and the kitchen forgot to add crab to my dish that featured crab. The Church's menu seemed outdated and they seemed to be relying on big ticket ingredients like foie gras, frogs legs, crab, etc., but the preparation seemed fairly pedestrian. My meal at the Old Prune was quite good, but again, the portions were very small. I found the food at Bijou a little less fussy than the food at the Old Prune. The Old Prune would be my second choice, if Bijou is full. The atmosphere at the Old Prune is lovely.
The Old Prune and Bijou tend to use a lot of local ingredients, whereas it seemed like the Church was relying on a lot more imports. I haven't been to the Church in the last 18 months, so it's possible they would be using more local products this year.
Bijou is my current favourite in Stratford. http://www.bijourestaurant.com/menus....
Rundles is another option for upscale food in Stratford, but I haven't eaten there recently.
re: Food Tourist
I highly recommend Bijou. Wow. Portions are not too big but good value for money. Also strongly recommend seeing The Music Man. Best Canadian musical production in 20 years! We also had a terrific, filling lunch at York Street Kitchen. Cheap and delish.
Here is my $0.02 worth as a Stratford resident for the last year.
Balzac's- great coffee, nice room. Just go.
York Street Kitchen - nice takeout sandwiches, albeit a tad pricy. I like that they use local ingredients (eg summer sausage). Breakfast is OK but I can't recommend dinner. I love the comfort food concept, but the kitchen just doesn't deliver. Why should I go out for dinner when I can cook much better than this at home? The BBQ (they use that term loosely) is tasteless, the enchiladas boring, fried chicken is passable but they only give you one small piece. The sides are worse- the beans are an overly sweet, unidentifiable mess, the "kitchen sink" salad is some limp lettuce with a smattering of other veg. The mash is OK. YSK seems to suffer from a lack of supervision... the pierced and tattooed server may be friendly and helpful;then again she may not. Bottom line: get a sandwich to go and enjoy by the river.
The Old Parlour - I've always enjoyed my dinners and lunches here. Small but ok patio outside, lovely pub inside. Steak is good as are several of the asian-influenced dishes. Lunch sandwiches are Ok, though I found the fries a bit bland. Nice place to meet a friend for a pint.
Sunroom - a favourite of the locals. The sun is the only nice thing about the room though. Decor is not this place's strong suit. The food is well executed- again they do steaks and asiany dished pretty well. Service is excellent and friendly.
Down the Street - I've only been there once and I really wanted to like this place but the food didn't deliver. Across the board it just lacked flavour. Nice room and friendly staff though. Good place to hangout after a show.
Raja - pretty decent Indian food for Stratford. I've had better in Toronto and in the UK, but I've also had a lot worse in both of those places. If you go for lunch you will probably see the chef and staff from the Church restaurant eagerly filling their faces.
Pearl - again pretty decent Asian food for Stratford. My reference points for sushi are Hiro and Kajji in Toronto and Nobu in NYC. Needless to say Pearl doesn't compare to them... but it is pretty damn good.
Foster's - Another nice room that is a good place to hang out for a drink. Steak is their thing here and they do it not bad. One thing I've never seen any place else: when your server brings your steak, she commands you to cut it open immediately and signoff that it is cooked to your liking. An odd ritual.
Fellini's - I can't bring myself to go as I've heard too many bad things from the locals.
The Belfry - I've never beem downstairs to the Church, but there upstairs bar serves excellent food in a nice atmosphere and with stellar service. Though not cheap, I understand it is more reasonably priced then the main resto. Easily on a par with most high end restaurants in Toronto.
Pass da Pasta - I haven't quite figured this place out. Not much selection, heinously overpriced, quirky service... but some people seem to like it. In my opinion, if you need provisions you are much better off to go to Zehrs.
Tango - used to be a cafe but they seem to have retooled it into more of a restaurant. Can't think of a reason to go there.
Pazzo - Downstairs offers great pizza in a wonderful atmosphere. Love the "bruschetta" which isn't really bruschetta. Don't waste your money by going upstairs.
Boomers - Good burgers, fries and poutine if you are feeling in the mood for that sort of thing.
Schnitzel House - I love the schnitzes and made out pretty well here. Worth a visit if you are looking for a change. It won't change your life or anything, but it's worth the money.
Features - only open for breakfast and lunch. On weekend mornings you will see the lineup extending down Waterloo Street. Breakfasts are good and it is nice to see a few more innovative items on the menu rather than just the regular greasy spoon fare.
That's it for now. Will add some more soon.
re: Stratman07
Looking for a place for a large group in October (about 50 for dinner). We will definitely be making reservations, food will be on one tab and the drinks will most likely be on separate. Looking at Pazzo and Schnitzel. Wondering if they would work to make a menu that all would enjoy. Open to other suggestions.
Will be there at 5:15pm and out by 6:45pm.
What about the tapas place, Globe?
Nice atmosphere would be a bonus. Want a little better than diner, but not elite, fine dining. Many foodies in the group.
re: itryalot
Heard the Globe closed. Any other mediterranean suggestions?
re: itryalot
Dont know if you want to go with Schnitzel house.. only because a large group would be very limited to only eating schnitzel for dinner.
My husband and I are on our way back from a quick trip to Stratford, where guided by Chowhound, we had super meals at Pazzo (downstairs, dinner), Down the Street (lunch, outdoors), and Bijou (dinner). We had pizza at Pazzo (fans of NY pizza, we adored it). At Down the Street we had excellent spring rolls and asian noodle salad. At Bijou we both had utterly fantastic, interesting food (I had cauliflower soup and the quail; he had charcuterie and the pork tenderloin) and wine and we felt the tab was quite reasonable.
BTW, if you're going to the 2008 Festival, be sure to see Cabaret--fantastic production. We stayed at XIS, which is a splendid little boutique hotel.
Obviously we had a great time--thanks for the guidance!
re: Barbara OKeefe
Agree that the pizzas at Pazzo are delish -- thinnest crust I've ever had. But I especially love their house-made focaccia. Dense, firm-but-soft, and springy with a chewy crust. I just had it 2 days ago and I'm already craving for more.
re: foodman
We are going to be in Stratford with our two daughters (aged 5 and 8) and looking for a few spots for dinner. Sounds like Pazzo-downstairs and York Street Kitchen are the best bets? The challenge is to find good food (that we will all enjoy) in a casual atmosphere where we're not worried about the girls ruining anyone's expensive meal! Any other suggestions would be great.
Any brunch suggestions?
re: ellicious
Pazzo and YSK are good choices. I would try Fellinis too (I have had decent meals there after all).
70 Ontario St, Stratford, ON N5A, CA
re: Stratman07
Fellinis is amazing IMHO - awesome pizza
Fellini's Stratford
107 Ontario St, Stratford, ON N5A, CA
Stratford resident here. Raja is excellent Indian food. We eat there fairly often and are never, ever disappointed. Various friends from out of town (who haven't been to the UK) have called it the best Indian they've ever had. Highly recommended.
Stratford is a funny place. There are numerous sandwich places (York Street Kitchen, Sirkel Foods, etc.) that are delightful, and there are several high-priced places for tourists, but on the whole the place is a culinary desert. We find ourselves going to Kitchener and London for Asian food, which is mostly non-existent in Stratford (save for the delectable Raja). It's frustrating when you want a quick bowl of pho or some Korean or Chinese or what have you, but your only options are the over-priced and under-flavoured pseudo Thai noodles at any number of cutesy places or the standard sickly sweet Canadian-Chinese offerings. Sure, there are "Italian" places galore here, but those places are generally for tourists with 70-year-old palates.
The "must-dine" places on my list would be Raja, York Street Kitchen and Sirkel Foods. The rest are...meh.
Sirkel Foods
40 Wellington St, Stratford, ON N5A, CA
York Street Kitchen
41 York St, Stratford, ON N5A1A1, CA
re: rousseau
Guess whether you consider Stratford to be "a culinary desert" depends on what kind of food you like to eat :-) I find it funny that you describe Stratford as a culinary desert when it's surrounded by some of the best farmland in the Ontario. Soiled Reputation produce and Monforte Dairy cheeses are some of the best quality foods produced in Ontario. Chef Neil Baxter's breads are the highest quality breads I've tasted in Ontario.
For upscale, contemporary/continental food made with local ingredients, many Londoners I know prefer the upscale restaurants in Stratford (such as Bijou, Keystone Alley Cafe, The Church, the Old Prune & Rundles, as well as Woolfy's and the Westover in St. Mary's) to the upscale restaurants serving the same types of food in London, and they'll sometimes drive to Stratford to dine at the various restaurants for special occasions. Although the prices are higher, and the portions are smaller than the restaurants in London, I've found the upscale contemporary/continental restaurants in Stratford to be more consistent than most of the upscale contemporary/continental restaurants in London.
