| Posted: April 29 2005,07:29 |
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PROGRESS: Has your organization seen
progress toward a culture of peace and nonviolence in your domain of
action and in your constituency during the first half of the Decade? |
INCREASED WILLINGNESS TO DIALOGUE
Five
years ago, in October 2000, many Arab youth felt that it was possible
that the government would transfer them any day. Beni Elon, head of the
'Transfer party', Ehud Leumi, was given a post in Sharon's cabinet.
Furthermore, they lived in an atmosphere in which they were
regarded as inherently suspect. The killing of 13 Arab citizens of
Israel by the security forces in 2000 was followed in the next two
years by another 13 killings of Arabs on the highways, for mere traffic
violations. Baladna was formed in the midst of such an atmosphere, and
responded to it by creating a 'safe space' for Arab youth in which to
examine their identities, address together the difficulties of being a
minority, and confront internal Arab social problems on their own
terms.
Although there has not been further internal civil
strife since October 2000, tensions continue to linger beneath the
surface. Arab citizens of Israel – a sizeable minority of approximately
20% – continue to be the most marginalized community in the country.
However, the atmosphere of betrayal has lessened. While trust has
not in turn been built, the pressure is off, the fear level is lower
and people can think more clearly and strategize for the long-term. At
the time Baladna was established, many Baladna members were opposed to
making working with Jews a priority. Since then, the realization has
emerged that part of Baladna’s long-term strategy involves working with
like-minded Jewish organizations, and Baladna has started to seek such
opportunities more and more. While there is no way to measure
this quantitatively, we have found that in internal discussions among
Baladna members (400 youth) our youth have become more receptive
to such projects in the last several years. This generation of
Middle Eastern youth, particularly Arab and Jewish citizens of Israel,
may be the first prepared with the tools and mindset necessary to
tackle internal challenges within their own society as they also
advocate for themselves as citizens.
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OBSTACLES: What are the most important obstacles that have prevented progress?
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FAILURE TO ADDRESS THE NEEDS OF THE ARAB MINORITY IN ISRAEL = KEY OBSTACLE TO PEACE IN THE MIDDLE EAST
The
discrimination and inequality experienced by Arab citizens of Israel
poses the main obstacle to the creation of a culture of peace within
Israeli society as well as between the Israeli and Palestinian peoples.
Discrimination and inequality lead to frustration, which if
ignored may result in violence. Violent internal conflict in turn
often ‘legitimizes’ further discrimination and facilitates a vicious
cycle difficult to break. Meanwhile, the Arab minority occupies a
unique position in the larger Israeli-Palestinian conflict; thus their
well-being, or lack thereof, has implications for all people in the
region. Further neglect of their basic needs will inevitably
increase the frustration of Arab youth, lead to tension within Israeli
society as a whole, and in the long-term could potentially lead to the
realization of the great fear of the average Jewish Israeli – that a
civil revolt from inside Israel could merge with further violence from
the rest of the ‘hostile Arab world’. Considering the sensitive
situation the Middle East finds itself in at the moment, such a
conflict should be avoided at all costs.
At the moment --
as evidenced in unequal budget allocations, particularly to education
-- Arab youth bear the brunt of discrimination in Israel. The
Israeli government has done nothing to equalize opportunities for youth
who do not serve in the army, offers no specialized guidance for Arab
youth leaving their villages to attend largely Jewish universities in
urban centers, offers hardly any vocational programs for Arab youth,
fails to offer sufficient funding for drug programs, and fails to fund
after-school programming that could keep kids off the streets. In
addition to this, approximately 100,000 Palestinian Citizens of Israel
reside in ‘unrecognized villages’, deemed "illegal" by the State; these
villages cannot be found on any map, have no local council or
government representation, suffer inadequate education facilities and
receive no government services (i.e. water, sewage, electricity, health
care or communication services). Furthermore, as long as Arab youth
lack outlets for peaceful expression of their frustration -- isolated
as they are from the Israeli media – they will find few ways of
creating a dialogue with other groups.
If the discrimination
faced by young Arab citizens of Israel is not tackled it will lead to
increasing frustration and possible conflict affecting all citizens of
Israel. Baladna is working to confront discrimination by
empowering young people to challenge and change the society they live
in through peaceful means.
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ACTIONS: What actions have been
undertaken by your organization to promote a culture of peace and
nonviolence during the first half of the Decade?
