Open Library

This seminal essay by Hannah Arendt was first published in the Menorah Journal in October 1944. It was inspired by the meeting of the World Zionist Organization’s American section in Atlantic City, where a call was made for a Jewish state covering the entire territory of Palestine, without any division or reduction. Arendt foresaw the importance of this event: “This is a turning point in Zionist history; for it means that the Revisionist programme, so long bitterly repudiated, has proved finally victorious. The Atlantic City Resolution goes even a step further than the Biltmore Programme (1942), in which the Jewish minority had granted minority rights to the Arab majority. This time the Arabs were simply not mentioned in the resolution, which obviously leaves them the choice between voluntary emigration or second-class citizenship.”

=> Zionism Reconsidered

“The major speech at Riverside Church in New York City followed several interviews and several other public speeches in which King came out against the Vietnam War and the policies that created it. Some, like civil rights leader Ralph Bunche, the NAACP, and the editorial page writers of The Washington Post and The New York Times, called the Riverside Church speech [delivered on April 4th, 1967] a mistake on King’s part.

. . . The “Beyond Vietnam” speech reflected King’s evolving political advocacy in his later years, which paralleled the teachings of the progressive Highlander Research and Education Center, with which he was affiliated. King began to speak of the need for fundamental changes in the political and economic life of the nation, and more frequently expressed his opposition to the war and his desire to see a redistribution of resources to correct racial and economic injustice. He guarded his language in public to avoid being linked to communism by his enemies, but in private he sometimes spoke of his support for democratic socialism.” (Quote from Wikipedia)

=> Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence

Laudato si’, papal encyclical issued by Pope Francis on May 24, 2015. It was the second encyclical of Francis’s papacy (2013–25) and his first social encyclical (i.e., it specifically addresses moral issues). Also known as “On Care for Our Common Home,” Laudato si’ (“Praise Be to You”) is the first encyclical in the history of the Roman Catholic Church to be devoted entirely to the issue of the environment. Indeed, in its treatment of care for the Earth as a moral issue, it is a landmark religious document.

Laudato si’ was welcomed as an important contribution to global discourse about climate change and humans’ role in caring for the Earth. Although it polarized some Catholics, it spurred change within many dioceses, including the development of “care for creation” groups, creation-themed liturgies, a call to repentance for wasteful consumption, and ecological awareness action plans. It also led to the establishment of a new dicastery of the Roman Curia that focuses on integral human development. (Quote from Britannica)

=> Laudato Si’

“As the twentieth century draws to a close, we find that the world has grown smaller and the world’s people have become almost one community. Political and military alliances have created large multinational groups, industry and international trade have produced a global economy, and worldwide communications are eliminating ancient barriers of distance, language and race. We are also being drawn together by the grave problems we face: overpopulation, dwindling natural resources, and an environmental crisis that threatens our air, water, and trees, along with the vast number of beautiful life forms that are the very foundation of existence on this small planet we share.

I believe that to meet the challenge of our times, human beings will have to develop a greater sense of universal responsibility. Each of us must learn to work not just for his or her own self, family or nation, but for the benefit of all mankind. Universal responsibility is the real key to human survival. It is the best foundation for world peace, the equitable use of natural resources, and through concern for future generations, the proper care of the environment.

For some time, I have been thinking about how to increase our sense of mutual responsibility and the altruistic motive from which it derives. Briefly, I would like to offer my thoughts.” (Extract)

=> The Global Community and the Need for Universal Responsibility

“And so you cannot tell whether the South Koreans are enthusiastic about UNO, or would prefer union with their cousins in the North. Nor can you guess whether they are willing to forgo land reform for the privilege of voting for some politician they have never heard of. It is neglect of such questions by the eminent men who sit in remote capitals, that so frequently causes disappointment. If politics is to become scientific, and if the event is not to be constantly surprising, it is imperative that our political thinking should penetrate more deeply into the springs of human action. What is the influence of hunger upon slogans? How does their effectiveness fluctuate with the number of calories in your diet? If one man offers you democracy and another offers you a bag of grain, at what stage of starvation will you prefer the grain to the vote? Such questions are far too little considered. However, let us, for the present, forget the Koreans, and consider the human race.” (Extract from What Desires Are Politically Important?, Russell’s Nobel prize acceptance speech in 1950)

=> What Desires Are Politically Important?