Remembering Al Nakba Day as well as celebrating the steadfastness of the Palestinian people, we will also stand in solidarity with the 1000′s of Political Prisoners currently on Hunger Strike in Palestine.
We would ask all to please wear all brown or at least a brown T shirt/shirt/jacket to represent our Palestinian brothers and sisters made to wear brown in Israeli Dungeons. We will start at Union Square at 5pm until 6pm and then march over to Times Square. We need volunteers so if anyone can help in advance (printing info to hand out etc) please let us know

To endorse – please email: questions@existenceisresistance.org

Bring Flags, signs, leaflets etc. Organized by Existence is Resistance

Facebook event: https://www.facebook.com/events/139096196223014/

Come out and stand with us in UNION SQUARE, NY as our brothers and sisters in Israeli Dungeons are on their death beds DYING 2 LIVE

Some are on their 70th day with no food or water and are at risk of dying. Israel routinely jails Palestinian without charging them with any crime and denying them a fair trial or access to a lawyer. Anyone can be jailed by Israel for no reason other then Israel wanting to have maximum control on the daily lives of the Palestinian people.

Ashira Hakan an activist from Palestine reports on the amount of days some of the Palestinian hunger strikers are on:

Bilal Diab- Day 70 of hunger strike
Thaer Halahleh- Day 70 of hunger strike
Hassan Safadi- Day 64 of hunger strike
Omar Abu Shalal- Day 62 of hunger strike
Mohammad Taj- Day 51 of hunger strike
Jaafar Azzedine- Day 47 of hunger strike
Mahmoud Sarsak- Day 46 of hunger strike
Abdullah Barghouti- Day 26 of hunger strike

Over 2,500 others are also on their 21st day of mass hunger strike.

WE WILL BE IN THE SQUARE ACROSS FROM THE WHOLEFOODS
4,5 AND/OR 6 TRAINS TO 14TH STREET UNION SQUARE

Organized by Existence is Resistance

Download flyer.

Come hear Dr. Mads Gilbert’s eyewitness account treating patients in Gaza during Operation Cast Lead, as one of the only two international doctors allowed in.

Dr. Mads Gilbert, professor of medicine at the University of North Norway, specializes in anesthesiology and emergency medicine. He provided medical support in Gaza during Israel’s three-week assault in December 2008 and January 2009. Dr. Gilbert describes his experiences in his book, Eyes in Gaza, co-authored with colleague Dr. Erik Fosse. Mads Gilbert recently returned from trips to Beirut, Lebanon (March 2012) and the Gaza Strip (January 2012). Gilbert’s US lecture tour will focus on his experiences in Gaza during Operation Cast Lead and in his recent follow-up visit, while providing an up-to-date analysis of the Palestinian crisis in light of current US-Israeli foreign policy in the Middle East.

Sponsored by the Arab Student Association at SIPA, the Carol Chomsky Memorial Fund, and Hunter Students for Justice in Palestine. Co-sponsored by Columbia SJP, NYU SJP, John Jay SJP and Al-Awda NY.

For more information please visit www.chomskyfund.org.

Broader Community Plans Wednesday Press Conference In Response To New Documentation That Reveals Government Surveillance Program Expanded Far Past Muslim Communities

Press Contacts:  DRUM, Executive Director, Monami Maulik. Email: monami@drumnyc.org. Direct phone: 347.385.9113 

Who:     Community activists, organizations, religious leaders, elected officials,

             Muslim community organizations, and legal and community advocates.

What:    Press Conference in front of One Police Plaza

When:   Wednesday, March 28^th at 11:30 am EST

Why:            

The most recent set of documents revealed by the Associated Press on Friday, March 23^rd uncovers that the scope of the NYPD’s Intelligence Divisions surveillance program far exceeded what was previously known in regards to the local New York Muslim community. The now well-documented program also ensnared dozens of other local community organizations that have simply questioned or publicly opposed government policies over the past decade, including several groups specifically working on NYPD accountability. It was also revealed that the program’s geographic scope went far past Muslim student organizations across the Eastern seaboard, going as far away as public events and demonstrations down in New Orleans.