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BALADNA, ASSOCIATION FOR ARAB YOUTH IN ISRAEL: WORKING FOR EQUITY, PROGRESS, AND PEACE
Baladna
works to promote a culture of peace and nonviolence in a number of
ways. Through its identity development work fostering knowledge,
identity and independence in its youth group members, Baladna seeks to
empower youth in the Palestinian community to take initiative in
tackling the problems concerning them as citizens of the State of
Israel and members of Arab society. This leads to a strengthening
of Arab society and enables it to healthily and effectively rise up to
achieve full equity within Israeli society and the world. Equity
between peoples is the basis for a culture of peace.
Baladna
currently has three main programs: the Democracy and Community
Development, Breaking the Isolation and the Mumkin Self-Advocacy
Programs.
Baladna’s Democracy and Community Development
Program contributes to a culture of peace by cultivating democratic,
pluralistic and tolerant impulses in Arab-Palestinian society,
nurturing Arab youth identity, and offering productive outlets for
peaceful collective and individual expression.
Baladna’s
Breaking the Isolation Program promotes a culture of peace by
developing opportunities for interaction between people from different
backgrounds and cultures and fostering internal discussion amongst Arab
youth about the transition from traditional to ‘liberal’ values.
International networking and exchange encourages a culture of peace by
promoting cross-cultural dialogue and understanding which is the basis
of all efforts for peace in the world and Israel. It also provides an
opportunity for Arab youth to gain perspective and learn from the
histories, experiences and skills of others.
Finally, our
nascent Mumkin Self-Advocacy Program aims to offer Arab youth the
opportunity to research, analyze and voice their needs to the wider
public in a constructive manner. In particular, our emerging Debate
Project – a key component in the Mumkin Program – is nurturing our
members’ ability to understand other arguments and strengthen their
own, enabling effective self-advocacy among youth, and fostering a more
open dialogue on equal terms. In the end, as a result of skills gained
through Mumkin trainings in advocacy and debate, Baladna youth are able
to bring the reality they face as a marginalized citizenry to the
attention of the larger Israeli society, thereby enabling the majority
to see how its future is tied in with the future of the Arab minority,
and opening a fruitful discussion.
DEMOCRACY AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM: PROMOTING A CULTURE OF PEACE AMONGST ARAB YOUTH
Through
the youth movement established via the Democracy & Community
Development Program Baladna nurtures Arab youth identity and offers the
skills necessary for peaceful internal social progress, crucial to the
creation of a positive culture of peace within Arab society. Arab
youth in Israel, reared in the context of a Jewish state propounding a
Zionist curriculum, tend to grow up with confused identities.
Furthermore, economic, social and political marginalization on all
levels mean that many young Arabs do not receive the resources, skills
or information necessary to actively better their situation. The
Democracy & Community Development Program works to address this
government neglect by offering services to youth that can enable the
fruitful development of individuals and advancement of Arab society.
It
is Baladna’s ultimate aim that youth group trainees return to their own
communities and with new-found pride and understanding develop projects
and social movements of their own. This, it is hoped, will manifest in
a stronger, more tolerant younger generation of Arab youth instrumental
in the transformation and evolution of Palestinian and Israeli society.
By transforming their own societies from within and working for a
more democratic culture and atmosphere, Arab youth can be instrumental
in promoting a culture of peace and understanding.
Baladna Youth Groups:
In
a social and political atmosphere which discourages questioning and
free-thought among Arab youth, Baladna sincerely believes that youth
must be given the space, time, and knowledge-base necessary to come to
their own conclusions. Through our Youth Groups and Leadership
Trainings, Baladna empowers youth with resources, information, and
critical thinking skills, offering the essential background that allows
youth to engage in an informed inquiry that leads to community
involvement and social change. And to further encourage the emergence
of leaders among the trainees, Baladna offers partial higher education
scholarships to those that opt to become Youth Group Leaders.
Through
discussion groups, lectures, films, role-play and a variety of other
activities, Baladna Youth Groups explore a number of issues, including
identity and equality, democratic values and behavior, human and
minority rights. These activities promote a culture of peace by
educating young people about issues which are essential in the creation
of positive peace. Once aware of these issues young people can
promote them in their local communities and become advocates for the
culture of peace.
Baladna has been able to greatly expand its
existing youth movement in recent years, greatly contributing to all
efforts to create a safe space for identity development and to mitigate
Arab youths’ feelings of isolation from one another, the Palestinian
people, and the Israeli State, thereby reducing feelings of frustration
and possibilities for conflict. From late 2003 to mid-2004, Baladna
doubled the number of youth groups from 6 to 12. Since then, our Youth
Groups project has once more nearly doubled, with 21 groups meeting on
a weekly basis. With 15-25 youth in each group, approximately 400 high
school students are now participating in Baladna Youth Groups. In
response to the increased number of Youth Groups, Baladna has added new
Youth Leadership Training in 3 simultaneous courses in different
locations across Israel, tripling the number of training participants.