I haven't dined at Raja in Stratford, but I found the food at Raja in London (same ownership) to be mediocre at best.
I don't find it surprising that the Asian and Italian restaurants are not Stratford's forte. Stratford does not have a significant Asian or Italian population that would demand authentic and/or high quality cuisine. Even in Toronto where we have a massive Italian population, it's difficult to find great Italian restaurants.
Old Prune
151 Albert St, Stratford, ON N5A3K5, CA
re: phoenikia
Not a lot of newer/up-to-date posts on Bijou - shame, because I went there recently based on older posts that were very positive (should have checked dates!!). I had smoked trout appetizer and scallops entree. Trout was beautiful quality but there was far too much vinegar in the dressing (tart!). Scallops were cooked very nicely, so texture was great, but the salt was so extreme my tongue felt swollen! Husband had confit of duck which was cooked to perfection, but in a salty sauce! Dessert list was too uninventive for us to stay for a third course, so we left. If you're going to pay $47 (prix fix with 2 dishes), go elsewhere and avoid salt and vinegar!
105 Erie St, Stratford, ON N5A2M5, CA
re: chillingirl
Some chefs who smoke cigarettes seem to lose the ability to taste food correctly. Not sure if this is the case at Bijou. I'm salt-sensitive as well, so this would have ruined my meal, too.
re: rousseau
Any opinions on Pan Tapas & Grill? http://www.pantapasgrill.com/
My whole family ate at Westover in St. Mary's several years ago and were disappointed we drove that far out of the way to eat mediocre food. Is the chef there different now?
re: Food Tourist
Not sure if the chef would be different since you were last there. Anthony Gosselin is the current Executive Chef, and Daniel Gosselin is the Sous Chef. http://www.westoverinn.com/dining.html
I usually eat lunch at the Westover once a month. The lunch menu is fairly limited, and the options are conservative, which is not surprising since it's located in St. Mary's, and its main customers outside the tourist season are the local business people. The menu changes at least 4 times a year. During the spring, I was usually ordering the Hutton House burger made of local beef, or their panko crusted chicken sandwich, which is no longer on the lunch menu.
I wouldn't consider the Westover to be a place that is worth driving out of your way, especially if you're used to better restaurants in Toronto, but the atmosphere is nice, and they use high quality, mostly local ingredients. The quality of the food at the Westover is still generally better and more consistent than your average continental restaurant in London where food is often hit or miss, and sometimes downright awful.
The dessert menu at the Westover changes frequently, and their housemade ice creams are quite good. Haven't had dinner at the Westover in a long time.
While I haven't been wowed by much of the food at the Westover, I've always found the food to to be decent, although the options are on the conservative side for my palate.
I haven't tried Pan. I wish the owners luck, because that corner seems to turn into a new restaurant at the beginning of each new Stratford Festival season. I looked at their sample menu, and their tapas don't look like tapas. They look like soups and salads! Someone should tell the owner that frites with aioli are not tapas. Patatas bravas are tapas! ;-)


text:
Reality Check: An Examination of Anti-Semitism in 2014
The U.S. Department of State and the Yale Program for the Study of Anti-Semitism sponsored a discussion, "Reality Check: An Examination of Anti-Semitism in 2014," on June 26 from 10:00 to 11:00 a.m. at the Yale MacMillan Center in New Haven, Connecticut.
The event covered the current trends in Anti-Semitism. The panel was moderated by Rabbi James E. Ponet, Lecturer in Law at Yale Law School and the Howard M. Holtzmann Jewish Chaplain at Yale. Panelists included Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Anti-Semitism Ira Forman (@SEASForman) and Roya Hakakian, a fellow at Yale University's Whitney Humanities Center and a founding member of the Iran Human Rights Documentation Center.
English Transcript (below):
RABBI PONET: Good morning, everybody. I'm Rabbi Jim Ponet, the Howard M. Holtzman Jewish Chaplain at Yale. I wish to welcome you all here for an event that we've called Reality Check: An Examination of Anti-Semitism in 2014. This event is co-sponsored by the United States Department of State and the Yale Program for the Study of Anti-Semitism. We'll be listening today to two people in public conversation that I'll try not to interrupt – Ira Forman, who was sworn in as the Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Anti-Semitism on May 20th, 2013. Prior to that, he served as the Jewish Outreach Director for the Obama campaign – for the Obama for America campaign. Ira has a long and distinguished history of working in the Jewish communal work and public service sector. He served for nearly 15 years as the Executive Director of the National Jewish Democratic Council. He also worked at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, where he worked as Political Director and Legislative Liaison. He was the Director of Congressional Relations for the Office of Personnel Management. Throughout his career, he has spoken and written extensively on Jewish history and public policy. Mr. Forman also co-edited and wrote for the reference book, Jews in American Politics. And I should note, due to no fault of his own, he is a graduate of Harvard University. (Laughter.)
Roya Hakakian is known to many of us here in New Haven – poet, author, human rights activist, one of the founders of the – founding member of the Iran Human Rights Documentation Center, a fellow at the Whitney Humanities Center here at Yale University.
This discussion will be streamed live and there are people here who can fill in cards to ask questions. So I think the cards have been passed out to you. Send them down over here to Chanan who will bring them to my attention. We are also able to receive questions via Twitter. The event is streamed at humanrights.gov/stateofrights. Using #StateofRights, you can ask questions that will be received here, and I will call them as they appear.
Thought it appropriate to begin with our Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Anti-Semitism, the third person to fill that job, Ira Forman. I'm guessing, Ira, that most people don't even know that the United States department has an office of a Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Anti-Semitism. Can you tell us something about the history of your office, what you do, and how it feels since you've been in place, since May?
MR. FORMAN: Well, certainly, though I want to start by thanking the Yale Program for the Study of Anti-Semitism. The one thing I have learned in a year in this job is the issue of worldwide anti-Semitism is incredibly complex, and to have an academic institution of Yale's quality studying this topic is critical for us to ever get a handle on how to really, in any way, combat this kind of scourge. And I'm also honored to be on the program with Roya Hakakian, who is such an accomplished individual, and look forward to her remarks.
But yes, I – and every time I speak about this program, I ask my audience and say, "Do you know that the State Department even does this?" And the answer is invariable two-thirds to 90 percent say no, of course not.
But this program has been – this office was created by an act of Congress in 2004, and though many of you know, when we hear about things happening in Congress, most often we hear of great partisan divides. And I will say, in the year I've been in this office, and when this legislation went through, it was unique in the sense there are no partisan divides here. This is an issue, one of the few issues certainly, that both Democrats and Republicans at the time in 2004 when it was bipartisanly co-sponsored by former Congressman Tom Lantos, current Congressman Chris Smith, former Senator Voinovich, George Voinovich – tremendous bipartisan support.
And the office was actually set up two years later, in 2006, and it is fairly unique. Only – to my awareness, only Israel has a comparable – in their foreign office, foreign ministry – has a comparable office that is actually targeting directly anti-Semitism. And the title, Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Anti-Semitism, is essentially what the office is all about. The monitoring is actually quite direct. The State Department every year issues both a Human Rights Report, which was issued in March of this year, and an International Religious Freedom Report, which usually follows in the following months and we hope to have out very soon.
And – but in addition to that, where we do monitor in over 60 countries, anti-Semitism is part of those reports. In addition, we are collecting data from around the world, places like the Kantor Center, Tel Aviv University, data that simply – like the ADL survey that just recently came out. But the other piece of our office is travel around the world to talk to members of the Jewish community, talk to governments, talk to NGOs about this problem. So there's a number of ways we can monitor.
The combating side is more difficult. How do you combat a problem, as I mentioned, so complex, so different in many ways in different parts of the world, so many different manifestations of anti-Semitism? So we have tools of private diplomacy. We have tools of public diplomacy. I believe it's really, really important, and why this type of meeting is so important, is to bring in other stakeholders – Jewish community stakeholders, non-Jewish stakeholders' communities, other governments – because the problem will not be addressed in any sufficient way without a multitude of people. So we spend a lot of time outreaching to other groups, other governments, to talk about what we can do together. And of course, it's part of our job to bring this whole issue up to the top of the State Department, to our most important diplomats, including Secretary Kerry, and the White House and the President, when we think that these issues need to come up to that level. And we increasingly, unfortunately, have to make those reports more and more often.
