Fueling Israeli Apartheid:
Corporate Profits and Accountability
a conversation with Dalit Baum of WhoProfits.org

Tuesday, February 16 • 7pm
El Centro Del Pueblo Auditorium
474 Valencia at 16th St., San Francisco
Donations requested at the door

Israeli and international corporations are directly involved in apartheid and occupation: in the construction of Israeli colonies and infrastructure in the occupied territories, in the settlements’ economy, in building walls and checkpoints, in the supply of specific equipment used in the control and repression of civilian populations. In 2007, the Coalition of Women for Peace initiated Who Profits from the Occupation, a unique on-line resource with research on hundreds of companies directly involved in the occupation of Gaza and the West Bank, a major component of Israel’s apartheid structure, exposing many of the companies for the first time.

Dalit Baum, PhD, teaches Gender and the Global Economy at the Haifa university and Beit Berl College in Israel.

Organized by BACEIA, a coalition of: Break the Siege, the International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network (Bay Area), Global Women’s Strike, and Queers Undermining Israeli Terror.  Co-sponsored by the American Friends Service Committee – Pacific Mountain Region.

Download and print the complete flyer!

The Olympics will take place on unceded indigenous land from February 12-28, 2010. Far from being simply about sport, the history of the Olympics is one rooted in displacement, corporate greed, and repression. As Olympic promoters and sponsors seek to present their sanitized corporate brand image to the world, the real impacts of the games are apparent:

• Expansion of sport tourism on indigenous lands
• Increasing homelessness across the province and especially in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside
• Misdirected public spending and debt totaling $6 billion while public services are suffering cutbacks
• Threats to basic civil liberties and free speech
• Union busting and vulnerable working conditions for migrant labor
• Unprecedented destruction of the environment
• Unparalleled $1 billion police and security spending

As part of a provincial and west coast speaking tour, join us in a series of events to learn more about the Olympic industry and its impacts, why opposition to the Games is growing, and how you can participate in and support the resistance. We will also hear about plans for a global Feb 10-15 anti-colonial and anti-capitalist convergence against the Games. No Olympics on Stolen Native Land!

Tues Jan 19 at 7 pm
Eastside Arts Alliance
2277 International Blvd., OAKLAND
Suggested donation: $5-10 sliding scale (no one will be turned away for lack of funds)
Co hosted by: Chiapas Support Committee, EastSide Arts Alliance, and others.

Wed Jan 20 at 7 p.m.
Station 40
3030B 16th Street (at Mission Street BART), SAN FRANCISCO
Suggested donation: $5-10 sliding scale, to support tour (no one will be turned away for lack of funds)
Hosted by the Institute for Anarchist Studies

Watch the documentary Resist2010: Eight Reasons to Oppose the 2010 Winter Olympics:

More information.

Join us to commemorate one year since the Israeli attack on Gaza. As part of the International Coalition to End the Illegal Siege of Gaza the Gaza Freedom March, Bay Area – needs your help to break the inhumane siege, which has been in place since 2007.   Although the Israeli tanks have left, attacks still occur – while the complete siege and closure of the borders continue.

Gaza Memorial, Interfaith Service

Sunday, December 27, 2009
4-6pm
Union Square, San Francisco

Candlelight Vigil to remember the 1,400 men, women and children killed in the attack on Gaza. Dec. 27 will mark the first anniversary of the Israeli attack and invasion of the Gaza Strip.

Gaza Freedom March

Thursday, December 31, 2009
12-2pm
Golden Gate Bridge

Park and meet at south end of the bridge parking lot and march together across the bridge. We will end the year by marching alongside the Palestinian people of Gaza in a non-violent demonstration that breaches the illegal blockade.

About the Gaza Freedom March

The Gaza Freedom March is a part of an International Coalition to End the Illegal Siege of Gaza and was formed after Israel’s 22-day assault on Gaza in winter 2008-09. We are a diverse coalition that represents all faiths and people of conscience, and is focused on human rights in conformance with international law. See www.gazafreedommarch.org for more information.

Read on below for full-size flyers and list of sponsors.