As
part of a broader mission to empower youth locally and to connect them
culturally, we have particularly expanded our focus to the Southern
region, the Negev Desert. In order to build a strong nationwide
movement capable of empowering Arab youth in Israel, special attention
must be devoted to Arab communities suffering severe marginalization
and segregation. Geographic constraints have traditionally
hindered connections between Negev area youth and those in the Center
and North of the country. Not only do Arab Bedouin youth in the Negev
commonly experience seclusion from the rest of the Arab-Palestinian
people, they also suffer the acute neglect of the State,
disproportionately deprived of a fair share of budget allocations. Thus
for Arab inhabitants of the Negev facing unique challenges and severe
inequalities, capacity-building for youth has never be more critical.
Integrating the Public Achievement Model:
Since
merely exploring identity can be disempowering, and since action gives
a sense of belonging to youth, Baladna encourages active involvement
through the integration of the Public Achievement model into our Youth
Groups. Public Achievement (PA) is a worldwide initiative aimed at
empowering youth by giving them the tools necessary for full civic
participation in their societies and for involvement in their
communities. The Public Achievement model gives youth crucial sense of
ownership of their community service projects by putting
decision-making power into the hands of youth themselves and empowering
them to choose their own projects.
PA can play an
important role in creating a culture of peace. PA projects direct
young people away from crime and drugs by offering them an alternative
outlet for their energy. The PA model also encourages peaceful
action and gives young people peaceful outlets for expression. Through
PA Projects young people are guided through the process of identifying
their most pressing concerns and determining solutions to community
problems, rather than waiting patiently for government assistance or
blaming others helplessly. The PA model contributes to a culture
of peace by introducing young people to peaceful and co-operative ways
of dealing with problems.
To illustrate, Rose Amer, Baladna’s
Central Region Youth Group Coordinator has applied the PA model in her
Qufr Qasem Youth Group. Splitting 18 youth into 3 groups, each group
brainstormed social issues they wished to tackle, choosing the one they
deemed most significant without interference from Amer. One group
focused on the subject of early marriage, another on drugs, and the
third on the issue of alcoholism in their village. At the end of the
year, they began research within their society. At the end of the
research process, each group will write an article about their topic
and publish it on Qufr Qasem’s local website. This promotes a culture
of peace by introducing constructive ways of looking at and dealing
with internal social problems and the impacts of discrimination. By
showing they are aware of their internal social problems and able to
address the challenges imposed on their communities by decades of
structural discrimination, effectively young Arabs also will gain the
respect of ‘outsiders’ when they discuss their society and the problems
they face.
Baladna Youth Leadership Development Training:
Baladna’s
experience with the 20 youth groups it has established thus far
indicates a vital need for recruiting motivated young people and
instilling in them the sound group-management skills necessary for
leading both youth interactions and community interventions. It is
entirely possible that concrete capacity-building initiated via Youth
Leadership Training can foster and enable a collective youth movement
within Arab society, assisting this and the next generation of youth in
propelling themselves and their communities out of economic decline and
social stagnation.
Baladna’s Youth Leadership Development
Training contributes to a culture of peace by creating future community
leaders with initiative and the skills necessary for organizing groups
and communities in the future. With these skills they can challenge
current structures and change the false or cold ‘peace’ into a genuine
peace.
Baladna Youth Worker Manual:
In the first such
manual dealing with the specific needs of Arab youth in Israel, in
Arabic, Baladna Education Consultant Samiyeh Sharkawi has produced a
valuable 250-page resource to be distributed among youth workers in all
fields, at schools and community centers. The Manual – printed in its
first edition at 1,000 copies – tackles five main issues in five
sections: Crystallizing group dynamics through icebreaking
tactics; Identity Activities: Palestinian, civic, national, village,
tribal, family; Gender: Discussing gender questions sensitively and
effectively; Human Rights: Helping youth to understand and comply with
these standards in concrete ways; Democracy: Civic participation and
means for influencing decision-makers. The Manual offers accessible
activities, practical materials, and academic articles concerning
identity (by Ramse Sliman, head of the Haifa University Psychology
Department, and Ahmad Saadi, Professor of Sociology at Ben Gurion
University), as well as excerpts from human rights conventions such as
CEDAW and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Baladna’s
Youth Worker Manual offer Baladna Youth Workers effective democratic
education curricula and contribute to a culture of peace by reinforcing
and buttressing efforts to propound democratic values and egalitarian
impulses among Arab youth. By introducing young people to questions of
democracy, civic participation and gender equality, this manual can act
as an instrument for change. Further, discussion of these topics
promotes a culture of peace by educating young people about their
rights and responsibilities in society thus creating a generation of
young people who are more aware of their potential role as peacemakers.
