NSP's Ad Campaign
Con the War & Pro a Vision

As many of you know, NSP had a full page ad in the first section of the May 17th NY Times. For those of you who have not seen it yet, I'm attaching Michael Lerner's letter about reactions to the ad. In the first paragraph of his letter is the link to view the ad (and also to donate to the next one).
     Would you like to see the real thing -- a full size copy of the ad at the size
of 12 inches by 22 inches, a full NY Times page, as it appeared on the right
hand side, early in the newspaper, page 9? Gives you a greater sense of its
power than the website version! Send me an email (Marian@SpiritualProgressivesCT.org) and I'll send it to you.
Peace and blessings, Marian

Date: Sat, 19 May 2007

Dear Marian,

Did you get to see the ad about how to end the war in Iraq that we placed in the
NY Times on Thursday, May 17? you can read its contents at
www.tikkun.org/iraqpeace in its final form....
     The good news is this: we've had a very strong positive response from those who
have read it (and of course, the Times is read by one million of the most influential people in the country).
     One Congressperson called me to congratulate me, told me that it had created a
buzz among his colleagues who read it, but that they all agreed that the next
one should be printed in the Washington Post (which, they argued, was a very
importan t "Red State" even though its citizens are not, but many of the
Congresspeople who had not read it in the Times, and many media people, would
read it in the Washington Post, they thought, and he conveyed to me). I'm not so
sure--I am also looking for some way to get a revised and updated version in
some other newspapers.
     Another Congressperson told me that he thought that our thinking, though
prophetic at this moment, would llikely prevail in the future, particularly, he
said, if either Obama or Edwards became president. H e felt that doing what we
are doing is deeply important even though we should not expect any immediate
earthquake under our feet, but that the direction is the only possible direction for our country. He told me that he felt that this ad, with its new
thinking, was far more important than many demonstrations which, while valuable
because they give people a sense that they are not alone in their opposition to
the war, are nevertheless having virtually no imp act in the discussion in D.C.,
whereas our ad, because it has a whole new approach, is already having an impact
and will have even more if we can print more of them in other newspapers.
     My basic point is: you should be proud of yourself for having helped make this
happen. When your grandchildren ask "What did you do during the horrible crimes
of the Iraq war?" you can tell them that you helped put that message into the
media, and that it played a role in shifting public discourse. Some of you may
have also heard some of t he media follow-up, for example Rev. Tony Campolo's
debate with Michael Medved on Medved's nationally broadcast radio show.
     Of course, it would be wonderful if you wanted to help keep this going by donating again (on line at www.tikkun.org/iraq peace --all lower case-- or by
sending a check to Tikkun/NSP at 2342 Shattuck, #1200, Berkeley, Ca. 94704 (and
mention on the left hand side of check: reprint Iraq ad). We'd use your donation
to put the messag e into other newspapers, probably the Washington Post and
maybe the St. Louis Post Dispatch, the Miami Herald, the Denver Post, or a
newspaper in either Dallas or Houston. Of course, all that depends on whether we
can raise enough money to do so.
     I did also get many calls from people who read and were inspired by the ad. For
them, it made a difference, made them feel that somebody was thinking about
"what comes next," and that they really appreciated hearing that because
everyone who challenges them does so with the argum ent "those peace people
don't know what is going to happen next, they just want to cut and run" so our
ad, they told me, gave them a powerful picture that they could share with others. One person even told me she was going to frame it, "it's the best set of ideas I've ever heard from anybody in the peace movement,"
she told me

So, again, thank you so very much!

Blessings to you!
Michael

Rabbi Michael Lerner
RabbiLerner@tikkun.org