Instead though, Polaris glows with pride when patted on the back by some of the world's worst big businesses. They happily state that Rachel Lloyd, a member of Polaris' Advisory Board, is a "Recipient of a Reebok Human Rights Award in 2006. The Reebok sportswear brand is now well-known as using sweatshop labor. Polaris could of course give back all these awards and earn publicity for the cause they are supposed to be about, but it appears that they prefer to act with hypocrisy. They hold out their hands for donations from the public despite this double-standard and despite being partly funded by numerous governmental arms, including the U.S. Department of State; the U.S. Department of Justice's Bureau of Justice Assistance and their Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention; the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services from the District of Columbia; the Government of the U.S. Congress and the [Washington] DC Metropolitan Police Department.
Unfortunately, this pretense of being for the underdog does not end there. Polaris' Advisory Board acknowledges on their website that their Advisory Board also includes "HM Queen Noor Queen of Jordon [sic] (meaning Jordan.) This is a country that has a very mixed human rights record, particularly in their recent lack of recognition of the many thousands of Iraqi, Kurdish Iranian and Palestinian refugees who have entered there. The Human Rights Watch organization believes their policy can be characterized as "the silent treatment. In other words, the ruling Jordanian royal family don't want to talk about it. They'd rather get good press by being involved with an organization like Polaris Project who will be happy to turn a blind eye to this issue and help them look like they actually care about the rights of the oppressed and the exploited.
Polaris' Board of Directors contains the Coordinator of the Boston Chapter of Polaris Project, Mei-Mei Ellerman, who is also a Resident Scholar in the Women's Studies Research Center at Brandeis University in Massachusetts. Ms. Ellerman is the mother of co-founder and fellow-Director of Polaris, Derek Ellerman (although this relationship is not stated anywhere on their website.) In addition to this role at Polaris, Mr Ellerman is as a Fellow and Ambassador with the Virginia-based charity, Ashoka Innovators for the Public, where he currently provides consultation services as a Senior Venture Advisor. His salary there is currently undisclosed but Ashoka pays at least four of its ˜leadership' in excess of $106,487 each according to the Charity Navigator organisation.
But it is the links here that Polaris' has with Brandeis University that causes even greater concern. Carolyn Chu, one of the staff of Polaris Project recently wrote a sycophantic article in The Brandeis Universities student newspaper The Justice, praising Mei-Mei Ellerman. While she did not inform readers that she in fact worked for Ms Ellerman, ignoring this particular journalist's ethic makes you wonder what else is being glossed-over or ignored by Polaris in their association with Brandeis.
One major source of alarm is that Brandeis University has a fast-developing recent history of prejudice and bigotry. It was founded as a non-sectarian Jewish institution and had shown credentials as a place of tolerance, but under the latest president Jehuda Reinharz, Brandeis professors have become disturbed by his administration's acts of apparent censorship, such as the decision to suddenly take down "Voices of Palestine," a campus display of artworks by Palestinian youths. The Zionist Organization of America, had called the exhibit "ghastly and questioned "How can Brandeis expect their large Jewish student body to be comfortable in such an environment? My question is should Polaris be seeking their comfort in the arms of the Brandeis University's president?
Mr. Reinharz has also contributed to unease over the issue of academic freedom when early last year he did not attend a speech by former President Jimmy Carter at the university. According to journalist Sierra Milman, "his absence seemed to confirm faculty members' suspicions that the university administration was trying to distance itself from Mr. Carter's visit in order to placate some wealthy, conservative Jewish donors who were outraged by Mr. Carter's [pro-Palestinian] opinions.
Shulamit T. Reinharz, a sociology professor who is the wife of the university's president, has also attracted criticism. Writing her column in The Jewish Advocate, a weekly newspaper in Boston, Ms. Reinharz endorsed an article that accused certain Jewish critics of Israel of contributing to anti-Semitism. She stated that Jews, who threaten the existence of Israel, whether with words or deeds, are anti-Semites. Polaris maintains that they are in favor of liberating the oppressed. It looks like this does not include Palestinians.
What emerges here is a pattern. In example after example, Polaris Project is working hand in hand with businesses, organizations and individuals diametrically opposite to the principles that Polaris claims to be about. If Polaris Project wants to avoid being a hypocritical organization it should immediately cut all ties with those companies and institutions it has stooped to take awards and big bucks from.
In February last year, Steven Spielberg said his conscience would not allow him to continue working as an adviser to this year's Beijing Olympics because of China's involvement in the humanitarian crisis in Darfur. Polaris Project could learn from this kind of act.
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