Ady Barkan

Not to be confused with Adi Barkan.

Ady Barkan
Barkan in 2019
Born	Ohad Barkan (1983-12-18)December 18, 1983 Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.
Died	November 1, 2023(2023-11-01) (aged 39) Santa Barbara, California, U.S.
Cause of death	Complications from ALS
Education	Columbia University (BA) Yale University (JD)
Occupations	Activist attorney
Employer	Center for Popular Democracy
Known for	Fed Up, Be a Hero
Spouse	Rachael King
Children	2
Website	beaherofund.com

Ohad "Ady" Barkan (Hebrew: אדי ברקן; December 18, 1983 – November 1, 2023) was an American lawyer and activist. He was co-founder of the Be a Hero PAC^[1] and was an organizer for the Center for Popular Democracy, where he led the Fed Up campaign.^[2] Barkan confronted Senator Jeff Flake on a plane in 2017, asking him to "be a hero" and vote no on a tax bill that threatened cuts to Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security.^[3]

Barkan, who was diagnosed with the terminal neurodegenerative disease ALS (also known as Lou Gehrig's disease) in 2016 shortly after the birth of his son, was called "the most powerful activist in America" in a headline from 2019 in Politico Magazine.^[3] In 2020, he was included on Time's list of the 100 most influential people in the world.^[4][5]

Early life and education

Ohad Barkan, known as Ady, was born in Boston, Massachusetts,^[6] on December 18, 1983,^[7] to immigrant parents from Romania and Israel.^[8] His mother, Diana L. Kormos-Buchwald, is a professor of the history of science at the California Institute of Technology and his father, Elazar Barkan, is a professor of international and public affairs at Columbia University.^[6] Barkan grew up first in Cambridge, Massachusetts, then in Claremont and Pasadena, California,^[6] in what he described as a "secular Jewish household". He held dual U.S. and Israeli citizenship.^[8]

Barkan attended high school in Claremont, where he took an early interest in progressive activism like the fight against anti-gay rights legislation.^[8] Barkan next attended Columbia College, taking courses taught by economists Joseph Stiglitz and Jeffrey Sachs, and graduating cum laude in 2006.^[9] He went on to Yale Law School, where he earned his Juris Doctor in 2010.^[10]

Career

Early career

Between college and law school, Barkan worked on the campaign of Democrat Victoria Wells Wulsin,^[11] serving as communications director for Wulsin's longshot and ultimately unsuccessful effort to win a congressional seat in a strongly Republican area of Cincinnati.^[9] Following law school, Barkan lived in New York where he worked on immigrant legal rights, then clerked for Judge Shira Scheindlin on the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York.^[8]

Barkan worked for the Center for Popular Democracy.^[12] organizing local left-wing officials through the Center's Local Progress initiative.^[13] He grew the network to over 1,000 participants and helped win paid sick leave in New York City in 2013 and a $15 minimum wage in Seattle in 2014.^[13] Beginning in 2012, Barkan developed the Fed Up campaign, also through CPD, to advocate with the Federal Reserve for the impact of monetary policy on low-income people. Organizing protests at the Federal Reserve's annual meeting in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, Fed Up sought to slow the raise of interest rates and more broadly change the governance structure of the Federal Reserve; by 2014, the group was included in the annual meeting's agenda.^[14] Barkan met with then Chairwoman Janet Yellen and reportedly influenced her to increase prioritization of minimizing unemployment in the Federal Reserve's dual mandate.^[15][16] In HuffPost, Daniel Marans wrote that this effort "was all part of Barkan's appetite for taking on unlikely fights and making his own odds with a blend of wonkish idealism and sheer determination. And it reflected an institutionalist optimism that has fallen out of fashion in some quarters of the left: a belief that even the country's most elite institutions could be penetrated by the right social movement."^[13]

Advocacy after ALS diagnosis

Barkan with Senator Elizabeth Warren in 2019

In December 2017,^[17] Barkan engaged Republican U.S. Senator Jeff Flake of Arizona about Flake's impending vote on the proposed tax cuts, an exchange captured on video by another activist, Liz Jaff,^[18] when they were on the same cross-country flight.^[19] Barkan pressed Flake on the PAYGO cuts to Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security that such large tax cuts would trigger,^[20] endangering programs that Barkan's disease meant his survival would soon depend on. He pleaded with Flake to "be an American hero" and vote against the tax cuts to ensure that patients like Barkan would not lose access, for instance, to the ventilator Barkan would eventually need to be able to breathe.^[21][22] Flake voted for the cuts.^[3] Following that encounter, Barkan developed the Be a Hero campaign that supports a range of progressive causes and candidates.^[23]

