Effective Activism | The Jerusalem Intercultural Center

Tolerant Katamon Tour – Part of International Tolerance Week

Jerusalem in general and Katamon in particular are seen by many as a place that has seen its share of bloodshed and intolerance throughout history.

Learning about a range of interesting corners in Katamon

But as part of the week surrounding International Tolerance Day on November 16, we at the JICC publicized a range of activities that sought to advance tolerance on the Jerusalem Tolerance Facebook page, part of our Grassroots Campaign for Tolerance supported by the UJA-Federation of New York.

One of these activities was a tour of Tolerant Katamon, led by renowned tour guide, Itamar Farhi.

Jerusalem from many different angles

In two hours, Itamar showed a different viewpoint of Jerusalem through the story of Katamon and its environs. He showed the secularism through its monasteries, coexistence through the stories of different houses, feminism through the names of its streets, vegetarianism / veganism through its restaurants, support for the gay community through its neighborhood flags. And who knows, maybe the word about a different Jerusalem will come forth, a more tolerant, more respecting, more Utopian Jerusalem.

As one participant noted:

The tour was very interesting and I learned so much! I’ve lived in the surrounding neighborhood for many years but I never knew about any of those charming places. Such an appropriate event for Tolerance Day.

Pictures from the tour:

https://www.facebook.com/events/640674549444159

Naomi Roff2016-12-02T15:13:13+00:00November 23rd, 2016|Blog, Effective Activism, Identity Groups and Conflicts, Promoting Tolerance in Jerusalem|

Celebrating International Tolerance Day in Zion (soon to be Tolerance) Square

“It might have been the timing of the discussion circles a few hours after the difficult words of one of the rabbis against the gay community [see here for more about that], or maybe we’re talking about pent-up anger since the terrible murder of Shira Banky [at the 2015 Jerusalem Gay Pride Parade, by a Haredi man], but my first impressions were, ‘wow, they really hate us.’

Us. These nice young people beside me see the Haredi community as an inciting herd that seeks to drown out their entire fabric of life. Even I wouldn’t want to live beside a group so grotesque.’

But then I remembered the apathy in which my friends dealt with the Parade and the municipal Sabbath-breakers, I really felt they cared about us, and that legitimacy from us has a real significance, much more from that of a discussion about rights and obligations.

And then we talked, we discussed the challenge of liberalism in complex situations such as those we’re in, and we argued about people and religions. We shared what challenges us, and we learned how to prove that love, between brothers who live so close together but think so far apart, can exist.

And maybe the learned person was right, he who told me this week that just the act of learning about the problems, and focusing one’s viewpoint on them openly and honestly – that is the main part of the solution.

This is how Shmuel Drilman, a Haredi activist who participated in the evening of discussion and learning that took place in Zion Square last Thursday night, commemorating International Tolerance Day (November 16). The event was organized by Speaking in the Square (which we’ve written about here and here and here), the Yerushalmim Movement, and the Beit Midrash Rechov. More than 200 people, from the entire spectrum of Jerusalem’s population, participated.

The entire religious spectrum discussing tolerance

For Speaking in the Square, it was important to note International Tolerance Day with these other two initiatives. The evening included discussions about tolerance and its importance in our daily lives. But the most important part of the evening was that it took place in Zion Square. Everyone sat together – Jews and Arabs, religious and secular, and talked about their shared lives in Jerusalem, and about the importance of considering the needs and feelings of one another. But not only did the participants in the discussion circles learn about tolerance, everyone who passed through Zion Square saw a live example of the advantages of creating an open society that includes and respects its different groups.

Throughout Zion Square, soon to be renamed Tolerance Square

Our assistance to Speaking in the Square and other groups during the week commemorating International Tolerance Day is being generously supported by the UJA-Federation of New York and the Jerusalem Foundation.