Partial List of Sponsors for Gaza Freedom March, Bay Area Events:

American Friends Service Committee, Pacific Mountain Region, American Muslim Voice, American Muslims for Palestine, Arab Resource and Organizing Center, Act Now to Stop War and End Racism – Coalition, Bay Area Campaign to End Israeli Apartheid, Berkeley Women in Black, Birthright Unplugged, Buena Vista United Methodist Church, Buddhist Peace Fellowship, Cal-Nevada Annual Conference Israel-Palestine Task Force, Code Pink, Ecumenical Peace Institute/CALC, Flashpoints Radio, Free Palestine Alliance, Friends of Deir Ibzi’a, General Union of Palestinian Students – San Francisco State University, Global Women’s Strike, International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network, International Solidarity Movement – Northern California, Jewish Voice for Peace, Bay Area, JustPeaceMidEast.org, Middle East Study Group / Contra Costa, MECA, Middle East Children’s Alliance, National Council of Arab-Americans, Peace Action West, QUIT! Queers Undermining Israeli Terrorism, Right to Return Coalition, South Alameda Peace & Justice Coalition/ Tri-City Peace & Justice, SNAG- Seventh Native American Generation Students for Justice in Palestine – UC Berkeley, Students for Justice in Palestine – UC Davis, St. Peter’s Housing Committee, United States Palestinian Community Network, US Campaign to End the Occupation Coalition, 14 Friends of Palestine.

photo by Ramsey El-Qare

That was the message of Omar Barghouti’s frank and motivational talk at San Francisco State University (SFSU). Those of us at BACEIA were very excited to co-sponsor his talk on November 3^rd as Mr. Barghouti is a recognized leader of the BDS movement. The event on November 3 was a celebration for the second anniversary of the Edward Said Cultural Mural, a project of the General Union of Palestine Students (GUPS) at SFSU. The evening also included remarks by Ken Monteiro, Dean of the College of Ethnic Studies at SFSU, Dr. Jess Ghannam, community activist and scholar, and Dr. Rabab Abdulhadi, professor in the College of Ethnic Studies at SFSU.

For those who have heard Mr. Barghouti talk in the past, such as at the divestment conference at Georgetown University in the spring of 2006, it came as no surprise that his talk at SFSU was poignant and inspirational. Previously he has talked mostly about his work on cultural and academic boycott of Israel as a founding member of PACBI, the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel. At SFSU, Mr. Barghouti discussed BDS more generally, providing the history, context and motivation behind pursuing BDS against Israel. He discussed the closure of schools during the first intifada, the parallels to the South African anti-apartheid struggle, and a bit of history around the 2005 call for BDS by Palestinian civil society.

The frank, and at the same time motivational, themes of his talk were punctuated with the remark that in many respects “the US lags behind Europe and the rest of the world.” First, the US has lagged behind Europe in its understanding of the cultural and academic boycott of Israel. Here he carefully explained an important aspect of that work: a few years ago PACBI clarified that their call is not to boycott Israeli individuals but to boycott Israeli institutions. There are a number of Israelis who oppose that county’s apartheid structure and BDS organizations should not be in the business of providing litmus tests for individuals’ political stances. Instead, the cultural and academic boycott should focus on the relations with Israel institutions that as a whole are complicit in maintaining and justifying apartheid structures. (See Basic PACBI Documents for a further discussion.)

The second area that the US has lagged behind is in winning campaigns. BDS has been winning some major victories lately and Mr. Barghouti discussed the details of some of them. Besides gaining endorsement from major labor unions and other organizations around the world, the BDS movement has been able to influence some major corporations to cancel business plans with Israel. The announcement by the French company Veolia Transport that it would pull out of the highly controversial Jerusalem light rail project is one such example. But these key victories have not yet happened in the US but in Europe and elsewhere.  (See the BDS Movement website for information about the victories & all things BDS.)

photo by Ramsey El-Qare

Though US groups may not yet be at the point of influencing the decisions of major corporations one can’t help but feel that we are not far behind. One key point that Mr. Barghouti made about BDS is that how it is implemented at a local level should be based on the local conditions. The 2005 call does not ask people to pursue BDS in any pre-prescribed manner, rather targets and methods should be based on the local context. Those of us pursuing BDS in the US know that the conditions here are different than those in Europe and the rest of the world. For us, the take away is one of hope: BDS is a global movement that is rising because of the leadership of courageous Palestinians like Mr. Barghouti and because there is collective grassroots pressure coming from around the world in response to the call for action. The goal of BACEIA is to provide a significant contribution to this global movement by building BDS locally. So, the take away for us is that BDS is a dynamic strategy to end apartheid in Israel that now, more than ever, we need to be a part of. We need to continue our efforts to build a broad base of support for BDS locally and work toward achieving victories, big and small.

Updates available via Twitter: http://twitter.com/ProtestOlmertSF.

