AUSTRALIANS FOR JUSTICE AND PEACE IN PALESTINE
PO Box 619, WODEN, ACT , 2606. ph. 0417 269 984
29 March 2010 MEDIA RELEASE
STOP ISRAELI APARTHEID
AJPP are participating in the Global Day of Action for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions against Israeli apartheid with two actions on Tuesday 30 March 2010.
The first will be a non-violent protest against the sale of Israeli products at the Dead Sea Secrets stall in the Canberra Centre (outside the Oxfam Shop) at 12.30pm.
The second is a public meeting with speakers Sara Dowse: A family journey and also Michael Shaik: Is this apartheid?
at 6:30 pm Tuesday 30 March
Johnson Auditorium, Pilgrim House, Northbourne Ave (just north of Jolimont Centre), Civic
(Interviews can be arranged prior to the public meeting – call 0417 269 984.)
Sara Dowse is a prize-winning author and women”s rights activist. Sara has spoken out strongly against the Israeli attacks on Gaza in 2009 and is one of the Jewish petitioners renouncing the right of return for Jewish Australians to return to Israel. She was the inaugural head of the Women”s Affairs Section of the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet (which become the Office of the Status of Women).
Michael Shaik is the Public Advocate for Australians for Palestine, a Melbourne-based organization that advocates for a just solution to the Israel/Palestine conflict and works to raise awareness of the conflict”s dynamics among the Australian public. From January to April 2003 he worked as the media coordinator for the International Solidarity Movement – an organization that works with Palestinians to non-violently resist the Israeli occupation. When he tried to return to Palestine to resume his work, he was jailed and deported for unspecified “security reasons”. He is a contributor to two books on the role of non-violent direct action in the struggle for Palestinian independence and has commented on Israeli-Palestinian affairs for The Age, The Australian, The Canberra Times, ABC Radio National”s Perspectives program and SBS Radio”sWorld View
For background information on Israel as a colonial and apartheid regime, see the South African report done by their Human Sciences Research Council 2009, published at: http://www.hsrc.ac.za/Research_Publication-21366.phtml
For more information on the Global BDS campaign see http://www.bdsmovement.net/
Contact: Sara Dowse: 0432 152 956 Michael Shaik 0431 573 368
Kathryn Kelly 0417 269 984 or Dr Kevin Bray 0406 376 878 – AJPP
