"UW-Madison graduate student union endorses BDS"

May 19, 2016

At: http://mondoweiss.net/2016/05/graduate-student-endorses/

The following press release was sent out by the UW-Madison Union of Graduate Student Workers:

“Members of the Teaching Assistants’ Association at the University of Wisconsin-Madison vote overwhelmingly in favor of a resolution to divest from the State of Israel and corporations that profit from the illegal occupation of Palestine.

“During a two-week vote distributed to all union members, the Teaching Assistants’ Association (TAA/AFT Local 3220) at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, the oldest graduate student labor union in the United States representing over 9,000  graduate workers and students, voted overwhelmingly (81% of voting members) in favor of adopting a resolution to divest from Israeli state institutions and international corporations complicit in the Israeli occupation of Palestine and the ongoing violations of Palestinians’ human rights.

“In doing so, the TAA joins other graduate student unions UAW 2322 at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst, UAW 2865 at the University of California System, and UAW 2110 at New York University, who have stood in solidarity with Palestinian Civil Society’s call for Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) as a non-violent tactic to put political and economic pressure on Israel until it ends the occupation and its violation of human rights and international law. The resolution also calls on the TAA’s employer, the University of Wisconsin System, and parent international, the AFL-CIO, to divest from the state of Israel and companies that contribute to and profit from the military occupation and oppression of Palestinians....”

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Boycott and divestment against a rancid apartheid state--Here are the latest news flashes:

"Columbia University Apartheid Divest submits proposal to ACSRI calling for divestment"

Columbia Spectator

April 29, 2016

At: http://columbiaspectator.com/news/2016/04/29/columbia-university-apartheid-divest-submits-proposal-acsri-calling-divestment

Columbia University Apartheid Divest submitted a proposal to the Advisory Committee on Socially Responsible Investing on Thursday asking the body to recommend divestment from companies that “profit from the State of Israel’s violations of international law.”

The proposal is the latest development in an ongoing debate over Columbia’s ties to Israel—in March, a volley of petitions signed by faculty, students, and alumni circulated campus, both in condemnation and in support of divestment.   

The proposal, published on CUAD’s website, puts forth that the University must address a “double standard posed by the dissonance between Columbia’s ideals and and its current investment in Israeli settler colonialism...."

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"UMass graduate union votes to support boycott, divestment movement against Israel"

April 21, 2016

At: http://www.masslive.com/news/index.ssf/2016/04/umass_graduate_union_votes_to.html

AMHERST — The Graduate Employee Organization at the University of Massachusetts has adopted a resolution in "solidarity with Palestinian civil society" and supporting the controversial Boycott, Divestmentand Sanctions Movement.

The question put to its membership of more than 2,000 last week asked: "Should GEO/UAW2322 and its members join the global movement for Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions, until such time as Israel has complied with international law and respected the rights of Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, Palestinian citizens of Israel, and all Palestinian refugees and exiles?"

According to a GEO press release, 95 percent of those voting supported it.

The movement is an attempt to "put political and economic pressure on the Israeli state until it complies with international law and respects the human rights of Palestinians in the occupied territories," according to a press release....

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"BDS takes two big strides, at CUNY and U of Chicago"

Mondoweiss, April 16, 2016

At: http://mondoweiss.net/2016/04/bds-takes-two-big-strides-at-cuny-and-u-of-chicago/

"Two important developments in the campaign to boycott, divest from and sanction Israel over human rights violations. Last night the City University of New York (CUNY) Doctoral Students Council overwhelmingly endorsed academic boycott of Israel as a blow against 'settler colonialism and structural racism.' 

"And two days ago the University of Chicago student government voted, also overwhelmingly, that the university should divest itself from ten companies that profit from 'apartheid' in military-occupied Palestine..."