Don't miss the Midwest premiere of "I Heart Hamas: And Other Things I'm Afraid to Tell You" at Bedlam Theatre this February.
The show will be running for 2 weeks and is co-presented by IJAN-Twin Cities, Mizna and Bedlam Theatre.
February 18-28, 2010
Thursday-Saturday at 7:30pm
Sunday at 4pm followed by Artist Talkback
(read more...)IJAN Twin Cities is very excited that one of our own – Sylvia Schwarz – is going on the Gaza Freedom March. Schwarz' activism and writing has received local and national media attention.
Sylvia has published two articles explaining her motivation for the trip and the purpose of the march. One was published at MinnPost, a Twin Cities daily news journal, and the other at Twin Cities Indymedia, which was picked up by Indymedia nationally.
Sylvia and Ouahib Chalbi, who is also participating in the Gaza Freedom March, were interviewed on the TV show BelAhdan, which airs on our local public television station. Click on the following links to watch Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3 of the interview.
Because Sylvia has taken such an active role in organizing and promoting the march, IJAN Twin Cities is now involved in a new coalition focused on the work of the march - before, during and after. This new coalition showed the film “Occupation 101” as a fundraiser on December 6, 2009. The evening included the movie and a panel discussion. A national organizer for IJAN was a featured panelist. The event drew a large and diverse crowd and raised urgently needed funds. Once Sylvia returns from Gaza, we look forward to coordinating many report-backs and other activities with the broader coalition.
IJAN Twin Cities members have recently published online commentaries and produced cable access shows addressing Palestinian solidarity.
In addition to several pieces in our local media about the Gaza Freedom March, member Sylvia Schwarz wrote an important commentary that appeared in the MinnPost. The piece, entitled: “Iran: the wrong nuclear threat in the Middle East?,” exposes the way Americans are trained to perceive threats and how out of touch this perception is with reality.
IJAN Twin Cities member Karen Redleaf is the co-host and co-producer of a local cable access show “Our World In Depth” which has been airing locally for more than 3 years. Because both of the producers are involved with Palestine solidarity work, many shows have been devoted to educating the public about this issue.
Highlights of past shows are listed below. To listen to a segment, click on the title:
An interview with local Palestinian American activists
An interview with two Minnesota activists recently deported by Israel
A presentation by Anna Baltzer
During the week of November 4-11, IJAN-Twin Cities was pleased to endorse three visiting speakers: Omar Barghouti, Cynthia McKinney and Ala Jaradat.
Omar Barghouti spoke on November 4th, sponsored by Teachers Against the Occupation, which includes IJAN Twin Cities members. Barghouti spoke to a packed audience at the University of Minnesota, addressing the key reasons why he and other Palestinian academics and activists have initiated PACBI (the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel). Click here to view Barghouti’s talk.
U.S. politician Cynthia McKinney spoke on November 6th, presenting a lecture titled “Breaking the Siege of Gaza.”
Ala Jaradat, of Addameer - Prisoners' support and Human Rights Association, spoke twice on November 11th - at Hamline Law School in St. Paul and at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis.
IJAN Twin Cities endorsed and was represented at the Barghouti, McKinney and Jaradat events. In addition to learning from the speakers, we were able to help our allies with the Minnesota Break the Bonds Campaign to collect postcard signatures for the campaign to pressure the Minnesota legislature to divest from Israel.
As part of the "Overcoming Racism, Why IS It So Hard?" conference in St. Paul, Minnesota, on November 6-7, 2009, IJAN Twin Cities co-organized, with the Al-Aqsa Institute of Minnesota, a session titled “Palestine 101, Occupation, Racism and Apartheid – Palestinian & Jewish Perspectives.” Along with educating racial justice activists on the issue of Palestine, this session highlighted the intersections of Palestine solidarity issues with anti-racism work in general. Twin Cities’ Palestinian and Jewish activists, who have worked together for a just peace, shared their personal stories and perspectives on the situation in Palestine under Israeli military occupation along with a history of Palestine to counter the dominant Zionist narrative.
IJAN Twin Cities also created and presented: “Overcoming Zionism: What Anti-Racist Activists Need to Know.” We presented the workshop twice –as a 90 minute session and a 60 minute session. This interactive/ experiential workshop used popular education techniques to explore how the dominant discourse around Palestine, Israel and Zionism upholds institutionalized racism. The workshop started from the premise that participants were already committed to working for racial justice and attempted to examine how our inability to confront and challenge Zionism compromises our work for social justice more broadly. We shared two versions of a historical narrative and examined how language is used to privilege some while marginalizing others. We prepared a power-point slideshow to illustrate the parallels between racism, colonialism and zionism “on the ground.” The workshop concluded with a group exercise designed to develop tools to challenge the dominant discourse and engage in effective dialogue.
IJAN-TC hosted a "Picnic for Palestine" on Sunday, August 9th in Minneapolis. Over a dozen other local groups who also work to support justice in Palestine and the region were present. The picnic was designed to build relationships between activists and organizations already engaged in this work. "We see folks at rallies and protests, but we don't really know one another," remarked one of the participants. Along with great informal networking, each group had the chance to introduce themselves. Around 60 people attended.
On Sunday, December 28,2008, at 7:00 P.M. we held a vigil in solidarity with the people of Gaza. Over 200 people, Muslims, Jews & Christians attended. This vigil, called on short notice, earlier today, was organized by the St. Louis Instead of War Coalition & St. Louis Women in Black.
| Anti-colonialist Israeli citizen appeals to UNESCO to revoke Israel's membership |
Confronting Racism and Israeli Apartheid
for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions against Israel