RABBI PONET: Thank you, Ira. There's much more I want to ask you, but I thought to bring you in right away, my dear Roya. Roya, born in Iran, wrote a memoir some years ago called The Land of No. Did I say that properly?
MS. HAKAKIAN: Journey from the Land of No.
RABBI PONET: The Journey from the Land of No, about your experience there. And you have a unique sense of – I would almost characterize it as a – well, it's a love relationship that has serious critique in it regarding Iran. In other words, it's not simply a story of anti-Semitism.
MS. HAKAKIAN: Not at all, no. In fact, well, I'm delighted to be part of this panel and honored to be next to my spiritual leader and Ira. I specifically wrote the book because I thought that Iran was misunderstood, and part of that misunderstanding is that the notion of Iran being equaled or the experience of – or my experience of being a Jew in Iran, being a young person in Iran at the revolutionary era was somehow synonymous or written off as the same as the leadership that represented Iran. And I think that's really where – what I want to leave with our audiences today, if nothing else, that we pay a lot of lip service to the notion that we shouldn't assume that the Iranian nation or any nation under a tyranny is equal to its regime, that regimes cannot represent nations under those circumstances. And it's certainly true about Iran, and that's what my book tried to capture.
So in other words, I think the best way of summarizing the experience is that the Iranian regime happens to be far more backward than the Iranian nation; that while, for instance, the previous president, Ahmadinejad, was going around the world trying to really warmonger and hatemonger by denying the Holocaust and claiming that he intended to wipe Israel off the map, or whatever that translation was – because there was a great deal of discussion whether or not the translation from Persian into English was correct – Iranians themselves had – are vastly different, and as a result of the government's radical anti-Israeli and anti-Semitic positions, have stood actually to the opposite of the regime.
And that's, I think, the most important point that is often lost as we watch the nuclear discussion, as we begin to worry about the propaganda coming out of Iran, that while the regime creates this mayhem, especially within the media realm, that the nation is going, in fact, the opposite, in the opposite direction. And when you look at the leadership of Iran, there is a great deal to worry about, but when you take a look at the 35-year movement of the Iranian people in terms of their relationship to Israel, views of Jews and all that, Iranians are probably the only nation in the region who have taken a step away in a completely independent and unique direction in that region. And I think – I'm glad that the representative of the Anti-Defamation League is here today, because their recent survey backs up my claims, which I desperately needed because I've been making this argument for several years and no one believes me. Everybody referred to me as a nostalgic exile who wanted to put a good face on the Iranian nation that she misses, but, in fact, I'm glad to see that Anti-Defamation League has produced a survey that pretty much makes these remarks valid. And we can go over them in subsequent questions.
RABBI PONET: Thank you, Roya, for that. That leads to a question that's pertinent to your portfolio, Ira, and that is: It has been observed that the new anti-Semitism today is – cloaks itself in anti-Zionist, anti-Israel critique. And I'm certain you've seen that phenomenon. The question, I think, is how you sort that out. Surely criticism of every state is legitimate and perhaps necessary. Are you able, to your own satisfaction thus far, to distinguish an anti-Semitic attack on the State of Israel from a legitimate critique of the State of Israel?
MR. FORMAN: Well, Rabbi, that's an excellent question, and I don't have a perfect answer.
RABBI PONET: I wouldn't think so. It's a hard one, I know.
MR. FORMAN: There are some fuzzy lines, and the whole question of what is anti-Semitic is not always clear – sometimes is. But in terms of U.S. policy, certainly we would like to have Israel treated exactly like all other nations. So that means criticism of Israel is legitimate, like criticism of other nations. It also means sometimes that even criticism we may not agree with is legitimate. Question is, where does it cross the line? And from a U.S. perspective, we have some kind of markers. They're not perfect, but they give us some really good direction. And the first is: Is that criticism delegitimizing Israel? Is it making the case that Israel has no right to exist? Is it making the case that Zionism is the only form of nationalism that's illegitimate? When that's the case, that certainly has crossed the line.
It also crosses the line, from a U.S. policy perspective, when Israel is defamed. So, for example, if someone says, "I don't like what Israel is doing with Palestinians in the West Bank," that's not necessarily anti-Semitism at all. But if someone says, "What Israel is doing to the Palestinians is exactly what the Nazis did to Jews," that's crossed the line of defamation.
And finally, when we have clear, clear signs of double standards. We treat Israel very different than we treat other places, often in sometimes UN agencies, et cetera. We see this. That crosses the line. That crosses the line. When Israel is criticized for, say, human rights violations time and time and time again, and states like the North Koreans, the Iranians, the Syrians are never even mentioned, that's illegitimate.
So, yes, that's – those are kind of the guidelines we use. How the rubber meets the road is sometimes a little more difficult. Sometimes it may not be useful to use the term anti-Semitism. Sometimes we deal with issues that we would classify that are not anti-Semitism, and I will give you one example we're working on right now, and that's the issue in parts of Europe of attempts to ban circumcision. We have parts of civil society, we have political actors in parts of Northern Europe, some of the German-speaking parts of Europe, saying we should ban circumcision. Now, we address this because the people who usually say this usually speak about children's autonomy. So we talk about this as an issue paramount of religious freedom, and that circumcision, as a religious ritual for not just Jews, but also Muslims, is an issue of religious freedom.
So, again, it's a complex issue, but there are definite redlines and we try to call them out.
RABBI PONET: Thank you. That's helpful, and I appreciate that it's difficult and you're new in your task, still finding your way. And Roya, you made a distinction, and I'll be interested, Ira, in your reaction to that, between the regime and the people, specifically as regards Iran. To kind of deepen the possibility for you addressing that distinction, Roya, maybe you could say something about the state of Iranian Jewry today. In other words, as I understand, we all know there's been – there was a massive flight, primarily in the '50s and through the '60s, of Jews from Arab and Middle Eastern and Northern African communities where they had lived for centuries, none older than the Jewish community of Iran. Most of those communities have next to no Jews left. Baghdad, I think, maybe has a handful. How many Jews live today in Tehran?
MS. HAKAKIAN: Well, the problem with all Iranian communities, even in the United States, is that it's hell to get statistics from them because you're talking about a population that has never learned or wanted or had any reason to collaborate with the authorities. So even Iranians in California today are reluctant to participate in census-taking and all sorts of efforts such as this. So it's very difficult with Iranian communities in or outside of Iran when it comes to taking numbers. But it's particularly more difficult in Iran today because the Iranian Jewish community has, to my great dismay and sadness, has gone back to what it used to know. So we had a period in Iran that my father very eloquently speaks about where Jews were better off staying hidden or being unrecognizable from the general population. And then, during the reign of Rezâ Šâh Pahlavi and his son, Mohammad Rezâ Pahlavi, Jews left the ghettos and they became visible citizens, so you could recognize Iranian Jews and it was okay because Iran was becoming far more eclectic in terms of its religious and ethnic makeup and accepting minorities within the fabric of the society was very much part of that regime was all about in creating one common nation.
But then, the Jews today, even though they, the Jewish community was recognized as a legitimate community, and Ayatollah Khomeini himself, a few weeks after the Iranian Revolution in February of 1979, said publicly that the Jews were welcome to stay in Iran because they were a people of the book, they have gone back to the old mode of retreating to the hidden Jewish mode that they knew before the revolution. So taking census within Iran is very difficult.
There are – prior to the Iranian Revolution, there was anywhere between 100 to 120,000 Jews living in Iran, and I have heard statistics that place that number today to less than a quarter of that number, so anywhere from 10,000 to 20,000 seem to be remaining in Iran. However, it's – reporting on this community is extremely difficult and I don't know of a single journalist who has done a good job of going into Iran, interviewing or talking to people, and coming back with a proper and balanced piece.
RABBI PONET: Are the – do we know whether the Iranian Jewish community is free to emigrate today, or are there constraints on their travel?
MS. HAKAKIAN: There was never officially a ban on the departure of Jews, but that's – so what interests me in the history of contemporary Iranian Jews in Iran isn't simply that my own background is Jewish, but I think anybody who's interested in Iran or the Middle East would learn a great deal about how this regime is operating by the way they're dealing with the Jewish community.
RABBI PONET: This is part of what motivates you to want to establish here, at Yale, if possible, an Iranian Jewish archives.
MS. HAKAKIAN: Yes.
RABBI PONET: Is that right?
MS. HAKAKIAN: Thank you for that plug.
RABBI PONET: Mm-hmm, you're welcome.
