The Brooklyn Academy of Music is bracing for protests of the Batsheva Dance Company, an Israeli troupe, this week.
In recent weeks during a North American tour, Batsheva, which was to begin a run of performances on Wednesday night, has been dogged by small demonstrations and calls for a boycott over Israel’s actions in Gaza.
Fatima Kafele, a spokeswoman for the Brooklyn Academy, said a “small group” had asked the police for a permit to demonstrate on Thursday. She said she did not know the group’s identity. Batsheva and its artistic director, Ohad Naharin, are prominent in the modern dance world and are respected by many critics.
Mr. Naharin, through Ms. Kafele, declined to be interviewed but issued a statement on Wednesday saying he forgives and understands “the frustration” and people who “want to fight for human rights.” But he said that boycotting a dance company could not make a difference, and that such energy should be channeled “into getting moderate powers and people on both sides to talk to each other.”
"We're not asking for anything revolutionary -- just do what you would do in all other situations. If you condemn others, condemn Israel" -Rami Alhamad, co-organizer of Guelph Israeli Apartheid Week
Israeli Apartheid Week (IAW) came to Guelph this week featuring various events about Israel and the Palestinians. IAW was started in Toronto five years ago as a means of encouraging support for the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement, which aims to put pressure on the state of Israel to end what some call the oppression of Palestine.
BDS refers to how external groups can lend their support to Palestine by taking away financial contributions to the state of Israel, boycotting business with Israel, and urging sanctions against the state.
"We're not asking for anything revolutionary -- just do what you would do in all other situations. If you condemn others, condemn Israel," said IAW Guelph co-organizer Rami Alhamad.
Alhamad pointed to the sanctions elicited from the international community in response to the human rights violations of South African apartheid.
BDS was initiated by the Occupied Palestine and Syrian Golan Heights Advocacy Initiative in conjunction with IAW in 2005, and was instrumental to the initial British University and College Union boycotting of Haifa and Bar-Ilan Universities that same year.
The move has since been repeated by Britain's Association of University Teachers (AUT), and most recently, a boycott against Israeli academic institutions by Ontario's own Canadian Union of Public Employees.
At outset of the boycott, the University of Haifa issued a statement saying "the case against Israeli academia, in general, and the University of Haifa in particular, is devoid of empirical evidence and violates the principle of due process. Driven by a prior and prejudicial assumption of guilt, the AUT has refused to confront (sic) itself with facts."
In terms of the University of Guelph's stance, Alhamad says it has been studiously neutral. "We haven't had any problems [organizing the event], as opposed to other campuses," he said. But on the other hand, Alhamad notes that, "they're not [the university] taking up our call with regards to the boycott of academics."
Aside from universities themselves, Israeli Apartheid Week has met opposition from students.
"We don't feel that apartheid is the appropriate name for what's happening in Israel," said Lisa Bowmander, President of the Israel Affairs Committee. "And we feel that a university is a place for balanced dialogue. And we feel that using such an aggressive term, it jeopardizes the opportunity for a respectful dialogue on this campus."
Bowmander says that in response to IAW her organization has been attempting to facilitate discussions about peace and the need for coexistence in the Middle East.
This week, Guelph is one of 40 cities across the world, and 11 in Canada, where IAW events are taking place.
Films and speakers are planned for Mackinnon every day of the week, documenting the struggle of Palestinians, and the experiences of Israeli's who refuse to support the occupation....
"Online student article pulled: "Senior's editorial on the effects on Gaza residents after military strikes by Israel taken off school paper's Web site"
DEARBORN -- School officials' decision to remove an article on the Middle East conflict from Edsel Ford High School's first online student newspaper has sparked a free-speech issue at the school.
An article written by senior Deanna Suleiman, 17, and the entire online edition was yanked following a flurry of criticism from online readers over her commentary on the effects on Gaza residents after the January military strikes by Israel, which came in response to Palestinian mortar attacks.
District spokesman David Mustonen said the article was only pulled because the site did not make it clear it was just one student's opinion. He said it was a problem with the site, not the article.
The district will post a copy of the printed version in its online archives by the end of the week, he added.
School officials eventually put the issue back online except the article, but some experts say it's unconstitutional to censor political speech, even online.
The article also appeared in the print version of the student newspaper, the Bolt.
"I think our students got caught in the middle of some peoples' political agenda," journalism teacher Keith Rydzik said Wednesday, adding the piece was met with an onslaught on Internet blogs and social networking sites. "Our students of all ethnicities look at this as a First Amendment issue and not a Hamas issue. Some people outside the school tried to make this an issue bigger than that."
Frank LoMonte, executive director of the Arlington, Va.-based Student Press Law Center, said censoring political speech in a student newspaper is unconstitutional, whether it's removed from a print edition or a Web site.
"There is widespread confusion about the scope of the First Amendment when you move from print publishing to online, but its all the First Amendment. A pure political viewpoint gets the absolute highest protection under the First Amendment."
Cheryl Pell, a Michigan State University journalism instructor, said newspapers are intended to spur discussion of current events. "Instead of shutting down discussion they should be ramping it up," Pell said.
--END of ARTICLE--
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As of March 5, the students' Gaza commentary was still missing from "The Bolt", at:
A “teach-in” organized by the Columbia Palestine Forum Wednesday night drew a crowd of supporters, dissenters, and interested students and faculty that filled the Hamilton classroom and spilled into the hall.
It came to light during the meeting that University president Lee Bollinger has agreed to meet with the faculty to discuss the issue.
The group, whose recent formation began with a demand for University divestment from companies profiting from the Gaza conflict and for protection of Palestinian academic freedom, hosted a discussion with a panel composed of four University faculty members, two speakers from the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions campaign, and a Barnard student representing the CPF.
Supporters and critics of the Forum sounded off in a question-and -answer follow-up that mostly took the form of commentary on the recent and historic Gaza conflicts.
