Monday, November 29, 2010

"Campuses work to further the BDS movement"


Campuses work to further the BDS movement

By Nick Meyer
Sunday, 11.28.2010, 01:14am


ARAB AMERICAN NEWS



The apartheid situation in South Africa ended in the 1990s in large part because of boycotts on college campuses, and many scholars have argued that the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions Movement (BDS) is the most effective way for ending the current blockade and occupation of Palestine by Israeli military forces.


The BDS movement against companies with Israeli ties has been active at American campuses in recent weeks in response to desperate pleas from human rights organizations, the United Nations, and world political leaders to end the occupation.


Sabra hummus removed after divestment push


On November 19, Chicago's DePaul University announced that their dining services organization would discontinue the sale of hummus made by Sabra, an Israeli brand that students have said is known for its vocal and material support of the Israeli army, which has been accused of numerous war crimes in Gaza by the U.N. The products were removed from store shelves for the rest of the semester with a ban likely in the near future according to the Huffington Post.


DePaul's Students for Justice in Palestine organization provided research that the Strauss Group, which co-owns Sabra hummus, had direct monetary ties with Israeli forces that continue to enforce the illegal occupations of Palestinian land.


The boycott is being used as a blueprint for how to effect change at the college level from the ground up.


Sabra hummus is also the target of a boycott launched by The Princeton Committee on Palestine at Princeton University in New Jersey as the group has created a referendum asking the school's dining services to sell an alternative brand of hummus.


EMU in Virginia, University of Southern California pushing for divestment


At Eastern Mennonite University (EMU) in Virginia, a group of students is pushing for divestment from companies supporting Israel's military as well.


The liberal arts Christian college's Students for Morally Responsible Investment (SMRI) group has met recently with the administration and other Mennonite institutions in an attempt to continue the BDS movement and to promote the peaceful ideals of the Mennonite church.


Divestment resolutions have been passed at various schools across the country including one by the University of Michigan-Dearborn's student government.


The University of Southern California's Students for Justice in Palestine organization is also planning to make its own push for divestment from companies supporting the Israeli military.


Columbia University checkpoints raise awareness


Echoing a demonstration held this year at UM-Dearborn by the Arab Student Union, New York-based Columbia University students dressed as Israeli soldiers stopped other students on their way to class at mock checkpoints resembling those set up in the West Bank in Palestine. The event was held on Thursday, Nov. 18.


Some students were ordered to the ground and blindfolded in demonstrations of life for Palestinians at military checkpoints in the West Bank.


Other students on campus came together for a counter-demonstration, saying that the checkpoints didn't accurately represent the situation in the occupied West Bank.


The Columbia Students for Justice in Palestine said its demonstration was meant to protest human rights violations at checkpoints that many human rights activists have witnessed from their time working in the West Bank.


_____________________________________________________

Sunday, November 28, 2010

"End U.S. Aid to Israel" --



Berkeley:

"Palestine, American Wars, and Islamophobia in America"



End U.S. Aid to Israel
Billions for Education, Not War and Occupation
Defend Civil Liberties and End FBI Raids


Speakers include:
  • Hatem Bazian, UCB
  • Michael Shehadeh, LA 8
  • Ziad Abbas, MECA
  • Barbara Lubin, MECA
  • Jeff Mackler, UNAC
  • Masao Suzuki, Committee to Stop FBI Repression
  • Blanca Missé, UCB Student Worker Action Team
  • Cal Students for Justice in Palestine
  • UCB Muslim Student Association

Sponsors: United National Antiwar Committee (UNAC), Cal. Students for Justice in Palestine, UCB Muslim Student Association, Middle East Children's Alliance, One Struggle One Fight, Arab Resource Organizing Center, Alliance for South Asians Taking Action, and the International Socialist Organization.

For more info, call 510-268-9429, email teachinNov30@gmail.com, or visit teachinNov30.wordpress.com.

Download the flier.


Tuesday, November 30, 2010 - 7:00pm

UC Berkeley • Pauley Ballroom

Location:
2475 Bancroft Way
Berkeley, CA

______________________________

Friday, November 26, 2010

Irish Trade Union Votes Unanimously for Boycott against Israel




"Another BDS Victory: Irish Trade Union TEEU Votes to Boycott Israel"

ALTERNATIVE INFORMATION CENTER
November 26, 2010



At its biennial conference last weekend, the Technical Engineering and Electrical Union (TEEU) unanimously voted to “support for a boycott campaign of Israeli goods and services and a policy of disinvestment from Israeli companies” as a result of the Israeli state’s continuing breaches of international law and human rights abuses against the people of Palestine."

The Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Campaign (IPSC) welcomed the passing of the motion[1].




TEEU General President, Frank Keoghan, welcomed the motion saying: “It is an expression of the solidarity and empathy that members of the TEEU, and indeed all Irish people, feel for the suffering people of Palestine, that this motion received the unanimous support of our Conference.”



The motion was submitted by the TEEU’s Executive Management Committee, and speaking from the floor one delegate outlined the rationale for the motion, saying: “The global trade union movement has consistently demonstrated its commitment to Palestinian rights by adopting labour-led sanctions as a form of effective solidarity with Palestinians. The TEEU should be proud to stand shoulder to shoulder with our Palestinian trade union brothers and sisters, those brave Israelis – Jewish and Arab - who promote BDS, and those trade unions from Britain, to Belguim, to Canada to South Africa and beyond that have taken the principled decision to support BDS.”


IPSC National Chairperson Freda Hughes praised the passing of the resolution saying: “The IPSC congratulates the TEEU on passing this historic motion, and we proudly welcome the TEEU into the ranks of the Palestinian-led worldwide Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) coalition that will finally bring to an end Israeli apartheid, occupation and the oppression of the Palestinian people”.


[1]: The full text of the motion reads as follows:


Conference pledges its support for a boycott campaign of Israeli goods and services and a policy of disinvestment from Israeli companies as a means of encouraging the Israeli government to comply with International Law and to cease violating the human rights of the Palestinian people and will pursue active engagement with Palestinian and Israeli human rights groups and civic society organisations as appropriate.


_________________________________

Thursday, November 11, 2010

Demonstrations against Israeli military on U.S. campuses --




Last month's University of Michigan protest, against the Israel Defense Force, has now spread to Arizona State University.


See this video, which YouTube has rapidly blocked, to anyone under 18:

IDF soldiers seem to be facing similar protests wherever they speak, for example on October 20, 2010 at the University of Michigan --



______________________________________




See the YouTube video, which has been viewed by over 65,000 people.

Here is the article in the Arab American News--


Click on the article to enlarge it.

______________________________________