These new revelations continue to heighten and significantly broaden the very serious questions that have yet to be answered by the NYPD and elected officials surrounding this program. For weeks the local Muslim community has stood together with other leaders from around this city and decried that blanket surveillance of a community based on religion and race goes in the face of constitutional rights and to the core of what American values in this great city stand for. This cry has grown louder with these new revelations and confirms that the program was not developed as a response to security threats, but as a way of keeping track of those who have actively opposed government policies.

Representatives from surveilled organizations will be holding a press conference this Wednesday at 1p.m. EST to join the ever-growing call for greater NYPD oversight, transparency and accountability.

Organizing Groups: DRUM – Desis Rising Up & Moving, Malcolm X Grassroots Movement, War Resisters League, The International Action Center, Al Awda NY, The Ruckus Society, The Mosque of Islamic Brotherhood, Justice Committee, Peoples’ Justice for Community Control and Police Accountability, CAAAV, The New York May 1st Coalition, Domestic Workers United, and Critical Resistance.   

Endorsers: National Lawyers Guild NYC Muslim Defense Committee, Majlis ash-Shura (Islamic Leadership Council) of Metropolitan New York, CUNY CLEAR, VAMOS Unidos, Center for Constitutional Rights, SAALT, Arab American Action Network, Pakistan Solidarity Network, South Asian Solidarity Initiative, Southwest Workers Union, Pakistan USA Freedom Forum, Filipino Advocates for Justice, Dignity Campaign for Real Immigration Reform, Muslim Legal Fund of America, Masjid as-Salam, Defending Dissent Foundation, Turning Point for Women and Families, International Socialist Organization, Judson Memorial Church, Occupy Faith NYC, Trinity Lutheran Church, Project Salam, Jews Against Islamophobia, BAYAN USA, Campaign for Peace and Democracy, New York City Labor Against War, Labor for Palestine, Socialist Action, Solidarity, Blacks in Law Enforcement of America, St. Mark’s Church in the Bowery (Episcopal), Jordan Flaherty, Professor Chip Pitts (Standford Law School & Oxford University), Shamshad Ahmad, Professor Vijay Prashad (Trinity College), Aysha Ghani (list in formation)

Facebook Event: https://www.facebook.com/events/350938041607190/

Existence is Resistance calls on all that are able to please join us at an emergency rally for Hana Shalabi in Union Square in NYC this Friday.

We know its short notice but Hana has been transferred to hospital and is in and out of consciousness at this time.

Hana is a 29 year old Palestinian woman who was held over 2 years on Israels “Administrative Detention” which means you can be held 6 months at a time (renewable indefinitely) with no charges.

Israel released her during the prisoner swap for Gilad Shalit and then rearrested her 4 months later (February 16th) – she has since been on Hunger Strike entering her 35th day today.

Please come out and stand in solidarity and help us spread her message that being held with no charges under Administrative detention is unacceptable.

Left Forum 2012

The largest annual conference of a broad spectrum of left and progressive intellectuals, activists, academics, organizations and the interested public. Conference participants come together to engage a wide range of critical perspectives on the world, to discuss differences, commonalities, and alternatives to current predicaments, and to share ideas for understanding and transforming the world.

Al-Awda NY, the Palestine Right to Return Coalition, will participate in two panels at the Left Forum. Please read below and join us for these panels and this important forum.

For further information:
http://www.leftforum.org/
leftforum@leftforum.org

NYPD & Capitalist Systems:
Organizing for Police Accountability across
Black, Muslim, and Latino Communities

Pace University
Room W608
Saturday, March 17th
12:00pm – 1:50pm

The NYPD is exposed yet again in its lies by promoting the racist “The Third Jihad” video to train officers to treat all Muslim communities as potential terrorists. The NYPD infact has a long history of over-policing, abuse, and surveillance in communities of color. Communities have organized for decades for accountability from police murders, daily brutality, over-incarceration, stop and frisks, and now against surveillance and racial profiling across South Asian, Arab, and Muslim communities under the War on Terror. But how does all of this work to keep the economic social order intact between rich and poor and white and non-white communities? This panel will present the key issues in communities facing the boot of both economic crisis and over-policing/enforcement as a means of social control. Panelists will also present key organizing strategies that have been effecting, challenges, and the road ahead to fight criminalization as the other side of the coin of capitalism in the U.S.