MS. HAKAKIAN: Yes. Yes, I think that, of course, it's of interest to collect the history of Iranian Jewry, but it should be of interest to anybody who wants to study the Middle East and the behavior or the contemporary – this current regime in Iran, to watch the way in which the regime treats the Jewish community.
Now, to go back to your original question, the regime never officially banned Jews from leaving, but the regime never officially allowed Jews to leave either. So this is how it behaves in every possible way on critical questions. Is Iran developing nuclear weapons? You come away from one nuclear negotiations, maybe not. Then you go home and you get intelligence from ground that maybe they are. So this is, I think, the way that the regime has allowed this – so many things to fall into a shadowy, uncertain, gray area, has been basically the regime's modus operandi and the reason the regime continues to survive, because you never know. There is no definite answer.
So when I left Iran in 1984, Jews were not officially banned from leaving, but when we applied for our passports to be renewed and turned our passports in, our passports were confiscated. And when we asked when we can pick them up, they said come back in six months. So when we returned in six months, we had to come back another six months. So rather than saying we're not giving you your passports, they were saying you have to wait six months, and each time the six months were prolonged. Until that – it wasn't until then that the Jewish community and other religious minorities in Iran – it's not to say that the Jewish community is actually the worst-off religious minority in Iran. In fact, the Bahá'í community is doing far worse and is being severely persecuted to the point that Jews have never known in post-revolutionary Iran.
But since Jews are the topic of the discussion today, the Jewish community realized that the passport applications had been altered after the rise of the new regime. And one question that didn't used to exist on passport applications was the question of religion. Religion had been added. And people started to simply respond to it truthfully, and until we realized that maybe we shouldn't be responding truthfully to the question of religion, and so we found corrupt people within the passport office who could be bribed and swap the initial applications with the truthful responses to the question of religion to altered applications, which is what I did. I left as an Armenian; my original application was eventually swapped. And I think some of this continues to go on.
So it's easier today to leave Iran if you're Jewish than it was when I left Iran, and part of that has to do with the fact that the regime is far more secure and mature in its evolutionary or developmental stages of life, but back then it was far more insecure and had a harder time allowing people to leave. It's easier now, but it's – but there are no official positions and they can always tell you to come back in six months.
RABBI PONET: So thank you for that, Roya. So the distinction between the regime and the local population, the millions that live there, seems to matter significantly as we evaluate Iran, Ira. But I'm thinking, come to Europe, come, say, to France, where official state policy is very concerned about issues of anti-Semitism and yet the local Jewish community, to the best of my reading, is terribly upset, feels itself endangered. So is the distinction between what the regime says and what's actually going on in a country one that is important for the State Department in general and for yourself in your particular role as Envoy to Monitor and Combat Anti-Semitism to consider?
MR. FORMAN: Well, as I'm listening to Roya, there are issues that are coming up that I – we haven't wrestled with. We always look first, in our office, at what is actually happening on the ground. What are Jews themselves saying? What are they doing in terms of immigration? We had a survey that came out last year from the Fundamental Rights Agency of the EU of eight Jewish communities in the EU, and one of the shocking things is that in France 46 percent of Jews have thought of emigrating, not for economic reasons but because of the situation as relates to anti-Semitism. That number in Hungary is 48 percent. And that we've actually seen another – in France another survey just this last month that actually said those numbers might be even higher.
And that is – that's the first thing we look at. But of course, you have to look at what the government itself is doing, and I think, Rabbi, you're exactly right when you say that as far as I've seen, the French Government knows what's happening, they're extremely concerned, they're taking various measures. I don't think they know – and I'm not sure we know – exactly what's going to solve this problem. It's a quite – it actually affects much more of their society than just the viability of their Jewish community. And that fundamentally, the viability of these communities, the pressure they're feeling, is our first priority.
You go to other countries in Europe, and again, I think we should make the distinction. You go back to the interwar period, you had a number of governments I think you would classify clearly, besides Nazi Germany, as anti-Semitic. I think it's much more difficult to say that about any government in Europe, at least in the governments that we deal with with significant Jewish populations in Europe, but that doesn't mean they're not – they're similar to France in terms of, A, understanding what's going on; B, willing to take steps to try and put resources to changing that; and often, and really important I found, confronting history.
When you have regimes that don't want to confront what really has happened to their Jewish communities, their minority communities – often, in the Jewish community's case, what happened in the Holocaust – to confront that, yes, Nazi Germany was primarily responsible, but what about their own responsibilities? And every nation in the world, I think you'd have to say, has some responsibility. No one acted perfectly in those years.
When you don't confront history, we generally find that the regimes have more difficulty in confronting the problem. And that's good and bad. We'd like regimes always to be – obviously every government to have an attitude of, "We have some problem," and there is a problem to a lesser or greater degree in almost every country in Europe with anti-Semitism. And we'd like everybody to say, "Yes, we have a problem and we want to have policies that confront it." But frankly, from a U.S. policy perspective, it's sometimes easier for us to be able to make some changes and help those communities when we have a problematic situation with the government, where it doesn't want or for whatever reason is not dealing with the issue, because then there's one address you can go to – at least one address. There's always multiple addresses you have to go to to try to begin to get a handle on this problem. But you end up having a really important address. It's like – I use historical analogies – the Soviet Jewry movement. In that case, it almost makes – it seems very simple to the problem we face with anti-Semitism in Europe today. Because there was one address, and it was the Kremlin, that we could address to try to begin to fix that problem.
Here, there's always – and that's why I talked about complexity at the beginning. There's, within one country, multiple, multiple addresses often. And between countries, the nature of anti-Semitism, often there are similarities but it's often very different.
So all that's to say, the way we look at this is to see what's happening with the community, try to find indices, often data, but often anecdotal and interviews, and then we look at what the government is trying to do. And sometimes, again, our tools are better when the government is not as on top of the issue as we like.
RABBI PONET: Thank you for that. I want to reference a question and tie it to a phenomenon. I'm thinking the phenomenon – the Ukraine, a very murky, complex phenomenon, but with some very upsetting rhetoric –
MR. FORMAN: Yeah.
RABBI PONET: — and events reported. This can be linked to a question that comes from Washington, D.C., from Janine who said that she read that Germany and Poland are the safest places for Jews, two countries that have done differing levels, but real levels of confronting history in your sense, Ira. So she says they're the safest places for Jews, she read. Is this true and does it offer any model for other countries in the European Union?
MS. HAKAKIAN: Philip Roth would agree with that.
MR. FORMAN: Pardon?
MS. HAKAKIAN: Philip Roth, the writer.
RABBI PONET: He would agree with that, yes.
MS. HAKAKIAN: Yes, because he wrote a book, Operation Shylock, suggesting that Jews need to go from Israel to Germany and Poland because those would be the places where nothing would happen for another thousand years. (Laughter.) So that's Philip Roth. I don't know what Ira has to say. (Laughter.)
MR. FORMAN: Well, I think it's hard to say which is the absolute safest place to be as a Jew in Europe today.
MS. HAKAKIAN: Berlin.
MR. FORMAN: Berlin? Perhaps, but the UK –
MS. HAKAKIAN: It's great.
MR. FORMAN: — which has problems, has very strong Jewish institutions, and like Germany, there is maybe even an increase in Jewish population. Now, Germany clearly is increasing in population, but the UK may slowly be adding some Jews as well. And Poland is a very interesting place. You do have a lot of anti-Semitism; how it's manifested is often different. The violence – you don't see the violence you might see in parts of Western Europe. And you also have a lot of very philo-Semitic views, and you hear it and it's really touching in some ways when you look at institutions like the Galicia Jewish Museum, and you see that all the staff is Polish Catholic. And when you talk to them, often I've heard responses like, "I'm doing this because we lost something really precious when we lost 10 percent of our population, a cultural piece that we are trying to retain at least a little bit of."
And I think that's a lesson for all countries. A lot of countries that are concerned, often their nationalism sometimes takes a form which, if you're not that ethnicity of that nation, somehow you're polluting that nation and they would like to see a monoculture. And I think what we see in that response from, like, Poland, Polish Catholics, is that actually, the multicultural society is much richer. You look at some of these countries in the Middle East, Arab states that are – have lost their Jewish population, and now are in the process of losing their Christian population, and tragedies for the Jewish communities that left, tragedies for these Christian communities that are under pressure, but I think, ultimately, tragedies for the countries themselves.
