SECOND ANNUAL EDMONTON ISRAELI APARTHEID WEEK
MARCH 1 – MARCH 6, 2010
** ALL EVENTS FREE **
Presented by the Palestine Solidarity Network – U of A and Palestine Solidarity Network – Edmonton
Join us and over 40 cities around the world this year in marking the 6th annual (2nd annual in Edmonton) Israeli Apartheid Week (IAW). IAW is a week of lectures, workshops, film screenings, and cultural events to educate about Israel/Palestine, and also to give momentum to the growing campaign of Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) against Israeli apartheid. A full schedule of events is below!
Check out the Israeli Apartheid Week trailer:
Updates and more information will be available at psnedmonton.ca and edmonton.apartheidweek.org
Follow us on Twitter.
MONDAY, MARCH 1, 2010
Beyond Apartheid: Paths to Ending the Israeli-Palestinian Impasse
A lecture by Ali Abunimah
[Co-sponsored by the Canada-Palestine Cultural Association (CANPAL)]
Monday, March 1
6:30 pm
Telus Centre Theatre 150, U of A Campus
(Click here for map)
Go to the Facebook event to share with your friends.
In 2010, there are approximately 11 million people who live in Palestine/Israel. Half are Israeli Jews and half are Palestinians, but the trend is that Palestinians are becoming the clear majority. The reality today is that the Israeli government effectively rules over all these people, but they do not all have equal rights. Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip are deprived of the most fundamental civil, political, economic, educational and cultural rights as their land is under relentless assault from settlers and they are relegated to a separate road network. Within Israel, Palestinian citizens have some rights, but face institutionalized and legal discrimination.
Not surprisingly, Palestinians, some Israelis and other observers describe this current reality as a system of “apartheid” because only one group — defined by ethnicity (Israeli Jews) enjoys full rights and privileges at the expense of another. Conventional views of a “solution” include partition of the territory into separate states. But as in other apartheid systems (South Africa and Northern Ireland), attempts at partition or repartition are likely only to change the parameters of the conflict rather than resolve its underlying causes. A comprehensive approach to ending apartheid in Palestine/Israel must therefore guarantee equal rights to all the people of the country, make restitution for past and present injustices, and provide constitutional guarantees that no group will ever again be victimized because of its ethno-religious identity.
Ali Abunimah is a Palestinian American journalist and co-founder of Electronic Intifada, a not-for-profit, independent online publication about the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict. Born in Washington D.C., he spent his early years in the United Kingdom and Belgium before returning to the United States to attend college. His mother is originally from the village of Lifta, now controlled by Israel, but became a refugee in the 1948 Palestinian nakbah. His father is from the village of Battir, now in the West Bank, and is a former Jordanian diplomat who served as ambassador to the United Nations. Abunimah is a graduate of Princeton University and the University of Chicago and is a frequent speaker and commentator on the Middle East, contributing regularly to the Chicago Tribune and the Los Angeles Times among other publications. He lives in Chicago, Illinois. He has also served as the Vice-President on the Board of Directors of the Arab American Action Network and is a fellow at the Palestine Center. He is the author of One Country: A Bold Proposal to End the Israeli-Palestinian Impasse.
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Getting There
Driving
There is ample parking available within walking distance of the Telus Centre (located at the corner of 111 Street & 87 Avenue).
Two blocks north of the venue are two parking lots. Evening rates (4:30 to midnight) are $4.20.
To reach the lots from the north side of Edmonton, come across the High Level Bridge on 109 Street and turn right at 87 Avenue (the first right after the Garneau Theatre, which is also called Royal Avenue). Follow 87 Avenue for two blocks, and turn right on 111 Street. Follow 111 Street north until the four-way stop at 90 Avenue. Turn left at 90 Avenue to get to the ticket booth to both lots.
After parking, walk two blocks south along 111 Street. The Telus Centre is on the corner of 111 Street and 87 Avenue.
Transit
Either by bus or LRT get to the University Station. This is located just south of HUB mall and all buses that go to the University stop there.
With your back facing HUB (pointing south), walk directly south on 112 Street. It’s easiest on the lefthand (east) side of the street as you walk away from HUB.
You’ll pass the Timms Centre on your left and come to a set of lights (across the street will be an Earls). This is 87 Ave (also called Royal Ave).
Turn to your left (don’t cross 87 Ave) and walk a block. You’ll be walking beside the southside of the Timms Centre. The next building is the Telus Centre, where the event is held. Before you get to 111 Street you’ll see a set of doors. Go through there and there will be signage to the event.
Cycling
There is bike parking at the main doors of the Telus Centre on 87 Avenue.
TUESDAY, MARCH 2, 2010
Rouge Poetry – Poets Against Apartheid
Tuesday, March 2
9:00 pm
Rouge Lounge
10111-117 Street
(Click here for map)
Go to the Facebook event to share with your friends.
Join us at Rouge Lounge for an incredible night of spoken word and performance poetry relating the liberation struggle of the Palestinian people. This night will leave you inspired to share the stories of struggle with others and to be part of the growing movement against the injustice of apartheid in Palestine. Sorry, no minors.
