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Tell Leonard Cohen — "Don't Play in Apartheid Israel"11 July 2009 15:30 Mercedes-Benz World, Weybridge |
UCU Congress 2009
Overwhelming support for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions
UCU debated 5 motions on Palestine at its Congress and passed them all overwhelmingly. One motion was ruled invalid. This was not because the union leadership wanted to frustrate Congess but because they were under a well organised and funded legal attack by boycott opponents (and, by implication, massacre apologists). The Union is committed to encouragoing discussion of the BDS call in branches and to an calling an international trade union conference on the implementation of BDS
UCU congress
decisons on Palestine (see motions 24-29)
Read the BRICUP press release
Salute to our British
Partners: a message from PACBI
PressTV report
on the Congress decisions (YouTube)
Read the boycott
opponents' report of the debate (posted here without, and beyond,
comment)
BRICUP leaflet on Israeli
University complicity
Message from Professor Rachel
Giora, Tel Aviv University to BRICUP
A day in my life – thoughts
on non-violent Jewish resistance: a message from a Jewish Israeli
Student
BRICUP
BRICUP is an organisation of UK based academics, set up in response to the Palestinian Call for Academic Boycott. Its twin missions are:
- to support Palestinian universities, staff and students, and
- to oppose the continued illegal Israeli occupation of Palestinian
lands with its concomitant breaches of international conventions of
human rights, its refusal to accept UN resolutions or rulings of the
International Court, and its persistent suppression of Palestinian academic
freedom.
What is BRICUP - find out more
BRICUP issues statement on the Gaza Emergency 28 December 2008
BRICUP Newsletter
Pro-Israel Lobby Alarmed by Growth of Boycott, Divestment Movement
The movement to call Israel to account for its crimes against the Palestinian people is growing, it is "invading the mainstream discourse, becoming part of the constant and unrelenting drumbeat against Israel." It could eventually threaten the existence of the Jewish state by undermining the support it receives from its strongest backer, the U.S. government.
That was the message of alarm delivered by the Executive Director of the American Israel American Israel Public Affairs Committee, Howard Kohr, to the AIPAC Policy Conference on May 3.[i]
The YesMen say no to the Jerusalem Film Festival
We regret to say that we have taken the hard decision to withdraw our film, "The Yes Men Fix the World," from the Jerusalem Film Festival in solidarity with the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions campaign
This decision does not come easily, as we feel a strong affinity with many people in Israel, sharing with them our Jewish roots, as well as the trauma of the Holocaust, in which both our grandfathers died. Andy lived in Jerusalem for a year long ago, can still get by in Hebrew, and counts several friends there. And Mike has always wanted to connect with the roots of his culture.
Israeli academics call on Professor Jessica Benjamin to cancel her visit
Israeli academics, on behalf of 'BOYCOTT! Supporting the Palestinian BDS call from within', have written to leading American theorist of gender and psychoanalysis Professor Jessica Benjamin demandng she cancel her propodsed vist.
230 Israeli lecturers vow not to obey law banning Nakba commemoration
Two hundred and thirty lecturers from Israeli universities and academic institutions signed a declaration this week to "publicly violate" the proposed Nakba and Citizenship laws, should they pass through the Knesset.
According to the declaration, the proposals are "harshly anti-democratic, and all gravely violate basic rights essential to democracy and to freedom of expression."
Gisha report reveals: Israel Uses Diplomats as "Security Guards" in Gaza Exit
- New Israeli demand requires diplomats to personally escort Palestinian students from Erez Checkpoint to Allenby Crossing;
- Israel restricts exit of students, even if they are escorted;
- Only a few of the more than 1,000 students seeking to leave Gaza each year are permitted to reach their studies;
- Only in Israel are diplomatic representatives required to protect the security of the "host" state – rather than vice versa
Read
press release
Full
report
Ilan Pappe 'The necessity of cultural boycott'
If there is anything new in the never-ending sad story of Palestine it is the clear shift in public opinion in the UK. I remember coming to these isles in 1980 when supporting the Palestinian cause was confined to the left and in it to a very particular section and ideological stream. The post-Holocaust trauma and guilt complex, military and economic interests and the charade of Israel as the only democracy in the Middle East all played a role in providing immunity for the State of Israel. Very few were moved, so it seems, by a state that had dispossessed half of Palestine's native population, demolished half of their villages and towns, discriminated against the minority among them who lived within its borders through an apartheid system and divided into enclaves two million and a half of them in a harsh and oppressive military occupation.