The faculty members speaking on the potential benefits of Israeli divestment were Bruce Robbins, Old Dominion Foundation Professor in the Humanities, Gil Anidjar, a professor of religion who also teaches in MEALAC, Mahmood Mamdani, Herbert Lehman Professor of Government and anthropology professor, and Brinkley Messick, anthropology professor.
Faculty first clarified the terms of CPF’s demands. Robbins said that “students don’t have academic freedom, professors do” and that the denial of education—a basic human right—rather than academic freedom—associated with tenure—is the heart of the matter. He added that because academic freedom is not a universal or democratic right, the conflict surrounding Gaza becomes more divisive when this terminology is used.
During the panel, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict was continuously compared to the South African and Liberian apartheids, though this analogy was met with varying reactions from the audience.
It was noted that Columbia divested from South African companies during its apartheid. In this context, Anidjar advocated boycotting as an appropriate “exercise of freedom” and affirmed the group’s demands as “change we can believe in.”
Eric Heitner, CC ’05, spoke on behalf of the BDS and presented figures indicating how tax dollars and other expenses contribute to the profit of companies supporting what he considers the Israeli occupation of Gaza.
Messick expressed that an impending meeting between Bollinger and the faculty about the letter issued listing the CPF’s demands is an “historical moment” for the University.
A lively question-and-answer session allowed attendees to express their reactions to the panelists’ assertions. Critics condemned the lack of a more realistic approach to solving the issue and cited the need to incorporate Hamas into the discussion.
Some students felt the event was successful. “Everyone was calm and it was good to have perspectives from professors and activists and commentary from the community,” said Edna Bonhomme, MSPH ’10, and a member of the CPF. “A dialogue about the Israel occupation is central and people should be able to put their opinion on the table and figure out what could be the best option."
Wednesday, March 4th the SGA gathered in the Campus Center at to vote on whether or not the University of Massachusetts should divest from companies who support Israel such as Caterpillar, General Electric, and Motorola.
The meeting concluded with the motion being tabled until March 25th, after, lengthy and controversial debate.
The main debate was between The Student Alliance for Israel and the Campus Anti-War Network debate over whether SGA should pass the bill.
Michael Feder spoke firest on the topic, representing a pro-Israel outlook. He said the bill contained a number of half-truths.
“Real decisions come from knowing the information on both sides,” said Feder.
Feder’s speech also had a strong emphasis on ‘war as a symptom.’ He claimed that, “An anti-war stance is a way to avoid thoughtful inquiry.”
The Student Alliance for Israel’s believed the bill should be treated as a starting point for dialogue, not for rash decision. The main qualm expressed by Pro-Israel students was their worry only one side of the issue was being seen, and more debate and dialogue was necessary on the matter.
Hannah Grossman from the Student Alliance for Israel was concerned that “This bill is going to polarize the campus and make it impossible for each side to understand each other.”
Other pro-Israel speakers at the meeting referred to the bill as an “unfair vilification of Israel,” and a “means for polarizing the campus.”
The campus Anti-War network, on the other hand, felt the bill should be passed.
The Anti-War network said that, “Divestment helps towards peace.” They claimed repeatedly that the bill was urgent, since many Palestinians were dying and starving by the minute.
“Palestinian Civil Society asked the U.S. to make this move.” network representatives said.
The Anti-War network claimed that Israel should not be portrayed as representing ‘democracy,’ considering their recent assault on the Gaza Strip. The Anti-War network felt that this bill would, “protect the Palestinians from being besieged.”
The Anti-War network referred to the Gaza Strip as, “an open air prison right now,” and said this bill needed to be passed in order to, “Divest from occupation of war, and invest in education.”
They were insistent upon this bill being passed quickly because of the urgent humanitarian crisis that was at stake in Israel concerning the Palestinian people.
--Nicole Sobel can be reached at nsobel@student.umass.edu
Approximately 50 people protested outside Royce Hall at the performance of Israel’s Batsheva Dance Company on Saturday night in hopes of drawing attention to the recent Israeli incursion into Gaza.
The protest was organized by the recently created U.S. Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel, which saw its membership rise from 15 to more than 230 academics since its inception in January. The demonstrators were mostly professors, but many students participated as well.
“There were repeated efforts to initiate the boycott, but it was not taking off. This last Gaza incursion pushed people over the edge,” said Sherna Berger Gluck, an organizing committee member and professor emeritus of women’s studies and history at California State University, Long Beach.
“I believe that this was a massacre. A horrible, huge, monstrous massacre,” said Edie Pistolesi, an organizing committee member and art professor at Cal State Northridge, referring to the most recent activity in Gaza.
According to Palestinian officials, some 1,300 Palestinians – at least half of them civilians – were killed in the Israeli military incursion that began in late December. Thirteen Israelis were also killed, three of them civilians.
Organizing committee member Dennis Kortheuer, who is Jewish, of Cal State Long Beach said that during the 1967 Arab-Israeli War he thought Israel was “a David against a Goliath.” It was not until 1991 when he visited the Palestinian territory as a student to assess the situation for himself that his opinion changed when he encountered many roadblocks and saw that some of the villages were closed off to any access at all.
“It was like a siege,” Kortheuer said.
While some of the concertgoers expressed sympathies with the Palestinian position, many still disagreed with the dance concert as a forum for a protest.
“There’s not a black or white view on this. They’ve both wronged each other horribly on this. But (the dancers) don’t have anything to do with government officials making decisions,” said concertgoer Emmaly Wiederholz.
Wiederholz said the protest just appealed to people’s emotions without actual substance. She questioned the accuracy of the protesters’ claim that 400 children died.
Others expressed frustration with the protesters.
“It really pisses me off as a Jewish girl,” said Judith Flex, a concertgoer. “If the Palestinians were the performers here, Israelis won’t be demonstrating against their culture. If they’d stop doing things like this they’d have their country by now,” Flex said.