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 3, 2010
Jailed For An Idea
With Mohammad Othman and Hindi Mesleh live from Palestine (via Skype)
Wednesday, March 3
Noon – 1:50 pm
Telus Centre Room 236/238, U of A Campus
(Click here for map)
Go to the Facebook event to share with your friends.
Mohammad Othman, a 33-year-old organizer with the Anti-Apartheid Wall Campaign (Stop the Wall) was recently released by Israel after spending almost four months in jail, despite having no charges laid against him. His crime? Standing with his home village of Jayyous and other villages in Occupied Palestine by non-violently confronting Israel’s apartheid wall, and promoting the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement globally. Othman’s imprisonment galvanized international solidarity movements around the world and highlighted the plight of the 10,000 Palestinian political prisoners currently in Israeli jails and Israel’s increasing crackdown of grassroots opposition to the wall.
Hindi Mesleh, an organizer with Stop the Wall from the village of Ni’lin, was a key organizer in Palestine and internationally in the effort to free Mohammad.
Even in the Desert
Film Screening and Discussion
Directed by b.h. Yael
[Co-sponsored by Cinema Politica-Edmonton]
Wednesday, March 3
6:00 pm
Telus Centre Room 236/238, U of A Campus
(Click here for map)
Go to the Facebook event to share with your friends.
Even in the Desert, a 33 minute documentary, focuses on several sites of solidarity work in Palestine/Israel. The film represent activists: Palestinians, Israelis and Internationals who work together in various groups and projects that attempt to address the historic and contemporary repercussions of Israel’s occupation and colonization of land. These are but a few of the many activists who work, and who are not often represented in mainstream media images of the conflicts in Israel and Palestine.
Post-film discussion moderated by Tony Simmons.
b.h. Yael is an Israeli-born Canadian who is Professor and Chair of Integrated Media at the Ontario College of Art and Design, and a passionate advocate for a just and sustainable peace in Israel/Palestine. She has directed and produced a number of video projects that reflect on the personal and political connections to the land of her birth. Positioning herself amidst controversy, Yael offers a unique perspective, challenging the traditional Canadian perception of peace efforts in the Middle East.
THURSDAY, MARCH 4, 2010
Palestine: What Aren’t We Hearing & How Is Peace Possible
A lecture by Anna Baltzer
[Co-sponsored by the University of Alberta Department of Political Science and the Alberta Public Interest Research Group (APIRG)]
Thursday, March 4
6:30 pm
Telus Centre Theatre 150, U of A Campus
(Click here for map)
Go to the Facebook event to share with your friends.
Anna Baltzer’s presentation provides those interested in the Israel/Palestine conflict with critical information and documentation that can be difficult to obtain through mainstream media sources, and to encourage dialogue towards taking action on the issue. Her hope is that both her presentation and book (Witness in Palestine: A Jewish American Woman in the Occupied Territories) will also offer a thoughtful perspective given her background as the granddaughter of Polish-born Holocaust refugees. She sees it as her responsibility to expose the injustices of today in light of—not in spite of—those of the past. Baltzer’s presentation covers—among other things—checkpoints, settlements, the Wall, censorship, the 1948 Nakba, Palestinian refugees, Gaza, Israeli activism, Palestinian-led nonviolent resistance movement, and ideas for what people can do.
Copies of Anna’s book Witness in Palestine: A Jewish American Woman in the Occupied Territories will be available for purchase at her talk.
Anna Baltzer is a Jewish-American Columbia graduate, former-Fulbright scholar, the granddaughter of Holocaust refugees, and an award-winning lecturer, author, and activist for Palestinian human rights. As a volunteer with the International Women’s Peace Service in the West Bank, Baltzer documented human rights abuses and supported Palestinian-led nonviolent resistance to the Occupation. Baltzer has appeared on television more than 100 times (including most recently The Daily Show with Jon Stewart) and lectured at more than 400 universities, schools, churches, mosques, and synagogues around the world with her acclaimed presentation, “Life in Occupied Palestine: Eyewitness Stories & Photos,” and her full-color book: Witness in Palestine: A Jewish American Woman in the Occupied Territories. In 2009, Baltzer received the Arab-American Anti-Discrimination Committee’s prestigious Annual Rachel Corrie Peace & Justice Award and a Certificate of Commendation from the Governor of Wisconsin for her commitment to justice in the Holy Land. She is a contributor to three upcoming books on the subject and serves on the Middle East committee of the Women’s International League for Peace & Freedom and the Board of Directors of The Research Journalism Initiative, Grassroots Jerusalem, and The Council for the National Interest.
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Getting There
Driving
There is ample parking available within walking distance of the Telus Centre (located at the corner of 111 Street & 87 Avenue).
Two blocks north of the venue are two parking lots. Evening rates (4:30 to midnight) are $4.20.
To reach the lots from the north side of Edmonton, come across the High Level Bridge on 109 Street and turn right at 87 Avenue (the first right after the Garneau Theatre, which is also called Royal Avenue). Follow 87 Avenue for two blocks, and turn right on 111 Street. Follow 111 Street north until the four-way stop at 90 Avenue. Turn left at 90 Avenue to get to the ticket booth to both lots.
