In cooperation with the Alliance Foundation, Future 500 supported the project “Jewish-Muslim Initiated Flintahood”* as part of the Jewish–Muslim Solidarity Programme. The project, also funded by OFEK e.V., focuses on building networks among Jewish and Muslim women*.
Reflections and insights from the organisers
At a time marked by growing dehumanisation, a loss of empathy, and rising racism and antisemitism, a Jewish–Muslim feminist alliance sends a clear message: solidarity. Yet how can solidarity be practised in tangible ways beyond symbolic gestures, in a world shaped by contradictions and unequal power relations?
This question forms the starting point of the alliance’s work. Its aim is to learn and practise solidarity together in ways that are sustaining – both individually and collectively. The focus lies on strengthening one another and finding shared ways to counter the pervasive sense of political and social powerlessness. Solidarity is not to remain an abstract ideal, but to be actively lived and maintained.
A central prerequisite for this is the creation of spaces of encounter – spaces beyond the dominant society, free from instrumentalisation, where exchange, empowerment and mutual understanding can unfold.
At the first public networking meeting in November 2024, many participants expressed deep appreciation for this newly created space – a space in which they did not need to explain themselves and encountered genuine understanding. The momentum generated there led to a further gathering on 8 May 2025 at Kulturraum Oya in Cologne. FLINTA individuals from a wide range of backgrounds and generations came together. Some had attended the first meeting; new faces joined. Meaningful conversations emerged and interpersonal connections deepened. The exchange between communities proved particularly powerful – an act of resistance against attempts to set them against one another.
Building on these encounters, a full-day workshop on solidarity was held on 1 June 2025, led by Elif Gökpinar and Anna Feldbein (OFEK), both of whom bring extensive experience in anti-racist, antisemitism-critical and solidarity-based alliance work. Participants contributed their own perspectives, engaged in collective reflection, and developed ideas for shaping a sustainable, long-term alliance.
A quotation by Audre Lorde guided the thematic focus of the workshop:
“You do not have to be me in order for us to fight alongside each other. I do not have to be you to recognize that our wars are the same.”
This idea – that solidarity also requires holding ambiguity and simultaneity – ran like a thread throughout the day. Through a combination of input from the facilitators and practice-oriented exercises, the often abstract notion of “solidarity” became tangible. The emphasis lay not only on conveying knowledge, but also on initiating personal reflection: solidarity cannot be learned in a single day; it is an ongoing process.
The workshop concluded with participants sharing Lebanese food and dancing two traditional dances together – a Jewish-Yemeni dance and the Kurdish Halay. Both symbolic and embodied, this shared experience marked another step towards a growing Jewish–Muslim initiated solidarity.