The Centre for Human Rights Education (Curtin Uni), Friends of Palestine WA and Students for Palestine invite you to a forum to explore the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) global campaign.
BDS calls for an end to the Israeli occupation and colonisation of Arab land, full equality for Arab-Palestinian citizens of Israel and the right of return of Palestinian refugees.
The forum comes in the wake of the current conflict which has seen more than 1,800 Palestinians and 67 Israelis killed. The UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon, has said that the recent deaths and destruction in Gaza have “shocked and shamed the world.” The Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process has called the current crisis “a symptom of our collective failure” to address the underlying causes of the conflict.
Join our panellists Professor Stuart Rees, Sameeha Elwan and Dr Sue Hoffman to reflect on these events and explore the prospects of campaigns such as the BDS in bringing about peace and justice in Israel/Palestine.
6:30pm Tues 26 August
Curtin University
Book your free ticket here.
Professor Stuart Rees is Director of the Sydney Peace Foundation, a former Director of the Centre for Peace & Conflict Studies and Professor of Social Work at the University of Sydney. He is the author of eleven books and has worked in community development and social work in Britain and Canada, in the War on Poverty program in the USA and with Save the Children in India and Sri Lanka.
Sameeha Elwan is an English literature graduate from the Islamic University of Gaza. She has a Masters Degree in Culture and Difference from Durham University and is currently a PhD candidate at Murdoch University. She was born and raised in Gaza City, Palestine, and started blogging in 2010 after the Israeli military attack on Gaza known as Operation Cast Lead. Her writings have been published on Mondoweiss, openDemocracy and the Electronic Intifada.
Dr Sue Hoffman is an honorary research associate at Murdoch University. Her research has examined refugee journeys from Iraq to Australia and she has spent time in Indonesia, Syria and Jordan with refugee communities. Sue is a board member of ASeTTS and has been advocating for refugees and asylum seekers for over ten years. Sue is also Jewish. Although brought up in England, her mother, sister and other relatives now live in Israel.
Two dozen people stood in the rain to hold a candle light vigil to protest the impending deportation of Muhammad on August 21. The vigil took place outside the Perth Immigration Detention Centre.
"We are not strong enough to stop this deportation this time, but our aim is to build a movement than can stop deporations like this one" said Victoria Martin-Iverson of the Refugee Rights Action Network.
A petition can be signed here.
The Socialist Alternative club at the University of Western Australia has had their "club privileges" suspended on August 13. In effect this amounts to a suspension of their club's affiliation which could be a prelude to complete disaffiliation.
The issues seems to have flared over posters produced for a campus forum on the topic "Why Israel is a terrorist state". After initially approving the posters, and allowing them to be displayed in Guild areas on campus, the Guild sent an email to the club on the day of the forum saying that all the posters had been removed.
Prior to that, Guild representatives had asked the club to change the title of the forum.
In enforcing this "suspension" of "club privileges", the Guild has brought up a number of other issues about the club's conduct which appear to be hastily cobbled together to justify the move. These include complaints about "F*** Tony Abbott" t-shirts and "general reports of confrontational and aggressive behaviour".
Whatever the rights or wrongs of these accusations – some of which date back 18 months and are generally vague – they should not be used to prevent any political club presenting its views to the broader student body.
Further, Socialist Alternative argues that the process of suspending the club is in violation of the Guild's own regulations.
Green Left Weekly has attempted to contact the Guild for comment but has not received a reply.
Socialist Alliance – which is not in any way affiliated with Socialist Alternative – opposes the censorship of political student groups and is supporting the campaign to get "club privileges" reinstated.
Socialist Alternative has been circulating a petition online calling for the Guild to reverse it's decision.
[This article by Alex Bainbridge was first published in Green Left Weekly #1022.]
Doherty, who is also a member of Socialist Alliance, told Green Left that his union would be raising this issue within Unions WA and the union movement more broadly. He also said that he would be asking his union nationally to raise divestment from Israeli companies with the industry's Cbus superannuation fund.
Aili Labañino (daughter of Ramón Labañino who is one of the Cuban Five) speaking in Perth on 12 August 2014.
The Perth event was organised by the Australia-Cuba Friendship Society as part of a national tour.
The meeting was addressed by Joe McDonald of the CFMEU and Christie Cain of the Maritime Union of Australia.
Translation by Jorge Trujillo of the Cuban Embassy in Australia.
Murdoch students preparing for next Wednesday's protest against Pyne's education cuts
Freedom For Gaza Rally Perth WA 2014 from Perth Gay News on Vimeo.
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