GOVERNING BOARD WORLD JEWISH CONGRESS NEW YORK, 10 JUNE 2007 HEADQUARTERS REPORTS

Transcription

1 GOVERNING BOARD WORLD JEWISH CONGRESS NEW YORK, 10 JUNE 2007 HEADQUARTERS REPORTS Department of Future Generations

2 DEPARTMENT OF FUTURE GENERATIONS The WJC's Future Generations Division (FGD) has undertaken significant activities since the last meeting of the WJC Governing Board in November of We intend to implement many more meaningful and effective initiatives during , aimed at meeting the challenge of engaging young activists in the political activities of world Jewry. The WJC FGD's primary goal is to recruit, train and integrate young Jewish activists into the political framework of the WJC and Jewish communities worldwide. In order to achieve that goal, we are focusing our efforts on two age groups: 18 to 25 year-old students, and year-old individuals belonging to the successor generation. This second age group is being incorporated into our activities via the Young Professional Diplomatic Corp Program (YPDC). By directing our efforts to young Jewish activists who have demonstrated high motivation as students and youth leaders, we are able to assist them in becoming committed leaders in the future. Additionally, we hope to convey to current community leaders the urgent need to actively engage these young leaders in their own activities and organizational structures, and to share with them their extensive experience. The WJC FGD firmly believes that the generation now referred to as Generation X strives to accomplish one main task to outline a new social, cultural and political vision that will be different than the one set out by the previous generation. This is an intermediate generation (to be followed by the Millennial Generation, or Generation Y ), which will determine the possibly revolutionary agenda that will be in effect for the years to come. It is the first generation in modern history that incorporates the understanding of what the global village means for the Jewish people. Below please find a summarized list of processes, events and ad-hoc initiatives which the WJC FGD has begun and intends to carry out throughout the years GLOBAL INITIATIVES Shared Memories- Collective Action The goal of this process is to strengthen students' awareness, knowledge and understanding of the unique place the Shoah occupies in the context of world genocides. FUTURE GENERATIONS REPORT PAGE 1 OF 6

3 It also aims to promote action by enabling the participants to carry out concrete initiatives concerning the Shoah, past genocides and the combating of anti-semitism and other forms of racial discrimination. The Future Generations Division, in cooperation with the World Holocaust Forum, led the first global seminar of the Shared Memories Collective Action program on 27 May - 01 June, 2007 at the International School for Holocaust Education at Yad Vashem. Over 20 participants from 12 countries and five continents were carefully selected by the WJC Future Generations Division in cooperation with Jewish communities and local organizations. They were addressed by high-caliber speakers such as Prof. Yehuda Bauer and Prof. Dan Michman. In one session entitled Survivors Panel, the seminar participants were addressed by a panel comprised of a Holocaust survivor, Dr. Ehud Lev, a survivor from Rwanda, Jean-Marie Kananura, and a refugee from Darfur who was granted asylum and now lives in Israel. The panel members presented their heart-wrenching personal stories, along with their long-term vision for initiatives they intend to carry out in their respective countries, with the assistance of WJC Future Generations Division and the World Holocaust Forum. Within 18 months, we expect to establish a global pool of approximately 250 dedicated, knowledgeable students who are willing to engage further in the study of the Holocaust, different forms of anti-semitism, racism and genocide. This global network of students will be brought to Berlin, Germany in November 2008 for a threeday conference entitled The Threats of Racist Trends to World Security and will participate in the official commemoration ceremonies of the 70 th anniversary of Kristallnacht, organized by the World Holocaust Forum. WJC YPDC (Young Professionals Diplomatic Corps) - separate report follows Hi-Tech Conference on The Effect of Technology on Future Jewish Generations. Technology is becoming one of the leading forces affecting the lifestyle and behavior of future generations. The internet provides hundreds of millions of people with access to cyber-space, and is used for recreational, social, cultural, political and communication purposes. Young Jewish and Israeli professionals and entrepreneurs are on the cutting edge of technology. Their highly successful international careers in the high-tech industry can be attributed to their creativity, open-mindedness and expertise. FUTURE GENERATIONS REPORT PAGE 2 OF 6

4 Introducing technological advancement to the Jewish organizational world is of vital importance. It can be used to enrich and support Jewish community issues and to motivate the next generation to take an active part in Jewish community life. This unique conference will serve as a major catalyst for Jewish organizations, as well as for young Jews, to integrate modern technologies into Jewish life. Therefore, the aim of this initiative is two-fold: 1. To attract and motivate young Jews to become involved in Jewish affairs, by offering them an opportunity to develop technology-based initiatives related to the future of the Jewish people; 2. To integrate these initiatives into the framework of Jewish communal organizations and activities. In the first stage, the WJC will put out a call for an advanced-technologies conference to be held in Israel (date to be confirmed). During this conference, young Jewish adults from around the world will be asked to present their ideas and demonstrate the impact of those ideas on Jewish community life, if given the opportunity and basic resources to develop them. The young inventors and entrepreneurs will discuss the advantages and obstacles of introducing new technologies into the life of Jewish communities in the future. At the end of the conference, financial grants will be awarded to the highest rated initiatives presented, as seed money toward the development of the projects. KOLDOR - a global young adult Jewish network Conference KolDor, which translates as both the Voice of the Generation and Every Generation, involves young Jewish leaders from around the world, coming together to forge and act upon a new global Jewish agenda. Its members are galvanized to take action, collectively and individually, by their common concerns and hopes for the future of the Jewish People. KolDor and the WJC future Generations Division have formed a strategic cooperation and are jointly leading a unique global web initiative. FUTURE GENERATIONS REPORT PAGE 3 OF 6

