In the summer of 2010, Students Boycott Apartheid (SBA) will run its second delegation to Palestine of university students, faculty, and staff who are committed to supporting the Palestinian civil society call for boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) against Israeli apartheid.
We have been inspired by the growth of powerful activism on campuses throughout the US and beyond in the past year, and we look forward to thinking and planning with you to make this program as useful and strategic as possible to you and to the movement as a whole.
WHO:
We hope to travel with about two people from each of several college and university campuses. Participants should be students, faculty, and staff who are connected to an activist community or organization that is committed to or has been doing BDS work on campus. Participants should have at least one year of studies left and/or plan to be involved in the campus community for at least another year, preferably longer. We especially encourage newer students to apply. We encourage you and your group to think strategically about who would benefit from this experience and most effectively use the connections made on this trip to promote BDS on campus. For example, does it make sense on your campus to send two people from two different campus organizations? What about a student senator? A faculty member or advisor?
WHAT:
We will travel throughout the West Bank and “48 Palestine (Israel), and have conversations with activists in Gaza and those in exile as well. Through our meetings and visits, we will come to understand the many ways that Israeli apartheid functions, using the framework of the BDS call which highlights Palestinian people living under military occupation, Palestinian citizens of Israel, and Palestinian refugees. We will also meet with supportive Israelis.
We will also participate in a global student activist conference organized by the Right to Education campaign at Birzeit University. We will network about BDS and other student activism with Palestinian students and others from around the world, and we will end with workshops for our group in order to think collectively about how to make the best use of the experience upon return to North America.
WHEN:
July 17-31, 2010
WHY:
· To strengthen individual student and faculty activists” commitment to BDS work and to further develop their skills and knowledge through first-hand experience;
· To strengthen the connections between students and other activists in the North America and in Palestine;
· To help advance BDS work on university campuses in the US, strategically promoting collective BDS and Palestinian advocacy in connection to the larger Palestinian rights movement.
COST:
The cost will be approximately $800-$1,000 per participant. This does not include airfare to and from Palestine. We encourage each campus to think of this as a group investment, and to help fundraise to send people.
FACILITATORS:
Hannah Mermelstein (co-founder of Birthright Unplugged and BDS activist in NY) and Lubna Alzaroo (Bethlehem University student), two of the founders of the Students Boycott Apartheid program last year, will facilitate this summer”s program.
APPLICATION:
If interested, please e-mail studentsboycottapartheid[at]gmail.com for an application. Application deadline is Friday, May 28, but please e-mail us as soon as you know you are interested, so we can begin to get a sense of which schools are represented.
Please do not let any ID/citizenship issues stop you from contacting us. We will try to work with you to make this possible if it seems like a good match.
We”re excited to hear from you and work with you!
