How Do You Create Real Social Change? | Alex Rif - Product Builder Podcast episode with Eyal David
Updated: 01:02:24

How Do You Create Real Social Change? | Alex Rif

Host: · Guest: Alex Rif · About the host

Alex Rif, a writer, poet and social entrepreneur who immigrated from Ukraine, a co-founder of the Cultural Brigade and the founder and former head of the Million Lobby, explains how to build a voice for a public of nearly a million Russian speakers: first you change the narrative and prepare the ground, and only then do you demand policy change. In her view it can be done with very little money, as long as you start from research, gather the strongest people around you and stay connected to the grassroots.

In this episode

  • First you change the narrative, then you change policy: the Cultural Brigade started with Novy God and stories of grandparents in the Red Army, and only after five years of preparing the public ground could it talk about poor Holocaust survivors, conversion and immigrant absorption.
  • Public influence can be built with very little money: thousand-dollar grants, crowdfunding from 100 to 150 supporters, pooling resources across foundations, and one survey instead of two. The constraint breeds creativity.
  • Start with research: every area the lobby touched began with an in-depth survey, so that it represented what the public actually wants rather than the activist's opinion.
  • Policy alone isn't enough. Without a connection to the grassroots and without the public knowing who you are, you have no backing, even as a third-sector organization.
  • Israel is wasting ready-made human capital: 75% of recent immigrants from the former Soviet Union are academics, yet only 18% work in their profession. A program of 40 high-tech companies each absorbing five engineers already means 200 engineers.
  • AI is both a threat and a lever: scams targeting the elderly use voice imitation, but the same technology makes translating websites and apps for immigrants far cheaper.

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Episode Description

Alex Rif immigrated from Ukraine as a child and spent 20 years trying to be "just Israeli": Magen David Adom, officer training, the Civil Service Cadets program and an adviser role at the Ministry of Economy. Precisely there, at the top, she realized it wasn't what she wanted, and turned to writing, to the series "One and a Half Generation" and to co-founding the Cultural Brigade, which turned Novy God into a holiday all of Israel knows. From there she founded the Million Lobby, a nonprofit working at the policy level for Russian-speaking Israelis, funded it with thousand-dollar grants and crowdfunding, and got a meeting with the prime minister at the start of the war in Ukraine. In conversation with Eyal David she explains why entrepreneurship doesn't come naturally to people from the former Soviet Union, how to build influence with research, presentations and a personal lobby of advisers, what went wrong with the current wave of immigration (only 18% of new immigrants work in their profession), how AI can help with translation, accessibility and fighting scams targeting the elderly, and why after October 7 she decided to enter politics.

Chapters

  1. 0:00 · Teaser — clips from the episode
  2. 1:14 · Introduction
  3. 2:44 · Childhood, immigrating from Ukraine and shame about identity
  4. 5:03 · Writing, soul-searching and returning to social action
  5. 7:20 · Why entrepreneurship feels so unnatural for people from the former USSR
  6. 8:44 · The Cultural Brigade and Israeli Novy God
  7. 10:41 · Civil service, mission and coming back to social action
  8. 13:14 · The Million Lobby: from culture to policy
  9. 16:39 · Funding social activity on very little money
  10. 19:16 · Slow growth, expanding the agenda and building a lobby
  11. 21:34 · The book "More Jewish Than You" and the fight over the narrative
  12. 22:45 · Immigrant absorption, Russia-Ukraine and what did work
  13. 25:38 · How you get to a prime minister and what it takes
  14. 26:54 · How to build a voice for a million people
  15. 31:20 · October 7 and how it sped up the decision
  16. 32:37 · Lessons from building community and influence
  17. 35:25 · What strategic thinking and presentations look like
  18. 38:45 · What changed since the 1990s aliyah and what is repeating now
  19. 47:46 · AI, scams targeting the elderly and accessibility for immigrants
  20. 51:16 · Medicine, teaching and human capital in Israel
  21. 54:16 · Who leaves, who stays and how to bring people back
  22. 57:25 · Entering politics and the next stage
Read the full transcript
Full transcript with speakers and timestamps

Selected quotes

“The only way out of this kindergarten is inward.”
— Alex Rif
“I think you learn to do a lot with very little money. It really develops creativity.”
— Alex Rif
“Volunteering is basically a friendship mechanism. That's how you meet people, connect, and manage to move forward.”
— Alex Rif

Questions & answers

Who is Alex Rif?

Alex Rif is a writer, poet and social entrepreneur who immigrated from Ukraine as a child. She co-founded the Cultural Brigade, created the series "One and a Half Generation" and the podcast "99 Is Not 100", wrote the book "More Jewish Than You", and founded and ran the Million Lobby for more than five years. She recently entered politics, joining the Yashar party.

What is the Million Lobby?

The Million Lobby is a nonprofit Alex Rif founded during COVID that works at the policy level for Russian-speaking Israelis: immigrant absorption, poverty among the elderly and Holocaust survivors, religion and state, education and culture. Among the achievements she lists: an administration that accompanies immigrant doctors, a salary agreement for ulpan teachers, and translating the Kol Zchut rights website into Russian.

How do you build public influence without a big budget?

According to Alex, you start with small grants from leadership programs, move on to crowdfunding from the community, learn to negotiate and to pool resources across foundations. In its best years the lobby had a budget of one and a half to two million shekels for all its areas combined.

What went wrong with immigrant absorption since the war in Ukraine?

In the last four years more than 150,000 immigrants arrived from former Soviet Union countries, 75% of them academics, yet only 18% work in their profession. Alex points to ulpans that don't suit working people, the lack of placement programs for engineers, doctors and teachers, and a government that didn't treat this wave of immigration as a national mission.

How can AI help immigrants?

AI makes translating government, banking and health fund websites and apps far cheaper, and can enable a single digital absorption center on the immigrant's phone. On the other hand, scams targeting Russian-speaking elderly people use AI to imitate voices, and Alex calls for a national fight against them, including distributing the best apps that came out of a hackathon the lobby organized.

People & resources mentioned

People

Companies & orgs

Tools

Books & media

  • More Jewish Than You — Alex Rif (Sela Meir)
Aliyah Immigrant absorption Social entrepreneurship Public influence Narrative Russian speakers AI Politics

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