During the 2018 Supreme Court confirmation hearings of Brett Kavanaugh, in collaboration with the Maine People's Alliance and Mainers for Accountable Leadership,^[24] Barkan and the Be a Hero campaign advocated for Republican U.S. Senator Susan Collins of Maine to vote against the nomination; among other issues,^[24] Kavanaugh opposed abortion and while Collins had indicated she would not support a nominee who would overturn Roe v. Wade,^[25] she nevertheless seemed likely to support the nomination. After making little headway with other means of reaching Collins, Barkan turned to fundraising.^[25] The effort sought crowd-funded donations in the amount of $20.20 to back a Democratic challenger to Collins's 2020 reelection campaign in the event that Collins supported Kavanaugh;^[25] Barkan used the Crowdpac platform to collect pledges that would have been refunded to donors if Collins voted to oppose Kavanaugh's nomination. She ultimately voted to confirm and the campaign raised $4 million from more than 100,000 donors to fund 2020 challenger Sara Gideon.^[26][27] Gideon was subsequently defeated by Collins.

In April 2019, Barkan testified before the United States House Committee on Rules in favor of Medicare for All at the first-ever congressional hearing on the subject. Barkan, who had ALS, used augmentative and alternative communication to testify to the House panel about why he believed America needs single-payer health care.^[28]

Barkan in 2019

Barkan was also a national co-chair of Health Care Voter.^[29] Barkan was named one of the Top 50 Political Thinkers in 2016 by Politico^[30] and in 2018, he was listed in the 50 most influential American Jews by Forward.^[31] During the July 2019 debate, Elizabeth Warren mentioned Barkan's struggle as an example of the inadequacies of private insurance.^[32] In August 2019, Barkan had his first interview with a presidential candidate. He spoke with Cory Booker and discussed Booker's plans for healthcare reform. During the interview, they also discussed how it was for Booker to watch his father, who died of Parkinson's, become ill and die.^[33]

Barkan's book, Eyes to the Wind: A Memoir of Love and Death, Hope and Resistance, was published in September 2019 by Atria Books.^[34] The book was blurbed by Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders and includes a foreword by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.^[35]

During day 2 of the 2020 Democratic National Convention on August 18, 2020, Barkan gave a speech for his support of the Joe Biden 2020 presidential campaign.^[36]

The 2021 documentary Not Going Quietly followed Barkan's activism after his diagnosis. The New York Times called it "a warm and generous portrait".^[37]

In April 2022, as part of humanitarian charity Oxfam's shareholder resolution campaign to press the three giant COVID-19 vaccine makers to make their vaccines more accessible worldwide, Barkan appealed to the Pfizer board of directors in a pre-recorded message.^[38][39][40]

In September 2023, Barkan was honored with the "Freedom from Want" award from the Roosevelt Institute, one of the annual Four Freedoms Awards, "for his unapologetic work fighting for freedom from economic want and for a more just health-care system in the United States".^[41][42][43]

Personal life and death

Barkan was married to Rachael King,^[44] an English professor.^[45] King and Barkan, who met as undergraduates at Columbia,^[8] had two children: a son, born in 2016, and a daughter, born in 2019.^[46][47] They lived in Santa Barbara, California.^[48] He was a member of the Democratic Socialists of America.^[49]

Barkan died from complications of ALS at Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital on November 1, 2023, at age 39.^[6][50][13]

