Thanks to Drew Hendricks for sending a link and this sad news.

No justice for the Corrie family today at Court. Join us on Wednesday at 6:30 pm at Traditions Cafe 300 Fifth in Olympia for a videoconference call with Craig and Cindy. Rachel's Foundation is here. Information about the Traditions event on Wednesday night is here.

 

 

 

At the 2012 Pacific Northwest Movimiento Estudiantil Chican@ de Aztlán (MEChA) Regional Conference, chapter leaders voted to endorse the Palestinian call for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions aimed at forcing Israel to meet its obligations under international law. The Pacific Northwest MEChA Conference’s endorsement follows an endorsement made at the 2012 National MEChA Conference held in Phoenix, Arizona. That announcement came on a day that commemorated Cesar Chavez Day and Palestinian Land Day, linking the two liberation struggles against discrimination and oppression. The Regional Conference was hosted by the Evergreen State College MEChA chapter. Evergreen State College has recently been an epicenter of Palestine solidarity. In 2010, students voted overwhelmingly for divestment from companies that profit from the Israeli occupation, such as Caterpillar, Inc. Caterpillar has been the focus of calls for boycott at Evergreen since the death of Evergreen student Rachel Corrie in Gaza. Corrie was crushed under a Caterpillar D9 weaponized bulldozer operated by the Israeli military as she attempted to non-violently prevent the demolition of a Palestinian home. More recently TESC Divest! launched the We Divest! campaign to pressure investment giant TIAA-CREF to divest from companies profiting from the Israeli occupation, including Caterpillar and Elbit Systems. MEChA de Evergreen stated that “As a chapter, we endorse and support the global call for BDS... We recognize that our peoples’ historical and present struggles - against deportation, occupation, exploitation, and dehumanization - in Arizona, in the border, and in the United States - not only coincide, but are also connected to Palestinians’ struggle against Israeli military occupation and settlement of Palestine. Elbit, the company that provides surveillance equipment on Israel’s illegal apartheid wall in the West Bank, was also contracted by the U.S.

Political pressure expressed through our collective wallets is very effective. Count me in:

I was reminded of this group, Young, Jewish, and Proud, via JVP today.

Here's a video about their campaign:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BAV-3-AqP9M

The Olympian reports that five people are suing the Olympia Food Co-op over its boycott of Israeli products. According to the Olympian, the civil complaint states that the Co-op board violated policy by implementing the boycott. In other words, the plaintiffs are supposedly suing over “process.”

Some things to note:

1. Three of the five plaintiffs ran for the Olympia Food Co-op board late last year.

2. All three lost by a wide margin.

3. After they lost, they spread rumors that the reason they lost was because there was cheating in the board elections.

4. They carried this rumor over to Jon Haber’s silly blog.

5. On Dec. 16, 2010, one of the plaintiffs went to the Co-op board meeting where she tried to get one of the winning candidates disqualified.

6. This plaintiff also stated that the election was “the dirtiest election since the Bush dynasty.” She compared it to “a third world country with ancient blood feuds bubbling to the surface.” (She really said that. I took notes.)

7. This plaintiff had previously criticized the Co-op board for not “address[ing] the secret/underground national security government.”

But there’s more:

Yesterday a report was released by Electronic Initfada that connects the plaintiffs, the lawsuit, and their lawyer with the Israeli Consulate and a notorious organization called StandWithUs:

Please help me raise funds to participate in the delegation aboard The Audacity of Hope, US Boat to Gaza freedom flotilla II. I am officially on the passenger list and I leave home on or around June 16. Your financial help will cover the costs of reaching the port of departure and will help me return home to Olympia. Your help will also provide much needed income for my family while I am gone for 3-to 4-weeks.

You can send donations through PAYPAL.
Enter e-mail address ---> lopeztogaza@gmail.com

You can also send donations to:

Richard Lopez/Help Lopez to Gaza
PO BOX4381
Tumwater, WA 98501

...or you can go to any Timberland Bank in the Olympia/South Puget Sound area. Say to bank teller: Donate to Richard Lopez/Help Lopez to Gaza.

You help is greatly and sincerely appreciated. THANK YOU OLYMPIA!

