An innovative collaboration was launched this week between an ambitious new Israeli society-building initiative called “Kulanana”, and the Israeli TV company Keshet, on Israel’s version of American Idol, Kochav Nolad. The goal of the cooperation is to create broader public support for a fairer society that benefits all of Israel’s 7.7 million citizens.

Viewers will be invited to help write “A Song for Kulanana” by posting lyrics online that convey their feelings about “Kulanana” and what all Israeli citizens have in common. The best lyrics will be integrated into a song written by top Israeli songwriters and performed live by the finalists on this season’s final show, to air on the 31st of July.

A new word that means “all of us,” Kulanana is an amalgam of Israel’s two official languages, Hebrew and Arabic.

Kulanana’s goal is to create popular appreciation of the importance and practical benefits of increased fairness in Israeli society, the provision of equal opportunities, of respect for diversity and a greater sense of belonging for all Israeli citizens.

The cornerstones of the new initiative include promotion of three core concepts:

• Citizenship: Shared Israeli Citizenship is of value and provides a common foundation for Israel’s 7.7 million citizens.
• Diversity: Israel is a diverse society. Openness and respect for diversity are essential for an improved, shared future.
• Fairness: Providing equal opportunities and dignity for all Israeli citizens – free of discrimination – is just and of practical benefit for all.

Kulanana is a partnership already driven by an initial group of fifteen very different founding NGOs who usually work separately but have decided that through this unprecedented cooperation they can achieve a great deal for society building in Israel.

Kulanana prioritizes practical NGO-led projects in the community, supported by the campaign now being launched on Kochav Nolad. Among the projects already underway are an initiative to foster dialogue between the faculty of the Ministry of Education accredited Al Qasemi College in the Arab town of Baqa-El-Gharbia with faculty from teaching colleges serving the Jewish school system; a Russian-language website to be developed by Hoshen serving Russian-speaking members of Israel’s LGBT community; a first-aid program for Arab-speaking mothers by Zaka, the Haredi led Kulanana partner; a short video project “Visions of Kulanana” being led by the Center for Educational Technology allowing teens from under-served communities the opportunity to film and post their visions for Kulanana on the initiative’s specially branded You Tube website; a project to help Ethiopian educators share the values of Kulanana with faculty and students in schools serving high numbers of Ethiopian children, a project by Beit Issie Shapiro to change stereotypes towards the physically-challenged among young Israeli opinion-leaders .… and much more.

For more information visit kulanana.org.il