Our Justice Team Wants Your Input.
UUs for Justice in the Middle East (UUJME)
The SUUS Social Justice team has opportunities for our congregation to learn more about the Middle East. Please contact Social Justice if you have interest in participating in any of the following:
~ Congregational Read: The Future is Peace – by Aziz Abu Sarah and Maoz Inon.
A book by an Israeli and Palestinian who both lost family in the Gaza war and their path toward understanding
~ Film series featuring, The Hidden History of Israel, The Balfour Declaration,
and others, to learn more history of the region
~ Review the Apartheid-Free Communities and Pledge
Sign up for the Apartheid-Free newsletter at https://apartheid-free.org/newsletter-sign-up/
Listening Circles: Sometimes the first step in a congregation is organizing a listening circle. Find a resource describing that method at https://www.uujme.org/resources
The village of Burin in the Nablus District has held a kite festival almost every year since 2008 as a multi-day festival of Palestinian civil resistance, livelihood, and culture.
The message of the festival is very simple:
“We have the right to smile, we have the right to have fun. We have the right to be happy, we have the right to play, we have the right to move. From the Burin mountains to the sands of Gaza they will not kill our hope.”
This year people around the world are being invited to support the kite festival and host solidarity events in their own communities between July 4th and 12th as part of a global campaign demanding the end of military rule and the right of their children to joy.
UUJME is encouraging chapters and congregations to support the kite festival by hosting an event and participating in this coordinated global effort.