This is the last National Students for Justice in Palestine Conference I’ll be attending as an undergraduate student. Maybe there will be an SJP at the next school I end up at, and maybe I will have time to work in it. I’m so blessed to be a part of this movement and to have joined so many wonderful students at the front lines.
SJP Conference 2012: Photos of the first half
November 3, 2012 By Leave a Comment
The second annual National SJP Conference is hosted at the University of Michigan. Here are some photographs of what we’ve been doing the last day and a half. Special thanks to Danya Mustafa, Sara Jawhari, and Debbie Southorn for collecting and sharing these photographs.
Students at the opening plenary of the National Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) Conference 2012 discuss ways to address and tackle dynamics of oppression within campus solidarity movements. Photo credit: Sara Jawhari
A plush panda, which belongs to an SJP conference organizer, dons a traditional Palestinian keffiyeh. Photo credit: Sara Jawhari
One conference attendee’s face is illuminated by a computer screen as she excitedly takes notes during Nada Elia’s opening remarks. Elia spoke on the importance of liberating ourselves from within. Photo credit: Sara Jawhari [Read more...]
One of the things I learned at last year’s National SJP Conference
October 16, 2012 By 1 Comment
At the present moment, there is a woman sitting at the table in front of me, furiously pecking at her keyboard with one hand and munching on a sandwich with another. To my right are nine men from the community gathered around two chessboards. Their chess pieces roll along the dark brown wooden table. The woman in front of me just picked up her backpack and left. Either she caught me staring too hard or her class begins in a few. Let’s hope it’s the latter.
These are your everyday people, each going about his or her own day with his or her own priorities in mind. But I’ve been taught to recognize the proverbial everyday person as a friend and a valuable asset — not to me, per se, but to the millions everywhere who face oppressions that prevent them from becoming everyday people or even from doing everyday things. It’s a bit abstract but the “line theory” does a good job of explaining what I mean, specifically within the context of the Palestinian narrative and even more specifically within the context of the upcoming Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) National Conference.
One year ago someone asked me who I target when helping to organize actions or events centered around the occupation of Palestine. My initial answer, The Americans Who Don’t Know, was too narrow and my second answer, The Opposition, was a waste of a breath. It wasn’t that I was targeting the wrong audience but, technically, I was.
Imagine a line. Or if you’re reading this after a busy day, let me imagine one for you. Presently, the line represents nothing. So let us quickly define the line’s boundaries with visible points.
One point represents you, the organizers or the educators, the ones who already Know. The other point represents the opposition, in this case the ones who, for example, insist that human rights laws are meant to be broken and that oppression is actually a protective maneuver. [Read more...]
National SJP Conference an important opportunity to challenge campus censorship
September 25, 2012 By 4 Comments
Guest contribution by Rahim Kurwa
The upcoming National SJP Conference is an important opportunity for students around the country to meet, educate each other, and formulate strategies for the growing campus Palestine solidarity movement. Recent experiences of SJPs on the West Coast illustrate the urgent need for collaboration across schools.
This summer has seen a massive fight over student rights at the University of California, where a recent Campus Climate investigation has recommended broad forms of censorship designed to limit students’ ability to freely criticize Israeli state policies. By claiming that criticism of Israel is anti-Semitic, the University’s Campus Climate committee justifies recommendations to ban speakers from campus and force groups to provide balanced speakers at political events about the Middle East.
SJPs, Jewish solidarity groups, and free speech groups have responded to the report by highlighting the exclusion of Jewish students who themselves criticize Israeli policy, the lack of evidence to the claim that SJPs have engaged in offensive speech, and the constitutional illegality of several of the report’s recommendations. There has been wide public outcry against the report and a petition to rescind it has been signed by 2,500 people. In response, pro-Israel groups lobbied the California State Assembly to pass a resolution (HR 35) supporting the investigation and doubling down on the claim that criticizing Israel is anti-Semitic. Later reporting revealed that the University of California had advised the authors on the bill’s language before eventually dissenting from its final language. In comparison to other fights, such as the effort to deny tenure to Joseph Massad at Columbia University, HR 35 is a serious development in the censorship of student groups as it marks the first time a state legislature has stepped in to encourage censorship at a university. [Read more...]