230 Israeli lecturers vow not to obey law banning Nakba commemoration
Two hundred and thirty lecturers from Israeli universities and academic institutions signed a declaration this week to "publicly violate" the proposed Nakba and Citizenship laws, should they pass through the Knesset.
According to the declaration, the proposals are "harshly anti-democratic, and all gravely violate basic rights essential to democracy and to freedom of expression."
Free Gaza Movement calls for books for Gaza
In partnership with Al-Aqsa University, the Free Gaza Movement (FG) is launching its “Right to Read” campaign which will use the FG fleet to deliver textbooks and other educational supplies to universities throughout the occupied Gaza Strip.
More details and how to send books
Palestinian Students’ Campaign for the Academic Boycott of Israel (PSCABI) launched
Palestinian Students’ Campaign for the Academic Boycott of Israel (PSCABI) has been launched by students in Gaza.
PSCABI calls upon freedom-loving students all over the world to stand in solidarity with us by boycotting Israeli academic institutions for their complicity in perpetuating Israel's illegal military occupation and apartheid system. We note the historic action taken by thousands of courageous students of British and American universities in occupying their campuses in a show of solidarity with the brutally oppressed Palestinian people in Gaza. ... read the full statement
Protest concerning the proposed Australia-Israel cultural exchange trip to Israel to be led by Australia's Deputy Prime Minister Julia Gillard
Over 60 Australian academics and cultural workers have signed an open letter
As citizens of conscience we would like to protest in the strongest possible terms against the proposed Australia-Israel cultural exchange trip to Israel to be led by Julia Gillard and involving other parliamentarians, academics, business people, and journalists. We consider this trip a dreadful affront to the many Palestinians left maimed, wounded, traumatised and homeless by Israel’s devastating assault on the Gaza Strip in late 08/early 09.
Student distributing fliers against university policy arrested at Ben Gurion University
A student distributing leaflets expressing opposition to the new anti-Nakba Day Knesset bill outside the Ben-Gurion University campus in Beersheba on Sunday was arrested by police.
The arrest resulted in a student protest later that night that took place alongside a ceremony attended by the school's board of governors and VIPs being awarded honorary doctorates. .. full story from the Jerusalem Post
Palestinian and Israeli Human Rights Organisations call for End to International Donor Complicity in Israeli Violations of International Law
Palestinian and Israeli human rights organisations, note that by agreeing to reconstruction without specific, binding assurances from the State of Israel, international donors are effectively underwriting Israel’s illegal actions in the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt). International law – including, international human rights law, international humanitarian law (IHL), and the law of state responsibility for wrongful acts – places specific, binding obligations on the State of Israel (based, inter alia, on its duties as an Occupying Power) with respect to the maintenance and development of normal life in occupied territory. By repeatedly restricting their action to providing aid, without holding Israel accountable for its specific obligations, international donors are relieving Israel of its legally binding responsibilities... [signed by 14 civil society organisations] full statement
Edinburgh International Film Festival refuses Israeli funding folowing protests
Ginnie Atkinson, Managing Director of the Edinburgh International Film Festival (EIFF) has confirmed that EIFF will not be taking Israeli Embassy money to help fund the 2009 film festival. Atkinson was unwilling to admit EIFF was influenced by Scottish PSC, or by the protest emails the EIFF received, and said that the decision was “a natural conclusion to having realised that we had made a mistake in the first place”. Their decision follows the Scottish PSC call earlier today for a protest outside the Filmhouse in Edinburgh where the EIFF is based. Mention of the Israeli Embassy on the EIFF’s ‘Honour Board’ was removed after Atkinson and the EIFF admitted that “it was a mistake to accept the £300 from the Israeli Embassy”.
