Petition in Support of the Irvine 11

After much muss, fuss, and hullabaloo, we've finally sent out our petition to the UC Irvine administration condemning the academic threats which 11 students face after non-violently protesting a speech given by Israeli ambassador to the U.S., Michael Oren. And it's up on the Stand with the Eleven website! Check it out.

A hundred or so signatures may not seem like much, but we are, after all, a tiny little school. That coupled with faculty support & signatures made us very proud and confident that we did the best we could over here in Massachusetts to stand in solidarity with our friends on the West Coast. 

Here's the 'preamble'--

"Students for Justice in Palestine at Hampshire College condemns the arrests and ensuing academic threats against eight students from UC Irvine and three from UC Riverside. On February 8th, the eleven students were arrested for non-violently protesting a speech by Israeli ambassador to the U.S., Michael Oren. Since their arrest, UC Irvine has threatened to take further action against the students for exercising their right to speak freely.

We recognize the importance of this non-violent protest against a member of the Israeli government who is complicit in the ongoing occupation of Palestine, especially in light of the brutal attacks on Gaza in January 2009. The eleven students, some of whom lost family members in the attacks last January, stood up throughout the event to voice their solidarity with Palestinians and disdain for Oren’s presence. They are now facing academic and legal repercussions for bravely taking a stand against the hypocrisy that faced them, despite the fact that they non-violently complied with their arrests.

We demand an immediate levy on all academic charges held against the students. As members of an institution of higher education, we acknowledge the right of all students to be free of academic threats due to their political beliefs. We stand with the recent resolution passed by the UC San Diego student senate calling on the UC Irvine administration to drop all academic threats, stated below."

The full petition link is on the irvine11 website. 

Solidarity forever,

~Hampshire SJP

First Anniversary of Divestment 2009 coming up!

February 7th marks the anniversary of Hampshire College's divestment from the Israeli Occupation of Palestine, the first institution of higher education to wash its hands of the systematic exploitation of the Palestinian people by the Israeli state. To remember the occasion, Students for Justice in Palestine urges you to talk, inform and celebrate this historic event.

Things you can do for the anniversary include:
-Changing your status on Facebook to something like, "I remember Hampshire College's Divestment from the Occupation."
-Trending this post (permalink: here) and the facebook event we've created on twitter, under #divestment2009 or something similar
-Read & educate yourself about the situation as it stands today at sites like:
Electronic Intifada
Jewbonics
US Campaign to End the Occupation
B'tselem
-Talk to friends and family members--spread the word
-And of course, if you're looking to organize your own divestment campaign or simply join the international solidarity movement, check out some of our fabulous fellow activists over at Palestine Freedom Project, the aforementioned US Campaign, and Jewish Voice for Peace, to start.

In just the last year, our movement has grown exponentially, with two of the largest financial institutions in Denmark announcing their divestment from Elbit Systems and Africa-Israel, as well as divestment campaigns going on at many other schools and institutions, like the University of Arizona and Carleton. As Ali Abunimah has pointed out, the movement must be getting something right when Tel Schechter of J Street said that he feared that it is "spreading like wildfire across the country."

In November of last year, student organizers representing over 40 campuses nation-wide came together for a BDS Conference held on Hampshire's campus to continue to carry the momentum of divestment last January. More than ever, activists throughout the United States and around the world are talking to each other, exchanging ideas, and continuing to find new ways to respond to the the 2005 call from over 170 Palestinian civil society organizations for boycott, divestment, and sanctions against Israel.

We hope, in the spirit of "remembrance," that this day is not simply memorialized in and of itself--for itself--but serves as an inspiration for current and future struggles against injustice, both transnationally and locally--other movements which demand our solidarity just as much as we ask for theirs.

"I cannot dissociate myself from the fate reserved for my brother," said Fanon. "Every one of my acts commits me as a man. Every instance of my reticence, every instance of my cowardice, manifests the man."

Like Fanon, any memory of injustice is also simultaneously a call to action in the present. Sunday, February 7th, should be a day to imagine how to carefully and skillfully respond to the demands of Palestinian civil society, and to consider the role we have in our own communities, our own relationships, as people concerned with justice.

Divestment is a statement. But it's only a start.

Conference Program available

The program for the 2009 Campus BDS Conference is now available online! Check it out.

Ali Abunimah: Campus BDS Conference keynote speaker

Ali Abunimah, co-founder of Electronic Intifada and author of One Country: A Bold Proposal to End the Israeli-Palestinian Impasse will deliver the keynote address at the 2009 Campus BDS Conference at Hampshire College in Amherst, MA.

More Endorsements of Campus BDS conference!

In addition to the endorsement of the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel, Hampshire College SJP's call for a 2009 Campus BDS conference has recently received two additional endorsements.

First we are pleased to announce that the 2009 Campus BDS conference at Hampshire College has been endorsed by the Palestinian Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions National Committee (BNC), the coordinating body for the Palestinian BDS campaign representing Palestinian civil society's support for the BDS movement as a means to combat Israeli oppression.

In addition, the conference has also received the endorsement of the US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation, the largest coalition in the United States organizing BDS campaigns around the country.