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Leadership on ground
Breaking Walls is a grassroots movement that promotes civic, feminist community activism and public campaigns. We are publicly funded, and we are committed solely to the public.
The movement founders are long-time social and political activist Carmen Elmakiyes Amos and Sapir Sluzker Amran. For a decade, we have been fighting together with and for communities living in poverty; with residents of public housing; with women, and prisoners, who have survived violence; against police brutality; in defense of the freedom of protest; with the LGBTQ+ community, and more.
Sapir and Carmen founded the civil and intersectional feminist grassroots movement “Breaking walls” (“Shovrot Kirot”) in 2019. Shovrot Kirot goal is to organize people, locally and nationally, around campaigns for underprivileged populations living in poverty, violence against women, the right to housing, the LGBTQ community, and ending police brutality while working to promote solidarity between struggles towards a strong and feminist political power.
The movement’s founders, Carmen and Sapir, where chosen as Women of the Year by Keshet channel for their work in 2021, as one of the 50 must influence women in Israel for 2022 by Forbes magazine, and Women of the Year for International women’s day 2022 by the top morning show in Israel.
support us!
“Breaking Walls” is a unique civic organization that promotes public and media campaigns, while simultaneously offering individual help to anyone who is currently fighting to live with dignity. We not only help struggling families buy food and medicines, or pay rent, but we also lead a campaign to change the government’s policy of stealing from the poor to feed the rich. We are here to help load electricity, as well as to stop all electricity cut-offs; to support women survivors of violence and to demand shelters for battering husbands; to find infant formula for a single mother and also to make sure her subsistence and unemployment benefits aren’t cut – neither hers nor anybody else’s.
We call on other communities to join us, and build a powerful political feminist power.
As part of the “Neighborhood Struggle Against Evacuation” activity together with the residents of the neighborhood and other partnerships, we were able to reject the immediate eviction orders received by the residents and allow time for organization and evaluations. Among other things, we held demonstrations in the neighborhood, set up an outpost, lobbied MKs and ministers, and media activity; Incarceration and Rehabilitation community is establishing a new group of ex- incarcerated women, and recently held a fascinating and important series of meetings regarding various issues, such as Neve Tirza Women prison, trans imprisonment The Struggle for Public Housing and Shelter community is working together with the “Public Housing Forum” in leading the struggle for public housing as a universal solution and prevent .
We act to prevent sexual and gender-based violence; this community is leading two major projects:
#mentoo Campaign, following the tragedy of the late Yonatan Halo, to raise awareness of the issue of sexual abuse against men. In addition, we provide ongoing support and assistance in situations of distress and emergency to women affected by violence who seek support to leave an abusive household or in need of immediate protection.
In Breaking Walls, we believe that those who should lead the struggles and should speak to what is right for them and tell their own story are women themselves. Women who face the policies that hurt them daily. Therefore, as part of our activities, we hold an English course in partnership with “This is not an Ulpan”, which includes storytelling learning. The course is taught by women who are social activists so they will be able to tell their own stories in English and no one will speak on their behalf. The first class has ended, and we are preparing for a second.
Along with working to change policies, we also act to provide individual assistance to men and women living in poverty and dealing with economic and bureaucratic crises. We believe that women’s immediate distress and the current challenges they face should be considered; we collaborated with Culture of Solidarity movement in demonstration in front of Minister of Interior Deri to provide vouchers as means to cope with the Covid crisis, and we led a campaign on the importance of providing financial security even at war, during operation “Guardian of the Walls”.
So who funds us?
You do. We are publicly funded, and we work for the public. We are almost entirely grassroots funded- with no state funds.
For that reason, any regular monthly support, no matter what the sum, will make the difference and will enable us to bring our activism to the next level.
Any contribution, large or small, is significant for us.
This is why we need you now more than ever!
“Breaking Walls” is a unique civic organization that promotes public and media campaigns, while simultaneously offering individual help to anyone who is currently fighting to live with dignity. We not only help struggling families buy food and medicines, or pay rent, but we also lead a campaign to change the government’s policy of stealing from the poor to feed the rich. We are here to help load electricity, as well as to stop all electricity cut-offs; to support women survivors of violence and to demand shelters for battering husbands; to find infant formula for a single mother and also to make sure her subsistence and unemployment benefits aren’t cut – neither hers nor anybody else’s.
We call on other communities to join us, and build a powerful political feminist power.
The Women behind Breaking Walls
Carmen Elmakiyes Amos is a social and political activist, a medical clown, and a filmmaker. She is a founder of the "Not Nice" social movement (Mizrahi political movement). In April 2019, she ran in the national elections for the Knesset as a candidate.
Sapir Sluzker Amran is a human rights lawyer and community organizer and is considered one of Israel's prominent political and social activists. Adv. Sluzker Amran is the founder and research fellow at "Archi-Parchi: The Activism Archive for Social Movements" Until recently, Sluzker Amran worked as a lawyer the head of the public inquiry department at the association for civil rights in Israel (ACRIi). She is a fervent advocate and campaigner for poverty eradication and underprivileged populations and leads numerous grassroots struggles to promote these causes. She is also the founder of The DocuRights Project, established to document and protect freedom of expression and protest in Israel.