Attaining social justice requires protesters’ consensus

Roni Strier (Photo: University of Haifa)
Roni Strier
(Photo: University of Haifa)

HAIFA, Israel (Press Release) — What is social justice? 30 students and researchers from the University of Haifa and the University of Maryland tried to answer this very question in a bi-national seminar, held in the University of Haifa. Their conclusion: the term is so subjective that in some cases it might split the very groups it should unify.

Whether in the streets of New York or throughout Israel, protest movements have demanded social justice time and time again.  But do the meaning of the concept and the actual outcomes from demanding it correlate? According to Dr. Roni Strier from the University of Haifa’s School of Social Work, who initiated the seminar, part of these movements’ failure to make a change lies in their lack of understanding of what social justice really means: “Social justice has become an umbrella term under which all sorts of groups try to promote different, and sometimes contrasting, agendas. What actually happened on the streets during the social protests was that those who stood together and called for social justice didn’t always know what they, or the ones standing next to them, were really demanding”.

During the seminar, the students presented the different ways in which they perceived social justice through various projects – each focusing on a different community. This way of presentation enabled the participants to find similarities and differences in the way social justice was grasped by each community. They found very few points in common among the different communities when it came to defining the term, therefore concluding that social justice is perceived differently by each group.

According to Dr. Strier, who was a member of the team of experts which advised the 2011 Israeli social justice protest leaders, these conclusions explain why social justice as a concept won’t bring the sought-after change for all those who demand it. “In terms of social protest: in order to lead a mass movement in the name of social justice – a dialogue between the different groups of protesters is necessary. A lack of dialogue, or coordination of expectations, might emphasize the gaps between the groups”.

An unfortunate victim of the social protests’ failure to make a change in Israel was Moshe Silman, who set himself on fire. “This was his way of expressing his frustration, not only with the way he felt the government ignored the lower classes, but also with the movement itself which has forgotten him during the protests,” said Dr. Strier.

The seminar was organized by the University of Haifa’s flagship program to prevent social exclusion and the International School. The program, which started in 2010, received three consequent grants from the Council for Higher Education in the total sum of NIS 2,100,000, and integrates theoretical and practical courses, community campuses, research incubators for promoting social change and various community projects. “The University of Haifa can be significant in developing the necessary knowledge for changing things.”

Promoting a concept such as ‘social justice’ “requires quite a bit of clarification and research,” Strier said. “We hope the seminar will advance theoretical insights and practical conclusions regarding the roll social movements have in pushing social justice forward.”

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