שתיל - שירותי תמיכה וייעוץ לקידום שינוי חברתי

Response in the field has been strong to a new joint initiative of Israel's major social justice organizations to put social and economic justice on the agenda of the candidates and voters in the upcoming national elections. In 100 parlor meetings around the country, individuals are being educated on the issues and urged to check their party's platform on these issues and demand clear policies. The campaign, Voting for Equality and Justice, is a Shatil-initiated, non-party effort led by Isareli social change organizations with the support of the New Israel Fund. Within a week of its launching, 15 parlor meetings have been organized by volunteers throughout the country. The campaign's platform calls for the right to: 

• food security including the recommendation that the state cancel the value added tax on basic foods. A quarter of Israeli families suffer from food insecurity
• housing – how can it be that despite the growing number of families that cannot afford housing, the government cut housing subsidies by 50%?
• employment– more than 35% of salaried employees in Israel receive minimum wage or less
• health – one third of Israelis heave to choose  between health care and other basic needs such as food
• education – average eight grade math scores on standardized tests this year was 44; the educational gaps between different population groups are on the rise 
• legal redress – half a million Israelis do not have the right to representation in legal proceedings in which they are involved
• unemployment compensation – in a time of skyrocketing unemployment, 75% of the unemployed are not entitled to government compensation
• culture – the Israeli government funds only 3.6% of the national expenditure on culture

Twenty organziations are leading the campaign, including the Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI,) the Israel Women's Network (IWN), Community Advocacy, Rabbis for Human Rights, Achoti, and more. Flyers, bumper stickers and a web site (www.shatil.org.il/sites/shivyon) are at people's disposal. The campaign is the product of Ichud-Yichud (Unity-Uniqueness) a network initiated by Shatil to maximize the impact of social and economic justice organizations in Israel. It is the first major example of the solidarity, cooperation, resource-sharing and avoidance duplication in order to maximize impact in response to the financial crisis. The effort ensures that the organizations' efforts are harmonized and that each NGO's added value is taken into account ensuring that the impact of the effort is greater than that of a multitude of uncoordinated endeavors.

  Said Ronit Heyd, coordinator of Shatil's Social and Economic Justice Initiative: "We are hearing a strong, shared voice reminding the Israeli public that despite the security situation, social and economic justice issues have to be at the top of our agenda."