On Thursday August 7th, hundreds of residents of Haifa gathered for an Emergency Conference against racism and violence organized by Shutafut-Sharakah. After introductory speeches from local community leaders, including The Mossawa Center�s Director Jafar Farah, participants were split into nine different discussion groups. The break out discussion topics included women, war and racism, culture in the municipality, and youth education. Group members reflected on the difficulty that has come out of the past month and the challenges in implementing changes in the city of Haifa. 

              Many put emphasis on the violence that has occurred recently in Haifa, particularly around the protests on Friday, July 18th and Saturday, July 19th. Participants brought up the atmosphere of racism that has heightened given communal schisms over Operation Protective Edge. Facilitators pushed the group members to come up with concrete ideas to move forward with as a focus group on each particular subject. The conference both brought voice to real concerns about Arab-Jewish cooperation at this time and offered a window into possibilities for engagement in our present reality.

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