Leading Catalan music group 'LA CARRAU' joins boycott
"LA CARRAU IS CANCELLING ITS VISIT TO ACRE"
After having talks with the platforms promoting the boycott of Israel and with representatives of Catalan institutions and gathering as much information as possible about the events taking place on 24-25 May at Acre, Israel in which La Carrau has been invited to participate, we feel that we should make this public statement.
US Artists Against Apartheid launch email organising list
There’s now an email list for organizing around www. artistsagainstapartheid.org Any artists, arts professionals, or other concerned individuals internationally whio would like to endorse the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel call and be involved in the ongoing discussion with Artists Against Apartheid, please join here.
725 doctors from 43 countries protest to the WMA
We the undersigned 725 physicians represent both academic medicine (114 professors) and clinical practice in 43 countries. A matter of grave concern to us, and a threat to the public reputation of the World Medical Association, has brought us together in this perhaps unprecedented medical initiative. We wish to publicly protest and appeal against the recent appointment of Dr Yoram Blachar, longstanding President of the Israeli Medical Association, as President of the World Medical Association. We believe that his Presidency makes a mockery of the principles on which the WMA was founded in 1947, which was as a response to egregious abuses by German and Japanese doctors in World War Two. read the full letter and signatory list
Read the exchange of letters between Yoram Blachar and Derek Summerfied in the Lancet
British firefighters vote to ratchet up the heat on Israeli 'ethnic cleansing'
AS the Fire Brigades Union conference ended on Friday, delegates gave overwhelming support for a boycott of Israeli goods and backed calls for sanctions in solidarity with the Palestinian people.
20 Israeli Organizations Call on Norway to Divest from the Israeli Occupation
Twenty Israeli organizations sent an appeal to the Norwegian people to withdraw Norwegian national pension fund’s investments in all Israeli and international corporations which are involved in the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories.
“We, Israeli organizations …, call upon the Norwegian people to join us in our efforts and to stop investing in the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territory.”
This appeal follows and expands a previous call on the Norwegian fund, by two Palestinian West Bank villages and eleven other organizations from around the world to divest from Africa-Israel, an Israeli corporation involved in building Israeli settlements on occupied Palestinian land.
BDS reaches the northernmost university in the world!
Twenty-one staff members of the University of Tromsø have signed a call for boycott of all Israeli academic institutions.
The initiative calls for the University to "establish an academic boycott of Israel", of Israel‘s "institutions of education, research and culture, and the institutions‘ representatives, regardless of religion and nationality."
The University of Tromsø has 9000 students and is known in Norway as the "peace university." Mordechai Vanunu and Desmond Tutu were both granted honorary doctorates by the university. The University was a leading force in Norway during the massive boycott of the Apartheid regime in former South Africa.
The call follows the outline of the PACBI call.
The city of Tromsø also has a twinning relationship with the city of Gaza, and the people of Tromsø mobilized in good numbers for the Gaza demonstrations in January. One of the Norwegian physicians who worked in Gaza at Shifa Hospital, Mads Gilbert, is also a part of the Palestine movement in Tromsø
Website (in norwegian)
BRICUP deplores McCarthyite campaign against Omar Barghouti
There has been an orchestrated campaign to hound Omar Barghouti a leading figure in PACBI. Omar has registered for a PhD at Tel Aviv University and is being accused of hypocrisy by boycott opponents. It has never been PACBI’s policy, or BRICUP’s to call for Palestinians not to study at Israeli Universities. Because of the restrictions on Palestinian Universities, Israeli universities are the only places that many Palestinians can study at. This is particularly true at doctoral level where Israeli occupation and blockade has prevented all but a few programmes being offered within the Occupied Territories.
It is difficult for many Palestinians to study abroad, even if they can get scholarships and exit visas they run a high risk of losing their residencies rights when they try to return. This is an especial issue for those with Jerusalem IDs. Omar as a holder of an Israeli ID is, through Israel's version of the Pass laws, not allowed to enter the areas of Palestine where the universities are sited.
