Join Unity is Strength on August 25 in honor of International Youth Day 2024!
Register for our special online event, and meet some of the people behind Unity is Strength.
Unity is Strength has won an International Youth Day Award from the United Religions Initiative (URI), Middle East and North Africa region. So, for International Youth Day this month, we will host a special online panel event on Sunday, August 25. The event will be at 9 AM Pacific Time/noon US Eastern Time/7 PM Jerusalem Time. Register here. Although payment is not required to attend the event, we suggest a donation of $5 or $25 to support our operations, to be made here.
The hour-long event is “Inclusive Digital Education Through Cross-Cultural Discussions About Peace, Justice, and Institutional Accountability in Israel-Palestine: Youth Make It Happen.” The topic is how youth involvement in Unity is Strength’s online communities helps further the UN Sustainable Development Goals – the UN’s blueprint for making the world better in the next few decades.
Of the Sustainable Development Goals, #16 is “Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions,” and #4 is “Quality Education” that is inclusive, equitable, and lifelong. You can meet some people involved in our forums, and learn about how those sausages are made.
From the start, youth have been instrumental in maintaining Unity is Strength’s forums. They create or moderate approximately 40% of contributed posts on our Quora forum and are heavily involved in our private discussion communities on WhatsApp and elsewhere. At the event, three youth very active in Unity is Strength will be joined in discussion by an Israeli and a Palestinian:
D.A.B. (youth) is a Canadian of Turkish descent, whose writing has appeared on Unity is Strength. He has traveled to Lebanon and Egypt with other youth members of Unity is Strength, and has also lived in Marseille, France for French and Arabic immersion. D.A.B. is taking time to work, study, and travel between graduating high school and starting college.
Olivia Lish (youth) is an undergraduate at the College of Western Idaho, USA, and is a Muslim. She is a moderator of the Unity is Strength forum. When not discussing Israel-Palestine, Olivia enjoys raising bunnies.
Steve Shaheen Muganda (youth) graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in 2020 from the Multimedia University of Kenya, in Electrical and Telecommunication Engineering. He has worked for Unity is Strength since 2021, contributing posts to the forums and being involved with many other projects. Steve is Christian and lives in Nairobi, Kenya.
Emanuel Shahaf (Israeli discussant) is one of Israel’s foremost proponents of a Federation of Israel-Palestine, multiple regional governments under a central government. He is the Co-Chairman of the Federation Movement and the author of Identity: The Quest for Israel’s Future. Emanuel was born and raised in Germany and immigrated to Israel in 1972. He is a former Head of Station of Southeast Asia in the office of Israel’s Prime Minister, in an intelligence capacity. Emanuel lives with his partner Shosh in Herut, Israel, and has two children and nine grandchildren.
Walid Siam (Palestinian discussant) is a poet, scholar, author, political analyst, and peace activist. His activism is focused primarily on mutual non-violent resistance. His vision entails the practice of humanitarian individualism to bridge the chasm between Israelis and Palestinians. Walid administers the Facebook group Israelis & Palestinians for Peace (IP4P) and will be starting a Master’s degree in Policy Studies at the University of Alberta in Spring 2025.
This event is co-hosted by Unity Made Visible and Voices of Humanity, which like Unity is Strength, are cooperation circles of the URI. Register for the event here.
Our main public forum, hosted on Quora.com, continues to be highly active. We have over 18 million views of 25,000 contributed posts by 500 writers, with new posts daily. Participants come from a variety of cultures, and multiple party lines.
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Thank you for being part of Unity is Strength. And peace!