References

1. Reston, Maeve; Ramirez, Gabe (October 24, 2019). "A neurodegenerative disease took this man's future, but his legacy might be the 2020 election". CNN. Archived from the original on October 25, 2019. Retrieved October 25, 2019.
2. "Ady Barkan". The Nation. January 16, 2018. Archived from the original on August 6, 2019. Retrieved August 6, 2019.
3. Allen, Arthur (March 24, 2019). "The Most Powerful Activist in America Is Dying". POLITICO Magazine. Archived from the original on July 23, 2020. Retrieved August 6, 2019.
4. "Ady Barkan: The 100 Most Influential People of 2020". Time. Archived from the original on September 24, 2020. Retrieved September 23, 2020.
5. Ady Barkan I TIME100 2020. Retrieved November 2, 2023.
6. Ives, Mike (November 2, 2023). "Ady Barkan, Health Care Activist, Dies at 39". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved November 2, 2023.
7. "Man with ALS to senator: You can save my life". CNN. December 14, 2017. Archived from the original on February 12, 2019. Retrieved February 10, 2019.
8. Singer, Jenny; Casey, Nikki (November 11, 2018). "Ady Barkan Will Die For Your Sins: Meet The Man Giving His Last Breath To Democracy". The Forward. Archived from the original on February 12, 2019. Retrieved February 11, 2019.
9. Pre, Jenn (Winter 2018–2019). ""Be a Hero," Urges ALS-Afflicted Activist". Columbia College Today. Archived from the original on December 15, 2019. Retrieved February 10, 2019.
10. Belli, Brita (October 22, 2018). "Driven to serve: Jefferson Awards recognize Yale's unsung heroes". YaleNews. Archived from the original on October 22, 2020. Retrieved February 10, 2019.
11. Noel, Jude (September 5, 2018). "He Launched His Political Career in Cincinnati — Now He's Fighting for Health Care Access While Battling ALS". CityBeat Cincinnati. Archived from the original on February 12, 2019. Retrieved February 10, 2019.
12. Eliahou, Maya; Lear, Justin (August 6, 2018). "Dying of ALS, this father is using his last breaths to help Democrats win in 2018". CNN. Archived from the original on February 12, 2019. Retrieved February 10, 2019.
13. Marans, Daniel (November 1, 2023). "Ady Barkan, Who Used His Illness To Advance Progressive Causes, Dies". HuffPost. Retrieved November 2, 2023.
14. Appelbaum, Binyamin (August 24, 2016). "Fed, Eager to Show It's Listening, Welcomes Protesters". The New York Times. Archived from the original on February 12, 2019. Retrieved February 10, 2019.
15. Baker, Dean (November 2, 2023). "The Death of Ady Barkan, a Great Organizer and Great Human Being". Center for Economic and Policy Research.
16. "Ady Barkan, Activist Who Used His Illness To Advance Progressive Causes, Dies". Yahoo News. November 2, 2023.
17. Henderson, Cydney; Hansen, Ronald J. (December 9, 2017). "Aboard flight, dad battling ALS pleads with Sen. Jeff Flake to vote no on tax bill". The Arizona Republic. Archived from the original on January 31, 2021. Retrieved February 10, 2019.
18. Jilani, Zaid (December 8, 2017). "In a Moving Dialogue, Disabled Activist Confronted Jeff Flake About Tax Bill on His Plane Ride Home". The Intercept. Archived from the original on October 7, 2019. Retrieved October 7, 2019.
19. Kalich, Sydney (July 31, 2018). "SoCal Dad With ALS Travels Country in Last Days on Earth". NBC Southern California. Archived from the original on February 12, 2019. Retrieved February 10, 2019.
20. Costa, Pedro Nicolaci da (December 19, 2017). "A 34-year-old activist who's fighting for his life traveled to Washington to oppose tax cuts – and he says 'Republicans are screwed'". Business Insider. Archived from the original on February 12, 2019. Retrieved February 10, 2019.
21. Nilsen, Ella (April 24, 2018). "Activist and ALS patient Ady Barkan got national attention for his tax bill protests. Now he's getting involved in 2018". Vox. Archived from the original on January 31, 2021. Retrieved February 10, 2019.
22. Marans, Daniel (December 8, 2017). "A Terminally Ill Progressive Activist Confronted Jeff Flake About The Tax Bill On A Flight". Huffington Post. Archived from the original on February 11, 2019. Retrieved February 10, 2019.
23. Weigel, David (April 17, 2018). "Man with ALS who confronted Flake over tax law launches 'Be a Hero' campaign to beat Republicans". Washington Post. Archived from the original on January 31, 2021. Retrieved February 10, 2019.
24. Bixby, Scott (September 11, 2018). "Group Raises Nearly $1M for Susan Collins' Nonexistent Opponent if She Votes to Confirm Brett Kavanaugh". The Daily Beast. Archived from the original on February 9, 2019. Retrieved February 10, 2019.
25. Jilani, Zaid (August 16, 2018). "Brett Kavanaugh Opponents Are Raising Money for Sen. Susan Collins's 2020 Opponent — but Will Refund It If She Votes "No"". The Intercept. Archived from the original on February 12, 2019. Retrieved February 10, 2019.
26. Stewart, Emily (October 6, 2018). "Susan Collins's 2020 challenger already has a $3 million campaign fund, thanks to Collins's vote on Kavanaugh". Vox. Archived from the original on January 31, 2021. Retrieved February 10, 2019.
27. Saul, Stephanie (June 24, 2019). "Sarah Gideon to challenge Susan Collins for Maine Senate Seat". New York Times. Archived from the original on September 3, 2019. Retrieved September 4, 2019.
28. "Health Policy: Then and Now". Health Care Turning Point. The MIT Press. 2010. doi:10.7551/mitpress/8308.003.0003. ISBN 9780262265966.
29. "I'm dying of ALS, here's why health care will decide my last vote". The Hill. September 17, 2018. Archived from the original on February 23, 2019. Retrieved February 24, 2019.
30. "#48: Ady Barkan & Andrew Levin – The POLITICO 50". Politico. Archived from the original on January 31, 2021. Retrieved August 6, 2019.
31. "Forward 50 2018". The Forward. Archived from the original on February 23, 2019. Retrieved March 9, 2019.
32. David A. Graham (July 31, 2019). "Elizabeth Warren's Message: 'I Am Not Afraid'". The Atlantic. Archived from the original on August 1, 2019. Retrieved August 1, 2019.
33. "Cory Booker Faces Blunt Health Care Questions from Ady Barkan | Uncovered | NowThis". YouTube. Archived from the original on September 5, 2019. Retrieved September 3, 2019.
34. "Eyes to the Wind: A Memoir of Love and Death, Hope and Resistance". www.publishersweekly.com. Archived from the original on August 6, 2019. Retrieved August 6, 2019.
35. "Activist Ady Barkan's New Baby Joy Will Make You Kvell". Kveller. November 15, 2019. Archived from the original on December 18, 2019. Retrieved November 19, 2019.
36. Barkan, Ady [@AdyBarkan] (August 18, 2020). "Took me 36 years to get a spot at the DNC. Took Willow only 9 months. My #DemConvention speech" (Tweet). Retrieved August 18, 2020 – via Twitter.
37. Bugbee, Teo (August 12, 2021). "'Not Going Quietly' Review: Into the Long Fight". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved November 2, 2023.
38. "'Greed Is Costing Lives': Global Actions Condemn Big Pharma's Vaccine Profiteering". www.commondreams.org. Retrieved November 2, 2023. During Pfizer's shareholder meeting, healthcare activist Ady Barkan presented a resolution pushing the company to support the transfer of vaccine technology to boost production and access across the globe. The resolution, sponsored by Oxfam America, fell short, garnering 27% of the vote from shareholders.
    