From the Press Release:

Twenty-two activists were arrested at Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s speech to the World Affairs Council tonight between 6:30 and 7:30pm at the Westin St. Francis Hotel (Union Square).  Inside the auditorium, activists began disrupting the event by placing Olmert under citizens arrest.  Every couple of minutes, more activists disrupted his speech, barely allowing him to speak, by reading the names of the children killed in Gaza last winter, reading from the recently published Goldstone Report, and displaying banners that read “Lift the Siege on Gaza” and “War Crimes are Not Free Expression!”  Activists were removed from the auditorium chanting “War Criminal!” and taken to the Tenderloin Police Station where they were held for citation, then released.  Ten additional people participated in the action but were not arrested.

Olmert ordered Israel’s brutal attacks on Gaza beginning in late December 2008, codenamed Operation Cast Lead. Last week, the UN Human Rights Council passed a resolution endorsing the Goldstone Report, an independent investigation into the Gaza operation, which found that Israel violated international law and possibly committed crimes against humanity.

“Israel is an apartheid state guilty of war crimes and its leaders should not be welcome in San Francisco,” said Lisa Nessan, a Jewish resident of Oakland, who has traveled several times to Israel and Palestine, most recently in May. “For the past sixty years, under leadership like Olmert’s, Israel has denied Palestinians their basic human rights, built settlements on their lands, and killed civilians – all to force them from their homeland.”

A lively protest also gathered across from the hotel in Union Square, where about 250 people carried signs bearing the names and pictures of children killed during Operation Cast Lead. Olmert is making several appearances in the US this month, and has been met with strong protests at locations including the University of Chicago and Tulane University in New Orleans. “We join with people around the world who believe that Israel and its leaders must be held accountable for their actions. Israel killed 1400 people during its attacks on Gaza last winter alone, and many more have died or suffered from the effects of siege, occupation, and apartheid on their daily lives,” said Monadel Herzallah, a Palestinian activist who lives in Fairfield and whose 21 year old cousin was killed in Gaza in January.

Organizers also expressed outrage that President Obama has ignored the findings of the Goldstone Report. The US has pledged more than $3 billion each year in unrestricted aid to Israel. “Israel’s use of US aid and military equipment violates our own laws,” said Rae Abileah, an organizer with CODEPINK whose father is Israeli. “Why are we giving aid to a country that is destroying people’s homes and attacking civilians, while our own nation is struggling with unemployment and underfunded social services?”

Eduardo Cohen of San Francisco sums up the sentiment: “The war crimes in the Goldstone Report are not an exception, but a reminder that Israel’s apartheid law is itself criminal. We must not only hold Olmert accountable, but all of Israel’s leaders, our own elected officials, and other companies and individuals that profit from these crimes. Only then can true justice be reached.”

The protest was sponsored by: Arab Resource & Organizing Center (AROC), Bay Area Campaign to End Israeli Apartheid (BACEIA), CODEPINK Women for Peace, Friends of Deiribzi’a, Northern California International Solidarity Movement, Middle East Children’s Alliance (MECA), South Bay Mobilization, Stop AIPAC, CAL Students for Justice in Palestine, US Palestine Communities Network (USPCN), Bay Area Women in Black, and the International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network.

Additional Press Coverage:

• SF Chronicle
• San Jose Mercury (with photos)
• Electronic Intifada
• YNet News
• Mondoweiss

The Cesar Chavez Student Center and General Union of Palestinian students celebrate the Second Anniversary of the Edward Said Palestinian Cultural Mural

Keynote Address by Omar Barghouti
“BDS: A Quest for Justice, Human Rights and Peace”

Panel discussion with Dr. Rabab Abdulhadi and Dr. Judith Butler

Tuesday, November 3rd, Jack Adams Hall
7pm
San Francisco State University

Omar Barghouti is an independent Palestinian researcher, commentator and human rights activist committed to upholding international law and universal human rights. He is a founding member of the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI) and a leader of the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) campaign against Israel.

He holds a bachelor’s and master’s degrees in electrical engineering from Columbia University, NY. He contributed to the philosophical volume, “Controversies and Subjectivity” (John Benjamins, 2005) and to “The New Intifada: Resisting Israel’s Apartheid” (Verso Books, 2001). He advocates an ethical vision for a unitary, secular democratic state in historic Palestine.

He has also written extensively on political and cultural affairs on diverse subjects from Iraq to Palestine to contemporary dance.