Omar’s decision to study at TAU, where despite the recent fuss he has been a student for ten years, highlights the pressure that Palestinian Universities are under and reinforces the argument for an international boycott of Israeli higher education. There is hypocricy here, but it comes from the Zionist claque, not from Omar who BRICUP is proud to have as a friend.
Read PACBI's statement on the campaign against Omar Barghouti
PACBI calls on London Science Fiction Festival not to pay tribute to Israel
The Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI) is writing to the organizers of the Sci-Fi-London International Festival of Science Fiction and Fantasy Film to urge you to cancel the special “Focus on: Israel” in your festival in London from 29 April – 4 May. We also urge the attendees of this festival, if its organizers insist on the special tribute to Israel, to protest the inclusion of this session and to boycott the focus on Israel. Honoring Israel in any field right after its massacre in Gaza shows either apathetic disregard for the lives and rights of the Palestinian people or, worse, complicity in Israel’s grave violations of international law and human rights principles.
BRICUP calls on Leonard Cohen to cancel Israel visit
BRICUP has issued a call to Leonard Cohen to cancel his proposed vist to Israel to perform at a concert on 24 September.
We are calling on all supporters to read our open letter to Leonard Cohen and send messages to him via his manager, Robert Kory, asking him to abandon this trip.
Join the picket of Cohen's Weybridge concert on 11 July
- A letter has been sent to Leonard Cohen signed, initially, by 110 Israelis - but more signatories are being collected. If you are an Israeli (Jewish or Palestinian) and wish to add your name contact Rachel Giora
- Adalah NY, a New York Palestinian rights group have been organising
against Cohen's visit
Download their flier to be handed out at Cohen's concerts
Adalah UK have produced a pack of materials to help protest organisers - Update on Leonard Cohen boycott call
- Alexi Sayle's YouTube message to Leonard Cohen
Scottish TUC endorses BDS
Scotland today (22 April 2009) joined Ireland and South Africa when the Scottish Trade Union Congress, representing every Scottish trade union, voted overwhelmingly to commit to boycott, divestment and sanctions against Israel. This is the third example of a national trade union federation committing to BDS and is a clear indication that, while Israel can kill Palestinians with impunity and Western support, it has lost the battle for world public opinion. It is now seen to be a state born out of ethnic cleansing and still expanding through the violent dispossession of the Palestinian people.
Australian Academic Boycott of Israel launched
"Responding to the CALL of Palestinian civil society to join the boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel, we are an Australian campaign focused specifically on a boycott of Israeli academic and cultural institutions, as delineated by PACBI (Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel)..."
Report on Gaza universities
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs has issues a report on Gaza's universities following Israel's invasion. They report "Many university students who lost relatives or whose homes were destroyed during the recent 23-day Israeli offensive are finding it difficult to cope, according to university officials and students. Some have been unable to register for the new semester due to lack of funds; others are still traumatised."
Lebanese academics call for sanctions and boycott
"We thus stand, as academics in Lebanon, in urging our colleagues, regionally and internationally, to oppose this ongoing scholasticide and to support the just demand for academic boycott, divestment, and sanctions against Israel. Specifically, we ask our colleagues worldwide to support the call by the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel to comprehensively and consistently boycott and disinvest from all Israeli academic and cultural institutions, and to refrain from participation in any form of academic and cultural cooperation, collaboration or joining projects with Israeli institutions as a contribution to the struggle to end Israel’s occupation, colonization and system of apartheid."
Read full statement and view signatures
Jewish Canadians Concerned about Suppression of Criticism of Israel
Over 150 Jewish Canadians signed a statement expressing their concerns about the campaign to suppress criticism of Israel that is being carried on within Canada. The signatories include many prominent Canadians, including Ursula Franklin O.C., Anton Kuerti O.C., Naomi Klein, Dr. Gabor Mate, and professors Meyer Brownstone (recipient of Pearson Peace Medal), Natalie Zemon Davis, Michael Neumann, and Judy Rebick.
Two leading Canadian papers the Toronto Star and the Globe and Mail refused to print this statement. We are pleased to publicise it.