So I think those are important issues. It's hard – getting back to your initial question, very hard to say which is the safest place, but I think we've talked a little bit about a few. You mentioned Ukraine, which I think is fascinating. I've been to Ukraine twice in the year I've been here, both before Maidan and after Maidan, and it's a – some really interesting changes. First, we all have to acknowledge there's a lot of Jewish blood, there's a lot of anti-Semitism in Ukrainian history. And we've heard, particularly since Maidan began, from particularly Moscow, that there is a lot – lots of Ukrainian anti-Semitic nationality, the government's problematic, there's anti-Semitism in Kyiv in the government. And what I found when I went back last month was not that talking to Jewish community leaders. I got as far east as I could. It was Dnipropetrovsk. And essentially unanimously saying these incidents that we have, in most cases we don't know who did it. Some cases we do. But even when we don't know, we believe they're provocations. They're happening by and large in west – the eastern part of the country, which is not the center of Ukrainian nationalism that has an anti-Semitic tint.
We – and I – when I talked to government officials when I went back to Kyiv this time – Kiev or Kyiv, depending on whether you're saying it in Russian or Ukrainian – when I went back, the line I got from government officials who are members of the Party of Regions, who was ruling prior to Maidan, the line I got almost unanimously was, "We have no anti-Semitism in Ukraine." And I politely would say to them, "That's not credible. We have anti-Semitism in the United States, and we are probably the friendliest country by far in the world," with the possible exception of Israel – (laughter) – "to our Jewish population." And, "We have no anti-Semitism." This time, I hear a government saying – government officials often in the exact same offices, and sometimes the junior people in that room are the same people because they haven't changed, and they're saying, "Yes, we have a history, and yes, if we're going to have a successful, modern Ukraine, we're going to confront this, and we have to confront it because it's a part of our rich history." Very different response. And the Jewish community says, "We see what we – what you hear about in the West, we believe, even when we don't know for sure who did it, it's provocations." And it's not coming from the government and it's not even coming from the nationalists in, like, private sector or what's called Svoboda, another party that historically has anti-Semitic roots.
So fascinating dynamic there, and despite the history of Ukraine, you actually even see some optimism in the Jewish community.
MS. HAKAKIAN: Interesting. You – I'm sorry.
RABBI PONET: Please, go ahead.
MS. HAKAKIAN: I was really interested in one comment that you made about whether or not the term anti-Semitism applies to certain situations. So what did you mean by that? Because I think I know, but I would like to hear it from you.
MR. FORMAN: So to call someone an anti-Semite essentially ends your conversation. You've – as I like to say, you call someone an anti-Semite, you've hit them in the face with a two-by-four. Now, sometimes it's appropriate. It's clear, et cetera, and sometimes appropriate. Sometimes, in terms of certainly personal – what's going on in that person's mind, you don't know. You can say what they're saying, we interpret as anti-Semitism. We talked about those delegitimization/defamation-type of issues. But sometimes you want to have a conversation, and sometimes saying, "We don't believe this is legitimate, we believe this crosses the line" is a better way, I believe, to continue to have that conversation.
So I don't think combating anti-Semitism means, necessarily, that you say this is anti-Semitic or you're anti-Semitic the most times you can. I think that it's got to be – the way we combat this has got to be both complex and often subtle, and sometimes it's quite appropriate to say; sometimes it may not be best to try to get to where you want to go.
Someone – just to give an example, Roya. We were talking about circumcision. If someone, like the six Nordic ombudsmen for children, have said that they have come out for a ban of circumcision in their countries, and they say it's because of children's autonomy, and other people say it's because of – that the risks are so terrible and there's no benefits. So I don't think it would – no matter what I think someone may be feeling, if someone's saying that, I'm going to make my arguments on religious freedom. I'm not going to say this is anti-Semitic or Islamophobic for that matter. I think it's really important to say – to take them at their word and say, okay, this is an issue of religious freedom, and though – so you're making the argument children have pain that persists psychologically through their lifetime, you're making the argument risks are far outweighing and are great and the benefits are none. I say, okay, let's have that argument on religious freedom grounds. And on religious freedom grounds, we don't protect all forms of religious activity. We say, is there a compelling state interest to stop that form?
So I would then come back with people who are making that argument and say, okay, our largest studies – for example, the American Academy of Pediatrics would say that benefits, clear benefits far, far outweigh risks. Mayo Clinic, this publication this past month, said benefits outweigh risks 100 to one, and there are no studies whatsoever, there's no indication that there's any permanent traumatic pain. And so where's the compelling state interest? And religious freedom is now being overturned without any kind of compelling interest. So that's the argument we need to make, and I don't think throwing around terms of anti-Semitism when someone's claiming another reason is going to be useful.
RABBI PONET: I'm hearing a certain utility that I didn't anticipate as I listen to each of you talk about anti-Semitism, and the fact that it's become a factor inside of the United States Department of State is quite interesting and fills – suggests a number of possibilities, one of which finds expression in a question that comes from the Democracy Challenge online community, which asks: "How can anti-Semitism and racism hurt emerging democracies?" And then a follow-up question, which I think each of you might address: "Why is diversity beneficial to a democracy?"
Do you want to start off on that, Roya?
MS. HAKAKIAN: Sure. I was really intrigued by Ira's comments on Poland and why these Catholic Polish individuals were so concerned about the loss of the Jewish community. I have heard similar comments from within the Iranian community. People who are very patriotic about Iran constantly say that losing the Jewish community of Iran would be a major loss to Iran, period; that not only historically the Jewish community's existence precedes that of the Muslim community, that Jews have been there before the advent of Islam, but that it is that the existence of a unique community that gives Iran its unique character. Of course, you know, if the regime were wise, it could begin to think economically about it because the most sacred Jewish sites in the Middle East outside of Israel are in Iran, and you could have a thriving tourism business out of just taking Jewish tourists to –
RABBI PONET: Really shows the way on that, doesn't it?
MS. HAKAKIAN: Yes, yes. And so there is a very strong argument to make for Iran, which clearly isn't an Arab country. Iranians really pride themselves on the notion of being Persians and being non-Arabs. And one of the factors that makes the Persians Persians is the notion that we are the civilized, more tolerant ones, at least according to the Persian narrative, and we are the ones – and what backs up that claim is that we are the ones that have been ethnically and religiously diverse because we can tolerate, whereas those people on the other side of the borders can't.
And so you want to prove – I think it was Thurgood Marshall who said that the quality of any democracy can be observed by the quality of the lives of the most vulnerable minorities within those democracies. That, in fact, if you want to measure whether a democracy is truly a democracy, you look at how the most vulnerable minorities are existing within those democracies. And I think the reason Iran or any other country would want to hang onto its Jewish community, if for no other reason than to prove that it's a serious democracy, is because you want to show that you're able to cope and live in peace with your minorities and you are capable of taking care of the vulnerable, which, I think, Iran – in Iran today, Jews and other religious minorities definitely are. I feel that I must say that we keep talking about Jews in Iran, and I certainly don't want to convey the idea that Jews are the only threatened minority in Iran; that, in fact, it's – you would probably live a worse life in Iran if you were a Sunni in Iran today.
RABBI PONET: Is there a Sunni population in Iran?
MS. HAKAKIAN: Ten percent, I think. And Sunnis are not allowed to build mosques in Iran. And Sunnis have a much harder time of being religiously free in Iran than Jews have. So I think in the interests of being fair and balanced, we should mention that there are other religious minorities in Iran who have a much harder time and are far more seriously persecuted than the Jews are.
RABBI PONET: So you're suggesting that the treatment afforded the Jews has implications for other vulnerable communities –
MS. HAKAKIAN: Absolutely, yes.
RABBI PONET: — in Iran, perhaps elsewhere as well. Any comments on that, Ira?
MR. FORMAN: Well, I would agree with much of what Roya has said. I am not an academic that can point to statistics and data that would say a multicultural society is more beneficial. I think we have a strong bias where I work, in the U.S. State Department, for many reasons that multicultural societies are stronger. Certainly our own history: Our multiculturalism has been a long and difficult path often, and is not always totally complete. But we've had – I think around the world where I go, people are marveling at our example, where we have come to. And so there's almost – there's a wishfulness by people who believe in democratic principles, et cetera, to be able – how do we follow the U.S. model?
So I think we certainly have that bias. Whether I can prove it academically or not that that's a stronger society, I think we do strongly feel that. And I think there's a lot of historical analogies we can use. I love the story of the Ottoman – the sultan of the Ottoman empire in 1492 questioning, "What kind of king and queen," meaning Ferdinand and Isabella, "would kick out their most productive members of their society? I'm happy to take them." And he did.