Co-Sponsors: US Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel, General Union of Palestinian Students, Arab and Muslim Ethnicities and Diasporas Initiative, Al-Awda, Associated Students Women Center, National Council of Arab Americans, ANSWER, International Solidarity Movement, Jewish Voice for Peace, MECA, International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network, San Jose Justice for Palestinians, SF State College of Ethnic Studies, Bay Area Campaign to End Israeli Apartheid

Saturday, October 17 from 12-2
UN Plaza SF Market Street
Between 7th and 8th
Civic Center BART Station.

We will be tabling for BACIEA and in solidarity with the Free Mohammad Othman campaign!

Join us!

Jackie Husary, a masters student at SF State and research assistant for the Arab and Muslim Ethnicities in Diaspora program, followed Lenoir with a comparison of similarities and differences in the Apartheid systems of South Africa and Israel.  Husary urged the audience to reexamine our understandings of Palestinian struggles to include an anti-colonial context that links Palestine with not just South Africa, but many nations of the Global South.  Finally, Break the Siege member Ayla Jay Schoenwald closed the panel by emphasizing the importance of getting involved in local boycott campaigns like the Bay Area Campaign to End Israeli Apartheid.

The audience was energized after hearing from Ayla about the many recent international victories, and jumped right into a question and answer session by sharing other campaigns, other victories, questions about strategy and struggle, and ideas for action.  Loubna Qutami, our moderator for the evening, helped guide the conversation and contributed key insights, in particular about the history of co-optation of the Palestinian grassroots resistance by the US government and international NGO’s.  Loubna closed the evening with a call to action: we in the U.S. must begin to see Israel not just as an “occupying force” but as a “colonial Apartheid regime” in order to be in true solidarity with Palestinian liberation.  And BACEIA provided audience members with a first step– sign our pledge to Boycott Israeli Goods!

Thanks to everyone in attendance!  This event was sponsored by Break the Siege, Center for Political Education, and the Arab Resource and Organizing Center.

with Gerald Lenoir, Jackie Husary & Ayla Jay Schoenwald

Wednesday, August 19th
7 PM
Friend’s Meeting House

65 9th Street, between Market and Mission
San Francisco (please enter from the north door, near Market Street)
wheelchair accessible

Join the Arab Resource and Organizing Center, Break the Siege and the Center for Political Education for an educational evening, with speakers from the South Africa anti-apartheid movement of the 80s and 90s, and the Palestine solidarity movement today, looking at the rich lessons and current work fighting apartheid from South Africa to Palestine.

How did boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) on South Africa help to break the back of apartheid?  How is the anti-apartheid framework useful for the Palestine solidarity work?  What do differences in the geopolitical role of South Africa and Israel mean for BDS and Palestine?  What’s the significance of cultural and academic boycotts? What’s currently happening in the Bay Area in terms of boycott, divestment and sanctions on Israel?

$5-$10 donation requested, no one turned away for lack of funds

click below for speakers’ bios

Jackie Husary is a Palestinian-American born and raised in San Francisco.  She received her Bachelor’s in International Relations with an emphasis on the Middle East and Third World Development.  Her thesis, “Betting on the Underdog: Why States Support Palestine” focused on Third World solidarity with Palestine specifically looking at South African and Cuban solidarity with Palestinian quest for self-determination and human rights.  In her undergrad, she was actively involved in the General Union of Palestine Students (GUPS) and was its chair in the last semester.  She also was a board member of the Cesar Chavez Student Center Governing Board.  In Fall 2009 she will begin a Master’s program in Ethnic Studies at San Francisco State University. She currently works for the Arab and Muslim Ethnicities and Diasporas Initiative at SF State.

Gerald Lenoir is a board member of the Interfaith Peace Builders, an organization that leads delegations to Israel/Palestine to learn about and advance the work of Palestinians and Israelis committed to nonviolent struggle for peace and justice.  He is also the director of the Black Alliance for Just Immigration (BAJI).

Lenoir was the director of Southern Africa Program of the American Friends Service Committee in Seattle in the mid-1970s and the co-chair of the Seattle Coalition Against Apartheid in the mid-1980s.  In 1994, he traveled to South Africa as a journalist to cover the historic all-race elections for the Oakland Tribune and the Black Scholar Magazine.

Ayla Jay Schoenwald has been involved with Break the Siege since it was created in 2006 in response to the Israeli invasion of Lebanon, with a few brief interludes during which she moved to NY and worked with Adalah-NY, a group in NYC that also works on boycott, divestment, and sanctions.  She’s also been involved with a variety of other Palestine Solidarity organizations, including the International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network.  This May, Ayla spent a week in Gaza with a delegation called “Viva Gaza.”

Click here to learn more about the delegation.