After parking, walk two blocks south along 111 Street. The Telus Centre is on the corner of 111 Street and 87 Avenue.
Transit
Either by bus or LRT get to the University Station. This is located just south of HUB mall and all buses that go to the University stop there.
With your back facing HUB (pointing south), walk directly south on 112 Street. It’s easiest on the lefthand (east) side of the street as you walk away from HUB.
You’ll pass the Timms Centre on your left and come to a set of lights (across the street will be an Earls). This is 87 Ave (also called Royal Ave).
Turn to your left (don’t cross 87 Ave) and walk a block. You’ll be walking beside the southside of the Timms Centre. The next building is the Telus Centre, where the event is held. Before you get to 111 Street you’ll see a set of doors. Go through there and there will be signage to the event.
Cycling
There is bike parking at the main doors of the Telus Centre on 87 Avenue.
FRIDAY, MARCH 5, 2010
Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions: Theory and Practice
A panel featuring Yasmeen Abu-Laban, Abigail Bakan and Scott Harris
Friday, March 5
Noon – 2:00 pm
Fine Arts Building (FAB) 2-20, U of A Campus
(Click here for map)
Go to the Facebook event to share with your friends.
Yasmeen Abu-Laban is Professor and Associate Chair (Research) in the Department of Political Science at the University of Alberta. Her publications include Selling Diversity: Immigration, Multiculturalism, Employment Equity and Globalization (with Christina Gabriel); Politics in North America: Redefining Continental Relations (co-editor); and Gendering the Nation-State: Canadian and Comparative Perspectives (editor).
Abigail Bakan is Professor of Political Studies and Chair of Undergraduate Studies at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario. Her publications include Negotiating Citizenship: Migrant Women in Canada and the Global System (with Daiva Stasiulis), winner of the 2007 Canadian Women’s Studies Association annual book award; Employment Equity Policy in Canada: An Interprovincial Comparison (with Audrey Kobayashi); and Critical Political Studies: Debates and Dialogues from the Left (co-editor with Eleanor MacDonald).
Yasmeen Abu-Laban and Abigail Bakan are currently conducting research on Israel/Palestine from the perspective of racial contract theory. Their joint publications include: “The Racial Contract: Israel/Palestine and Canada”, Social Identities: Journal for the Study of Race, Nation and Culture (September, 2008); and “Palestinian Resistance and International Solidarity: The BDS Campaign”, Race and Class (July-September, 2009).
Scott Harris is an organizer with the Palestine Solidarity Network in Edmonton. During the Israeli bombardment of Gaza, he spent a month in the West Bank in Occupied Palestine, volunteering with the International Solidarity Movement in Nablus, Jayyous and Ni’lin.
SATURDAY, MARCH 6, 2010
Day of Action Against MEC
Leafletting and information picket
Saturday, March 6
Noon – 2:00 pm
MEC Edmonton
12328 – 102 Avenue
(Click here for map)
Go to the Facebook event to share with your friends.
The Palestine Solidarity Network is joining Palestine solidarity activists across Canada in calling on Mountain Equipment Coop (MEC) to end its partnerships with Israeli factories and to stop sourcing from Israel. Until MEC does so, we will continue to pressure MEC to act in accordance with their stated ethics by ending its partnership with Israeli factories.
During its brutal three-week assault on Gaza just over a year ago, the Israeli military killed 1400 Palestinians, the vast majority of them civilians. A recent report to the UN by Judge Goldstone concluded that Israel’s attack was “designed to punish, humiliate and terrorize a civilian population.” Since its founding in 1948, the State of Israel has systematically oppressed the Palestinian people and denied them the fundamental rights of freedom, equality and self-determination. The ongoing illegal occupation of Palestine is defined by racism, dispossession, and brutal violence, as the recent massacre in Gaza has demonstrated.
Since the Gaza massacre of a year ago, the global Palestinian-led movement calling for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) until Israel complies with international law has accelerated. In Canada, members have been asking MEC to end its “partnerships” Israeli factories — including military contractors — that produce MEC brand seamless underwear and hydration systems. These partnerships are antithetical to MEC’s promotion of itself as an organization with “rigorous ethical sourcing requirements,” and its professed belief that “business can advance human rights.” MEC’s house brand “partner” for hydration systems is Source Vagabond, an Israeli military designer and supplier that boasts on its website (www.source-military. com) “[Founder] Yoki and most of the members of our R&D team are experienced ex officers of elite IDF (Israeli Defence Forces) units.” As Naomi Klein said in January 2009, “The best strategy to end the increasingly bloody occupation is for Israel to become the target of the kind of global movement that put an end to apartheid in South Africa.”
WHAT YOU CAN DO TO HELP
* Do not buy products made in Israel at MEC (click here to see Israeli-made MEC products)
* Communicate to MEC your concerns about sourcing from Israel
* Ask friends and relatives to not buy Israeli goods at MEC
* Vote for MEC board members who support a boycott of Israeli suppliers
* Join one of our information pickets at MEC in Edmonton
PALESTINE SOLIDARITY NETWORK 