5 In order to strengthen KolDor's vision and long-term strategy, the WJC will support KolDor's upcoming third global conference, taking place in October 2007 in Israel. The conference will attract over 120 successor generation activists from around the world. World Jewish Web Initiative A new initiative sponsored by the World Jewish Congress, initiated by KolDor, focuses on the fastest growing media and content conduit of the young generation: the internet. Younger Jews are using the internet in ever-growing numbers to connect via communities and chat groups, lists and blogs but most of this activity is not related to Jews, Judaism or Israel. These Jews, aged 18-45, use the internet for business and pleasure but do not connect to each other or to Jewish content with any frequency; when they do, finding the information they want and need becomes a challenge of navigating disorganized information and sometimes even misleading websites. This project - "Jewish Web Connection" - is geared to exposing more Jews to more Jewish sites. A steering committee has been established with members from the WJC and KolDor, and a project manager has been commissioned to manage the project. Search engines have become the leading traffic aggregators in the internet world. For most websites, placement in the first positions of the major search engines such as Google, Yahoo!, AOL, MSN etc. is a matter of do or die. The goal of this initiative is to help the Jewish sites participating in this project make the content of their websites more visible through the search engines, and help them elevate the ranking position of their website on selected keywords. REGIONAL INITIATIVES Pan-European Young Adult Forum This Pan-European successor generation program is being carried out as a cooperative effort between the WJC Future Generations Division and an organization called Standwithus. It aims to involve young adults between the ages of 28 and 40 in creating a modified focus on Jewish diplomacy/political issues, with a stronger political advocacy agenda. This program will train and cultivate strong communal ambassadors with political savvy and high impact potential. This initiative is vital to the needs of the YPDC initiative, as it aims to locate and train the same age group with the same characteristics, but stresses a more theoretical perspective. By teaming with other bodies, such as Standwithus, that bring more resources and other fields of expertise to the WJC and its affiliates, this program will eventually complement the YPDC's efforts to actively engage young Europeans who will be selected to participate in the Pan-European young adult Forum. FUTURE GENERATIONS REPORT PAGE 4 OF 6

6 The program will see six weekend modules per year in a variety of European cities. As part of these weekend seminars, high-level experts and leaders will be brought to allow core mentoring, education and coalition-building. The Pan-European Young Adult Forum will focus on Jewish issues within Europe as well as Israel's interests within Europe, with a specific emphasis on political advocacy. The first Pan-European young adult forum is intended to be launched in September 2007 and will run until September 2008, at which time the program will be evaluated for future continuity. The European Council's All Different, All Equal Pan-European Campaign All different, all equal is the call of the Council of Europe for diversity, human rights and participation. In 1995, the Council of Europe ran a European Youth Campaign entitled All Different All Equal in order to reinforce the fight against racism, anti-semitism, xenophobia and intolerance. In the framework of this campaign, the European Jewish Congress (EJC), the Council of Europe and the WJC Future Generations Division will organize an entire day dedicated to Jewish culture, the promotion of inter-religious dialogue and the fight against anti-semitism. The idea is to open up the Jewish community to the general population and to allow the locals, especially young Europeans, to become better acquainted with Jewish culture, heritage, history and the importance of eradicating anti-semitism. This project consists of a day-long event, held simultaneously in five or six European cities, in which cultural tents will be erected in central squares (Place de la Sorbonne or Hôtel de Ville in Paris, Hyde Park in London etc.) of the participating cities London, Berlin, Paris, Strasbourg and Kiev, Ukraine. In and around the tents, guests will be able to participate in panel discussions, conferences (genocide prevention, Jewish history, culture), sessions, meetings and view open air classrooms, small exhibitions, concerts etc. One option is to end the weekend with a big concert. South African Young Political Leaders Tour in Israel FUTURE GENERATIONS REPORT PAGE 5 OF 6

7 The purpose of the African mission, slated for September 2007, is to create educational dialogue by bringing black African leaders to experience Israel and Jewish culture for the first time. There is no substitute for actually coming to Israel and seeing the complexities firsthand. This program will be carried out in partnership with the South African Jewish Board of Deputies (SAJBOD), the South African Union of Jewish Students (SAUJS), the Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the South African government. With the word apartheid becoming more routinely used on a global level when referring to the State of Israel, this is a prime opportunity to invite the very people who suffered the horrible injustices of apartheid in their home country to come and see what Israel is about and how vastly different the situation truly is. Report prepared by Peleg Reshef, Director of Future Generations Division WJC Jeruselem Office 01 June 2007 FUTURE GENERATIONS REPORT PAGE 6 OF 6