Conference 2010
20 resources in this category
What if Bil’in held a demo and the army didn’t show up?
26/04/2010
[The Only Democracy?] Some of us have become so used to West Bank demonstrations meaning major Israeli army presence, and, typically, the use of weapons, that we have forgotten what demonstrations in a democracy look like. We’ve forgotten that a protest against oppressive working conditions in downtown New York City, or against oppressive abortion policies in Fredericton, Canada, or against wars in Afghanistan and Iraq in cities including London, Sydney, Paris, San Francisco and Toronto — means police presence only when the protests become so large that they overcrowd public spaces and need direction, when they damage city property, or (get this) when the protesters themselves might be at risk from onlookers with opposing views.
And so we attend demonstration after demonstration — from Bil’in to Al-Ma’asara to Hebron to Nabi Salah, and more — and we are enraged time and time again by the unjustified, disproportionate, immoral response of the army and border police.
But we hardly ever ask ourselves: why are they even here?
Israel's Big and Small Apartheids: Meaning of a Jewish State
26/04/2010
[Palestine Chronicle] Below is the text of a talk delivered to the fifth Bilin international conference for Palestinian popular resistance, held in the West Bank village of Bilin on April 21.
Israel’s apologists are very exercised about the idea that Israel has been singled out for special scrutiny and criticism. I wish to argue, however, that in most discussions of Israel it actually gets off extremely lightly: that many features of the Israeli polity would be considered exceptional or extraordinary in any other democratic state.
Embraces, warm and cool
26/04/2010
[Ha’aretz] Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad delayed a working trip abroad in order to open the fifth Bil’in International Conference on the Popular Struggle that took place from April 21-23. He also brought with him a bountiful dowry: representatives of 23 foreign consulates and diplomatic missions.
They sat in the giant tent set up in the village’s schoolyard, among activists from Bil’in and other villages, as well as children who had come along with their parents and were wandering around with cooked beans and za’atar, women who sat behind tables laden with embroidered handicrafts for sale, a handful of Israelis and dozens of activists from abroad.
From Bil'in to Beit Jala
25/04/2010
The fifth Bil'in International Conference on the Popular Struggle: Closing Statement
24/04/2010
During this fifth annual conference, we felt the absence of our friends who are prevented by the occupations cells and bars from joining us, imprisoned for struggling Non-Violently for our freedom, activists and leaders of the popular committees Abdullah Abu Rahmah, Ibrahim A’amirah, Adeeb Abu Rahmah, Hassan Moussa, Zaydoun Surour, Ibrahim Burnat, Wael Faqi and all political prisoners.
