{"id":295,"date":"2019-04-22T09:48:48","date_gmt":"2019-04-22T13:48:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/ewcjs\/?p=295"},"modified":"2019-04-22T09:48:48","modified_gmt":"2019-04-22T13:48:48","slug":"yosef-abramowitzs-burden-privilege-and-responsibility-of-rebellion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/ewcjs\/yosef-abramowitzs-burden-privilege-and-responsibility-of-rebellion\/","title":{"rendered":"Yosef Abramowitz’s Burden, Privilege, and Responsibility of Rebellion"},"content":{"rendered":"

By: Katherine Gianni<\/em><\/p>\n

Before Yosef Abramowitz was a three-time Nobel Peace Prize nominee, an Israeli presidential hopeful, CEO of a major impact investment platform, or named one of CNN\u2019s top six green pioneers worldwide, he was a student in Elie Wiesel\u2019s classroom. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI had the good fortune of being Elie Wiesel\u2019s student in 1986, the year he won the Nobel Peace Prize,\u201d Mr. Abramowitz recalled. \u201cThe name of the course was the Burden, Privilege and Responsibility of Rebellion. That really worked for me. He had such a strong moral grounding about the necessity to challenge.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Mr. Abramowitz isn\u2019t afraid to own up to his rebellious side, at least when it comes to creating what he refers to as, \u201cthe good kind of trouble.\u201d On Tuesday, April 16, the Jewish educator, human rights activist, and environmentalist returned to his alma mater to speak and share stories with students on topics ranging from his days of chaining himself to Boston University President John Silber\u2019s fence in an act of protest, to how to win today\u2019s climate change battle.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThere was a confluence when I was a student here of two big issues,\u201d Mr. Abramowitz explained. \u201cOne was the fight of the freedom of Jews in the former Soviet Union. The other moral issue of the time, and perhaps the greatest moral issue of my generation, was apartheid in South Africa.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Mr. Abramowitz and his fellow activists\u2019 demands were clear: divestment of all university shares in companies that were profiting from the apartheid. The students organized rallies, made calls to other campuses urging for involvement, partook in hunger strikes, and even took over Mugar Library to spread their message.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cPeople in the university didn\u2019t appreciate what we were doing,\u201d Mr. Abramowitz explained. \u201cThey were like, \u201cWell, what are you students really going to accomplish? What is this really going to do in the world?\u201d Then what happened was Members of Congress started proposing sanctions legislation in response to this, like lots of Members of Congress.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The Comprehensive Anti-Apartheid Act of 1986 imposed sanctions on South Africa while outlining five preconditions for lifting said sanctions and ending apartheid. President Ronald Reagan vetoed the bill saying he favored \u201cconstructive engagement.\u201d But then, Mr. Abramowitz explained, something tipped the scale.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe only time Reagan\u2019s veto was overturned was in his first term in office at the height of his popularity–it was on the sanctions against South Africa,\u201d he said, smiling. \u201cAnd that\u2019s what students can do. I can\u2019t say that when we were chaining ourselves to President Silber\u2019s fence we were thinking about overturning Reagan\u2019s veto, but just social movements–creating the wave and catching the wave, is really, really important.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Mr. Abramowitz continues to ride the wave of activism today as CEO of Energiya Global Capital, a Jerusalem-based impact investment platform that provides returns to investors while furthering Israel\u2019s environmentalism and advancing affordable green power to underserved populations as a fundamental human right. The organization was founded shortly after Mr. Abramowitz, his wife, Susan Silverman (CAS \u201885) and their five children moved over 5,000 miles across the globe from Newton, Massachusetts, to Kibbutz Ketura, Israel, in 2006.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Mr.
Mr. Abramowitz\u00a0pictured with his wife, Susan Silverman. Photo courtesy of BU Today.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cMy family and I arrived to the Kibbutz right at sunset. We opened the air conditioned doors and boom we\u2019re hit with this heat that was so disorienting,\u201d Mr. Abramowitz explained. \u201cThe sun was just dipping and felt like superman laser beams going \u201cwoosh!\u201d burning us to a crisp. At that point I had the thought, \u201cOh I\u2019m sure the whole place works on solar power.\u201d\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Quickly, Mr. Abramowitz discovered that despite Israel being dubbed a \u201cworld leader\u201d in solar technology, no one in the region was utilizing its power. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe response I got was, \u201coh yeah, Israel\u2019s a world leader in solar technology but no one\u2019s crazy enough to take on the government,\u201d\u201d he explained. \u201cThen I thought…the burden, privilege, and responsibility of rebellion\u2026\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Mr. Abramowitz was crazy enough for the job. He teamed up with his business partners, Ed Hofland and David Rosenblatt, and together the three founded Arava Power Company. In 2011, the organization unveiled Israel\u2019s first solar energy field at Ketura. Energiya Global Capital came next, with a goal of providing clean, sustainable solar energy for 50 million people by 2020.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIf someone could unlock the value, if someone can actually prove that it\u2019s not out of reach, it’s actually doable, if something could change the paradigm, why not us?\u201d he asked. \u201cWhy not us?\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

A question and answer session followed Mr. Abramowitz\u2019s remarks. A BU senior inquired about his approach to successful activism.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhat were some things that kept you going or helped you succeed during your activism battles and efforts?\u201d she asked.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cKnow what your values are,\u201d Mr. Abramowitz answered. \u201cIf you believe in them, do something about it. I was privileged to be gifted these very powerful values at a time when they lead to action and world change. I think that\u2019s been lost in this generation because social media make it too easy to like or dislike and you feel like, \u201cOkay, I\u2019ve already weighed in.\u201d You cannot forget about the action.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

To learn more about Mr. Abramowitz, his work, and his hopes for the next generation visit <\/span><\/i>http:\/\/www.bu.edu\/today\/2014\/civil-disobedience-a-love-story\/<\/span><\/i><\/a>.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By: Katherine Gianni Before Yosef Abramowitz was a three-time Nobel Peace Prize nominee, an Israeli presidential hopeful, CEO of a major impact investment platform, or named one of CNN\u2019s top six green pioneers worldwide, he was a student in Elie Wiesel\u2019s classroom. \u00a0 \u201cI had the good fortune of being Elie Wiesel\u2019s student in 1986, … Continue reading Yosef Abramowitz’s Burden, Privilege, and Responsibility of Rebellion<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6765,"featured_media":296,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[10],"tags":[11,41,45,43,44,6,42,29,46,40],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/ewcjs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/295"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/ewcjs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/ewcjs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/ewcjs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6765"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/ewcjs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=295"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/ewcjs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/295\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":302,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/ewcjs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/295\/revisions\/302"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/ewcjs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/296"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/ewcjs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=295"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/ewcjs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=295"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/ewcjs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=295"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}