News Release

The Forward - December 21, 2001
FORWARD STAFF
Republished by permission of the Forward

Rebellion in AJCongress 

Disgruntled American Jewish Congress leaders in Boston have started a new "progressive" organization, sparking talk in some circles about the possibility of creating a new national entity for liberal activists.

The new group, known as the Jewish Alliance for Law & Social Action, or JALSA, has about two dozen founders, including the president of the New England region of AJCongress, Sumner Kaplan. Organizers said that they have been unhappy for years with what they describe as a rightward shift by the national office of AJCongress, but only moved to start a new group after the recent firing of New England regional executive director Sheila Decter.

Leaders of the new Boston group said that they are interested in working with the Progressive Jewish Alliance, a Los Angeles-based group founded by AJCongress veterans. The alliance was founded after the AJCongress decided to shut down its Southern California chapter in 1999. The press release announcing the creation of JALSA included a quote from the Los Angeles group's president, Douglas Mirell, welcoming the opportunity to work together and raising the potential for a new alliance of liberal groups.

"We at PJA look forward to pursuing with JALSA the many issues of national and international significance as to which we have a common interest and a shared perspective," Mr. Mirell was quoted as saying. "We also look forward to expanding our network of conscience to others who have been disenfranchised by, or who are disenchanted with, the actions and views of the present Jewish establishment."

Leaders of both organizations said talk of forming a new liberal alliance was only in its early stages, and could include AJCongress dropouts in other cities, such as San Francisco, where the local branch was closed by the national office earlier this year. It was unclear, they added, if activists in Boston and Los Angeles will want to duplicate the typical model for a national organization or form a loose confederation of local groups.

But officials from both local groups said there needs to be some sort of national, secular organizational voice speaking out on domestic and international issues from a liberal perspective. For example, they complained that only the Reform movement has actively criticized the anti-terrorism bill promoted by the White House, known as the USA Patriot Act of 2001.

The emphasis on domestic issues distinguishes the Boston and Los Angeles groups from the Progressive Zionist Alliance, a new, Philadelphia-based organization that will focus on promoting liberal Israeli policies. The Philadelphia group was founded by a disgruntled former AJCongress officer, but also includes local rabbis as well as members of Americans for Peace Now, the Jewish Labor Committee, Labor Zionist Alliance, Meretz USA and others.

The trick for creating a liberal domestic voice, said the executive director of PJA, Daniel Sokatch, is to come up with an organizational structure that would attract an older generation of liberals who no longer feel represented by AJCongress, as well as a younger generation of activists who feel alienated from most existing national Jewish organizations, including the liberal ones.

"The question is whether there is a way to synthesize those two groups into one movement," said Mr. Sokatch, whose L.A.-based group has 700 members and an annual budget of $200,000. "Can an organization provide a home to both groups?"

Members of both the Boston and Los Angeles groups complained about what they described as a political shift to the right by AJCongress under the leadership of the organization's national president, Jack Rosen, and executive director, Phil Baum. They also complained that the two men are attempting to transform AJCongress, with its 30,000-plus members and $6 million budget, from a grassroots organization dominated by regional activists to a centrally controlled shop run by Mr. Rosen.

Mr. Rosen denied that the organization had shifted to the right, or that he was trying to usurp power from regional leaders. Instead, the AJCongress president said, he was simply forcing the regions to meet fundraising and membership recruitment goals. He wished the new Boston organization well, but added that few of the 2,000 members of the New England region had left the AJCongress since Ms. Decter's firing.

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