SJP Conference 2011: A Chronological Photo Tour
October 24, 2011 By 5 Comments
Guest contribution by Sara Jawhari
A street vendor’s food stand reads “From Tahrir Square, Egypt, to Liberty Park, New York”. Students attending the National Students for Justice (SJP) Conference joined the Occupy Wall Street protests in Zuccotti Park.
Rhoda Ann Kanaaneh and Mahmood Mamdani address the audience during the SJP Conference’s opening and keynote address at Columbia Univeristy.
Mahmood Mamdani details Israel’s apartheid policies during the keynote address for the first ever National SJP Conference. [Read more...]
SJP Conference 2011: Day 3 Highlights
October 18, 2011 By Leave a Comment
The third and final day of the National SJP Conference featured two rounds of intensive workshops and a closing session that capitalized on the urgency of formalizing an organized student movement in support of Palestinian rights.
The first round of workshops focused heavily on building the skills necessary to effectively combat prejudice, normalization, and propaganda and to systematically establish this cause as the ideal social movement. The second round of workshops focused on entire campaigns set to have a national impact in the coming year. Here is a sampling of the workshops offered to conference attendees:
Media Training
Presented by award-winning journalist Kristin Szremski and other notable guests, this workshop helped students understand the inner workings of the press. Certain customs, connections, and strategies must be implemented for maximum media exposure. It is important to utilize media as a means to spread awareness. The impact of one’s work as it applies to the general public can oftentimes be gauged by how much of the message is transmitted through mainstream media, and it is necessary to take advantage of the obvious benefits that come with interacting with the press.
The Question of Palestine in the Public Sphere: How to (and how not to) talk about Palestine
Although it is important to utilize the press as a means of accurately delivering a message to a global audience, it is equally important to understand how to strategically present the issue of Palestine to anyone, such as a YouTube audience, apolitical friends, a crowd of curious strangers, or a group of individuals supporting the Zionist ideology. This workshop was hosted by a diverse group of students who have identified the effectiveness of the tactics through their own experiences. Words play an important role in how the issue is framed, and the students who participated in this workshop left with a clear understanding of what it takes to ensure the issue is framed properly, accurately, and realistically.
Building Connections: Coalition Building on Campus
Coalitions between student groups are important particularly because they feature a synergistic effect: the product of the whole is greater than the products of each individual component combined. Because SJP’s work is grounded on the issue of social justice, the potential for coalition-building and networking is always high, especially with groups that also deal with social justice causes. This workshop showed students the importance of establishing coalitions and how to go about forming them. Although it is challenging to establish and maintain coalitions with so many different community and student groups, it is clear that the collaboration between such diverse crowds is better suited to mobilize the entire population for Palestinian rights.
Solidarity with Palestinian Political Prisoners
In light of the prisoner exchange recently agreed upon between Hamas and the Israeli government, the issue of political prisoners cannot be ignored. The purpose of this workshop was to highlight the various injustices faced by Palestinian prisoners currently held by Israel and to contrast their situations with Israel’s attitude toward Gilad Shalit. Of the thousands of Palestinians currently held behind bars, many of them have yet to be indicted or are being prosecuted without a fair trial. This is an issue that has typically been ignored by the mainstream media, but with the news of prisoner swaps dominating the headlines, this is the perfect time to spread knowledge about the thousands of Palestinians suffering torture and humiliation on a regular basis.
Upon completion of the two rounds of workshops, students convened for a final session to propose ideas for campaign expansions and to discuss the future of SJP on a national, regional, and local level.
Make sure to check out the Day 1 Highlights and Day 2 Highlights.
