ACRI believes that action at the grassroots level is essential in bringing about social change. Our civic action groups in Yeruham and Qufr Kassem, both small communities in Israel’s social and geographic periphery, are comprised of local residents dedicated to raising awareness of human rights and social justice locally. Through education and dialogue, the groups act as agents of change in their immediate communities as well as on a national scale, in partnership with other groups. These methods allow previously marginalized social groups to voice their perspectives and bring issues important to them to the public agenda. The groups work in the context of ACRI’s Human Rights Education Department and were founded as part of ACRI’s partner NGO Mehuyavut – Commitment to Peace and Social Justice.
Qufr Kassem is an Arab town located in Israel’s center. ACRI’s civic action group in Qufr Kassem is comprised of black Arab women who are subject to multiple layers of discrimination: as Arab citizens within Israeli society, as blacks within an Arab community, and as women. The group’s activities include the organization of a summer camp for children from the black community, the launching of a public campaign against racism as well as ongoing meetings between members of the community to encourage dialogue. Since the establishment of the action group in Qufr Kassem, great progress has been made in recruiting the support of the entire black community- male, female, and teens – and in grappling with difficult questions concerning identity, collective history, and racism.
Yeruham is a poor development town in Israel’s Negev desert. ACRI’s civic action group there is comprised of religious Jewish Israelis who have forged a strong bond with their neighbors in the unrecognized Bedouin community of Rahme. For the past several years, activists in Yeruham and Rahme have been working together to seek justice for the residents of Rahme to ensure their basic rights and to gain recognition for the village which lies within the area of jurisdiction of the Yeruham Local Council At present, Bedouin children between the ages of three and six – and even older – have no educational framework as is their right according to law, because of the State’s neglect to establish an accessible kindergarten there. Following a petition submitted by ACRI’s legal department and its Yeruham civic action, the Beersheba District Court has ordered the Education Ministry and the Yeruham Local Council to open a kindergarten in Rahme before September 2010. The action group continues to work jointly with its Bedouin neighbors on a range of rights issues as a means to achieving greater social justice in both communities.
Photo: ACRI’s Qufr Kassem Civic Action ran a summer camp for local children in the summer of 2009. Credit: Ashley Walker
