Build the Movement: Support Achvat Amim!

Dear Friends of Achvat Amim,

It's my privilege to be able to thank you for your support - my name is Meir Gorodskoy, and over the past 3 months I've been stepping into the role of Development Director here at Achvat. Alongside you - our supporters and alumni - I'm privileged to commit to Achvat Amim's mission of groundbreaking education and solidarity building, hand-in-hand. We are the only program of its kind that offers language education, activist beit midrash, volunteer placements, and unique seminars, workshops, and tours, in pursuit of self determination for all.

As we witness crisis unfold into crisis, we do not take for granted that you choose to support our program. Your donation is more than a financial investment. It means you recognize that in order to build a shared future for all, we need a strong, resilient movement that is committed to its values of justice and equality for all. This is a movement that welcomes and empowers new activists, creative leaders, and critical thinkers. Building this movement cannot happen without radical education.

This is not stuff you can learn in a textbook. This is pushing rocks across a terrace until you start to feel what sumud is on a spiritual level. This is opening up all the difficult conversations our communities avoid, and reclaiming our voices in the process. We provide opportunities to meet with scholars like Sami Shalom and Bashir Bashir, work with groups like Mesarvot or the Mizrahi Black Panthers, and hear detailed lectures by Btselem, Gisha, and more. From Umm Al Fahm to Beer Sheva / Bir Saba, the feedback we hear from participants is "I thought I knew everything there is to know about the occupation but I didn't even know the half of it. I don't think I would've had any other opportunity to hear that perspective, and really understand what it means to live here. That's why this education is so important, because you can't really be an activist without being able to join communities here that are already doing the work, because they're the ones affected and they're the ones that know what they're doing, and they're the ones with the most to lose".

Hearing that only deepens our commitment to making this program possible, because we understand the importance of its vision, and we know that we need each other. Participants take their learning further into organizing, media, art, research, and activist projects, and its our goal to support them.

We are for community, by community, which is why we count on your support. We are not backed by a powerful lobby, we are grassroots, boots on the ground, standing alongside our partners, and bringing you with us. We are not avoiding a touchy subject or "picking sides", we are sticking to our values, because we made a promise to our communities and we are in it for the long haul. At a time when activist spaces are rapidly shrinking and divisions and violence are rising, targeted intimidation campaigns jeapordize programs like ours. We hope you will continue to stand alongside us, and one way to do that is supporting our fundraising efforts. By doing that, you are helping build infrastructures that can withstand crises and nurture strong leadership for liberatory communities. We hope you consider sharing or making a donation to our End Of Year Campaign to help us reach our goal of $35 000.

Your contributions allow us to continue to meet the moment. Being part of a community that embraces all the challenges and hardships, and, in spite of everything, continues to show up for each other, reject war and separation, and do inspiring activism is what makes this work possible.

Thank you to the dozens of participants who have joined us past year from the United States, South Africa, Russia, United Kingdom, and Israel. The have gone from editing for 972+ Magazine during placement to running the Storytelling Project in the South Hebron Hills, or joining Protective Presence on the ground and then taking those lessons home to organize speaking tours and fundraisers. Our alumni are the best example of Achvat Amim's longterm impact, and we hope you understand the precious value of education, and the duty we have to each other to build strong, caring, anti-racist leadership, to facilitate open minded and critical learning environments, to honour and adapt our Jewish traditions, to embody solidarity, and to lead with courage and integrity. Together, we are breaking down the barriers that got us here, but we still have room to grow. Thank you for standing with us.

Fire at times, love always,

Meir and the Tzevet Team

Links:

• Stories of Achvat Amim
• Achvat Amim