Tag Archives: Divestment

Only 3 Days Left Until the 8th Annual National Organizers’ Conference

8th Annual National Organizers ConferenceWe are only 3 days away from the 8th Annual National Organizers’ Conference in Chicago. This is your last chance to pre-register for the conference by clicking here. On-line registration will close at 12:00PM, Noon Eastern, Thursday, September 10. If you haven’t pre-registered for the conference by the deadline, then you can still register for the conference on-site on Saturday; however we cannot guarantee conference registration materials and Saturday night dinner for you if you register on-site. So if you are planning on coming to the conference, please register on-line right away by clicking here.

The US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation is also excited to invite you to Speaking Out, a night of solidarity and entertainment to benefit the work of the US Campaign, Saturday, September 12! We are honored to welcome the Director of the Middle East Institute at Columbia University, Professor Rashid Khalidi and Palestinian political analyst Omar Barghouti as our keynote speakers. Fr. Miguel d’Escoto, President of the UN General Assembly, will also share a special message.

Join us in Chicago, September 12-13 to help plan the future of the US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation!

1) Deadline to Register, Thursday September 10, 2009 at 12:00pm (noon) Eastern

The deadline to register on-line for the conference is Thursday, September 10th at 12:00pm, Noon Eastern. The registration fee for the conference is $60. It will include Saturday dinner, conference packets, and admission to the Saturday night key-note speeches.

Click here to register today – http://www.endtheoccupation.org/

If you haven’t pre-registered for the conference by tomorrow’s deadline, then you can still register for the conference on-site on Saturday; however we cannot guarantee conference registration materials and Saturday night dinner for you if you register on-site. So if you are planning on coming to the conference, please register on-line right away.

 2) Read the 2008-2009 Annual Report:
Click here to read what we’ve done since our last annual conference –
http://www.endtheoccupation.org/downloads/20082009AnnualReport.pdf

3) Read the Proposals to be discussed:
We thank our member groups in good standing for submitting programmatic proposals under the pre-assigned categories.  You can read the proposals by clicking here – http://www.endtheoccupation.org/article.php?id=2336

4) Read the National Conference Agenda. Click here to read the conference agenda – http://www.endtheoccupation.org/article.php?id=2004

5) Read over the Steering Committee Nominees:

The Steering Committee is the highest decision-making body of the US Campaign between annual conferences.  It is responsible for policy decisions, strategic planning, fundraising, and personnel decisions.   Click here to see who has nominated themselves to serve on the US Campaign’s Steering Committee.  If you would like to run or nominate someone to run for the Steering Committee, please click here – http://www.endtheoccupation.org/article.php?id=2340

6) Renew your organizational membership dues:
If your organization has not paid its 2009 membership dues, then your conference delegates will not be able to vote for proposals or for Steering Committee members.  Click here to see if your organization has paid its 2009 membership dues – http://www.endtheoccupation.org/article.php?id=2055

 7) Our official response to Shalom International’s Call for Protest of our Conference:

It has been brought to the attention of the US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation that the Chicago Chapter of Shalom International will be protesting our 8th Annual National Organizers’ Conference on Sunday, September 13, at 1PM. According to their website, the protest will be taking place across the street from our conference venue.

The US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation strongly believes in everyone’s right to freedom of assembly and freedom of expression. The US Campaign is liaising with the conference venue to assure the safety and security of all conference attendees and prevent any disruptions to our conference. We have no reason to believe that the protesters will attempt to disrupt the conference or threaten the safety and security of its participants.

The US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation strongly urges all conference attendees to avoid any interaction with any protester during its 8th Annual National Organizers’ Conference for the following reasons:

1) The US Campaign strongly opposes any and all forms of racism, including anti-Semitism, and believes that unfounded accusations of anti-Semitism do not deserve any response or engagement on our part.

2) We have important business to take care of during our conference to advance our agenda of changing U.S. policy toward Israel/Palestine to support human rights, international law, and equality for all. Let us not divert our valuable attention and time together at our conference.

3) Protesters love to garner media attention for their actions and we all know that nothing leads to better media coverage than confrontation. Do not give the protesters the satisfaction of drawing additional attention to their cause. Ignore them.

The US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation would like to thank in advance all conference participants and member groups for adhering to our call not to engage protesters in any way. And we look to seeing you in Chicago on Saturday for an exciting and successful conference!

8) Speaking Out! A night of Solidarity with Prof. Rashid Khalidi, Omar Barghouti, and more!

A Night of Solidarity

Leave a comment

Filed under Actions | Events, Events, Free Palestine, Human Rights, Middle East, Obama Administration, Palestine | Israel, Peace, Protest, Special Events, The Obama Administration

Register for the 8th Annual National Organizers’ Conference in Chicago!

8th Annual National Organizers Conference

8th Annual National Organizers Conference

http://www.endtheoccupation.org/article.php?list=type&type=253

Less than Two Months to Register and Attend the 8th Annual National Organizers’ Conference

A new President in the White House. The Gaza Strip still under siege. A growing international movement for boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS). Israeli settlements debated in the U.S. media. These are just a few of the aspects of the exciting and challenging new space that we find ourselves in as we advocate for an end to occupation and equal rights for all.

