“A political struggle that does not have women at the heart of it, above it, below it, and within it is no struggle at all.” – Arundhati Roy. This is how Zahra Atalla Salameh, the instructor of YWP in Yarka, chose to end her written impressions of the YWP leadership seminar. The seminar took place in a youth hostel in Haifa, between November 30th and December 1st, 2017, and 80 young women, Jewish and Arab, have come from Jisr A-Zarqa, Fureidis, Yarka, SHefa-’Amr, Kfar Saba, Herzliya and Bat Yam to attend it. The women were encouraged to take part in a feminist social activism and to get involved in their own communities.
On the first day of the seminar, the girls – from different YWP groups – have presented their own community projects of activism they had initiated and led throughout the year. During the night they had a fun activity with a drumming circle and a dance party.
The second day was centered around integrated group work, in order to design an ideal community through roleplay, discussions and simulations. The girls discussed what they wanted such a community to be like; how they wanted to feel in it; what should it allow, and formed a vision for it, goals and marketing strategies for the suggested ideas. Finally, the groups gathered, and each group presented the products of their thinking process.