Monday, May 10, 2010

Divestment movement roars ahead at University of New Mexico --


"Activist groups:

"No funds for Israel"

By Andrew Beale | DAILY LOBO

University of New Mexico (UNM)

May 10, 2010



A group of students at UNM is following the University of California Berkeley’s trend by starting a “Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions” campaign against Israel.


This means the removal of school funds from groups that make a profit in Israel, said Nada Noor, a spokeswoman for UNM’s Coalition for Peace and Justice in the Middle East.



“Our aim is not to target Israel for the sake of targeting Israel but rather target companies engaging in and profiting from illegal, destructive and inhumane behavior,” she said.


“Unfortunately, this will take a lot more than a Google search to locate.”


UC Berkeley and UC San Diego students recently brought motions to their student senates, but both were ultimately shot down, Noor said.

“A senate vote in favor of a divestment resolution would be nice, but a silent vote in favor is less significant than a prolonged debate. If you think about it, that’s why UC Berkeley’s campaign was still a great success,” she said.


The group is working to investigate which companies that have contracts with UNM are profiting from illegal activities in Israel, Noor said. She said the wave of student movements from the campaign is similar to student movements against the South African apartheid.

“As we know, the BDS campaigns against South Africa’s apartheid system began with students at universities around the country,” she said...



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Rethink This Veto!

Ibrahim Shikaki at Berkeley Divestment Vote


Monday, 10 May 2010
PALESTINE TELEGRAPH
At: http://www.paltelegraph.com/world/us/5912-rethink-this-veto-ibrahim-shikaki-at-berkeley-divestment-vote




...you can study about colonization for 4 years but you cannot see it in Palestine. I can, because while you study it, I am living it... There can be segregated streets, people stopped from going to religious sites, illegal settlements being built, an apartheid wall cornering human being like animals, and you would call that Israel defending itself.



...We won because 6 universities in the US are proposing divestment bills, because all the Palestinian universities’ student senates have signed a statement following BDS and calling on us to do the same. Tens of thousands of emails were sent to us from around the world,


Dear Intelligent senators, the same narrative capturing you was the narrative that called Mandela and Malcolm X terrorist. If nelson Mandela and Malcolm X are terrorists then listen to me carefully, I am A PROUD INDIGNOUS PALESTINIAN FREEDOM FGHTER, because that’s what we are.


Rethink your terminology, rethink your narrative, rethink injustice and rethink this veto.


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