The expanded course on the Negev includes elements such as the relationship between the center and the periphery, employment and lack of employment opportunities, culture, sectarianism, Bedouins, education, development of the Negev, environment, the new army training city and more.

As the activists who initiated the course have a background in education and social change, the clearly stated goal of the course is to provide knowledge and to examine critically what is going on in the Negev, so that participants will be encouraged to get involve and to take the initiative.  Many of the lecturers, aside from being volunteers are also Negev residents and the organizers believe that interesting relationships and partnerships for change will be developed as the course progresses.

The second course deals with urban issues in Tel Aviv.  The course takes a critical look at issues facing Tel Aviv and the surrounding metropolitan area.  By examining decisions that Tel Aviv has faced in the past as well as possible solutions to current issues, the course hope to give participants an understanding of the complexity involved in urban issues such as transportation; is a subway or light rail feasible, will it solve parking problems, etc.  Other issues to be addressed include green space, involving the public in decision making, and what makes Tel Aviv so special and can other cities learn from the Tel Aviv experience.

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The last lecture to be held in the series will be on December 24^th, 2009 and will examine the distribution of resources to women at the municipal level.  For more information contact the Social Economic Academy.

From the 1st to 8th of May 2009, the Social Economic Academy and Cinemateque Haifa held their second annual Workers’ Film Festival. The Festival combined films and lectures about worker struggles and status. The panels and lectures which were held each evening included speakers who are active in the field. i.e. worker organizers alongside academics, creating a successful cross between theory and current practices.
The success of the first festival held during July of last year, was a natural precursor to this year’s festival, and this year there were a number of significant enhancements; the festival was two days longer, the number of participants doubled, and an event supporting workers’ rights was held as part of the festival. The event, held on the 5th night of the festival, opened with an acoustical performance by Amir Lev and Yeheli Sobol and was followed by a performance of Noam Rotem, and concluded with the singer, Asaf Avidan and the cellist Hadas Kleinmen.
The idea behind the festival is the SEA experience; combining film and a lecture raises identity with a cause and greater involvement than just watching a movie. The festival raises awareness to the messages of SEA among new audiences and this year’s event was a chance to add a celebration to SEA’s ongoing activities.
SEA believes that the Workers’ Film Festival, which opened symbolically on the 1st of May will become a tradition and that it will become a brand name for young people symbolizing the struggle for worker rights and status. Next year, the plan is to have an international festival.

In Israel today there is a lack of critical and coherent public social economic discourse. Such discourse scarcely exists in academia and is unattainable beyond academia to the public at large. This lack of discourse has created a social-economic policy in Israel which we believe has led over the past 20 years to a growing rate of poverty. Working people in Israel living under the poverty line rose from 21% in 1989 to 34.5% in 2005.

The Social Economic Academy (SEA) is the only organization that offers a popular platform for such discourse. Our activities expand the knowledge to the public at large and social activists in particular. SEA offers people both the theory and critical tools needed to promote economic alternatives, as well as creating an opportunity for these people to engage in dialogue and to encounter different members of Israeli society. Furthermore, SEA encourages its students to become involved in actions that will lead to changes in social-economic policy.

Over the last 5 years since its inception, SEA has directly reached more than 15,000 people of all ages, from all ethnicities and from all walks of life through our activities all over Israel. In addition, SEA reaches hundreds of thousands of people annually through it s lectures and articles that are published weekly on popular internet sites; daily radio columns that address issues at critical junctures, as well as other media related activities. More than 1000 entries to SEA’s web-site are counted daily.

SEA holds activities in four branches across Israel: Beer Sheva, Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and Haifa. In addition SEA holds classes in different locations in the periphery such as the Arab Village of Arara (2006), the Bedouin city Rahat, the city of Sderot, the city of Beit-Shemesh, Kibutz Mishmar Haemek, Acre and many more. All of the teachers (now more then 470) donate their time, and the symbolic tuition is used to cover rental expenses of the classrooms. SEA had been creating a network of cooperation with different organizations – some (sixteen) provide facilities, some (ten) assist in networking and publication and some (twelve) offer support to deal with shared concerns.

Our activities focus around three areas:
1. Knowledge – we offer short and full semester series of courses providing theoretical information and practical tools.

2. Agents of Change – we offer courses to activists in organizations for social change such as Community Advocacy, Ahoti, the Scout Youth Movement, Hashomer Hatza’ir, Hanoar Ha’Oved, the Ma’ase Center, and the Training School for Social Services’ Workers.

3. Public Debate – the Social Economic Academy uses different public platform to spread its message: major internet media outlets such as YNet and Walla, critical economic public debates in different political cross points, A Movie and Lecture series in major cities’ Cinematheque.