    'We are in the midst of the greatest public health crisis in 100 years. Despite safe and effective vaccines like Pfizer's, thousands of people are still dying every day because protections against the coronavirus have not been made accessible to all. Billions of people remain unvaccinated in part because Pfizer cannot produce enough doses on its own, yet, Pfizer refuses to share its technology to boost global manufacturing.'
39. "Dr. Tedros, Barkan, Seyoum present Oxfam shareholder resolutions to urge Moderna, Pfizer, and Johnson & Johnson to address Covid-19 vaccine inequity". Oxfam International. May 25, 2022. Retrieved November 2, 2023.
40. Ady Barkan presents Oxfam resolution at Pfizer's annual shareholder meeting. Retrieved November 2, 2023.
41. ecarew (September 23, 2023). "Roosevelt Institute Honors Champions of Democracy at 2023 Four Freedoms Awards". Roosevelt Institute. Retrieved November 2, 2023.
42. Barkan, Ady [@AdyBarkan] (September 22, 2023). "honored to be named a recipient of Roosevelt Institute's Four Freedoms Award" (Tweet). Retrieved November 2, 2023 – via Twitter.
43. 2023 Four Freedoms Awards – Ady Barkan – Freedom from Want. Retrieved November 2, 2023.
44. Marans, Daniel (December 27, 2017). "How One Dying Man Changed The Debate About The Tax Bill". Huffington Post. Archived from the original on February 11, 2019. Retrieved February 10, 2019.
45. Bunch, Will (July 31, 2018). "Dying from ALS, Ady Barkan will save U.S. democracy if it's the last thing he does". Philadelphia Daily News. Archived from the original on February 12, 2019. Retrieved February 10, 2019.
46. Hayes, Christal (August 2, 2018). "Father dying of ALS buys $100K ad to help Democrat in Ohio midterm". USA TODAY. Archived from the original on January 31, 2021. Retrieved February 10, 2019.
47. Barkan, Ady [@AdyBarkan] (November 14, 2019). "Our daughter, Willow Simone. Thank you for this joy, @rachael_scar" (Tweet). Archived from the original on November 20, 2019. Retrieved November 15, 2019 – via Twitter.
48. Marans, Daniel (October 29, 2018). "The Intercept Is Crowdfunding A Fellowship In Honor Of A Dying Progressive Activist". Huffington Post. Archived from the original on February 10, 2019. Retrieved February 10, 2019.
49. "TALKING SOCIALISM | 'Injustice is interconnected but so is freedom': Ady Barkan talks to Democratic Left".
50. Barkan, Ady [@AdyBarkan] (November 1, 2023). "Hi all, this is Ady's wife, Rachael. I'm devastated to share the news that Ady has died from complications of ALS" (Tweet). Retrieved November 2, 2023 – via Twitter.