During a historic visit to the United States, a group of Arab women union educators shared their knowledge and expertise — and found much in common with their U.S. sisters and brothers in the labor movement.

	The delegation meets with AFL-CIO President and Solidarity Center Board of Trustees Chair John Sweeney and AFL-CIO Organizing Institute Director Sarah McKenzie (second from right) at AFL-CIO headquarters in Washington, DC.

From January 25 to February 3, the Solidarity Center hosted a seven-member delegation of women union educators from Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria, Lebanon, Palestine, Jordan, and Yemen. Their key mission: to use education to build the power and voice of rank and file workers in the Middle East. The nine-day exchange program coincided with a historic time in the United States and the world, in addition to the global onset of the economic crisis. In meetings with a broad range of DC-based think-tanks, NGOs, local trade unions, and community groups, the women—all activists and leaders in their unions—shared their knowledge and expertise on education, trade union activism, and the impact of economic crisis on workers. 

	Soumia Salhi (Algeria) and Kalthoum Barkallah (Tunisia) prepare a traditional North African dish for a communal dinner at the Highlander Center.

After five days in Washington, DC, the group visited the Highlander Center, nestled in the hills of New Market, Tennessee. As the first-ever delegation of Arab trade unionists to be welcomed at Highlander, participants felt very much at home as they exchanged ideas and strategies with youth and cultural activists (those who use art and cultural to express, inspire, organize and mobilize for change), as well as longtime grassroots organizers who work collectively through popular education to nurture and strengthen the skills of the marginalized and oppressed and to advocate for and deliver social and economic justice in one of the poorest regions of the United States.  

Through this exchange program, the Arab trade unionists made some unexpected discoveries—such as a host of progressive voices in the nation’s capital, the injustice in the nation’s rural southeast, and the successes of the poor and working class in the United States in overcoming social and economic obstacles through organizing and educating. U.S. activists were surprised and pleased to meet such a dynamic, analytical, and progressive group of women worker rights activists from the Middle East and North Africa. The exchange sowed the seeds for increased communication and solidarity across borders.