Baladna’s Youth Magazine, Shabab:
In
order to broaden its base and offer youth a new forum for expression,
Baladna established the youth magazine, Shabab in March of this year.
Shabab has quickly become a stage for young people on which to express
themselves concerning family and identity, culture and politics,
addressing issues such as workers’ rights, marriage, gay rights, the
education system, and upcoming opportunities (scholarship information).
Young people also find Shabab a cultural resource replete with film
analysis, short stories, and poems by youth. Shabab encourages young
people to improve their communication skills and promotes a culture of
openness which contributes to real peace. Shabab gives Arab youth
a place in which to express themselves freely and reduce their
frustration with their situation. The magazine, first distributed at
1,500 copies, is now printed at 5,000 and distributed to hundreds of
high schools, the 4 major universities, NGOs, youth centers, and of
course, via Baladna’s Youth Leaders.
Social Activities for Baladna Members:
Interspersed
with all its skill-trainings, lectures, and workshops, Baladna members
regularly join together to see their country together, share their
artistic talents, and develop connections with one another. Through
cultural events, Baladna offers youth opportunities to develop their
individual and collective sense of self. Through regular field trips,
Baladna educates Youth Group members in a manner that is not just
theoretical, but concrete, enabling them to see and feel the things
they discuss.
Cultural Events:
Baladna organizes a number
of social and cultural events for it’s members and local communities.
Involvement in these activities promotes a culture of peace in
many ways. It lends to an atmosphere of respite from the
difficult environment in which people are living. This helps
people gain perspective and understanding about their situation.
These activities also provide a platform for expression and
enable the community to come together in a comfortable and relaxed way.
This
year, Baladna focused new attention on the promotion of local artists,
organizing a group of Haifa children as part of community-known actress
Valentina Abu A’aksa’s “Dream Project,” in order to provide children a
platform for expression and a means for building children’s confidence
while strengthening community involvement in cultural activities.
Following the successes of our adaptations of these two plays about
children dreaming of a better life, Baladna was also able to organize a
performance by an Italian Puppet group through our emerging
relationship with the Italian Cultural Center and Abu A’aksa. Then, at
the start of March, Baladna brought “Mezzaj Alani,” a group of young
talented classical Arabic musicians, to the attention of the local
Haifa community and the El-Midan Theater. Baladna also featured the
works of 6 young Palestinian artists in an exhibition entitled, “Inside
the Place,” in our Center.
Since then, we have established
contacts with the Italian group, Comune di Concordia, for the musical
youth exchange “Unplugged On Water” scheduled for next summer, and
re-affirmed our contacts with Ibdaa Cultural Center in Deheisheh
Refugee Camp, Bethlehem, for another artistic exchange between
Bethlehem and Northern Italy in March and August of 2005.
Exchange
between European artists and Palestinians contributes to a culture of
peace by increasing understanding of different cultures and increasing
cross-cultural communication. It also encourages solidarity and
support for the Palestinian reality, a crucial step towards making Arab
youth feel less isolated and helping them to see their situation from
different perspectives.
BREAKING THE ISOLATION PROGRAM: PROMOTING REGIONAL SOLIDARITY AND COOPERATION
As
Palestinians throughout Israel, the West Bank, Gaza, refugee camps, and
the global Diaspora face their particular predicament each in their own
way, they share in common the tragedy of the division, displacement and
isolation of their people. For Arabs in Israel – for whom the Israeli
government’s strategy of divide and rule has been a central challenge –
remaining connected with their history, their people, and their culture
constitutes a significant form of resistance. Nowhere is it more
important to preserve, and in some cases restore, Palestinian identity,
than among this and the next generation of Palestinian youth. At the
same time, there is great potential to develop Palestinian identity via
the empowerment of Arab youth striving for change in their communities.
Part of this process involves connecting Arab youth with local
Palestinian and Jewish organizations that respect Palestinian identity
and are working for a common vision of a fully democratic country.
Working with Jewish Organizations:
Baladna’s
project Lika’a (“meeting,” in Arabic), a recent initiative in
partnership with activist Amit Perelson and Haifa’s Info-Shop, works to
organize events, lectures, and film-showings that bring young Jewish
and Palestinian youth in Haifa together to meet, listen and discuss
different issues relevant to them. Baladna has also initiated a
partnership with the Jewish social justice organization Mahapach, and
has included Mahapach in its efforts to establish a Regional Debate
Network. Baladna’s work with Jewish organizations such as the
Info-Shop, Mahapach, etc. is vital in the creation of a culture of
peace. It is abundantly clear that in order to create a general
culture of peace, it is essential that conflicting and divided
communities come together to establish common ground.