We are a coalition of organizations and a grassroots campaign of individuals who together are joining to launch a U.S. BOAT TO GAZA. When the U.S. boat, THE AUDACITY OF HOPE, sails it will take its place in the next Freedom Flotilla to participate in the great international effort to break the blockade of Gaza and to end the occupation of Palestine. From the deck of The Audacity of Hope, we will be in a powerful and unique position to challenge U.S. foreign policy and affirm the universal obligation to uphold international law and human rights.

We agree to adhere to the principles of nonviolence and nonviolent resistance in word and deed at all times.

The Olympia Food Co-op’s boycott of Israeli products is to continue until: “Israel respects, protects and promotes the rights of Palestinian refugees to return to their homes and properties as stipulated in UN resolution 194.”

What does that mean?
What is UN resolution 194?
What is the current thinking among the Palestinian national movement about UN resolution 194 and the situation facing Palestinian refugees?

Come hear Professor Goldberg speak on:

UN Resolution 194 and Palestinian Refugees

Sunday November 21

7 p.m. at Temple Beth Hatfiloh

201 8th Street SE (8th and Washington)

Professor Ellis Goldberg will talk about some of the issues surrounding Palestinian refugees and the debate around UN General Assembly Resolution 194.  He’ll discuss the contemporary debate over the meaning and relevance of UN GAR 194 as well as the original context of its passage.  In addition he will speak to how the Palestinian national movement has come to re-evaluate its stance in regard to this and other UN resolutions as well as the unwelcome implications for both Israel and the Palestinian Authority for accepting UN GAR 194 as a basis for resolving the overall conflict.

Ellis Goldberg is a professor of political science at the University of Washington. His undergraduate degree is from Harvard College and his Ph.D. is from the University of California at Berkeley. He has written extensively on the political economy of twentieth century Egypt including two books, Tinker, Tailor and Textile Worker (1986) as well as Trade, Reputation and Child Labor in Twentieth Century Egypt (2004).  He is currently engaged in a project on contemporary Arab political thought.

PLEASE COME!

Andrew and Ayub after the panel discussion
Wednesday 3 November 2010
Olympia, WA

More information about this event here

This was a great discussion about the topics of Anti-Semitism, Anti-Jewish Oppression and Jew-Hating, Islamophobia, and Anti-Arab racism in the context of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, as well as the greater global environment of (waning) US and Anglo-American hegemony.

Anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, and Anti-Arab racism panel discussion in Olympia

As members of the local Muslim and Jewish communities who strongly support the recent decision of the Olympia Food Co-op to boycott Israeli goods, we feel called to add our voices to the discussion surrounding the Co-op’s decision. Reading much of the local press, or listening to the arguments rehearsed by vocal opponents of the boycott, one gets the impression that the issue belongs essentially to two polar groups of community members. At one pole are those who are depicted as a small group of passionate, though regrettably misguided, activists who single-mindedly support the boycott. At the other pole is another small group who are fervently opposed to the boycott, either because they believe the boycott to be “anti-Semitic,” or because they feel dissatisfied with the “process” through which the boycott was instituted, or with the absence of “dialogue” in the run up to the decision. In between these poles falls the greater Olympia community, painted as rife with division, and in dire need of “healing.”

I believe the subject of Israel/Palestine is important and it should be debated. However, right now problems related to Israel/Palestine are being used as a smoke screen for another problem, one that is closer to home. It won't be possible for our community to effectively address Israel/Palestine until we face what happened in July. The boycott had an unprecedented absence of community education in advance of the decision. There are reasons for this and our community needs an honest reckoning. Not a blaming session, but a chance to acknowledge the situation.

In the 19 years that I've been an OFC member I've learned about the thorny political elements of cotton farming, high fructose corn syrup, organic food standards, the suffering of migrant workers, and other complex political subjects from OFC education efforts related to building consensus and forming OFC policies. All of this helped us unite around various OFC efforts, spread the word and "vote with our dollars" in and out of the co-op. We had nothing like that in July. This was a mistake. It can be easily corrected, forgiven and we can move forward together.

It is community reconciliation and education that IOC is working towards, a foundation of trust on which you and I can stand and address all sorts of things, including Palestinian suffering. I can't imagine a debate format being part of any OFC education process on any subject, let alone being particularly useful for the community at this time on this subject. I believe that when Olympia cooperates we are at our best, we accomplish great things and we serve as a beacon of hope for the world.