Sunday, May 8, 2016

Another victory for boycott against the apartheid state:
-at the University of Massachusetts

"UMass graduate union votes to support boycott, divestment movement against Israel"
April 21, 2016


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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"Univ. of Massachusetts Grad Student Workers Endorse BDS Against Israel:
"The 2,000-member Graduate Employee Organization, part of United Auto Workers Local 2322, passed a resolution endorsing BDS."

April 21, 2016
At: http://www.alternet.org/grayzone-project/univ-massachusetts-grad-student-workers-endorse-bds-against-israel

"In a rebuke to their union’s top officials, graduate student workers at the University of Massachusetts Amherst overwhelmingly approved a measure aimed at supporting Palestinian human rights last week.

"The 2,000-member Graduate Employee Organization (GEO), part of United Auto Workers Local 2322, passed a resolution endorsing Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS), a global movement pressuring Israel to respect the rights of Palestinians and end its occupation of Palestinian territory. The vote—which organizers say passed with 95 percent approval—comes just months after the UAW International Executive Board (IEB) controversially overturned a similar BDS resolution passed by University of California graduate student workers with UAW Local 2865...."


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