Salon Mazal

Salon Mazal (סלון מזל) is an infoshop in Tel Aviv, Israel.cite news |last=Kloosterman |first=Karen |date=2005-08-12 |title=The Anarchist's Playground |work=The Jerusalem Post |url=http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/jpost/access/892742251.html?dids=892742251:892742251&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&date=Aug+12%2C+2005&author=KARIN+KLOOSTERMAN&pub=Jerusalem+Post&edition=&startpage=04&desc=The+anarchist%27s+playground |publisher=Mirkaei Tikshoret Ltd. |location=Jerusalem |date= |accessdate=2008-07-11 |archiveurl=http://www.ainfos.ca/05/aug/ainfos00166.html |archivedate=2005-08-15 ] Its purpose is to spread information and raise awareness of issues related to social change, including human rights, animal rights, the environment, globalization, social and economic oppression, consumerism, feminism and gender issues. It is run by an open, non-hierarchical collective of volunteers at 50 Salame Street, Tel Aviv.

Activities

Salon Mazal has a lending library, a shop and a space for meetings, lectures, workshops and film screenings, ["Maximum RocknRoll", Issue 235 (December 2002). Retrieved on July 11, 2008. "The place is 100% vegan straight edge. called Salon Mazal and has a library, along with books, zines, and music for sale."] .. Occasionally there are other projects on various topics of interest, such as youth group meetings, Arabic lessons, DIY workshops, a reading group of anarchist texts.

The lending and reference library stocks several thousand books on subjects related to social change, of which roughly half are in English. The idea behind it is to enable people to read books without encouraging them to buy, thus creating an alternative to the existing consumer culture. Salon Mazal prints and publishes materials on a variety of subjects, including a DIY guide, a guide on wise consumerism, a translated booklet on permaculture, translated anarchist texts, booklets on feminism for men and women.

Workshops, lectures, film screenings, group discussions and meetings on different subjects are held several times a week, open to the public and are free of charge. Salon Mazal also provides a space for study, organization, meeting, planning and working on initiatives and projects for social change, free of charge. Groups who have used the space over the years for their meetings include Anarchists Against the Wall, Indymedia, One struggle, Woman for Woman, Kelaf (The Lesbian Feminist Community), A garden for Peace, The Coexistence Forum in the Negev, The Community Advocate, Shatil - Mixed Cities Project, The Center for Alternative Knowledge and The Committee against House Demolition, the Alternative youth summer camp, New Profile.

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Salon Mazal is one of the distribution points for fair trade products in Israel (coffee, cocoa and olive oil), which is sold at the shop.cite news |first=Karen |last=Kloosterman |title=A Political Trade-off |url=http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1136361066103&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FPrinter |work=The Jerusalem Post |publisher= |date=2006-01-12 |accessdate=2008-07-11 ] The market for these products is still very small in Israel, mainly due to lack of awareness. They also offer olive oil from Palestinian farmers in Tul-Karem and olive oil soaps from Palestinian farmers in Budrus. The products are imported by Green Action and their production avoids the exploitation of workers or environmental degradation. In addition, they distribute flyers and booklets on fair trade and hold lectures on the subject.

The infoshop is one of the only places in Israel where self-made products and self-published books can be distributed. People are encouraged to sell their products, including artwork, books, poetry books, homemade jams, deodorants, self made political t-shirts and other products made by individuals. In this way the infoshop encourages local, non-industrial production and supports local independent producers.

References

External links

* [http://salonmazal.blogli.co.il/english/ Salon Mazal's official Blog] en icon
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* [http://greenprophet.com/2007/12/30/42/salon_mazal_tel_aviv/ "Anarchists, Idealists and Ecologists"] - article from "The Green Prophet"
* [http://www.flickr.com/photos/27536954@N07/ Salon Mazal's Flickr page]