Loyola University Chicago – Sixteen Minutes to Palestine

UC Irvine student gov’t unanimously passes divestment bill challenging Israel’s human rights abuses

Almost two years after the Irvine 11 unprecedentedly faced criminal charges for verbally disrupting a speech by Israel ambassador Michael Oren, the student government at the University of California, Irvine passed a divestment resolution with a 16-0-0 vote.

The resolution, penned and proposed by UC Irvine students, requires the university to divest from corporations and businesses profiting from Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territories and its systematic abuse of human rights. These companies include Caterpillar, General Electric, Hewlett-Packard, among others.

The elected undergraduate student representatives also see the resolution as an opportunity for the university to engage and mobilize students to “protect human rights on a global scale,” according to Traci Ishigo, President of the Associated Student of UC Irvine.

UC Irvine is now the first university in California poised to divest from Israeli apartheid and occupation. [Read more...]

Mock apartheid wall at Loyola University Chicago successfully draws attention to the real apartheid wall

Guest contribution by Jumana Al-Qawasmi

On Saturday, April 14, 2012, the weekend before Loyola University in Chicago’s Palestine Awareness Week, a group of students and I from the Middle Eastern Student Association (MESA) and Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) built a mock apartheid wall. The tradition started about three years ago. While the university has had no objections or resistance on its part, other pro-Israel groups on campus used the university as a kind of vehicle for its various concerns, excuses, and general nagging.

By the time I first arrived at the apartment where we were painting the wall, the MESA board had already painted the Palestinian flag onto the four panels as a sort of background. It was absolutely beautiful but not in some convoluted, ultra-patriotic way. Rather, it was striking in its bold statement of existence. I was struck by the fact that the Palestinian flag would be an undeniable presence on the Loyola campus, a normally politically-neutral (provided that is even possible) place. This excited me—and the others—beyond belief. [Read more...]

UC Irvine student gov’t unanimously passes divestment bill challenging Israel’s human rights abuses

Mock apartheid wall at Loyola University Chicago successfully draws attention to the real apartheid wall

Subscribe to SMP

Why Sixteen Minutes to Palestine?

Follow “Sixteen Minutes to Palestine”