Here’s the Facebook post (in Hebrew) written by Speaking in the Square:

Here is Shmuel Drilman’s Facebook post about the evening:

Naomi Roff2016-12-02T15:17:49+00:00November 22nd, 2016|Blog, Effective Activism, Promoting Tolerance in Jerusalem|

0202 – Failing on the Way to Success

Look up “failure quotes” in Google and you’ll find the widest range of people talking about it – from Winston Churchill to Nelson Mandela to Oprah Winfrey and LeBron James and Michael Jordan. The gist of all of these inspirational quotes is that in order to succeed you need to fail, and that the most learning – and often success – takes place after that fail.

Such is the rationale behind the F***up Nights (FUN) initiative, a global movement born in Mexico in 2012 to publicly share – and learn from – failure stories. On November 3, a FUN was organized in Jerusalem, under the auspices of the Jerusalem Municipality, PresenTense, Siftech, and others. Michal Shilor, our Coordinator for the Grassroots Campaign for Tolerance and the founder / initiator of the growing 0202 Facebook page / web site “empire” that we’ve been mentoring, was one of the speakers.

Michal, at the November FUN

Today all three pages have close to 70,000 likes and reach well over 100,000 weekly, including prominent journalists and researchers and municipality and national agency officials, and has been known to affect municipal policy. However, in the beginning, it almost closed.

It was the fall of 2015. The first page, 0202-A View from East Jerusalem, which translates news posts from Arabic into Hebrew, had opened 6 months previously. The translators began to see on the Facebook pages and Internet sites much more violent and hateful speech, and very little else. Then panic set in. ‘Is this what East Jerusalem is really like, always?’ the organizers thought. ‘What are we doing here? If this is what it’s always like, we can’t be part of the hate cycle.’ And they almost closed up shop.

And then they took a closer look at the string of events. Lots of incitement on Facebook and the Internet, and a short time later, a stabbing attack. The connection was clear. In fact, they were the ones with the information. 0202 was indeed showing them insights into Palestinian life in East Jerusalem, however disturbing that reality was.

That was when they realized that they could use the information they have access to help influence policy and society. Case in point – the “We Won’t Live in Filth” campaign by our MiniActive network. As a result of the continuing violence in East Jerusalem, garbage collection all but stopped in the fall of 2015. The MiniActive network, which has been working to improve the environment in East Jerusalem in a number of ways since its establishment in 2012, had been trying, without success, through its usual channels – calling the 106 municipal hotline, occasionally publishing on their Arabic-language Facebook page. Then they came up with their “We Won’t Live in Filth!” campaign, in which they posted pictures of overflowing garbage recptacles every day, in order to raise awareness. 0202 picked up these posts, which were seen and followed up by city council members, who were able to pass an addition of 3 million NIS to the annual Jerusalem sanitation budget for garbage collection in East Jerusalem.

Over 100 people came out to the Post Hostel for the first Jerusalem FUN. It was also covered by the Jerusalem Post:

Jerusalem Post article

Here’s the Facebook post in Hebrew and the photo album:

Here’s the post of the Jerusalem Post article:

Naomi Roff2016-11-25T14:36:34+00:00November 18th, 2016|Blog, Effective Activism, Identity Groups and Conflicts, Promoting Tolerance in Jerusalem|

Continuing to be Good Neighbors in Abu-Tor/A-Thuri

We’ve described here and here our work with the Good Neighbors project of Jewish and Arab residents of the neighboring communities of Abu Tor and A-Thuri. We’ve been involved with helping them to develop and grow, as part of our Grassroots Campaign for Tolerance project, supported by the UJA-Federation of New York.

Israeli and Palestinian women meeting in Abu Tor/A-Thori

After a summer break, they’re continuing to do wonderful things!

On October 30 they launched the Neighborhood Women’s Forum, a steering committee that seeks to plan a schedule of joint activities throughout the year.

We can’t wait to see what they’ll come up with!

Naomi Roff2016-11-18T15:43:18+00:00November 7th, 2016|Blog, Effective Activism, Identity Groups and Conflicts, Jewish-Palestinian/Arab, Promoting Tolerance in Jerusalem|

You Can Make Almost Anything from Recycled Paper

You can make almost anything out of recycled paper, even a replica of the Al-Aqsa Mosque.