I'm fascinated that when I was in Greece recently, where conspiracy theories and the protocols of the elders of Zion are ubiquitous, and Golden Dawn is a neo-Nazi, deeply anti-Semitic, deeply violent party in parliament, talking to NGOs who say part of – some ways that people now in Greece interpret Hellenic civilization, Greek nationalism, is to say we were a pure kind of ethnicity and race, and so all of these foreigners, not just Jews but all these – more importantly, the refugees coming in from Asia and Africa, they're polluting our Greek civilization. And the irony of that, that Hellenism, which was so successful for a thousand years, thrived on the integration of different cultures, and that was the – in some ways the height of Greek culture and Greek nationalism.
And the other irony is this: Whether we think multicultural societies are good or not – and we all, I think, on this panel certainly think strongly that they are – it's happening. In this modern world, with economics, et cetera, a country like Greece is going to be multicultural. There's no way of going back. And I think most governments in Europe understand that, that it's inevitable, so how do we live with that and take its strengths and integrate different groups that are coming in. So I think that's a powerful piece, and I'm proud the United States sometimes can serve as a model in this area.
RABBI PONET: Rather than taking the risk of ending on that upbeat hope, I do wish to note – (laughter) – that anti-Semitism has been called the longest hatred. And there's a question from our live audience that emerges from that sense: "Is anti-Semitism ineradicable? Any why, in any case, is it so persistent?" Perhaps each of you might care to comment on that.
MS. HAKAKIAN: I think – I often think about anti-Semitism in relationship to misogyny, because I experience both. And I write often, as I impose on you to read – (laughter) – about the fact that I think the problem that we in the West have identified as Islamic fundamentalism, in the Middle East is only disguising itself as Islamic fundamentalism. It's actually misogyny that wishes to cloak itself behind the look of Islamic fundamentalism, because once we label it as Islam, everybody else in the West says, well, this is their tradition and their religion and we can have nothing to do with it and we can't intervene and we can't – it's their thing. But if we call it misogyny, which I think what it is truly, then we can intervene because we believe in human rights and we believe in – that these rights should be afforded to all people around the world, that for the same reason that people, because of the virtue of their race, shouldn't be treated as lesser people, they also shouldn't be treated as lesser people for the virtue of their gender.
So I see them as – I see misogyny and I see anti-Semitism, because of my own personal experience, as being the two sides of the same coin. And that's a long argument, but I think in relationship to the Middle East, it certainly applies.
And I think these are not, at least in our lifetime or in my lifetime, problems that can be eradicated, but they're problems that can be – that can fade with the sort of strides that a society makes as a whole. If you – there was something very interesting in the ADL survey that came out. And with a friend who's much more of a historian than I am, we sat down to look at the details of the ADL numbers with respect to Iran. And something that was very remarkable about the ADL survey with respect to Iran was that it had the lowest numbers of people who believe that Jews are making too much of the Holocaust in the Middle East. And so we started with this friend discussing – it was only 18 percent, I believe. So 18 percent of Iranians believe that Jews were making too much of the Holocaust and had a hard time letting it go. And so we thought, why should then – for the same question anywhere else in the Middle East, people, say, stand at 70 percent and 80 percent, and Iran would be 18. Well, part of that is because Iran is – we had a president in Iran who was completely unloved, at least during his second term of presidency, against whom the population turned. And that was the Green Movement in Iran in 2009, where people believed that the election had been stolen from them, poured to the streets, took – demonstrated against Ahmadinejad, and underwent that process of rising up, standing against a tyrant, speaking up had – it was an educational process because they began to also question his platform and his propaganda, a cornerstone of which was the denial of the Holocaust.
So I think societies, in the process of reaching for greater civil liberties, equality, freedom, and democracy, undergo – whether they want it or not – a reform in or an education in anti-Semitism and other afflictions, such as misogyny and racism and et cetera, et cetera. And in Iran, the reason now we see that only 18 percent of the population believe that the Holocaust is something that the Jews can't let go is because five years after Ahmadinejad, the fact that the nation had to confront this president and together think through his entire propaganda machinery was a major point of education. And I think each time we do one of these things, as people, we take a step back from anti-Semitism, from misogyny, and from all these terrible things that we are trying to do away with.
RABBI PONET: Thank you for that, Roya. Ira, do you have any concluding remarks on this question of –
MR. FORMAN: Eradicating anti-Semitism.
RABBI PONET: Yeah, the ineradicable or possibly eradicable hatred.
MR. FORMAN: Well, I don't know the answer to the question of whether anti-Semitism will ever be eradicated. Again, I always like to look at history as kind of a little bit of a guidepost. And we can see that in history, we can go back at least 2,300 years or so and see forms of anti-Semitism. We can see anti-Semitism morphing into different forms, often with different arguments but with some basic principles behind it. We see it today in Europe and other places.
So this is what I do think: I don't think that we will see the end of anti-Semitism in my lifetime or in my children's lifetime or my grandchildren's or many, many, many, many generations. But I don't think that's the key question. I think certainly in the Jewish tradition and I think in other traditions, the issue is not do – can we eradicate evil. The issue remains we have to fight against it. We have to give future generations the tools to fight against it. We have to make it better. Whether we eradicate it or not, history will tell us eventually. I don't expect it anytime soon. But our job is here to fight it with every means we have, and do it in the smartest, most effective way we have.
RABBI PONET: Beautiful. Thank you. I think we can conclude here. If you have additional questions – I'm speaking to people online and here – we are happy to continue the conversation online. We'll continue to monitor the hashtag #StateOfRights on Twitter and converse with you there. This event will be archived and made available on public – on humanrights.gov in the coming few days. Special thank you to Yale University and the Program for the Study of Anti-Semitism, U.S. Department of State for co-hosting this discussion, and thank you to everybody who participated today. Thank you.
MR. FORMAN: Thank you, Rabbi.
MS. HAKAKIAN: Thank you. (Applause.)

subset: commoncrawl


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By Stephanie Zacharek
Dear White People Doesn't Have the Answers
By Stephanie Zacharek
By Abby Garnett
By Amy Nicholson
By Alan Scherstuhl
By Inkoo Kang
Life of Crime Can't Take Itself Seriously
By Alan Scherstuhl
By Amy Nicholson
Digital video is poised to become a major factor in commercial filmmaking, and Time Code, the new feature from Mike Figgis (Leaving Las Vegas), could be used as a commercial for the process, which is its greatest point of interest. The movie is not so much an intriguing story as it is a story told intriguingly -- which may be just as well. We become so absorbed in the ramifications of the techniques involved that a more challenging plot might have resulted in sensory overload.
The movie follows the actions and interactions of four people. Stellan Skarsgård plays Alex Green, a movie producer who is cheating on his wife, Emma (Saffron Burrows), with Rose (Salma Hayek), an aspiring actress. Rose's jealous lover, Lauren (Jeanne Tripplehorn), is so suspicious that she plants a bug in Rose's purse to find out what's going on. Most of the movie is set in the offices of Red Mullet Productions, Alex's company. The Red Mullet team, including Holly Hunter, Xander Berkeley, Golden Brooks and Steven Weber, is trying to proceed with business as usual, while Alex appears to be unraveling emotionally before our eyes. Emma wants to leave him, Rose wants him to help her get a part in the company's new film, and Alex doesn't seem to know what he wants.
Meanwhile, the new film -- Bitch From Louisiana -- has just had its schedule mercilessly cut, throwing director Lester Moore (Richard Edson) into a panic. A flaky massage therapist (Julian Sands) is wandering around the premises. A slick agent (Kyle MacLachlan) is bringing in a pretentious client (Mia Maestro) to pitch a project. (The project she wants to do is clearly Time Codeitself.)
In short, there is a lot going on, though little of it is earthshaking -- not counting several aftershocks that hit the area during the course of the story. But we can see trouble brewing as the increasingly upset Lauren sits out in her limo, eavesdropping, thanks to the bug, on much of the action.
If this were all the film offered -- essentially a meandering pastiche of the sort of multi-character drama that Robert Altman pioneered and that Alan Rudolph and Paul Thomas Anderson have also employed -- it wouldn't be all that interesting. But consider that Figgis shot the entire thing in real time, in one long take, using four time-synched digital cameras, each with a 93-minute cartridge. At least, that's what the filmmakers claim. Two and a half years ago, the makers of the low-budget film Running Time made a similar "continuous shot" claim, when in fact they had used dozens of hidden cuts. While there are no apparent edits in Time Code, there were certainly several moments that could have been used to disguise cutting -- most obviously, the periodic seismic-aftershock scenes that required jostling the cameras.