Exchange with Palestinian Youth Organizations:
Most
recently, Baladna welcomed delegates from the Jerusalem-based
Palestinian youth organization Pyalara to our new Youth Center in order
to exchange experiences and gain perspective. Pyalara filmed our
activities and members for a short documentary film about Baladna, to
be featured on a youth program on Palestinian National Television. A
month later, approximately 60 Youth Development Department (YDD)
members and youth activists from East Jerusalem visited the Center,
engaged in informative discussions with Baladna members, and enjoyed a
historical tour of Haifa by Baladna Director Nadym Nashef.
International Networking & Exchange:
Always
unique, sometimes stigmatized and oft-forgotten, Palestinians in Israel
live isolated from the Jewish majority, Palestinians in the Occupied
Territories, the Arab World, and the rest of the globe. Even as their
identity as Palestinians is repressed within Israeli society, the Arab
World and many of their fellow Palestinians regard them as Israelis.
Unable to travel to Arab countries which deny entry to Israeli
citizens, they live remote from millions of neighboring Arabs, whilst
surrounded by Jews, a minority in the region. And at the same time,
much of the world is not even aware that they even exist, much less
that they are the original inhabitants of the land now known as Israel
Such
a reality is isolating and alienating, and opportunities for exchange
with “outsiders” offer welcome respite and healthy perspective on the
complex environment in which Arabs in Israel live.
Going
abroad and participating in exchanges can play an important role in
helping Arab youth to live peacefully in Israel and facilitate peace.
These trips give people the chance to escape their situation and
gain healthy perspective through cultural exchange. This can help
them to see their own situations more clearly, offering them the
opportunity to learn from the histories, experiences and skills of
others and then act for peaceful change more effectively at home.
Throughout
this year Baladna was able to fortify its constituency of youth members
and to affirm lasting connections with youth organizations worldwide.
Our weekly newsletter and regular updates on scholarships, Baladna and
other NGO events, international exchange opportunities, etc. have
quickly attracted a considerable number of interested youth to Baladna,
its local partners, and a variety of European organizations. Over 500
additional people have become connected to one another and linked with
the outside world through this initiative.
Gaining Perspective, Going Abroad:
In
the second half of October 2004, a meeting of the Committee of
Directors for Youth Action for Peace (YAP) voted to officially accept
Baladna as a branch after 2 years of cooperation as an Associated
Group. Our new status enables us to widen our connections, become part
of an international movement for peace and understanding, and also to
have voice and influence within this movement. This membership also
assists us at Baladna in attaining a global view, sharing experiences,
broadening our perspective, and avoiding the common trap of becoming
lost in local problems. Already, Baladna has sent 10 members to
voluntary work-camps throughout Europe, through the YAP network.
Baladna has linked over 50 of its member with exchange opportunities
this year.
Intercultural Sharing Seminars:
For a third year,
Baladna organized several international youth seminars backed by the
European Union, bringing together European and local youth for several
days of workshops, lectures and discussions with local academics and
community leaders. The Intercultural Learning Seminars, as part of the
Euromed Youth Programme, aim to strengthen intercultural cooperation
and create constructive dialogue between Europe and Southern
Mediterranean Countries.
Baladna’s September seminar on
“Inter-religious Dialogue” – in cooperation with YAP International –
brought 30 youth from across Europe, Palestine and Israel to Nazareth.
Participants benefited from lectures and witnessed interactive
discussion panels representing various religious perspectives. On the
final morning of the seminar, participants visited three religious
places important to Muslims, Christians and Jews: the White Mosque and
Church of the Annunciation in Nazareth, and the Achuza Synagogue in
Haifa.
Baladna’s November Seminar, “Inter-Cultural Sharing for
Gender Equality,” aimed to analyze different perspectives on gender
equality and the evolution of models of gender education. The project
brought together youth activists and women from European and
Mediterranean countries and gave them space in which to understand the
influence of culture on approaches to basic terms such as “feminism,”
“gender,” and “equality.” Over five days, 35 European, Mediterranean
and local youth engaged in field trips, film screenings, workshops,
lectures, panels, discussions, experimental and inductive learning
activities. Highlighting the role of gender in areas of conflict, the
project aimed most of all to improve cooperation among participants and
their organizations and to create networks for future work and projects
addressing gender equality.
These seminars offer local youth
both a retreat from a heated political context and a space within which
they may explore questions about the values and assumptions of people
in neighboring countries. At the same time, Euro-Mediterranean youth
are able to learn about, witness, and discuss some of the key
political, religious and social issues they have heard about their
entire lives, in context.