Replicating the mosque from recycled paper

This piece, and many others like it, are being fashioned from recycled paper, courtesy of the MiniActive Youth – Youth for the Environment Project.

We could use some more trees around here, even if they’re paper

The youth first rip up old newspapers, turn them into a paste, model them into their desired shape, and paint.

Digging into the paste

This is one of many projects that MiniActive Youth is doing to improve immediate surroundings in East Jerusalem.

Preparing both inside and out

You can read about earlier projects here, here and here, and in the general MiniActive blog category. Can’t wait to see what they do next!

Here’s the Facebook post in Arabic:

Naomi Roff2016-11-11T11:53:38+00:00November 6th, 2016|Blog, Effective Activism, Identity Groups and Conflicts, MiniActive, Palestinians/Arabs|

JICC at the 9th Annual Community Mediators Conference

For the past 9 years, the JICC has been, together with Mosaica Center for Conflict Resolution and the Community Work Service at the Israeli Ministry of Social Affairs and Services, a key partner in organizing the annual conference of the Israeli Community Dialogue and Mediation Centers. This year, the conference took place on October 27 at Tel-Aviv University. It included 540 participants, 9 workshops and 7 discussion areas.

Conference opening

This year, we, too, presented in the workshops. Michal Shilor, our Coordinator of the Grassroots Campaign for Tolerance, spoke about activism for tolerance in the public sphere. She also spoke about the unique processes that are taking place in Jerusalem, such as the Municipality’s adoption of Zion Square as Tolerance Square, the success of A Different Day in Jerusalem (celebrating Jerusalem’s diversity) and more. She asked participants to think of potential ideas that can be implemented in their own hometowns. They ranged from Facebook pages and Internet sites to TED talks and escape rooms. We’ll definitely be following to see how they turn out!

Michal – activism for tolerance in the public sphere

Aliza Shabo-Hayut, our Director of Community Dialogue, spoke, together with the Community Social Worker of the Gilo neighborhood, on how to use Facebook as a community-building tool. They described how, when done thoughtfully, complete and meaningful discussions can be held, and community decisions can even be made, through Facebook. They also presented a number of ethical issues encountered when using Facebook as a community-building tool – such as, when is it appropriate for a community professional to step into a discussion among residents? or, if much of the discussion takes place on the weekends, when the community professional isn’t working, is it her responsibility to be on line and, essentially, on the job?

Here’s the Facebook post (in Hebrew) about the conference:

Naomi Roff2016-11-18T15:43:00+00:00November 5th, 2016|Blog, Deliberative Democracy, Effective Activism, Identity Groups and Conflicts, Promoting Tolerance in Jerusalem|

MiniActive First Aid Courses for Young Palestinian Mothers

If a medical emergency occurred when you’re at home with the kids, would you know what to do?

Learning first aid basics

MiniActive is taking the first steps, teaching initial first aid and lifesaving techniques to Palestinian women from East Jerusalem, many of them young mothers. Because many young mothers marry early, sometimes before finishing high school, they do not have basic first aid or CPR skills, which can often be lifesaving. For this reason, MiniActive held a basic first aid and CPR course in April 2016 (click here for the post), and just opened another course now.

The first meeting was on October 30, with 15 participants. Stay tuned for more updates!

Many thanks to the Jerusalem Foundation for its continuing support of this program.

Here’s the Facebook post in Arabic:

Naomi Roff2016-11-11T12:00:31+00:00November 2nd, 2016|Blog, Effective Activism, Identity Groups and Conflicts, MiniActive, Palestinians/Arabs|

MiniActive Youth for the Environment – Mixing Art and Paper Recycling

Our MiniActive Youth for the Environment are becoming experts in turning everyday materials, outdoors as well as in, and making them beautiful. We’ve described here and here their outdoor painting projects at local schools and on garbage receptacles.