Protesters disagreed that the dance performance was an inappropriate place to express their opinions.
“People feel that you can separate art and politics. But you can’t,” said Christine Browning, a program assistant at USC.
Many of the protesters maintained that the Batsheva Dance Company described themselves as Israel’s leading ambassador.
Ohad Naharin, artistic director and choreographer of Batsheva Dance Company, recently told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that if the protests are “against the abuse of power by the Israeli army in the (Gaza) war,” and “the occupation ... I agree ... on both of those things.”
Pistolesi said she thought the protest was actually true public art and a visual expression of a tragedy.
“Art is about culture, politics and life,” Pistolesi said, “whether you’re looking at a Vermeer or a peace poster.”
Some protesters saw the demonstration not only as a political statement but also as the beginning of a dialogue and forum for discussion.
“The American public has a lot to learn. People are starting to understand that something is not right,” said Paul Hershfield, assistant director of the Campaign to End Israeli Apartheid.
Several of the protesters insisted that Israel acts outside of international law.
“We want to let the Batsheva group know that we’re not going to treat Israel as a civilized country. Israel is a rogue state,” said Yael Korin, a pathology researcher at UCLA who is also an endorser of the campaign.
Korin, who was born in Israel and has family members who are Holocaust survivors, said it is very difficult for her family to come to terms with her political views.
“My mother is 92, and it’s hard for her to understand why I’m doing this. She is a victim of history,” Korin said. While understanding the history, Korin said Palestinians should not have to pay for what happened.
On Friday, Judea Pearl, a UCLA computer science professor and father of slain journalist Daniel Pearl, told reporters at a news conference that Jewish students and faculty at California universities fear for their safety on campus because of threats aimed at them over the Middle East conflict. He also said that anti-Semitic threats have escalated since Israel’s invasion of Gaza.
Korin disagrees that there is a rise of anti-Semitism but said she is very pleased anti-Zionism is on the rise.
“People are intelligent in the peace community. They know the difference,” Korin said.
Charla Schlueter, a prospective UCLA graduate student from North Carolina, complained that she had been attacked and called anti-Semitic for expressing her political views.
“That sort of automatic response doesn’t work anymore. The whole world sees what the massacre was,” Schlueter said.
This protest took place amid preparations for a Gaza reconstruction conference in Egypt scheduled for today, which Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is expected to attend.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert warned Sunday as Clinton arrived in Egypt that Israel’s retaliation would be painful, harsh and strong if the rocket fire from Gaza continues.
Cardiff University abandons its investments in arms after students stage two-day lecture theatre occupation.
Cardiff University has divested itself of all investments in BAE systems and the infrastructure arm of General Electric following a student-led protest last week.
Students protesting against Cardiff University’s involvement in the arms trade left the Main Building victorious last Thursday, having occupied the Shandon lecture theatre for since Tuesday.
The protestors led a procession out of the Main Building to the Students’ Union and then to the Bute Building, chanting “Cardiff divest: occupation success.”
Megan Price, a third year Philosophy student and participant, said: “Cardiff University, as a direct result of our actions, has divested from BAE systems and GE (General Electric) so this is a victory for Cardiff, for the occupation and for Gaza.”
Upon leaving the lecture theatre at 4pm, which has been the protestors’ home for the last two days, Megan said: “We were so settled in the lecture theatre it seemed a shame to leave, but it had gone on long enough. An occupation does not achieve everything and we know we have much more to do, but at least we have raised awareness.”
The ‘Books Not Bombs’ protest began on Tuesday February 24, when students gathered outside the Students’ Union to campaign against Cardiff University’s £225,000 of investment in the arms trade.
The protesters’ demands also included the adoption of an ethical investment policy by the University, the issuing of a statement condemning Israel’s bombing and the blockade of Gaza, University promotion of the Disaster Emergency Appeal for Gaza, and a ban on Israeli products sold in University shops.
So far, none of these other demands have been met; however, a statement issued by Louise Casella, Director of Strategic Development for the University, states that the University will put a proposal in relation to an ethical policy before University Council and will examine the feasibility of the other proposals.
Seb Cooke, a student present at the protest, explained their demands: “What people are doing here today is making their voices heard in solidarity of the people in Gaza.
“But also we want Cardiff University to divest all of its shares in BAE systems and the arms trade and we want to ensure that, in the future, it never, ever invests in the arms trade again.”
The protestors aimed to discuss their demands with the University’s Director of Strategic Development, Louise Casella, but were at first refused permission. This led to their decision to remain in occupation of the lecture theatre.
As time went on, the University was generally tolerant of the protestors’ decision to stay, although they did receive some antagonism.
The University allegedly threatened to take away heating or to put on the fire alarm to chase the protestors away; however, for the most part their relationship was amicable.
“We received some support from professors and from the security staff. Some of them are not on side, and some of them would like to see us leave, but there has been some support,” said Dan Drummond, a first year Politics and Sociology student at the occupation.
The protestors also received food and drink donations from a local Mosque and from Clark’s pasties.
Eventually, on Wednesday afternoon, Ms Cassella spoke to the protestors and announced that some of their demands would be met. The protestors chose to remain in occupation of the lecture theatre overnight, but faced difficulties continuing the protest on Thursday morning.
At 1.15pm on Thursday, the protestors were told to abandon the occupation on the recommendation of the NUS.
Tony Oliver, Head of Security, said: “Casella repeats the request for students to leave the lecture theatre now. The University will negotiate no more.
“The NUS is withdrawing their support and as of 2pm the University is taking that stance.”
The NUS state that protests lasting longer than 48 hours can be disruptive, and Oliver therefore announced that from 2pm onwards, the students would be occupying the theatre illegally.
But the students remained in high spirits, having achieved a large part of what they set out to achieve.
Students’ Union President Andy Buttons-Stephens said: “It’s great to see student activists passionately engaging and lobbying the University over these issues.
“The protestors clearly made an impact on the University and thankfully with minimal disruption to other students who wish to attend their lectures and learn.”
He added: “Any efforts to improve ethical investment by the University are hugely welcomed. It is something that is on the agenda for my discussions with the University and is equally something that I know Sam Knight, the Union’s Ethical and Environmental Officer, is working hard on.”
A THREE-DAY sit-in by students protesting against their university’s investment in major arms companies has ended.
Cardiff Students Against War yesterday finished its occupation of the Shandon Lecture Theatre in Cardiff University’s main building on Park Place after bosses agreed to pull funds out of two companies.
Cardiff University has given students written confirmation that they have divested from the arms trade and have instructed fund managers not to reinvest.
Johnny, a spokesman for the coalition, said: “The mood has been very upbeat throughout. People have felt that what they are doing is really achieving something.
“They felt they’ve made a difference.
“There’s been a buzz around the campus.
“It certainly shows that student activism is on the increase.”
During the sit-in, the 100 or so participants listened to talks from visitors, took part in a live link-up with Gaza and watched documentaries about the conflict in the Middle East. A student spokeswoman, who did not want to be named, said: “The university conceded to our key demand which was to divest from the arms trade. They have sold all their shares in BAe and General Electric and instructed their fund managers not to invest in the arms trade.
“This is a major success for the occupation.
“We’ve been the most successful across the UK. It confirms the power of student action. A lot of us have been campaigning against the arms trade for some time.
“We’ve been consistently ignored by the university. They have forced us to take this action.
“It’s not interested in the will of the student, which is why we were forced to take action.”
The sit-in began on Tuesday when students massed outside their union building with a Books Not Bombs protest, where students brought along a book to signify their support for education, not war.
They claimed the university had money invested in BAe Systems and General Electric, which it accuses of supplying military equipment to Israel.
They were refusing to leave the lecture theatre until their demands were met. They were also calling for Cardiff University to be twinned with Gaza and for five students from the troubled region to be given scholarships at Cardiff University.
It is the 28th such protest to take place on campuses around the United Kingdom.
A Cardiff University spokesman said: “In the course of the last few days the University’s investment managers have divested the University of its holdings in both BAe and the infrastructure arm of General Electric.”
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Haverford College campaign "to divest from Israeli Apartheid."
The Haverford Campaign
"If I were to change the names, a description of what is happening in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank could describe events in South Africa."
Hampshire College in Amherst, MA, the first U.S. college to divest from South African apartheid, has become the first U.S. college to divest from Israeli apartheid. Congrats Hampshire and SJP! (More Information)
Our Open Letter To Haverford College
We, the undersigned alumni and associates of Haverford College, deplore the ongoing atrocities and injustices committed by the State of Israel against Palestinians in Gaza, the West Bank and Israel. Acknowledging that Haverford's divestment from South Africa had a positive impact on ending apartheid, we demand that Haverford College divest fully from any entity that contributes to or supports the apartheid in Israel/Palestine.
Divestment targets include:
U.S. companies doing business in Israel;
companies that manufacture or sell military equipment used by Israel;
Israeli companies;
any other holdings that financially support or sustain Israeli state sponsored apartheid.
In solidarity with those living under an unjust occupation, we pledge to continue this campaign until Haverford acts in accord with its Quaker tradition and invests in peace.
“Do you notice that, even among educated people, there is general recognition of the fact that the modern state of Israel was founded as a symbol of the suffering of humanity…but almost no awareness that this has been at the expense of another people who were innocent of guilt?”
These are the words of Harry Saul, a member of Haverford College’s Class of 1972.
Saul is a member of a group of Haverford alumni that have started The Haverford Campaign, at www.thehaverfordcampaign.com.
The Campaign calls upon Haverford to divest fully from any entity that contributes to or supports what he calls “the apartheid” in Gaza, the West Bank, and Israel.
Saul was inspired to start this campaign by his son, a member of the Students for Justice in Palestine group at Hampshire College, who recently helped convince the school’s administration to completely divest.
“The goals of the campaign are twofold,” Saul said. “First to get the college to completely divest…second…to [help in] raising awareness.”
According to Saul, one of the major challenges is educating people about the role that the United States plays in the conflict.
“People in this country need to first know about what their government is doing,” said Saul. “There is little awareness that the weapons…being used to inflict suffering…are made by American companies and largely paid for by people living in the United States.”
Although as Saul acknowledges, “it is notoriously difficult to get information about investments from private colleges,” he is confident that Haverford must be investing in at least some of the companies that provide support to Israel.
Saul cites Caterpillar, United Technologies, General Electric, ITT Corporation, Motorola, and Terex as a handful of the major companies that must be divested from.
When asked about his use of the word “apartheid” to describe the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Saul responded that the accounts of the fighting reminded him of colonial war.
“It was more like reports I’ve read about the British circling and killing basically defenseless aborigines in Australia,” he said.
New York University's Kimmel Student Center was under occupation by a group of nearly 80 student protestors Feb. 18-20.
Though the campaign's goals, essentially to raise opposition to Israeli military action in Gaza, were certainly reasonable, the protestors' methods were ineffective because they were more show than substance.
This student "occupation," or Take Back NYU! (TBNYU) campaign, is part of a wider international trend that gained momentum following Israel's most recent assault on Gaza.
Beginning in mid-January, over a dozen universities in the U.K. staged similiar sit-in protests, beginning at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London on Jan. 13.
On Feb. 17, Edinburgh University's own student sit-in ended as students agreed to leave George Square lecture theatre.
Protests like this are a legacy of the 1960s, in which sit-ins were effectively utilized in ideological battles ranging from Civil Rights (The Greensboro Sit-In February 1, 1960) to Vietnam opposition. Their recent revival, which, according to CNN, has been aided by social networking sites, has led some to claim a revival of 1960s protest spirit. However, "Student activism is still a relatively minority activity compared to its heyday," according to Keith Kahn-Harrisin, a sociologist at the Centre for Urban and Community Research at Goldsmiths College in London.
The protest at NYU strongly paralleled other student sit-ins in the U.K. After settling down in their school's cafeteria, the student activists announced that they would remain there until NYU's administration met their originally unclear demands, which eventually ranged from boycotting companies that supported the Israeli military to providing reconstruction aid for the University of Gaza, which was damaged in a December Israeli airstrike....
Hampshire College has become the first US educational institution to divest from Israel! Learn more
Our Open Letter To Swarthmore College
We, the undersigned alumni and associates of Swarthmore College, deplore the ongoing atrocities and injustices committed by the State of Israel against Palestinians in Gaza, the West Bank and Israel. Acknowledging that Swarthmore's divestment from South Africa had a positive impact on ending apartheid, we demand that Swarthmore College divest fully from any entity that contributes to or supports the apartheid in Israel/Palestine.
Divestment targets include:
U.S. companies doing business in Israel;
companies that manufacture or sell military equipment used by Israel;
Israeli companies;
any other holdings that financially support or sustain Israeli state sponsored apartheid.
In solidarity with those living under an unjust occupation, we pledge to withhold all future donations to Swarthmore until full and complete divestment is enacted and made public. When Swarthmore acts in accord with its Quaker tradition and invests in peace, we pledge to multiply our generosity.
Around 20 students from the University of Plymouth have occupied room 202 of the Smeaton building, in the middle of campus.
Our demands are as follows:
1. That the University of Plymouth issue a statement condemning the recent and continuing atrocities perpetrated by Israel in the Gaza strip. The University should officially denounce the attacks on civilians, the systematic obstruction of humanitarian aid and the targeting of academic institutions, hospitals, places of worship and international peace keeping facilities.
2. That the University of Plymouth cease to invest directly or indirectly in companies complicit in human rights abuses in the Gaza strip and internationally.
3. That no Israeli goods or goods produced by companies that have directly funded the State of Israel be sold on campus.
4. That the University of Plymouth provide complete financial scholarships for six students from Gaza University which has been bombed by the Israeli military.
5. That any surplus educational resources available to the University of Plymouth are provided to Gaza University and that the shipping of these resources be fully paid for by the University of Plymouth.
6. That there be no legal, financial, or academic measures taken against anyone involved in or supporting the occupation. All those involved will be guaranteed free movement in and out of the occupied space, with open access to electricity and internet.
We await your response to organise a formal meeting between delegates of our occupation and with university management to negotiate these demands.
Israeli and Palestinian supporters hold simultaneous rallies at Vari Hall
Photo by Jad Yaghmour and Alex Pylyshyn
Pro-Palestinian Daniel Freeman-Maloy (left) and Pro-Israeli Mark Rootenberg (right) are two of many demonstrators who faced off at Vari Hall on Feb. 12
Ethnic tensions at York University continued to escalate as students on opposing sides of the Israel-Palestine conflict met in Vari Hall. On Feb. 12, pro-Israeli and pro-Palestinian student groups held simultaneous protests with only a wall of campus security guards separating both sides.
Students in solidarity with the Palestinians stood together to contribute to what they call a global movement that asks international governments to support a boycott, divestment and sanctions campaign against Israel. “The world has watched over the course of recent months as Israel not only brutally assaulted Gaza – killing 1,300, wounding many more and destroying 22,000 buildings in a territory that was already devastated – but also then moved to impose a siege that is effectively starving Palestinians,” said Palestinian supporter Daniel Freeman-Maloy.
“In this context there is an urgent need for international action to impose constraints on the Israeli state so that it ceases these violent policies and its policies of occupation and discrimination.” Students Against Israeli Apartheid (SAIA) member Hala Farah said the pro-Palestinian demonstrators are asking York University president Mamdouh Shoukri to release a statement condemning Israel’s bombing of educational institutions in Gaza.
A clash of ideologies
Photo By Alex Pylyshyn
York security forms a human barrier between pro-Israeli and pro-Palestinian student protesters.
“Our most important goal here on campus is to promote an academic boycott of educational institutions in Israel. By implementing an academic boycott against Israeli institutions, we can pressure the Israeli government to stop the atrocities they are committing in Gaza,” Farah said. Jewish student groups at York University, including Hillel at York and Hasbara Fellowships at York, organized a counter-demonstration in response to the pro-Palestinian rally held by SAIA. Aaron Rosenberg, co-president of Hasbara Fellowships at York, said Palestinian supporters are spreading fear among Jewish students at York University. “SAIA and other groups that want to spread hate on this campus decided to hold a protest to intimidate and harass Jewish and Israeli students. Jewish groups decided to stand up and say we’re not going to take this type of terror on campus.”
Not all members of the Jewish community, however, feel threatened by Palestinian supporters.
“This isn’t a Jewish versus Palestinian conflict. There are a lot of Jews in the world in growing numbers who oppose Israel’s oppression of Palestine. The Jews who are afraid on campus, I think, are afraid of the extreme pro-Israel lobby. They are afraid of expressing their opinion. They feel that they might be shunned. I think that’s the real fear going on, not fear of Palestinians,” said Andy Lehrer, a member of the group Independent Jewish Voices. “The only time I’ve experienced hatred because I was Jewish was when I attend a counter-demonstration against a pro-Israel rally, and they’ve said, ‘You’re not really Jewish’ and ‘Blow yourselves up,’” he said. Palestinian supporters then marched to the office of the York University Foundation – the university’s fundraising arm – to present a letter asking them to provide more transparency in their financial transactions.
Freeman-Maloy criticized Hillel and Hasbara for creating an atmosphere that worked to drown out the voices of Palestinian supporters. “There is a constituency, in this case organizations like Hillel and their associates off campus, who react fanatically to any concern being expressed for Palestinian human rights and any criticism being made of Israeli war crimes and crimes against humanity. “Here we saw a demonstration trying to bring attention to these crimes, confronted with a counter-demonstration that seeks to make it impossible to hear speeches and to make it easier to sideline the issue by making the demonstration seem unpleasant so people ignore it,” he said. Jewish students have complained of alleged increases in anti-Semitism at York University in recent weeks.
“I think it’s an incredibly violent protest. I think that the intimidation factor is anti-Semitic, and I think it’s anti-Zionist,” Rosenberg said. Police were not called and there were no arrests made. Samuel Nithiananthan, a second-year political science student who attended the rally, denied Rosenberg’s allegations that Palestinian supporters were engaging in anti-Semitic behaviour. “This is not something against Jewish people. This is against the killing of the people in Palestine. This is against the Israeli government, not the Jewish people,” he said. Rosenberg accused SAIA of spreading the message that Israel did not have the right to exist. He also accused minority groups supporting Palestine of supporting terror. “The protest is inherently anti-Zionist. Their message is to destroy the Israeli state and Israeli Jewish people. Anti-Zionist is being against the Jewish state, being against the Jewish right to have a homeland and their right to exist,” Rosenberg said. “I think anybody that came to support the Palestinian protest came here to promote terror, to promote hatred. I don’t care where you are from, your ethnicity, your background. That will not be tolerated.” SAIA spokesperson Adonis El-jamal disagrees. “Palestinians are not questioning a Jewish homeland. They just want equal rights just like Jewish people want,” El-jamal said.
“We are trying to say that Zionism is different from Judaism. Zionism is a political ideology that hinges on the expulsion of the indigenous people of Palestine, who are the Palestinians. It is not rooted in religion; it uses religion to further political ambition,” he said. Israeli supporters claim they want peace and that they support Palestine’s right to exist. “I think that Palestinians have a right to exist as a state. I believe the Palestinian people have territory. There is no occupation of Gaza and in majority of places in the West Bank,” Rosenberg said. “The problem remains that the Palestinian leadership have not built an infrastructure for a state.”
Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) launched a military campaign against Hamas in the Gaza strip in December 2008. Israel stated the strikes were in response to repetitive rocket and mortar attacks from the Gaza Strip into Israel. The IDF targeted Hamas bases and police training camps. Civilian infrastructure, including mosques, houses and schools, were also attacked. “What we have seen over the years is that there has been a direct considerate effort to destroy Palestinian infrastructure. When Gaza was under siege, where no medical supplies, no food rations or no other outside aid was being supported, it was a direct attack on Palestinian infrastructure,” El-jamal said.
Palestinian supporters questioned the motives of Israel supporters who came dressed in IDF paraphernalia. “When people are speaking of peace and wearing the paraphernalia affiliated with armed forces that are engaged in ongoing crimes against humanity, those statements ring quite hollow and can essentially be dismissed as propaganda,” Freeman-Maloy said. Rosenberg defended the choice of clothing. “IDF is a peaceful organization. I think that Jewish students need to stand together behind their army that protects them,” Rosenberg said.
Hermann Dierkes, a leftist candidate for mayor in the Ruhr Valley city Duisburg, on Wednesday defended his call for a boycott of Israel for its treatment of the Palestinians despite widespread criticism he was stoking anti-Jewish sentiments in Germany.
“When all the protests and UN resolutions don’t help stop continual human rights abuses then such methods are legitimate,” he said in a statement released by the North Rhine-Westphalian regional chapter of his hard-line socialist party The Left.
“To compare it to the racist Nazi boycott of Jewish businesses is highly disingenuous.”
Dierkes unleashed a storm of criticism this week after saying the Holocaust could not be used as an excuse for Israel’s recent military campaign in the Gaza Strip....
"For the sake of the hundreds of thousands trembling under our violence, I cannot be silent." --Martin Luther King Jr., "Beyond Vietnam," April 4, 1967
WE SALUTE the South African Transport and Allied Workers Union in Durban and Western Australian dock worker members of the Maritime Union of Australia for refusing to handle Israeli shipping.
Theirs is a courageous response to Israel's attack on Palestinians in Gaza that, since December 27 alone, has left some 1,400 dead and 5,000 wounded--nearly all of them civilians.
This action is in the best tradition of dock workers in Denmark and Sweden (1963), the San Francisco Bay Area (1984) and Liverpool (1988), who refused to handle shipping for apartheid South Africa; Oakland dock workers' refusal to load bombs for the Pinochet dictatorship in Chile (1978); and West Coast dock workers' strike against the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan (2008).
The Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) rightly "calls on other workers and unions to follow suit and to do all that is necessary to ensure that they boycott all goods to and from Israel until Palestine is free."
COSATU's appeal is particularly relevant for workers in the United States, whose government stands behind Israel's war against the Palestinians, and without which Israeli apartheid cannot continue. In the past 10 years alone, U.S. military aid to Israel was $17 billion; over the next decade, it will be $30 billion. As in Afghanistan and Iraq, it is U.S. aircraft, white phosphorous and bullets that kill and maim on behalf of the occupiers. Both the Democratic and Republican Parties condone the slaughter in Gaza.
Such support bolsters Israel's longstanding role as watchdog and junior partner for U.S. domination over the oil-rich Middle East--and beyond. In that capacity, Israel was apartheid South Africa's closest ally.
As with the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, workers in the United States pay a staggering human and financial price, including deepening economic crisis, for U.S.-Israeli war and occupation. Yet in contrast to trade union bodies in South Africa, Australia, Denmark, Britain, Canada and elsewhere, most of labor officialdom in this country--often without the knowledge or consent of union members--is a main accomplice of Israeli apartheid.
For more than 60 years, it has closely collaborated with the Histadrut, the Zionist labor federation that has spearheaded--and whitewashed--apartheid, dispossession and ethnic cleansing of the Palestinians since the 1920s. U.S. labor leaders have plowed at least $5 billion of our union pension funds and retirement plans into State of Israel Bonds.
In April 2002, while Israel butchered Palestinian refugees at Jenin in the West Bank, AFL-CIO President John Sweeney was a featured speaker at a belligerent "National Solidarity Rally for Israel."
In July 2007, the Jewish Labor Committee, a Histadrut mouthpiece, enlisted top officials of the AFL-CIO and Change to Win to condemn British union support for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions against Israel.
Now, by their silence, these same leaders are complicit in Israel's massacre in Gaza.
These policies echo infamous "AFL-CIA" support for U.S. war and dictatorship in Vietnam, Latin America, Gulf War I, Afghanistan and elsewhere. It strengthens the U.S.-Israel war machine and labor's corporate enemies, reinforces racism and Islamophobia, and makes a mockery of international solidarity.
For all these reasons, we join COSATU in supporting the growing international campaign of Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions, which demands Palestinian self-determination, including an end to Israeli military occupation, the right of Palestinian refugees to return, and elimination of apartheid throughout historic Palestine.
Join us in publicizing the example of South African and Australian dock workers, and working toward the same kind of labor solidarity here at home. Join us in demanding immediate and total:
1. End to U.S. aid for Israel.
2. Divestment of business and labor investments in Israel.
3. Labor boycott of Israel.
4. Withdrawal of U.S. and allied forces from the Middle East.
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Initial Signers (list in formation):
Larry Adams, co-convener, New York City Labor Against the War; former president, NPMHU Local 300 Anthony Arnove, National Writers Union/UAW Local 1981* Black Workers for Justice (North Carolina) Marty Goodman, former executive board member, TWU Local 100 Monadel Herzallah, president, Arab American Union Members Council, California Michael Letwin, co-convener, New York City Labor Against the War; former president, UAW Local 2325/Assn. of Legal Aid Attorneys Brenda Stokely, co-convener, New York City Labor Against the War; former president, AFSCME DC 1707; co-chair, Million Worker March Clarence Thomas, national co-chair, Million Worker March Movement; executive board member, ILWU Local 10* Sam Weinstein, former president, UWUA Local 132 Steve Zeltzer, producer, Labor Video Project
(*Affiliation for identification only--no organizational endorsement implied)
Dundee University Students Association has resolved to boycott BAE Systems and Eden Springs because of their interests in Israel.
Before last Thursday’s debate on the boycott resolution, Dundee’s university authorities had already agreed to instruct their investment managers to sell defence industry stock, including that in BAE Systems, in response to student pressure.
As a result the debate focused on the water company, Eden Springs. The motion, proposed by the Stop The War Coalition, was backed by 125 of the 180 students attending.
Hayden Krasner, president of the tiny St Andrews University JSoc, spoke against the motion. “I had information from the Scottish Parliament that Eden Springs UK Ltd was a separate company, not connected with Israel, but no-one was listening,” he said later. Proponents of the motion, he said, had compared Israelis to Nazis — “and Israel was said to be the worst state in the world”.
According to Hayden Krasner, students at the debate were calling for this to be the first of many boycotts....
As the temperature neared zero degrees on Wednesday night, about 200 people gathered on the steps of the Michigan Union to protest Israel’s recent invasion of Gaza.
The demonstration was organized by Students Allied for Freedom and Equality, a campus student group on campus that aims to promote human rights and self-determination for the Palestinian people, according to the group’s website.
Andrew Dalack, SAFE’S co-chair, said the group planned the protest in order to galvanize campus support for the Palestinian cause.
“There’s a sizable number of students on campus that demands an immediate cease fire, that supports an immediate end to U.S. military aid to Israel and that supports the full and immediate end to Israel’s current occupation in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank,” Dalack said.
Students and Ann Arbor residents came out in droves to show support for SAFE’s cause. Many protestors were carrying signs including ones that read, “What has Zionism done for peace?” as a woman shouted in a mega-phone, “Boycott Israel now.”
In addition to holding up signs, students carried both Palestinian and Hamas flags.
Dalack said he was upset that protestors were carrying flags of political parties, like Hamas.
“I was disappointed by the ignorance some people displayed in their language, signage and behavior to onlookers as well,” Dalack said. “I hope that the inappropriate behavior by some community members does not reflect on the community as a whole, as they are supportive, rational and of high moral caliber.”
Members of Students for Social Equality were also at the demonstration to show support for the cause, despite minor disagreements with SAFE’s message.
“Students for Social Equality oppose the attack, but we also try to bring perspective of the bankruptcy of religious nationalism,” LSA senior Daniel Green, a member of Students for Social Equality, said. “We think that it’s very destructive — Hamas’s role in this. We’re here in support of the opposition of the attack and the occupation, but we also have a perspective which may not be the same as everyone here.”
While SAFE was busy making preparations for the protest, yesterday, members of the pro-Israel community took part in a “Blue Out” in order to show support for Israel.
The Union of Progressive Zionists, the American Movement for Israel and Israel Initiating Dialogue, Education and Advocacy, organized the Blue Out, in which they encouraged students to wear blue in support of Israel during this “difficult time,” said LSA junior Bria Gray, chair of the UPZ.
“What we’re promoting is that everyone wear blue in support of Israel,” Gray said. “We’re promoting education about what’s going on so that if someone’s noticing you’re wearing a blue shirt, hopefully you’ll be able to share something about how Israel is not this war-monger evil country, but a country that is trying to protect itself the only way it knows how.”
Gray said that while the SAFE demonstration was not the only reason they chose Wednesday for the Blue Out, it was definitely part of the motivation.
“I think partly we want to react soon because it broke out during the break,” she said. “We have to learn together to educate ourselves.”
Ben Kaminsky, chair of Israel IDEA, and Rachel Goldstein, chair of the American Movement for Israel said, however, that the Blue Out was not intentionally scheduled for the same day as the SAFE demonstration.
“We do not want to react against the feelings of other student organizations, but rather unite the pro-Israel community,” Goldstein said in an e-mail interview. “Everybody has a different perspective on the situation in Gaza, but we can join together on the idea that Israel has a right to defend itself in some way.”
LSA freshman Jennie Fine, who recently lived in Israel for a year, took part in the Blue Out after receiving an e-mail from AMI, in order to show her support for Israel.
“The West doesn’t understand what’s going on in the Middle East. They have no idea,” Fine said. “It’s a different world over there.”
LSA sophomore Craig Foldes said he wore blue yesterday as a way to advocate for Israel.
“Israel gets a bad reputation, but it needs to do whatever it can to ensure its survival,” Foldes said.
Several members of Israel IDEA, including Kaminsky, showed up at the demonstration.
Kaminsky said he wasn’t pleased with the behavior of some of the protesters.
“You have people waving Hamas flags. Hamas is a terrorist organization. It’s absolutely outrageous that these things can go on,” Kaminsky said
Despite the presence of opposition groups, LSA junior Kamblya Youseff who was at the event said she was happy with how the demonstration went.
“I just think it was amazing. It was very impressive and it showed a lot about what kind of support this cause can garner,” she said.
Youseff added that the demonstrators' willingness to brave the cold is indicative of their support for the cause.
“If that in itself doesn’t tell people that something’s going wrong in the world, then I don’t know what will.”
It is often said that protests don't accomplish much of anything. Despite their effective use all over the world for thousands of years, in today's world, protests as a means of social change seem to have lost their power. It's not necessarily a reflection of apathy on the youth of today rather, it's a sign of the times; it's simply more efficient to forward an e-mail, join a Facebook group, make a donation online. But is it more effective?
Over the past 10 days, as Israeli airstrikes have hammered Gaza into the ground, furious activists and citizens from around the globe have succeeded in organizing rallies and protests in solidarity with Gaza and against the actions of Israel. From Cape Town to Caracas, Beirut to Budapest, ordinary citizens have come out in droves to speak out against the unspeakable.
In my own city of Boston, groups such as the International Socialist Organization, the Boston Coalition for Palestinian Rights, and the Somerville Divestment Project banded together to gain supporters for a rally on January 3. The turnout was surprisingly large - somewhere between three and four hundred individuals - and the march, which weaved down Boylston Street, through Chinatown, and back up to Copley Square, lasted for nearly two hours (read blogger Dennis Fox's account here).
The protest succeeded in drawing local attention to the cause, as protests are meant to do. Pedestrians stopped in their tracks, workers gave the peace sign through the windows of shops, and the police seemed almost relaxed as they watched the protestors shout slogans such as "Occupation is a crime, from Iraq to Palestine!" and "Hey hey, ho ho, aid to Israel's gotta go!" Television stations such as New England Cable News (NECN) later replayed scenes from the rally.
The protest was certainly effective, if only for the local attention it garnered. But would it have been so without the use of technology? In today's world, live and online activism go hand in hand. Without the use of Facebook or Twitter, I wouldn't have heard about the protests; without the Internet, I wouldn't have known much at all about the conflict. Mainstream media has proven itself to be utterly unreliable over the past 10 days, and in a spread-out city like Boston, it's difficult to discover what's what.
The protests of the past week have proven that the age of the protest for social change is not dead, but if we want to maximize effectiveness in 2009, it's necessary to learn the methods of the next generation. If we want to engage today's youth in activism, we must speak their language. This week has proven we can.
"About 230 people marched through downtown Ann Arbor early Friday evening to call for a ceasefire in the Middle East just as diplomats appeared to hammer out an agreement after weeks of discussions.
"Rally emcee Nazih Hassan, former president of the Muslim Community Association (MCA) of Ann Arbor and Vicinity - the lead organizer of the event - said the rally held in front of the Federal Building on Liberty Street was set on federal property to protest misguided policies of the Bush Administration that contribute to the current fighting in Lebanon and lingering war in Iraq.
"Measured remarks came from leaders of event co-sponsors Michigan Peaceworks and the Interfaith Council for Peace and Justice, however multiple speakers criticized the Jewish state for occupying land they say belongs to Arabs.
"Others also made parallels to conflicts with the Palestinians and the U.S.'s presence in Iraq.
" 'This is a colonial war and it's been in the U.S./Israel designs for decades,' said Ann Arbor resident Nadine Naber, who also openly called for a boycott of Israel and said that true peace hinges on ending occupation.
"Dawud Walid, executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations for Michigan (CAIR), also said the root cause of the conflict was Israeli occupation of Lebanese, Palestinian and Syrian territory, not Islamic fundamentalist terrorists as the Bush Administration would prefer people to believe. He also told the cheering crowd that the interests of Israel are not the same as and should never supersede America's.
"Michigan Peaceworks, the Ann Arbor-based nonprofit organization that conducted its own peace vigil on downtown streets last month, issued a press release at Friday's event that called for an unconditional ceasefire and acknowledged suffering on both sides of the conflict..."
Proposed Humanitarian Resolution to Boycott the Apartheid State of Israel:
1. Starting today, Dearborn City Council will refuse to invest any money in the Apartheid State of Israel.
2. Starting today, Dearborn City Council will refuse to buy any product from the Apartheid State of Israel.
3. Dearborn City Council asks the U.S. Congress to stop spending $1 trillion for the murder of Palestine, the murder of Iraq, the murder of Afghanistan, and the murder of Lebanon.
4. Dearborn City Council asks Congress to spend that $1 trillion to build world-class schools, clinics, mass transit, and homes in Detroit, and in every inner city.
