Each year there are two weekend-long seminars for all of the
English-speaking Habonim Dror world; May Day Seminar and Rabin
Seminar. On the 19th and 20th April, HDOZ along
with South Africa, New Zealand, North America and the United Kingdom,
all met at Kibbutz Ravid, in the north of Israel, for this joint
seminar. The purpose of this seminar is two-fold; to introduce the
content of May Day and understand the historical background of the
holiday, and to have an opportunity to learn with members of Habonim
Dror from all over the world.
The content of the seminar began with the history of May Day and
questioned if the struggle for workers' rights is over. The concept
of exploitation was explored, and examples of co-ops and other
alternative work structures were considered as examples of solidarity
among people. We had two guest speakers for the seminar; one who came
to talk with us about solidarity as a Jewish concept, and the other
who came and explained the background and ongoing influence of the
Israeli social protests in the summer of 2011.
The seminar was a great success, with interesting peulot (programs),
as well as time to get to know other members of Habonim Dror. Having
time with members from the northern hemisphere who were nearing the
end of their Shnat year, helped those from the southern hemisphere
become even more excited for all of the many elements of Shnat yet to
come for them! The seminar took place in mixed groups – with
chanichim from all parts of the world in each group, which allowed
for differing points of view and very interesting and meaningful
conversations. The seminar also served as a preparation for the
chanichim to participate in the May Day rally, which has it's own
blog entry, so look out for that!
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