Effective Activism

The tradition continues: Jerusalemites reclaim Jerusalem Day with Jerusalemite Day – Day of Diversity!

Inviatation to open space

Jerusalem Day (1-2.6.2019) is the most important time to emphasize the efforts in the city to make the city more tolerant to all the various identities and groups living here. This year, too, we will re-claim Jerusalem Day via a variety of activities designed to promote tolerance, which will light up the city!

Jerusalemite Day of Diversity is a platform to emphasize Jerusalemite involvement and responsibility to promote diversity in the city. This is the day for activities by Jerusalemites, for Jerusalemites, and about Jerusalemites, to echo our varied voices and make them heard loud and clear.

In the past four years, Jerusalemites from all over the city came together in over 80 events, tours, lectures, performances, panels, and activities which took place all over the city, each year, on Jerusalem Day. All of these together portrayed Jerusalem’s tolerance and diversity.

Developing initiatives for Jerusalemite Day

Open Space Meet-Up April 14

On Sunday, April 14, we had our Open Space Technology meet-up, to encourage initiatives, making Jerusalemite Day 2019 the best one yet! There were people from different parts of the city, different backgrounds and different interests, with one thing in common – passion for initiating a special, multi-cultural and uniquely Jerusalemite initiative on Jerusalem Day. After everyone thought about an idea for an initiative, they presented their ideas in front of the group, and from there smaller groups began thinking tachles how they can bring their ideas to fruition, cooperating with different initiatives, different people and to understand how each can advance his or her initiative.

Examples of a few initiatives included:

• Open houses that host artists and other Jerusalemites for musical performances;
• Creative writing and more;
• A giant ‘Connect the Dots’ where passersby will participate and create a giant picture;
• An improv performance that present Jerusalemite stories of those sitting next to them, and much, much more.

Working in larger and smaller groups

Together, they, and other initiatives we are working with, are developing and creating an interesting mix of activities and events in the public sphere, that will re-claim Jerusalem Day and respect all of the different Jerusalemites.

Here’s the link from the Jerusalem Tolerance web site.

Here’s the post (in Hebrew) from the Jerusalem Tolerance Facebook page:

See you on Jerusalemite Day!

Many thanks to the Jerusalem Foundation, to the Leichtag Foundation, to the Natan Fund and to the Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Foundation for their support of Jerusalemite Day.

Friday, March 8 was International Women’s Day. In honor of this day, the local Jerusalem newspaper, Yediot Yerushalayim, ran an article (in Hebrew), listing the “35 Most Influential Women who Changed Jerusalem in the Past Year.”

“At a certain point I understood that I live in a certain Jerusalem, and I don’t even know what goes on with my neighbors that live in a different Jerusalem. That’s why I founded the 0202 non-profit foundation, which provides access to points of view from East, West and Haredi Jerusalem to each other, in Arabic and Hebrew, through Facebook, guided tours, meetings etc’ – with no specific interpretation of events or biased filtering of facts.

We work with many of the others listed as well. All the women were asked, what’s it like to be a woman in Jerusalem?

Fay Sukenik, with whom we work on a number of issues, including involvement in the Haredi community, said:

“It’s being in the heart of action, in the heart of the conflict. To be in a fertile place of social entrepreneurs and cooperation between sectors. A city with conflicts is a challenging city that enables action and growth. We don’t need to be afraid of it…To live in Jerusalem means to live in a place where anything can happen, if you only believe and work hard toward that goal.”

Efrat Givaty, who works with us on The Little Prince – Cleaning Up Jerusalem Together, said:

To dream and to do the impossible in a city full of possibilities.

Aliza Meir-Epstein, who we work with on the Good Neighbors project in Abu Tor, said:

Jerusalem women have a critical role in designing the city, which directly impacts the face of the entire nation. Jerusalem is a microcosm of the State of Israel. Many of the country’s central issues are concentrated here and receive a louder and more extreme flavor here. It is in our hands to influence the discourse, the approach and to find innovative and creative solutions.

Ariel Markose, with whom we work on the Jerusalem Model, said:

It means to exist with many identities, and each one is a world in and of itself. I think it’s not only among women – to be a Jerusalemite means to have a number of layers. A woman in Jerusalem is a complex thing, because everything in your life is associated with a part of your Jerusalem-ness. Your neighborhood, your religion, your political identity, your work, your volunteering. The very fact that you live in Jerusalem expresses your choices, because no one is in Jerusalem by chance. So to be a woman in Jerusalem is to be very nuanced, which is fascinating and part of the richness I feel in my life in this city.

And there were many more. Here’s a link to the Internet version of the article, in Hebrew.

Article first page

Here’s the Facebook post in Hebrew from the Jerusalem Tolerance Facebook page:

Congratulations to all those listed, and keep up the good work!