Abstract

With the aim of creating an egalitarian and empowered society, social activism strives to build a society that is both accepting and supportive of those who differ from us and from the mainstream population. Through efforts to decrease social gaps and increase equality, solidarity, and democracy, social activism provides a solid foundation for promoting important moral values. Placing an emphasis on social activism, the Israeli education system launched Social Activism as part of a multicultural society project in elementary and junior-high schools. The goal of the project was to bond between different populations of students and teachers in this multicultural society—people who might otherwise not have met or had any contact with each other—by creating discourse about current and relevant issues, as well as an infrastructure for enhancing a civic and egalitarian society. In line with the importance of enhancing social activism among young students, the aim of this study was to examine the degree in which participating in the project contributed to the social awareness and activism of the students from Arab and Jewish schools. The different groups met with each other in person and also communicated via a digital platform. The results show that the project contributed greatly to learning about others and building bridges between students from different cultural backgrounds, especially the face-to-face encounters between groups, more than the digital platform. Moreover, the significant dialog that was achieved through the project activities enabled the students to overcome differences in language and in culture.