How should our movement move forward? How can we make our advocacy more effective? How can we expand our BDS work? These questions and more will be discussed in depth at our 8th Annual National Organizers’ Conference. Don’t miss out–join the conversation by registering today.

Join us in Chicago, September 12-13 to help plan the future of the US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation during these exciting times.

 

Leave a comment

Filed under Actions, Actions | Events, American Politics, Events, Free Palestine, Human Rights, Middle East, Obama Administration, Peace, Protest, The Obama Administration, The Press

Free Palestine

Occupation

End Notes


March 15, 2009

Volume 7

Number 3


1. US Campaign Update: Save the Date: 8th Annual National Organizers’ Conference in Chicago, September 12-13, 2009; National Coalition Against Censorship Covers Gaza Ad

2. Gaza Action: Poetry and Power to Support the Gaza Accountability Project; Members of Congress Visit Gaza

3. Challenging U.S. Policy Update: No Mention of US Military Aid to Israel in FY2010 Budget Outline; Act to End US Military Aid to Israel

4. Standing Against Apartheid Update: Israeli Apartheid Week Events; US Campaign on Africa Now; Israeli Apartheid in the News

5. Boycott & Divestment Update: March is Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions Month; Support Hampshire College Divestment; UK Government Boycotts Israeli Tycoon Lev Leviev & other exciting BDS news!

6. Expressions of Nakba Update: Expressions of Nakba: Coming to a City Near You

Continue reading

Leave a comment

Filed under Actions | Events, Free Palestine

Hampshire College first in US to divest from Israel

[From ~  Students for Justice in Palestine (Hampshire College), Feb. 12, 2009]

Hampshire College in Amherst, Massachusetts, has become the first of any college or university in the US to divest from companies on the grounds of their involvement in the Israeli occupation of Palestine.

This landmark move is a direct result of a two-year intensive campaign by the campus group, Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP). The group pressured Hampshire College’s Board of Trustees to divest from six specific companies due to human rights concerns in occupied Palestine. More than 800 students, professors and alumni have signed SJP’s “institutional statement” calling for the divestment.

The proposal put forth by SJP was approved on Saturday, 7 February 2009 by the Board. By divesting from these companies, SJP believes that Hampshire has distanced itself from complicity in the illegal occupation and war crimes of Israel.

Meeting minutes from a committee of Hampshire’s Board of Trustees confirm that “President Hexter acknowledged that it was the good work of SJP that brought this issue to the attention of the committee.” This groundbreaking decision follows in Hampshire’s history of being the first college in the country to divest from apartheid South Africa 32 years ago, a decision based on similar human rights concerns. This divestment was also a direct result of student pressure.

The divestment has so far been endorsed by Noam Chomsky, Howard Zinn, Rashid Khalidi, Vice President of the EU Parliament Luisa Morganitini, Cynthia McKinney, former member of the African National Congress Ronnie Kasrils, Mustafa Barghouti, Israeli historian Ilan Pappe, John Berger, Nobel Peace Laureate Mairead Maguire and Roger Waters of Pink Floyd, among others.

The six corporations, all of which provide the Israeli military with equipment and services in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip are: Caterpillar, United Technologies, General Electric, ITT Corporation, Motorola and Terex. Furthermore, our policy prevents the reinvestment in any company involved in the illegal occupation.

SJP is responding to a call from Palestinian civil society for boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) as a way of bringing nonviolent pressure to bear on the state of Israel to end its violations of international law. SJP is following in the footsteps of many noted groups and institutions such as the National Association of Teachers in Further and Higher Education in the UK, the Israeli group Gush Shalom, the Congress of South African Trade Unions, the Canadian Union of Public Employees and the American Friends Service Committee.

As well as voicing our opposition to the illegal occupation and the consistent human rights violations of the Palestinian people, we as members of an institute of higher education see it as our moral responsibility to express our solidarity with Palestinian students whose access to education is severely inhibited by the Israeli occupation.

SJP has proven that student groups can organize, rally and pressure their schools to divest from the illegal occupation. The group hopes that this decision will pave the way for other institutions of higher learning in the US to take similar stands.

Leave a comment

Filed under Actions | Events, Free Palestine, Human Rights

Divestment from Israel | By Kevin Alexander Gray

Barack Obama’s inauguration coming as we celebrate of Martin Luther King Day predictably draws linkages between the two. Many use Obama’s election to claim a realization of the “dream.”  Others mumble something about a post-racial America. I suspect that King, if alive, would reject such nonsense. Although when asked “who he thought King would support” in the 2008 primary campaign Obama made a good case for answering “Nobody,” it is possible that King may have supported Obama.

King was a politician of sorts, although not so much at the time of his assassination. We love King now, but at the end of his life he wasn’t so popular.  Younger activists criticized him and called him names such as “Da Lord” – mocking his once high place in civil rights politics. President Lyndon B. Johnson and a host of government officials, local and national, condemned him when he spoke out against the Vietnam War.   King was not universally cheered when he marched, to his death, with the garbage workers in Memphis striking for fair wages and respect.  Truth be told, he was jeered, even by some blacks.

Sure, we love King now, but there was a time when people turned their back on him and his message. Continue reading

Leave a comment

Filed under Free Palestine