Middle East

World Social Forum, Tunisia, March 2013.

Palestinian participant carries a slogan saying:"10,000 Palestinians are threatened by forced displacement in the Negev".

The Palestinian youth delegation that participated in the World Social Forum last December in Brazil had a second opportunity to act together and build youth-led networks during the World Social Forum in March 2013. The event in Tunis, Tunisia was a chance to promote youth initiatives within countries affected by the Arab Spring as well as internationally.

alternative spring break

Alternative spring break 2013. View more photos by Rudhian Chlissma Putra.

[Jennifer Bing co-directs AFSC’s Middle East Program. Along with co-workers Shirien Damra, Daniel Kaplan, and Darlene Gramigna (who has pulled together previous spring breaks), Jennifer recently organized an alternative spring break for Earlham College students in Chicago. The students organized a vigil on the campus of Illinois-Chicago to protest Israel’s continued demolition of Palestinian homes and to commemorate the tenth anniversary of Rachel Corrie’s death.]

Q: Please talk about AFSC’s alternative spring break.

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tristan to D.C.

Tristan Anderson (second from left), a constituent of Congresswoman Barbara Lee, was injured by Israeli forces while non-violently protesting against the theft of Palestinian land in the West Bank village of Bil'in. Pictured here at a solidarity with Egypt rally in San Francisco. For more on Tristan see: www.justicefortristan.org.

By Noura Khouri

The Campus Organizing and Grassroots Advocacy Training conference was put on by AFSC and Interfaith Peace Builders and held at the Cesar Chavez School for Public Policy in Washington DC. When we arrived energetic young people from the high school greeted us, where they, in addition to about 200 others actively participated in the conference over the weekend. Saturday’s activities focused on campus organizing and were intended to support the students who came from college campuses all over the country.