PLEASE FORWARD WIDELY: Important New Resources from the Palestine Freedom Project
AG
The world of Palestine solidarity activism just got a little bit smaller... in a good way. The Palestine Freedom Project is proud to announce the launch of two unique and powerful online resources that will enable activists everywhere to connect, coordinate, and share ideas in exciting new ways. Everything we do at PFP is designed to empower grassroots Palestine solidarity organizers to take their activism to the next level, and we're delighted to be able to make such resources available. A single gift, a single hour of volunteer work, or a single semester of interning with PFP helps to support and empower the entire Palestine solidarity movement, and we hope you'll keep that in mind as you read about the following:
New Resource: Global Directory of Palestine Solidarity Organizations
New Resource: Palestine Activism Handbook Wiki
How to Support the Entire Palestine Solidarity Movement with a Single Action
Volunteer and Internship Opportunities
Global Directory of Palestine Solidarity Organizations
It's no secret that Palestine solidarity activism is taking off on a global scale. With thousands of organizations active around the world, it's become more difficult than ever to keep track of them. Organizations in different countries—or even just different cities—frequently end up reinventing the wheel simply for lack of mutual awareness. Identifying like-minded organizations requires tedious and often fruitless searching.
At PFP, we're changing all that. Today, just in time for the holidays, we're proud to launch the world's largest directory of Palestine-related organizations. With 2000 entries and counting, this directory provides activists with the means to discover other organizations pursuing similar campaigns, forge new alliances, and to learn from the experiences of fellow campaigners.
As powerful a resource as this is, it's going to become even more so in the near future. In the coming weeks, we'll be adding even more details to each listing, such as:
* A brief description of the group
* Associated institution (for student groups)
* Phone numbers and mailing addresses (if public)
* Whether the group has endorsed the Palestinian BDS call
* Group type (campus-based, Non-Governmental Organization, etc.)
* Social media links (YouTube, Twitter, etc.) with syndicated feed display
* A contact form for emailing the organization without exposing the address on the web
* Companies or other institutions targeted by the organization as part of a BDS campaign
To make the directory even more powerful, we've constructed a database of companies being targeted in BDS campaigns by activist groups. This is an extension of the excellent database at WhoProfits.org, intended primarily to aid in finding organizations based on which companies they are targeting. It is intended to be used in conjunction with the WhoProfits database, which contains much more information and supports advanced searches. Each company page, such as this one for Caterpillar, will tell you which organizations are targeting it in a campaign. Within the next few days, corresponding links will be available on the organization pages as well. The directory will also be integrated with our forthcoming resource database and with other major Palestine-related websites.
We hope that you will make use of this powerful resource, assist us in making necessary corrections and additions, and consider making a donation to help support efforts such as these. See the bottom of this message to learn how a single gift to the Palestine Freedom Project can make a world of difference for the entire movement.
Please check to see if your own organization is listed in the directory (we apologize if we missed you), and supply us with any additional details you'd like to include.
Palestine Activism Handbook Wiki
We've also created the first-ever Palestine activism handbook wiki. What's a wiki? It's a tool that allows users anywhere in the world to contribute to a document. In this case, the document consists of detailed how-to information to guide the efforts of Palestine solidarity activists. We've been developing this kind of documentation ourselves for several years, and now we're taking it to the next level.
At the Palestine Freedom Project, we believe that the people best qualified to document effective tools and techniques for Palestine solidarity are the individual activists who utilize them every day. As we continue to improve and expand what is intended to be a comprehensive activist handbook series, it becomes increasingly essential that these documents be developed collaboratively by a broad range of contributors. By leveraging the same type of technology used on popular websites like Wikipedia, we're putting the future of our "best practices" documentation right where it belongs: in the hands of grassroots activists like you.
So far, the wiki consists of two handbook "modules": one consisting of a "wikified" version of our existing guide to activist technology skills and techniques, and the other on organizing actions and events (such as demonstrations, street theater, panel discussions, film screenings, and performances). The first eight chapters of the Technology module are now available for editing, with the rest to be posted soon. The organizing module, as a new document, consists mostly of a framework. We're leaving it to you, the activists, to fill in the content, based on your own unique insights and experiences.
We hope that you'll enjoy and contribute to this exciting new tool as well, and that those of you who have some free time coming up—such as students on break—will dedicate just a little bit of time to helping us expand and improve the content of the wiki.
How to Support the Entire Palestine Solidarity Movement with a Single Action
These resources—the tip of the iceberg of what we have in store—reflect our mission of providing activists everywhere with the tools and resources they need to become more effective campaigners for justice.
None of this would be possible without your continued support. Resources such as these are extremely labor-intensive to produce, and we need all the help we can get in order to continue making them available.
The Palestine Freedom Project is unique among Palestine solidarity organizations in that by supporting us, you are literally supporting the entire movement. Everything we do revolves around supporting grassroots activists—whether they’re a student group in the United States, a church in Australia, or ordinary Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza, engaged in nonviolent resistance against the occupation.
Your donation to PFP thus has an exponential impact. There are thousands (we know, we counted!) of worthy solidarity organizations out there, but only one which channels your generosity toward the movement as a whole. Thanks to our fiscal sponsor, WESPAC Foundation, donations are fully tax-deductible for U.S. taxpayers.
There are many other ways to help, however. In-kind donations of equipment and services—computers, printing, even office supplies—are always welcome and appreciated.
Volunteer and Internship Opportunities
The Palestine Freedom Project is always looking for talented interns and volunteers to assist in our exciting and vitally-needed work. Even just contributing your own content to resources such as the directory and handbook wiki is not only useful, but critical for their success.
The Palestine Freedom Project does more with less money, and fewer resources than nearly any organization out there, and is committed to making every dollar—and every hour—count.
Stand up and be counted: Make your tax-deductible gift, become a volunteer, or apply to intern with the Palestine Freedom Project today.
Sincerely yours,
The Staff, Interns, and Volunteers of the Palestine Freedom Project
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