Charles Jacobs (political activist)
| Charles Jacobs | |
|---|---|
| Nationality | American |
| Alma mater | Harvard University |
| Occupation | activist |
Charles Jacobs is an American activist and writer. At present, Jacobs is president of Americans for Peace and Tolerance, a Boston-based advocacy group that frequently accuses local Muslim leaders of extremism and campaigns against practices it views as anti-Semitic and anti-Israel.
Jacobs has stated that he spent his early years in Newark, New Jersey. He has been described as a “business consultant” and a “management consultant.” He holds a Doctor of Education (EdD) from Harvard University, having graduated in 1988. The Boston Jewish Advocate has described Jacobs as a key figure in founding Boston’s chapter of the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America (CAMERA); Jacobs has referred to himself as its co-founder, and notes that he was inspired to create the organization after “fuming” at what he describes as The Boston Globe’s “bashing of Israel.”
Jacobs has been involved in anti-slavery activism since the 1990s, having helped to found the American Anti-Slavery Group (AASG)—which was incorporated in December 1994, with Jacobs as its clerk and treasurer—through which he proceeded to publicize contemporary slavery in Sudan and Mauritania. Jacobs campaigned personally in favor of divestment from mutual funds supporting oil companies such as Talisman Energy which, he alleged, supported the Khartoum-based Sudanese government.
AASG, in partnership with Christian Solidarity International (CSI), participated in a practice known as slave redemption, whereby aid organizations purchase slaves’ freedom with money from donations. As of 1999, AASG was a fundraiser for CSI. AASG’s and CSI’s slave redemption policy was opposed by UNICEF, which argued that the practice was “intolerable.” Jacobs responded on behalf of AASG that “[w]hat is intolerable is to leave these women and children in the hands of brutal captors” and also disputed UNICEF’s allegations that redemption encourages the purchase of weaponry by injecting US dollars into the Sudanese economy. He has further claimed that slave redemption does not incentivize the slave trade, although he characterized the policy as a “temporary solution” that AASG would abandon if it were deemed counterproductive by the people of Sudan.
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