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March 30-April 1, 2004
Ronit Avni, Founder & Director of Just Vision
Presentation and discussion, March 31, 5:30
p.m. Wechsler Theater
Co-Sponsored by the Jewish Studies Program
 Ronit
Avni is the Director of the Just
Vision project, an initiative that brings the stories of courageous
Israeli and Palestinian grassroots efforts for peace to American
audiences through video, educational curricula and the Internet.
Ronit Avni recently received the Joshua Venture Fellowship for young
Jewish social entrepreneurs in order to found Just Vision. Prior
to initiating Just Vision, Ronit worked as the Program Associate
at WITNESS. Founded by musician
Peter Gabriel, WITNESS advances human rights advocacy using video
and communications technology. Ronit has trained NGOs to produce
videos as a tool for public education and grassroots mobilizing,
as a deterrent to further abuse and as evidence before courts and
tribunals. She has lectured at Concordia University, Bard College,
the Ruckus Society, NYU and Vassar College. She has also received
hidden camera training and was selected as one of 25 participants
at the 2001 National Training of the Human Rights Trainers Conference
at the Human Rights Center of the University of Minnesota. 
Ronit has co-produced short videos and online advocacy
features in collaboration with NGO partners in Senegal, Burkina
Faso, the United States, Israel, Afghanistan and Brazil, including:
“Refuge?’ “The Soul Eaters,” “Garifunas
Holding Ground” and “Palestinian Arab Citizens of Israel:
A Case Study in Discrimination.” She recently wrote and produced
“Rise: Revolutionary Women Reenvisioning Afghanistan”
in collaboration with the Revolutionary Association of the Women
of Afghanistan. “Rise” was screened at the Women’s
Film Festival in Seoul, Korea, at a film series exploring media
representations of Afghanistan hosted by MediaRights.org and MAKOR
in New York, and at the Globalvisions Film Festival in Edmonton,
Canada. Excerpts from Rise were featured on PBS’ “World
At Large,” hosted by political analyst David Gergen.
Ronit graduated with honors with a Bachelor’s degree in Political
Science from Vassar College. At Vassar, She received a Burnam Fellowship
to intern at B’Tselem: The Israeli Information Center for
Human Rights in the Occupied Territories. While abroad, Ronit volunteered
for the Public Committee Against Torture in Israel (PCATI). Ronit
acquired a DEC in Professional Theatre Studies from Dawson College.
She has directed theater productions for Show-Off Productions and
Threepenny Productions in Montreal.
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