And then consider this: Rather than edit the film together in the usual fashion, Figgis has presented all four tapes simultaneously, one in each quadrant of the screen. He simply forgoes all the advantages of standard montage in favor of a presentation that, according to the production notes, lets "audience members...literally edit the film in their own way, choosing which images and plots to focus on and follow."
Well, yes and no. Even though there was no visual editing beyond the synching of the four camera views, there has been, out of necessity, quite a bit of work on the audio, and those decisions serve to create a sort of pseudo-editing. To have simply kept the 36 audio tracks -- one mike for each actor, plus some -- at identical levels would have created a cacophony in which most dialogue would have been incomprehensible. So Figgis and his crew had to mix these into a coherent track. As a result, while there are occasions when the sounds for all four images are at roughly the same level, most of the time Figgis has chosen to emphasize those accompanying one of the images, at the expense of the others. This has the natural effect of directing our attention to a single quadrant as surely as if Figgis had cut to it full frame.
The most obvious analogy -- one that Figgis (a former professional musician and composer of the film's score) invokes and that leaps to mind almost instantly when watching the movie -- is musical. While a symphonic score involves numerous parts playing simultaneously, there is generally one particular melodic line to which our ears are directed. There were other musical elements in the movie's creation as well. For example, there is no screenplay credit -- Figgis takes only a story credit. He claims to have laid out the "script" using musical notation, with bars representing minutes. He specified certain moments when characters had to be at certain spots or where two or more of the cameras' views would intersect. Within that structure and the basic story, he allowed the actors to improvise. For two weeks, they shot a different complete run-through every afternoon; the resulting film is simply one of the fifteen resulting versions. (Imagine the possibilities for DVD!)
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35241 - Le Ortenzie
Townhouse | 1 bedrooms | sleeps 2
|Key Info
"Monolocale", 1-room semi-detached house 30 m2, on the ground floor, fully renovated, tasteful furnishings: large living/dining room with 1 double sofa bed and satellite-TV. Kitchenette (4 hotplates, oven). Shower/bidet/WC. Gas heating. Patio. Terrace furniture, sitting area. Facilities: mosquito net. Reserved parking by the house.
Le Ortenzie is a small paradise midst in the beautiful landscape, near the towns Pitigliano and Sovana, which are famous for there ruins and discoveries from the etruscian time. Saturnia, with the wondrous water forthe skin is 25km and the lovely sea by Monte Argentario is 60km away. Quiet and nice position beautiful tennis court on the ground for shared use. Cosy house "Le Ortenzie", surrounded by trees. 2 km from the centre of Pitigliano, 4 km from the centre of Sovana, 25 km from the centre of Saturnia, in a quiet position. For shared use: park (fenced), garden on different levels (fenced), swimming pool (7 x 18 m, 24.05.-02.10.). Pool house with WC, tennis, terrace, garden furniture, barbecue, barbecue house. In the house: central heating, washing machine. Linen change weekly. Half-board possible. Parking in the grounds. Shop 2 km, supermarket 2 km, restaurant 2 km. Please note: car essential. The owner has a dog.
|Sleeps up to 2, 1 bedrooms
|No pets allowed, No smoking at this property
Features and Facilities
|1 bedroom, 1 bathrooms of which 1 Family bathrooms
|Balcony or terrace
Availability Your dates are available
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New Orleans Saints quarterback�Drew Brees�and his wife, Brittany, welcomed a daughter�on Monday. Brees made the announcement�via Twitter�Tuesday morning.
Wicked Wildcat Weekend – September 5-7 at Windrock Park
Cops�crew member Bryce Dion has died after being shot during the filming of a robbery standoff at a...
"Reportedly, he has returned to the Polk County area. We will be attempting to serve him his warrant, at which time he will be taken into custody." - Polk County, Oregon, Corrections Director Martin Silbernagel, talking about Jesse Helt, the man who...
Throughout six seasons of�Sons of Anarchy,�
Janet Nichols, age 73, a resident of Oak Ridgem passed away Tuesday, Aug. 26, 2014, at Parkwest Medical Center.
Mary Kathryn "Kay" Barger, age 90, of Oak Ridge, passed away Wednesday, Aug. 27, 2014, at Briarcliff Health Care Center.
Charles Michael "Mike" Killion, Clinton, Tenn., died Tuesday, Aug. 26, 2014, at Methodist Medical Center of Oak Ridge.
Lorraine Pilloud died Aug. 26, 2014, at Greenfield Senior Living, where she had lived the last five years.
- Events Calendar


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Sheffield United have confirmed the signing of Arsenal youngster Kyle Bartley.
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The Blades have been beset with injuries and United boss Kevin Blackwell has been working frantically to bolster his squad.
He has now brokered a deal with Arsenal for Bartley, the Gunners' reserve team captain.
Bartley has signed on an emergency loan for three months.
Bartley made his senior Arsenal debut in December when he started their UEFA Champions League defeat at Olympiakos.


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November 2014 M T W T F S S « Sep 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30
Category Archives: Documentation
Chromosome Diagrams in Biopython
One of the new things coming in Biopython 1.59 is improved chromosome diagrams, something you may have seen via Twitter. I've just been updating the Biopython Tutorial (current version here, PDF) to include an example drawing this: Here's a PDF … Continue reading
Posted in Biopython, Blogroll, Code, Development, Documentation, HOWTO, OBF, OBF Projects Tagged Biopython 1 Comment
Introduction of OpenID logins for OBF wikis
Due to a huge influx of spam across all OBF wikis, we are in the process of locking down new user account creation and adding OpenID logins for the OBF wikis (BioPerl example). User account creation via the old login … Continue reading
Posted in BioDAS, BioJava, BioLib, BioMOBY, BioPerl, Biopython, BioRuby, Blipkit, Community, Documentation, OBDA / BioSQL, OBF, OBF Projects, Website Leave a comment
BioRuby paper published
After 10 years of development, the BioRuby paper is finally published in the Bioinformatics journal. The article is open access, so please take a look. BioRuby: Bioinformatics software for the Ruby programming language Naohisa Goto, Pjotr Prins, Mitsuteru Nakao, Raoul … Continue reading
Posted in BioRuby, Code, Community, Development, Documentation, OBF, OBF Projects Tagged BioRuby Leave a comment
BioPerl has moved to GitHub
BioPerl has migrated to git and GitHub! We have also set up a mirror set of several key repositories at the great public git hosting site repo.or.cz. If you are a current BioPerl developer (had a previous account for direct access … Continue reading
Posted in BioPerl, Blogroll, Code, Community, Development, Documentation, General, OBF, OBF Projects 1 Comment
Illumina FASTQ files – Read Segment Quality Control Indicator
In another quirk to the FASTQ story, recent Illumina FASTQ files don't actually use the full range of PHRED scores – and a score of 2 has a special meaning, The Read Segment Quality Control Indicator (RSQCI, encoded as 'B'). … Continue reading
Posted in Biopython, Blogroll, Code, Community, Development, Documentation, HOWTO, OBF, OBF Projects Tagged Biopython, FASTQ Leave a comment
Making Biopython SeqIO and AlignIO easier
One of the small changes coming in Biopython 1.54 (which you can try out already using the Biopython 1.54 beta) is to Bio.SeqIO and Bio.AlignIO. Previously the input and output functions had required file handles, but they will now also … Continue reading
Posted in Biopython, Blogroll, Code, Development, Documentation, OBF, OBF Projects Tagged Biopython Leave a comment
Sanger FASTQ format and the Solexa/Illumina variants
I'm delighted to announce an open access publication in Nucleic Acids Research describing the FASTQ file format based on the conventions agreed by the OBF projects: The Sanger FASTQ file format for sequences with quality scores, and the Solexa/Illumina FASTQ … Continue reading
Posted in BioJava, BioPerl, Biopython, BioRuby, Blogroll, Community, Development, Documentation, General, OBF, OBF Projects Tagged BioJava, BioPerl, Biopython, BioRuby, EMBOSS, FASTQ Leave a comment


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What does JANUS stand for?
What does JANUS mean? This page is about the various possible meanings of the acronym, abbreviation, shorthand or slang term: JANUS.
We've found a total of 3 definitions for JANUS:
Sort by:PopularityAlphabeticallyCategory Filter by:
Joint Analytical Network For Using Socio
Joint Analog Numerical Understanding System
Joint Agricultural Navigation Using Satellites
What does JANUS mean?
- Ja•nus(n.)
- a Roman god of doorways and beginnings, usu. represented as having a head with two faces looking in opposite directions.
Still can't find the acronym definition you were looking for? Use our Power Search technology to look for more unique definitions from across the web!