Paper recycling art work

Last week, they also experimented in making artwork by recycling paper.

Creating different designs

At the workshop that took place at the Abna al-Quds Community Center in the Muslim Quarter of the Old City, they first ripped up old newspapers.

First steps of preparing the paper

Then they made the paper into a paste

Now it’s starting to get gooey

And then began forming it into creatures.

Looking super

Here’s the post in Arabic from the MiniActive Facebook page:

Naomi Roff2016-11-04T14:30:25+00:00October 20th, 2016|Blog, Effective Activism, Identity Groups and Conflicts, MiniActive, Palestinians/Arabs|

0202 – a Haredi Viewpoint – Launches

The largest population of Haredi (Ultra-Orthodox) Jews in Israel lives in Jerusalem. Yet, ask any non-orthodox Jerusalem resident about burning issues in the Haredi community, and they will only be able to tell you about them from what they hear from the mainstream, secular media.

0202, a project begun in March 2015, aims to provide all Jerusalem populations with a window into the ‘other’s perspective, from their perspective. 0202 began translating news items from the Palestinian viewpoint. The Hebrew and English pages can be seen here and here. Today they have over 50,000 ‘likes’ combined and reach over 100,000 people weekly. As part of the 0202 philosophy, 0202 – A View from Haredi Jerusalem, began in September 2016. Many of its 2,300 ‘likes’ were received in its first two days on line; today the page reaches 10,000 weekly. Like its sister pages, 0202 – A View from Haredi Jerusalem reaches key stakeholders regularly: journalists, municipality figures, activists, journalists, Israelis and Palestinians, in and beyond Jerusalem.

0202 – A View from Haredi Jerusalem

Unlike its sister pages, 0202 – A View from Haredi Jerusalem does not need to translate. (0202-A View from East Jerusalem translates items from Arabic to Hebrew or English.) However, it does bridge a vast cultural divide between the ‘general’ (secular and modern orthodox) Jewish population and the Haredi (Ultra-Orthodox) population of the city.

First, it breaks a few stereotypes of how information is transferred. Many believe the main avenue is through pahskevilim and print media.

Reading pashkevilim

While this practice still continues, today there are a number of web sites and Facebook pages that serve the Haredi community of today. Here are some examples of interesting posts over the past month.

Here is a recent post dealing with discrimination of girls from a non-Ashkenazi origin:

The Haredi press dealt with this issue at length at the beginning of the school year as well:

This issue has been a recurring problem at the beginning of the school year for several years. Click here for an article from the secular Ynet news on the subject, from a few years ago.

Two different perspectives of a cultural event – which featured women singing – that was disrupted by members of the Haredi population. The post reads, “Dozens of activists break into a missionary conference in Jerusalem.”:

And here’s the way the organizers presented it:

Event with Armenian choir

And the Times of Israel (secular) coverage of the event.

And here is what others are saying about the page:

From the excellent people at 0202-A View from East Jerusalem, introducing the next project: “A View from Haredi Jerusalem.” They continue to bring items from the Haredi world from outside our Facebook sound box. Here, there might not be a language barrier, but how many of us seriously follow the Haredi media? I promise that it’s fascinating. Congratulations to Michal Shilor, Hagai Agmon-Snir and everyone else working on the project…P.S. Waiting for the completion of the set, “View from West Jerusalem” in Arabic.

Here’s the post in Hebrew:

Welcome to the world, 0202-A View from Haredi Jerusalem. May your posts and the discussions they raise serve to increase understanding among the populations of Jerusalem.

Naomi Roff2019-11-16T12:12:52+00:00October 12th, 2016|Blog, Effective Activism, Identity Groups and Conflicts, Jewish Religious Denominations, Promoting Tolerance in Jerusalem, Ultra-Orthodox Jews|

MiniActive Youth – Leaving their Mark on East Jerusalem

Our MiniActive Youth continued to leave their mark on East Jerusalem, in only the best of ways. This past week they finished several new decorating projects in the Wadi Joz neighborhood.