Bard International Solidarity Movement

Bard ISM is officially sponsoring Israeli Apartheid Week at Bard. For more information about Israeli Apartheid Week and the global Boycott-Divestment-Sanctions movement, check out bard.apartheidweek.org

Bard International Solidarity Movement presents Israeli Apartheid Week

Sixty-two years after the creation of the State of Israel in historic Palestine and the mass expulsion of 800,000-1 million Palestinians, and forty three years since the beginning of Israel’s brutal, ongoing military occupation and settlement campaign in the West Bank and Gaza, the Palestinians remain a people under siege. Their human rights have been consistently violated by the State of Israel, in flagrant violation of international law. These violations include reckless and indiscriminate violence against Palestinian communities by the Israeli military that have killed thousands of Palestinians, the planting and subsidizing of massive, militarized Jew-only Israeli settlements on land confiscated from Palestinians, the prevention of the Palestinian right to return as articulated in UNGA 194, the use of checkpoints and “security barriers” to restrict movement and access to medical care, the confiscation of collective Palestinian property, impunity for armed Jewish terrorist groups operating in Palestinian territory, the practice of targeting medical staff and hospitals, the punishment of entire Palestinian communities through “curfews” that might better be labeled collective house arrest, and economic embargoes against basic foodstuffs and medical supplies.

These actions by the State of Israel are collective and indiscriminate forms of political violence against everyone in Palestine, regardless of their actions – namely, terrorism. This state terrorism, both in its means and its consequences, far outweighs the impotent and desperate violent crimes committed by Palestinians against innocent Israelis that the West has labeled terrorism. In consequence, civilians killed by the Israeli state far outweigh those killed by Palestinians. As for means — when a criminal jumps a fence and blows up a bus, you can call the police; when the police (or in Palestine, the military) blow up entire villages, who do you call?

The International Solidarity Movement, established in 2001, is dedicated ending all forms of terrorism and violence against civilians – by recognizing that the root cause of violence in Palestine is not random acts of terrorism, but rather the inhuman collective military violence that provokes it*. As such, the Bard chapter of the ISM as well as other student groups are participating in the international 6th Annual Israeli Apartheid Week. Israeli Apartheid Week stresses the gains made to ending the injustices of the last major Apartheid regime in South Africa utilizing boycotts, divestment, and sanctions – all non-violent means of ending the conflict. The use of boycott, divestment, & sanctions (BDS) is not a cause spearheaded by international activists – it is a direct response to the 2005 call by hundreds of Palestinian civil society organizations to engage in a mass BDS campaign to pressure Israel into conforming with international law. In other words, it’s Palestinian-led.

The consequences of not heeding this call by Palestinian civil society is great. Last year, Israel annihilated an already besieged Gaza**, committing war crimes, using indiscriminate fire on a school, utilizing white phosphorus on densely populated residential areas, targeting medical staff and burning down a hospital, killing 1400 people and subsequently preventing any international aid from entering Gaza. Rather than owning up to its crimes, Israel has since entered a defamation campaign against the UN’s Goldstone Report (mandated to investigate war crimes by and against Israel), attempting to justify its war crimes instead. Meanwhile, in East Jerusalem, internationally recognized as Occupied Palestinian Territory, Israel is beginning the eviction and demolition process of 200 Palestinian homes housing 2000 people, in order to build a religious museum. The justification that this is granted by God is a disgusting case of religious zealotry that belongs in the dustbin alongside Al Qaeda’s call to “jihad” and Christian extremism.

The BDS movement and the International Solidarity Movement are already making accomplishments. Israel recently released a report considering international activists and their efforts to be a “strategic threat” to the State of Israel***. What this means is simple – non-violence can and is making a difference.

And you can be a part of it! Join us.

Visit bard.apartheidweek.org for more information.

*This point is illustrated in a series of psychological and other surveys showing that the motivations of suicide bombings, both in Palestine and elsewhere, are very rarely religious zeal or racial hatred. They are almost always reactions to real (or perceived) foreign military occupations. For more information, look up Robert Brym & Bader Araj’s “Suicide Bombing as Strategy and Interaction,” Robert Pape’s “Dying to Win,” and Nasser Abufarha’s “The Making of a Human Bomb”.

**The 2005 Gaza Pullout was not an end to the Israeli occupation of Gaza. This move removed the settlers and took Israeli troops off the ground; however, Israel has since maintained complete control of all borders to Gaza, as well as its seaspace and airspace, from which it is has maintained a brutal economic embargo and the ability to continue military strikes.

***Report from the Tel Aviv Reut Institute.

Bard ISM is growing and has received an awesome budget ($ 1100) for this semester, which we will put to a good cause. To those of you, who had a direct impact on the increase in our budget and/or donated some money as a response to the Friendly Amendment — THANK YOU!

The following events, demonstrations, and things to look out for are coming up:

1) ISM is currenlty planning a training session (for Feb 21) for activists. Please contact Bard ISM for more information at ag2976@bard.edu

1) We are holding a MAJOR PRO-PALESTINIAN peaceful rally on campus to promote the

plight of the Palestinian people in Gaza, the West Bank, in Israel and abroad, to raise awareness on the issues like the Israeli settlements,  the destruction of homes, the killing of civilians, torture,  restriction of water and medical supplies, the blockade on Gaza, acts of genocide in Gaza last year, the Israeli Apartheid Wall, the  restriction on movement, etc.