Volunteer-camps:
For three years,
Baladna has conducted work-camps, in the long tradition of voluntarism
in Arab society in Israel. For example, this year, Baladna held a
work-camp in Eilabun in the second half of August. During the first
half of the day, 15 international and 15 local volunteers worked in a
local school re-painting and doing construction. In the second half of
the day, they learned about the economic, social and political
realities faced by Palestinians in Israel and engaged in cultural and
social activities throughout the Golan Heights and the villages of
Arabi, Sakhnin and Nazareth. Throughout the experience, international
and local participants became aware of the original Arab way of life in
the area, learning about historic local industries such as tobacco,
honey and copper. Every night, after a hard day of work and intensive
education, participants learned about traditional Palestinian culture
via an evening of traditional songs and dance coordinated by Baladna
and the local municipality.
European Voluntary Service:
This
year, following several years of hosting our own European Voluntary
Service interns, Baladna joined in a unique partnership with
YAP-Belgium, linking 10 volunteers from across Europe with internships
at Arab organizations. Kayan Arab Feminist Organization, The
Association of Forty, the Center against Racism, Baladna, Al-Zahra
Feminist Organization, Nisan Young Women Leaders Association, Worker’s
Voice, New Moriscos – in Haifa, Nazareth and Sakhnin – benefited from
the energy and enthusiasm of these skilled youth, and in turn, the
European volunteers became intimately acquainted with the complex array
of challenges Arab citizens of Israel face, enjoying a unique
opportunity to learn about Arab society from within.
Visits from Allied Youth Organizations:
Every
year, many international groups come to visit Baladna for a few hours
of lecture and discussion. In November, for instance, 40 Italian trade
unionists met with Baladna staff. Baladna traveled to Jerusalem to give
a presentation on the situation of Arab youth in Israel to a delegation
of 20 representatives of Danish youth organizations visiting
Palestinian and Israeli NGOs. And a delegation of Jewish American youth
from the San Francisco chapter of Jews for a Free Palestine came to the
Center and engaged in a warm and fruitful discussion with Baladna’s
Director and Youth Group Coordinator. This year, representatives from
Northern Ireland’s Public Achievement came twice to Baladna, each time
enjoying an informative NGO-tour arranged by Baladna. In the
unrecognised village of Ein Hod, the Chairman of the Association of
Forty, Muhammad Abu-Heja described the stark and painful realities of
living “unrecognised,” making a strong impression on the Public
Achievement visitors.
MUMKIN SELF-ADVOCACY PROGRAM: PROMOTING A CULTURE OF QUESTIONING AND DIALOGUE
If
one agrees that the future of all the peoples of Israel is interwoven
with the future of Arab-Palestinians, the largest minority in Israel,
it becomes clear that in order for reconciliation to occur, the needs
of the next generation of Arab citizens must be addressed. Thus it is
imperative that immense efforts be devoted to researching and analyzing
the needs of Arab youth, as well as establishing avenues for their
expression to the dominant majority. Baladna’s emerging Mumkin
Self-Advocacy Program will address the glaring absence of advocacy for
the needs of the next generation of Arab citizens in Israel,
formulating and executing an unwavering and comprehensive strategy to
raise awareness of the ramifications of de facto and de jure
discrimination and racism against Arab citizens – starting with Arab
youth – for the future of all citizens of Israel.
With a
balanced measure of self-love and self-critique, Palestinian youth in
Israel must communicate their concerns to the outside world. It is
clear that the ability to engage in internal critique and in turn to
peacefully and effectively debate with the ‘Other’ is key to the
advancement of any society. This generation of Middle Eastern youth –
particularly Arab and Jewish citizens of Israel – may be the first
prepared with the tools and mindset necessary to tackle internal
challenges within their own society as they also advocate for
themselves as citizens.
Particularly amongst populations
suffering from social separation, mistrust or conflict – such as inside
Israeli society, within Arab society, and between Israel and the Arab
World – historical narratives rarely mesh and media reports generally
offer alternate sides of the same negative. Meanwhile, communities that
fail to engage in internal debate concerning fundamental social
questions are generally unable to answer questions and challenges from
without.
In turn, opportunities for free and open debate on
equal terms, at the citizen-level, can bridge the gap. And communities
that internally identify, discuss, and contend with obstacles to their
development, will gain the inner strength and skills necessary for
communicating their needs to the larger society and ultimately exacting
full equity within it.
The debate structure evens out the
playing field – regardless of race, political affiliations, familial
ties, class, gender, etc. – and thereby empowers Arab youth to speak up
and speak effectively in otherwise daunting or intimidating
environments.
