December 2011

ISM Turns Ten

By Neta Golan, October 2011

As one of the co-founders of the International solidarity movement (ISM) I often refer to ISM as my first baby. Well, my first baby is now an independent unruly and uncontrollable ten-year-old and I am one proud Mama. But I am one of ISM’s many proud Mamas (some of whom are male). For a movement to come into existence it needs to be a vision shared by hundreds or thousands of people who find an opportunity to come together and make it happen. In truth ISM has hundreds of co-founders, and only few of us have been acknowledged.

There is a word in Arabic, Nawal, that means a deep wish that is fulfilled. ISM is one of my Nawals and I proud and grateful to have had the opportunity to take part in its birth. Now, more than ten years later it is obvious that ISM has a life of its own, independent from any of us that were involved in its beginning. This is the one of the sources of my pride in the movement and there are many. I would like to name a few: