This photo shows University of Colorado students protesting against the Apartheid State of South Africa in April 1988.
Notice the defiance against racism, the demand for action against the apartheid state.
This is a lesson for today's Palestine solidarity movement.
A few months after that Colorado protest, the university's Board of Regents voted to approve divestment against Apartheid South Africa -- in August 1988.
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Thursday, December 13, 2012
"University of Toronto graduate students endorse BDS, call on administration to divest"
Following on the heels of a similar resolution passed last month by the Graduate Student Association at nearby York University in Toronto, Canada, the University of Toronto’s Graduate Student Union passed a resoution on Monday in favor of the Palestinian-led call for boycott, divestment and sanctions to be adopted by the university administration.
In a press release from Students Against Israeli Apartheid (SAIA) at the University of Toronto, and published on the website of the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI), students say that 97 percent of the graduate students present at the vote favored the resolution.
The press release reads, in full:
On 10 December 2012, the University of Toronto’s Graduate Student Union (GSU) voted overwhelmingly in favour of a resolution to endorse the global campaign for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS), at their annual general meeting. Over 150 graduate students were present at the meeting, of which approximately 97% voted in favour of the motion, with only a few students opposed.
The resolution states “Be it resolved that the Graduate Students Union endorse Palestinian civil society’s 2005 call for boycotts, divestment and sanctions by calling on the University of Toronto to refrain from investing in all companies complicit in violations of international law. This includes any company that: profits from the illegal occupation of Palestinian land, directly benefits from the construction of the Wall and Israeli settlements, is economically active in settlements, and profits from the collective punishment of Palestinians. This would include the companies BAE Systems, Northrop Grumman, Lockheed Martin and Hewlett Packard.”
The resolution was adopted in support of Palestinian rights and opposition to Israel’s illegal military occupation of Palestine and its violations of international law under the Geneva Conventions, as affirmed by the International Court of Justice in 2004. By divesting, the University of Toronto will fulfill its legal obligation not to invest in companies or organizations that are complicit in human rights violations, and will help force Israel to comply with international law.
In March 2011, Students Against Israeli Apartheid at the University of Toronto launched a divestment campaign addressing the university’s investments in companies that assist in, and profit from Israeli apartheid and the occupation of the Palestinian territories, with a specific focus on BAE Systems, Northrop Grumman, Lockheed Martin and Hewlett Packard, which provide the Israeli occupation with weapons and technology.
In passing this resolution, U of T joins York University, University of Regina, Carleton University and universities around the world, who have all passed similar resolutions at their student unions.
The passage of this resolution is a milestone in divestment activities in North America and will hopefully pave the way for a broader campaign which demands that the University of Toronto divest from any and all companies profiting from Israel’s illegal occupation.
"...An Amnesty International report titled 'Operation Cast Lead: 22 Days of Death and Destruction' reports that Israeli F-16 combat aircraft 'targeted and destroyed civilian homes … often while they slept' and that Israeli Hellfire missiles killed 'children playing on the roofs of their homes or in the street and other civilians going about their daily business ... in broad daylight.' Though Israel’s countless war crimes have been well-documented, the U.S. government maintains its generous $3 billion a year in foreign aid to Israel.
"The U.S. government’s recent acts of unwavering, bipartisan support of Israel demonstrate the normalization of endorsing Israel’s actions in our political system. We cannot depend on our political system to change current U.S. foreign policy towards Israel. Change must come first from social movements.
"Challenging U.S. policy must begin on this campus with a call for the University to divest its interests in Israel. The Nov. 19 protest on the West Mall, like the one decades before, reminded University decision-makers that UT students can hold the University accountable for its actions. What unified the speakers and marchers was an understanding that UT students can effect changes. Join the movement to end U.S. support of Israel. Rather than being spectators to U.S.-endorsed occupation, we can start the path to peace here."
A small group of anti-Israel protesters put Chuck Warpehoski on the spot Monday night during his first meeting as a member of the Ann Arbor City Council.
Referencing his background as director of the Interfaith Council for Peace and Justice, they called on him to use his new position on council to push for an official city boycott of Israel. They called on him specifically because his nonprofit group already passed a similar resolution.
Speaking during the public comment period at the start of the meeting were frequent protesters Blaine Coleman, Mozhgan Savabieasfahani and Henry Herskovitz.
"I'm here because I'm hopeful that Mr. Chuck Warpehoski will spearhead a citywide boycott of Israel and stop arming the racist state of Israel, so that it is no longer able to slaughter children," Savabieasfahani said...
...Coleman used more graphic imagery, calling Israel a "Nazi state."
"Tonight as we meet here, Israel is bludgeoning Gaza with unimaginable numbers of weaponry," he said. "One of the most powerful military machines on earth, Israel, the fourth biggest military machine on earth, is bludgeoning a tiny, helpless strip of land called the Gaza strip where people are packed like sardines."
Coleman referenced a resolution adopted by Warpehoski's group in May 2003 that called for "arms divestment and cessation of U.S. military aid to Israel." In the resolution, ICPJ pledged to work with various groups — including the city of Ann Arbor and University of Michigan — to use their influence to encourage the U.S. government to suspend its military aid and arms sales to Israel and to divest from all companies that manufacture or sell arms and other military hardware to Israel.
"Again, I call on the City Council to pass a resolution to boycott the apartheid state of Israel," Coleman said Monday night, suggesting Warpehoski should put the ICPJ resolution into action. "As I've said before, the trillions of dollars the United States has spent on killing Muslims, on killing Arabs, should be spent instead on rebuilding Detroit and rebuilding the inner cities of the United States."
Warpehoski and other city officials did not respond to the protesters during the meeting, but they shared their thoughts with AnnArbor.com during interviews later in the night....
...Warpehoski said it's true that ICPJ did pass a resolution taking a stand against military spending and military investment in Israel.
"But we're a peace group," he said. "We don't think the U.S. should be giving military arms to any country, so yes, we have concerns about military spending with Israel...."
...Below are two videos of the anti-Israel protesters in action. The first video is from a demonstration Tuesday at U-M. The second is from an appearance before the City Council in 2009.
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.
