Rabbi Brian Walt, Co-chair of the Jewish Voice for Peace Rabbinical Council, will share his experiences in Hebron with Palestinian Youth Against Settlement leader Issa Amro and Israeli Breaking the Silence leader Yehuda Shaul and the reality of apartheid in the West Bank.
Ariel Gold, CODEPINK Campaign Director and Youth Against Settlements International Advocacy Coordinator, will provide an an update of the work CODEPINK, Veterans for Peace, Jewish Voice for Peace, Amnesty International, and others are doing with Joint List Knesset members, State Department officials, and members of the US Congress to support Issa Amro as he faces 18 charges in Israeli military court. She will provide an eye witness account of Youth Against Settlement’s annual “Open Shuhada Street” campaign that took place this past February in Hebron.
Kirby Edmonds, Senior Fellow and Program Coordinator of the Dorothy Cotton Institute (DCI), will discuss his experience in Hebron, when helping to lead the DCI’s delegation to East Jerusalem and the West Bank with leaders from the U.S. Civil Rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s, younger civil and human rights leaders, social justice activists, and peace builders. Kirby will share how the oppression in Hebron and the Palestinian grassroots nonviolent resistance movement relate to the US struggles for racial justice and human rights.
On March 13, the Dorothy Cotton Institute presented an interactive half-day training workshop on understanding the human rights framework, for students from two high schools–Lehman Alternative Community School, and New Roots Charter School. The half-day workshop was hosted by LACS in their terrific theater space. DCI Senior Fellows Kirby Edmonds and Laura Branca designed and led the training.
A highly committed team of educators who are champions for equity and inclusion in their schools worked together to organize, find a time and space, and encourage their students to attend.
Many of the youth who attended the workshop are already involved working for justice and positive change in their schools and in their lives. The purpose of this workshop was to encourage them to use their understanding of human rights for creative self-expression, scholarship, and positive action to end discrimination and respect human dignity. The DCI is invited some youth to design a panel at The History Center about their work for social justice, date TBD.
Human Rights are Universal, which means that they belong to all people, everywhere. Yet it’s surprising how many people do not know very much about array of rights and responsibilities that our nation and hundreds of other nation states across the globe have made a commitment to protect and uphold.
The Right to Know Our Rights: The Declaration of Human Rights Education and Training says that first and foremost is our right to know our rights, and that all people, everywhere, are entitled to human rights education. The Dorothy Cotton Institute is very pleased to offer young people the opportunity to examine their experience through the lens of human rights and responsibilities.
If you are interested in future human rights workshops for young people, educators or activists, please contact Kirby Edmonds at tfckirby@aol.com, or 607-277-3401.