For these reasons, Baladna is seeking the
financial resources to develop a “Regional Debate Network,” starting
within Israeli society, expanding to include Jordanian youth, and with
the potential to spread throughout the Middle East. The aim of the
Regional Debate Network, and of debate in general, would be not merely
to afford youth opportunities to engage in competition, but to
encourage a spirit of questioning in the Arab World and in Israel and
lead to the reinforcement of democracy and a culture of peace.
Witnessing Debate – A Trip to Estonia:
Between
July 23rd and August 3rd, 2004, Baladna sent two of its Members to act
as observers in the International Debate Youth Forum in Estonia.
Salsabil Khalifa, Industrial Engineering and Management student, and
Safa A’abdu, Law student, were the only representatives of Israel, the
only youth from the Middle East, and the only Arabs present in an event
peopled by over 100 Europeans, Americans and East Asians.
A’abdu
and Khalifa found that as each debater introduced into the debating
arena evidence, examples and experiences from her/his own particular
national context, Arab perspectives were clearly missing. Khalifa and
A’abdu developed contacts with experienced debaters who promised to
assist Baladna in its future endeavor to establish a local and perhaps
regional Arab debating team, and at the same time introduced Baladna’s
work to participants, most of whom were not aware that there were Arabs
in Israel. Further, Khalifa noted: “While I had heard about the idea of
debating before, we have nothing like this in Arab society and it
represents a huge gap between us and so much of the world.”
Khalifa
and A’abdu returned to Baladna able and ready to assist Baladna in
developing our newest debate initiative in conjunction with IDEA (the
International Debate Education Association). Within a month after their
arrival, Baladna started the process of establishing a local debate
club. The Debate Project began with a preliminary two-day training
session held for 12 members or leaders of Baladna on 17-18 September
2004. A group consisting of Director of IDEA Noel Selegzi,
Professor of Communications and Rhetoric at the University of
Willamette in Salem (Oregon) Robert Trapp, and IDEA Debate Trainer
Aaron Fishbone, came to introduce the concept of debate to Baladna and
its partner organizations Mahapach (a Jewish social justice
organization) and the Youth Development Department (an East Jerusalem
Youth Movement).
The First Steps Towards a Debate Network:
In
February, IDEA Trainer Aaron Fishbone journeyed to Israel to guide
Baladna Leaders through three months of debate training. Most recently,
Fishbone held an intensive overnight training with Baladna Leaders in
Jaffa, aimed at giving participants the final tools necessary before
Fishbone returns to the United States. Asked why they thought Baladna
found debate such an important tool, the participants engaged in an
interesting discussion concerning the application of debate
specifically in Arab society.
For example, Ghuntous
suggested that it is vital to teach the new generation the debating
skills which facilitate effective advocacy work, and thus the
advancement of Arab society in general.
Khouri also pointed
out that “Debate is particularly important in a society with conflicts.
Ours is a closed society with many taboos and a difficult
political situation and it is therefore important to open up a
discussion about these issues”.
All agreed that debate is
a good way to encourage people to listen to the other side, formulate
their own views and locate solutions to conflicts constructively. The
participants also saw that in developing their communication and
presentation skills, they gained self-confidence and tackled their
fears of speaking before an audience. These Debate trainings have
clearly acted as an important capacity-building exercise for youth and
lay an excellent foundation for possible social activism, advocacy or
legal work in the future.
BALADNA'S OVERALL STRATEGY = NURTURING THE BASIS FOR A CULTURE OF PEACE
Baladna
promotes a culture of peace through all these interwoven projects. To
reiterate, Baladna’s Democracy and Community Development Program
contributes to a culture of peace by cultivating democratic,
pluralistic and tolerant impulses in Arab-Palestinian society.
Baladna’s identity development work creates stronger individuals able
to self-advocate and a stronger Arab society able to achieve full
equity within Israeli society and the world, an important basis for any
lasting peace. Baladna’s Breaking the Isolation Program develops
opportunities for interaction, dialogue and understanding between
people from different backgrounds and cultures, the basis of all
efforts for peace in the world. Finally, Baladna’s Mumkin Self-Advocacy
Program offers Arab youth an unprecedented forum in which to voice
their needs at a time when reconciliation between all the peoples of
Israel relies more than ever before upon respect for the needs of both
the minority and majority in Israel.
