Educational Cooperation at the Falken-Verbandswerkstatt – May 8-13, 2018

Although the youth movements in the International Falcon Movement – Socialist Educational International (IFM-SEI) broadly share their commitment to non-formal education, they each have different approaches and practices. In May, SJD-Die Falken hosted their 2018 Verbandswerkstatt, a conference for organisational development which brought together Falken branches from all over Germany. This year they invited Israeli and Palestinian activists from the Educational Cooperation in the Willy Brandt Center to exchange ideas about the theory and practice of socialist youth movements.

Together with Falken representatives, the Israeli-Palestinian delegation read and discussed texts by Kurt Löwenstein, one of the founding fathers of the IFM-SEI and a thinker who has crucially shaped the Falken educational philosophy. The delegation also presented the history of their cooperation and gave insights to the successes and difficulties from the past 15 years. Another highlight of the delegation was a tour of Berlin with Eyas of “Refugee Voices”, who talked about parallels between German and Syrian history and shared his personal story and assessment of the challenges Syrian refugees face in Germany.