Sami Kishawi
SJP Conference 2011: Zionists confronting and attacking attendees
October 16, 2011 By 4 Comments
A number of students registered for the National SJP Conference were confronted by flag-waving Zionists moments ago. According to Roqayah Chamseddine, a conference attendee also known by the Twitter handle @iRevolt, a group of pro-Israel protesters bearing American and Israeli flags confronted SJP members in an attempt to intimidate them and disrupt their involvement in the conference.
The protesters gathered at the main entrance of the journalism building at Columbia University. At least one Zionist protester carried a sign labeling the SJP Conference as a form of “stealth jihad“. Another protester reportedly said that all Jews who grant Palestinians any land should be “beheaded”.
SJP Conference 2011: Day 2 Highlights
October 16, 2011 By 2 Comments
Photo credit: Sara Jawhari
The second day of the National SJP Conference feature was densely packed with interactive workshops and colloquiums designed to redefine campus activism for Palestine. The workshops were followed by an open plenary in which student delegates representing dozens of universities convened to establish national coordination for future campus movements and networks. The first round of workshops sought to provide fresh perspectives and understandings about the occupation of Palestine within new legal, political, and social frameworks. The small group meetings, primarily centered around political development and skill building, provoked thoughtful discussion on what exactly the occupation of Palestine means, what it entails, how it is perceived, and how its relates to other historical models of colonialism, ethnic cleansing, and oppression.
Photo credit: Sara Jawhari
The full program for the day’s set of workshops can be found at the National SJP website, but here is a brief report-back on some of the offered workshops:
The Economics of Israeli Colonialism
This workshop, headed by Dalit Baum, focused on the influence of Israel and other foreign actors on Palestine’s economy. Israel’s activity in the West Bank, particularly in so-called industrial zones, settlements, and businesses catering only to illegal settlement populations, has a profoundly negative effect on Palestine’s economy and its ability to fiscally sustain itself. It becomes clear that colonialism is not restricted to just the physical geography of occupied land. Denying Palestinians the ability to maintain authority over their own economy without sabotage from foreign state actors simply reinforces the very framework of occupation and oppression. [Read more...]
SJP Conference 2011: Rafah-like experience to La Guardia
October 15, 2011 By 1 Comment
Flight control put us on standby for thirty minutes until La Guardia cleared the plane for landing. The crew and the passengers patiently waited. As the plane taxied itself to the edge of the runway, we were delayed again. And then again.
We finally touched down in New York and I arrived to the conference, although much later than expected. Consequently, I missed the Opening and Keynote Address, but I’ve been told that a recording has been produced and will soon be available. For those following the SJP Conference coverage, I will update you when I find more details.
Nevertheless, the flight from Chicago to New York oddly reminded me of the Palestine we students are gathering to serve. The long and stressful waiting, the crushed hope, and the inability to determine when I’d make it to the other side brought me back to Rafah where I waited two days to cross Gaza’s besieged borders into Egypt this summer. [Read more...]
SJP Conference 2011: Day 1 Highlights
Photo credit: Sara Jawhari
Although I was unable to attend the first day of the National SJP Conference due to unfortunate flight circumstances, I’ve been able to collect some thoughts and highlights about what the conference has so far had to offer.
Opening and Keynote Address
“Mamdani challenges the conventional comparison of Israel to South Africa. Israel, even from the start, proudly boasts itself as a Jewish state whereas South Africa hesitated to call itself a “white” state. One is more overtly racist, which makes unconditional support for Israel even more ridiculous.”
— Anonymous student
“Aside from the fact that it was a complete honor to hear Mahmood Mamdani, a man whose work I highly admire, open the conference as the keynote speaker, his speech was just as thought-provoking. Mamdani stated that while there are many parallels between South African Apartheid and Israel, there is one stark difference that many forget: Palestinians have not only lost their freedom and independence, as South Africans did, but they have also lost their country.”
— Sara Jawhari [Read more...]