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ADVICE: What advice would you like to
give to the Secretary-General and the General Assembly to promote a
culture of peace and nonviolence during the second half of the Decade? |
|
PARTNERSHIPS: What partnerships and
networks does your organization participate in, thus strengthening the
global movement for a culture of peace? |
YAP - Youth Action for Peace
IDEA - International Debate Education Association
Public Achievement Northern Ireland
YEU - Youth for Exchange and Understanding
|
PLANS: What new engagements are
planned by your organization to promote a culture of peace and
nonviolence in the second half of the Decade (2005-2010)? |
Creating a Culture of Debate
As
mentioned, Baladna is seeking the financial resources to develop a
“Regional Debate Network,” starting within Israeli society, expanding
to include Jordanian youth, and with the potential to spread throughout
the Middle East. The aim of the Regional Debate Network, and of debate
in general, would be not merely to afford youth opportunities to engage
in competition, but to encourage a spirit of questioning in the Arab
World and in Israel.
In our next step towards establishing
such a network, prominent public figures, media and educators will be
invited to participate in Baladna’s Public Achievement Festival on May
21st, at which time Baladna’s Debate Leaders will lead Baladna Youth
Groups in debates about the Public Achievement projects they have been
working on over the past two months.
Following the Festival,
several of our Debate Leaders will travel abroad for a month-long US
State Department-sponsored debate summer camp, together with 16 Arab
high school students. This event will clearly promote discussion on
equal terms between Arabs in Israel and Americans, as well as
developing a deeper understanding of debate skills amongst the some of
the first Middle Eastern debaters in the world. This camp will be
crucial to the establishment of this unprecedented and ground-breaking
Debate network, and its accompanying culture of open discussion, vital
to peace in the Middle East and the world.
Advocating for Arab youth = conflict prevention
As
it develops and grows, the emerging Mumkin - 'It's Possible' - Youth
Voice Program will initiate a discussion within Israeli society about
the needs and challenges faced by the Arab minority, and the
ramifications of these challenges for all citizens. The Mumkin Program
will bring together decision-makers, media, NGOs, educators and youth,
encouraging them to engage in combating racism and discrimination
against minorities in Israel. Mumkin will develop strategic campaigns
for the rights of the next generation of Arab citizens promote
solutions (i.e. curricula, informal education, etc.). Mumkin will also
establish a unique advocacy mentor-program for young Arab citizens and
an unprecedented research-gathering project on youth. Altogether, the
Mumkin Program will foster public awareness of the Arab youth reality
and its implications for all, thereby facilitating inter-cultural
understanding and the means towards conflict-prevention.
The
Mumkin Program aims to highlight and address the lack of research and
awareness concerning Arab youth in Israel and to heighten Jewish and
Arab decision-makers’ understanding of the problems confronting them,
via strategic campaigns buttressed by studies and culminating in an
annual conference. The ultimate aim of the Mumkin Program is to forge
cooperation between Jewish and Arab decision-makers and associations
committed to improving the situation of Arab youth citizens of Israel.
At
the same time, in order to execute this process in a manner most
reflective of youth needs, most effective at advancing their agenda,
and with the greatest direct impact on the lives of youth, the Mumkin
Youth Voice Program will fundamentally work to empower Arab youth by
increasing their social awareness and their accessibility to
information, and nurturing and activating their advocacy skills.
This
effort necessarily must involve any and all Israeli decision-makers,
researchers, Youth Workers, educators, and, of course, Arab and Jewish
youth. Clearly, legislators and political figures have a fundamental
role to play in any project aimed at the advancement of minority
rights. And any project which works to advocate for a population has
significantly less power and meaning if it does not offer the target
population opportunities for ownership of its mechanisms and results.
Thus Mumkin targets decision-makers and youth above all, striving to
link them through innovative and youthful awareness-raising techniques
as well as established advocacy mechanisms. The media, which often
plays a key role in any effort to encourage positive social change,
will be approached, offered grassroots contacts and in-depth analysis
describing the Arab youth reality, and encouraged to act to convey the
relationship between the future of Arab youth and that of larger
Israeli society. Finally, the intermediaries between high-level
decision-makers and youth have tended to be educators, principals,
administrators and NGOs. The Mumkin Program aims to strongly buttress
the work of these traditional youth rights advocates.
Overall,
the Mumkin Program will strive to initiate a discussion within Arab
society and between Arab society and Jewish society in Israel about the
needs and prospects of Arab youth and the ramifications of the
challenges they face for the wider society.
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Postal address of organization
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Baladna - Association for Arab Youth
P.O. Box 99604
Haifa 31996
Israel
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E-mail address of organization
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info@baladnayouth.org
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Website address of organization
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www.baladnayouth.org
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Highest priority action domain of a culture of peace
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Understanding, tolerance, solidarity
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Second priority action domain of a culture of peace
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Democratic participation
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Highest priority country of action (or international)
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Israel
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Second priority country of action (or international)
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Palestine
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