We are also aiming to discuss the issue of transparency on campus, as well as getting Bard divested from Israel.

The rally is planned for the weekend of March 13th; we are working on making the rally and other events into part of the sixth annual international Israel Apartheid Week (IAW), which surprisingly lasts for two weeks (March 1-14). “The aim of IAW is to educate people about the nature of Israel as an apartheid system  and to build Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) campaigns as part of a growing global BDS movement” —  precisely what the main idea behind our rally is.

So far, the following student groups have approved participating:

Bard Students for Free Tibet

Student Labor Dialog (SLD)

Students for Women’s Rights and Equality

Radical Students Union

Bard Palestinian Youth Initiative

Muslim Student Organization

3) The Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) campaign at Bard has so far involved research by members of different groups on campus (Students for Just Peace in Israel and Palestine, SLD, RSU), and is currently underway.

Thank you for your continued support!

- Bard ISM

In light of significant appeal and support for ISM endeavors and the Palestinian cause generally at Bard College and in the surrounding community, Bard ISM is expanding for the Spring 2010 semester.

Positions in the following areas are highly desired. While ISM is based on CDM and direct action, expertise, coordination, and organization are still crucial.

1) Media Coordinators & Writers

2) Rally Organizers

3) Direct-Action Trainers & Organizers

4) ISM Trainers for students and locals going to Palestine*

5) Writers

6) Financial Managers

7) And of course, commited ISM activists without specific positions.

The ISM is largely informal, but that doesn’t mean responsibility, talent, expertise, etc do not have their place in our movement. Furthermore, all decisions and actions made amongst ISM activists are made with full consensus of participating members (ie there is no hierarchy beyond that of talent and expertise).

ISM hopes to expand next semester with more ISM training sessions, cooperation with other campus and local pro-Palestinian groups, all out rallies, and of course, direct action.

JOIN US!

Contact ag2976 @bard.edu OR join us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=193617216620&ref=ts .

*For the sake of safety and quality, preference is for ISM activists who have been to Palestine.

Bard ISM held its first training session today, December 6th, for Bard students and members of the local community headed for Palestine.

The training was led by 3 Bard students. 14 trainees were present.

Many were headed for December’s Gaza Freedom March to break the Israeli siege of Gaza. After nearly 40 years of military occupation and illegal Israeli settlement, settlements were removed and Israeli soldiers were taken off the ground in 2005. Nonetheless, the Israeli army has since continued to maintain a military stranglehold over Gaza, controlling its airspace, all sea ports, and all of its borders (including its borders to Egypt). In December of 2008, Israel began its Operation Cast Lead, killing ~1000 civilians in Gaza and using a variety of indiscriminate tactics and weaponry. This was after a 6-month “ceasefire” during which Israel not only violated the the terms of agreement with the ruling Hamas government in Gaza by refusing to lift the economic blockade which killed hundreds of Palestinians in Gaza hospitals but also shelled cities in Gaza in November.

The Gaza Freedom March seeks to end the Israeli blockade. You can find out more about the Gaza Freedom March here:

http://www.gazafreedommarch.org/article.php?list=type&type=416

Photos of the training will be uploaded shortly.

Join Bard ISM on Facebook:

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=193617216620

- Amith

This website is for Bard ISMers, as well as other ISM volunteers and friends & allies of the ISM and the Palestinian people.

Bard International Solidarity Movement: Using Non-Violent Direct Action Tactics to End the Israeli Occupation of Palestine

What IS the ISM?

The International Solidarity Movement (ISM) is a global movement of non-violent activists based in Palestine using direct action tactics to end the Israeli military occupation of the Palestinian Territory. The occupation has involved:

1) killing thousands of innocent Palestinian civilians and the use of indiscriminate military force against civilians
2) the collective punishment of entire towns
3) the demolitions of hundreds of Palestinian neighborhoods to make room for heavily-fortified Israeli-only settlements
4) the restriction of movement
5) theft of thousands of acres of land
6) arresting and jailing thousands of Palestinian men, women, and children without due process
7) and subjecting millions of Palestinians to foreign military rule.

We have two main principles:

1) Belief in freedom for the Palestinian people based on all relevant United Nations Resolutions and international law.
2) Using only nonviolent, direct-action methods, strategies and principles to work towards our goal.

WHAT IS DIRECT ACTION?

Direct Action is the tactic the ISM uses, both on the ground in Palestine and here at Bard. A direct action is an action taken to directly confront an injustice, rather than using a middle-man. For example, while other groups may seek to effect change by writing letters to Congressmen and signing petitions, the ISM believes in using more direct (but always non-violent) means. This could range from sit-ins to demonstrations to student occupations. All actions are done with a full consensus amongst participating members.

WHAT DOES THE ISM DO?

ISM chapters around the world both participate in local events towards the ISM principles of liberating the Palestinian people using non-violent direct action, as well as assisting and training other volunteers to directly confront the occupation in Palestine.

So far, Bard ISM is already actively doing both. But we need your support.

As an ISM member, not only will you be able to help craft actions here at Bard towards our shared goals, but you will get to take an active (rather than back-seat) role in affecting change. All ISM actions are done with the full consensus of participating volunteers (in other words, you’ll never be forced to take any action you are uncomfortable with).

JOIN US!

We meet Tuesdays from 5:30-6PM in the Red Room.

Contact: AG2976@bard.edu