One of the major keys to creating change within your sphere is organization. And when you couple passion with organization, very little can get in your way. Our guest for this episode is Dalia Grinfeld, Assistant Director for European Affairs for the Anti-defamation League. Dalia is an anti-hate organizer who is passionate about empowering Jewish, LGBTQ, and BIPOC communities.
Insights
We’ve spent a lot of time talking about equity and anti-racism in the American context. In our conversation with Dalia we had the chance to explore some of the same themes in a different context. As an organizer and political activist based in Germany, Dalia works to empower Jewish communities throughout Europe. At the same time, she also advocates for equity in LGBTQ and for communities of color. But the circumstances that led to the need for that activism stem from the Holocaust rather than from slavery.
During our conversation we also discuss Dalia’s needs-based approach to her activism or organizing. Taking a needs based approach means the policies that a person is advocating for are based on the geography, population, or other variables.
We also discussed prioritization in activism. For activists who have identified issues that they know they’ll spend their lives addressing, there is a question of what concerns they’ll spend their lives focused on. Organizing with others helps to scale an individual’s capacity to make change and – for those people like me who keep a list of what they can get to in their lifetime – organizing helps ensure that there’s always room on the list for one more issue to fight for.
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Resources
For more information on anti-hate work, check out the Anti-Defamation League Website