"JANUS." Abbreviations.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2014. Web. 27 Nov. 2014. <http://www.abbreviations.com/JANUS>.


text:
Touch of Mink natural skin care products are what you've been searching for all these years.
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Mink oil is the closest molecular makeup to human skin oil. It penetrates into the epidermis instead of sitting on the skin's surface. Never heavy or greasy, Touch of Mink products absorb instantly into your skin. Our unique formula never uses harsh chemicals or synthetics. Mink oil replenishes and rebalances your skin's moisture level. You'll notice the difference right away. Balanced skin means problem-free skin! Discover the difference mink oil can make. What are you waiting for? Be kind to your skin. Try Touch of Mink today!
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text:
See what the GAO has to say about the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) effort to modernize its information technology infrastructure. The GAO's overriding critique: "[T]he program has not fully achieved many performance goals that it set out to accomplish over the past year."
See all the latest links and resources that supplement the current issue of Security Management magazine.


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Located in the heart of the city in San Andres street, just in Saint Catalina Square.The property has been completely... More Info »
Rock Hostel, s Winds has 22 beds we have 4 to 6 rooms,each floor has its own approved for the number guesthouse... More Info »
A new accommodation concept implies a new concept in equipment, so, Apartamentos Residencial Portazgo are equipped... More Info »
Located behind the promenade of La Coruña. From the hotel can easily access important monuments of La Coruña, such as... More Info »
Situaded by Coruña´s promenade from your rooms you will be able to see some wonderfuful views! We are mainly... More Info »
Pension Residencia Alboran is located in the heart of the city of the La Coruña, at the end of prestigious pedestrian... More Info »
Open 24/7 and closest to A Coruna LCG Alvedro Airport (3mins/3km) while still situated away from the busy main road... More Info »
With its ideal geographic situation in the centre of the town and at only 12 km distance from A Coruña, Hotel Las... More Info »
Video guides, travel podcasts, city maps & free city guides. What to eat, where to stay and things to do and see - our travel guides have it all.Find a guide »
A time for indulging and spending time with family, it's no wonder that some of the world's best foods make an appearance during Christmas. Here are some of the world's most mou...Read more »
We offer the most comprehensive selection of hostels on the internet with over 35,000 great places to stay in 180 countries. The ultimate online resource for hostels everywhere.Find great value hostels »


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Air Force fires 2 nuclear missile corps commanders
The Air Force fired two commanders and disciplined a third in response to internal investigations of leadership lapses and misbehavior.
The Air Force fired two commanders and disciplined a third in response to internal investigations of leadership lapses and misbehavior.
A rundown of what's at stake on Election Day:
The federal government is suing Southwest Airlines Co. after failing to reach a settlement with the carrier over allegations that repairs to…
Chef Jeff Brown from Cotton Southern Bistro prepares pot roast, cornish game hen, and acorn squash.
Lives need saving. This is your chance to make a difference and help your community.
Our live audience is from the Little Neck Circle of the King's Daughters and they told us about their fantastic fundraising event, the Givin…
It's time for Tuesday's Taste with Patrick Evans-Hylton.
MacArthur On Ice and the popular winter carnival are back!
Colorado Rockies outfielder Michael Cuddyer, who played high school ball in Chesapeake, could be in for another big pay day.
The goal is to develop and enhance coordination between first responders that would be involved in a mishap of this magnitude.
Following a 29-26 road loss at Minnesota, Redskins head coach Jay Gruden is having to answer questions about his team's losing record and po…
One of the military's newest planes made it's first arrested landing on an aircraft carrier Monday.
Sports around Hampton Roads during the weekend of Oct. 31, 2014.


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Display to front
Prof. C.P. Chandrasekhar on Union Budget 2009-10
Newsclick.in Production, 14 July 2009
Tens of Thousands March to End Impunity for the Mexican Narco-State
Courtesy: therealnews.com, November 13, 2014
Prof. John Ackerman argues that outrage over the 43 recently disappeared college students has the potential to unite social forces to challenge the US-backed Mexican Narco-state
Aijaz: The US Aim is to Destroy Iraq and Syria
Newsclick Production, September 18, 2014
Newsclick in an interview with political commentator Aijaz Ahmad, discusses Obama's new strategy on IS. Aijaz argues that the decision of the US to train rebels in Syria earlier and now help them, is not for fighting the IS, but for the destruction of nationalist and secular states in the region, replacing them with fragmented and warring, client states. This is the continuation of the neocon Bush policy that Obama has embraced. According to Aijaz, the US policies have directly resulted in enormous violence in the region and given birth to the IS. Its current policy shows no change and promises only more such violence.
Universal Economic Rights: Bedrock of Citizenship
The Citizen and Newsclick Joint Production, September 3, 2014
Prof. Prabhat Patnaik, an eminent economist, speaks at the Idea of India Conclave on economic rights. He says the society earlier and even now is based on extraordinary caste oppression and social oppression. He emphasises the importance of having universal economic rights like right to food, health care, education, employment etc., for having a meaningful political citizenship. Patnaik argues that providing these rights are easily affordable. He pointed out that the tax GDP ratio in our country is among the lowest in the world and the extra amount required to provide these basic economic rights can easily be realised by additional taxes on the rich.
Ebola Showing up the Global Public Health System
Newsclick Production, August 26, 2014
The Ebola epidemic raging in various parts of Africa has seen over 2000 people already killed by the deadly virus. As the world struggles to deal with and contain further spread of the disease (which has no known cure),we speak to Dr. Satyajit Rath, National Institute of Immunology, New Delhi, about the reasons for and fallout of the epidemic. What are the chances of the disease spreading even further? Why can't this Ebola outbreak be contained given that the disease has been known for more than 20 years? Can the epidemic be blamed on the inadequacy of the public health care systems in Africa? Why is there no vaccines or cure for this disease and how complicit are the drug companies who have preferred to concentrate on developing cures for diseases of the affluent? Is the global health care system failing the poor and the less economically developed countries?
The Outrageous US Court Judgement Causing Argentinian Default
Newsclick Production, August 21, 2014
Two weeks back, a US court blocked Argentina from meeting its international debt payments if it did not first repay a group of hedge. These hedge funds hold a small part of Argentina's debt and have not accepted debt restructuring that other debtors have, putting at risk Argentina's economy. How can a US Court pass a judgment that causes a sovereign nation's default? How come the US and its courts have this power over the world's financial system? We discuss these issue and the lessons that can be drawn for the international financial order with Prof. Jayati Ghosh, Jawaharlal Nehru University.
Gaza Cease-Fire Extended But What's Needed for a Just Solution to the Conflict?
Courtesy: therealnews.com, August 21, 2014
Amnesty International's Deborah Hyams talks about being blocked from carrying out an independent investigation of the most recent Gaza conflict and author Vijay Prashad discusses the latest developments in the Palestinian liberation struggle.
Why a Big NO to FDI in Insurance?
Newsclick Production, August 18, 2014
Prof. Surajit Mazumdar of Jawaharlal Nehru University while talking to Newsclick, is allowing Indian savings to be go to foreign companies. The record of foreign companies, particularly in insurance, is one of aggressive wooing of customers, not paying them under various pretexts and using this money for speculative purposes. This is their "efficiency", which the public sector insurance companies cannot match. Without regulation, these companies play in the market as American Insurance Group (AIG) did and get bailed out if their speculations fail. As we know, 49% is more than enough to control companies and therefore this method of handing over control of Indian peoples savings to foreign hands and financial liberalisation. This is dangerous for the Indian economy.
Politics of Assaults,Struggle and the Way Ahead
The Citizen and Newsclick Joint Production, August 18, 2014
Jagmati Sangwan of All India Democratic Women's Organisation (AIDWA), spoke in the "Idea of India" conclave on the challenges today. She felt that the continuous assaults on the democratic values of citizens are a byproduct of the increasing communalization of the society. Our struggle on the ground against such forces will have to take into account the overt or covert support that the state machinery is extending towards these forces. It is necessary to create a common platform in which all the secular, democratic and progressive forces can come together to resist such attacks. She also thinks that the continuous ignoring by the mainstream, corporatized media of such communal attacks has created a need for the alternative media as an important tool in this struggle.
Prosecute Hate Speech: Teesta Setalvad
The Citizen and Newsclick Joint Production, July 26, 2014
Teesta Setalvad, eminent activist, speaks on Freedom of Dissent at the Idea of India Conclave. She emphasises the importance of having a cohesive intervention to counter the attacks on freedom of expression. Setalvad says that we must all agitate to prosecute hate speech and not allow it to be part of public amnesia, that is being forced upon us.