Until recently, Sarah Leiber Church has been the Program Director for the Progressive Jewish Alliance's (PJA) Bay Area Office. In her six years with PJA, Sarah was deeply engaged in interfaith and coalition work on core social and economic justice campaigns such as "Hotel Workers Rising," and "No on 8." She also sits on the advisory board of Sweatfree Communities. In the fall, she begins studies at NYU's Wagner School of Public Service.
Ethix Merch: From where you sit, how is the anti-sweatshop movement faring? Does anti-sweatshop work still have a prominent place on the national progressive agenda?
Sarah Leiber Church:
Even as we all reel from economic woes, the US media skewers unions, and the negative impacts of corporate globalization are more and more apparent, anti-sweatshop work has become a bright spot of constructive, cross-sector solutions with a few main initiatives that build tangible alternatives, and have sparked grassroots support across the country.
A few examples: Sweatfree government procurement, championed by the Sweatfree Purchasing Consortium, has brought together cities & states to leverage tax dollars to support fair workplaces. The Designated Suppliers Program is the latest innovation being built by United Students Against Sweatshops to support labor-rights-compliant factories. And the economic moment has galvanized conscious consumerism that has picked up the speed of fair trade and union-made products.
Ethix Merch: What motivates the American Jewish community more, when it comes to sweatfree activism and consumerism -- biblical teachings or the Jewish experience as victims of sweatshops? What more can be done to increase the Jewish community's involvement in the work?
Sarah Leiber Church:
There's a saying I love - "2 Jews, 3 Opinions" - that always makes me wary of naming communal motivations. Even what binds us together into a community is a blend of many motivating factors - faith, ethnicity, history, culture. On the one hand, while teaching Jews about labor rights and sweatshops for the past 6 years, I must admit I have felt more "aha" moments when I invoke the Eastern-European Jewish immigrant experience than when I invoke Torah. For many American Jews today (especially the majority which does not follow halacha, or Jewish law), historical moments like the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire evoke sympathy and outrage, while Deuteronomy may be more of a theoretical exercise. On the other hand, when presented with a text, those I've worked with tend to somewhat accept its implicit merit, and even if they challenge it they'll re-interpret or play with the text, finding ways they agree. This willingness to engage is incredibly powerful for our work, because the texts are so clearly supportive of rights for workers.
Whether its source is biblical or historical, therefore, an internal moral compass points the vast majority of Jews I've encountered towards deep support of workers' rights. The challenge is then not to change minds, but to activate them. Two essential ingredients for this task - a personal connection and a feasible, prompt way to take action. Since we all wear clothes, most of us have worked a job, and Jews have the historical and/or biblical connection, the former only needs to have attention called to it. To accomplish the latter, we must find ways to brings Jews together to support labor rights, and have ready-made, meaningful ways that Jewish groups like synagogues, or individuals, can get involved.
Ethix Merch: As someone who has done both paid and unpaid activist work for a long time, do you find one to be more effective than the other? In other words, when activists are paid for their work, does something important get lost?
Sarah Leiber Church:
Personally, with my limited energy and time, I want to maximize my impact by making the work of my heart also the work that allows me to sustain myself. This has, for me, led to opportunities that cleave closely to personal priorities, but that's always something to watch - is the focus of your work shifting due to what is "fundable," and how will you reconcile or address that? It's important to keep evaluating whether the intent and process of your work, as well as your role in it, is still work you deem deeply important and effective. That's a main thing that can get lost with professional change work.
Ethix Merch: What do you hope to accomplish during your time at NYU's Wagner School?
Sarah Leiber Church:
I'm very much looking forward to playing with new ideas about how change can be made. I'm particularly interested in innovative cross-sector collaborations, towards labor rights and in other arenas - food, economic development, etc. And I plan to "nerd out" on organizational management theory, specifically as it relates to partnerships - which can form the foundation of effective, well-connected movements.
Ethix Merch: Looking back on your six years with Progressive Jewish Alliance, what is one of your proudest accomplishments?
Sarah Leiber Church:
I wouldn't quite call it an accomplishment of mine, but what makes me proudest about my work is the passion and skill of new generations (young and young-at-heart) of organizers coming up through PJA's ranks. These are folks who have re-found Judaism, or re-found social justice work, or who know our community so deeply that they can see possibilities for impactful changemaking that even long-time leaders cannot see. Having been a part of building the container for such a vibrant community - it makes me so hopeful.