Moderator: Monami Maulik, DRUM

Panelists: Linda Tigani, Malcolm X Grassroots Movement
Prof. Ruthie Wilson Gilmore, CUNY Graduate Center
Lamis Deek, Al Awda
Rafael Samanez, VAMOS Unidos (Street Vendors Mobilizing and Organizing in Solidarity)
Fahd Ahmed, DRUM- Desis Rising Up & Moving
Nahal Zamani, Center for Constitutional Rights

Unite the Global 99% to Fight Imperialism, the Root Cause of Crisis and War
Sunday, March 18
3:00-4:40pm
Pace University
Room W520

For four years, a protracted economic crisis has raged across the entire capitalist world, destroying the lives of millions. And millions are fighting back. From Cairo to Kano, Athens to Oakland, Wisconsin to Wall Street, 2011 saw people around the world challenge the power of the 1 percent who caused the crisis. In July representatives of peoples movements from around the world came to Manila to build global solidarity against that power. The occasion was the 10th anniversary gathering of the International League of Peoples Struggle. This panel, sponsored by ILPS members in the U.S., will examine imperialism as the source of the power of the 1 percent and the root cause of the crisis. We will discuss the menace of new and wider imperialist wars. And we will talk about building peoples’ solidarity and a global united front to overturn that power and build a brighter future for humanity.

Panel Speakers Include:

The Kingdom of Women ~ Ein El Hilweh ~ مملكة النساء عين الحلوة

by Dahna Abourahme Documentary|2010 |54 min Lebanon

Alwan for the Arts, 16 Beaver Street, 4th Floor, New York, NY

RSVP: https://www.facebook.com/events/261293500611825/

Starring: Khadije Abd El Al, Abla Hassan, Subhiyeh Mowed (Um Mohammad), Amal Shabai, Raja’a Shabayta (Um Amer), Halimeh Shana’a, Nadia Zaatari

Rally to Defend Ahmed Ferhani

Tuesday, March 13, 2012

9 am to 12 noon, 100 Centre Street, Manhattan

In recent months the Associated Press has revealed how joint CIA/NYPD infiltration and surveillance of Arab and Muslim communities, starting in New York but expanding throughout the Northeast United States, have affected every Muslim campus group, business, and mosque. While shaken by this attempt at wholesale intimidation, the community and its allies have rallied to show their determination to protect their constitutional rights.

Now it’s time to rally in defense of one of the targets of NYPD head Ray Kelly’s repressive policies. March 13^th is the next court hearing for Ahmed Ferhani, a 26-year old Algerian-American and Queens resident, entrapped and framed up by Kelly.

Leonard Levitt in his June 20, 2011 “NYPD Confidential” column makes clear the fraudulent nature of this indictment, which is symptomatic of the spying and frameup policies of Kelly as well as the FBI and Department of Homeland Security.

After noting that the FBI wouldn’t touch the case because it was so flimsy and because they didn’t trust the NYPD’s undercover informer, Levitt reported that Ferhani’s lawyers said police knew he had a history of mental problems and had been institutionalized up to 30 times. The lawyers compared the case to that of the Panther 21, arrested in 1969 and charged with conspiracy to blow up department stores and the New York Botanical Gardens. After a trial that lasted two years, a jury acquitted all the defendants in 45 minutes.

The 1969 frameup was similarly the product of a reign of surveillance terror against an entire community: this time the Black community. Said Levitt: “Their acquittal was an embarrassment for the Manhattan District Attorney and for the NYPD, whose intelligence unit, known as BOSSI, had infiltrated various political groups. A result was the Handschu agreement, which placed limits on police investigations of political groups.

As Levitt makes clear, the recent revelations show Kelly’s multistate surveillance program is an outright rejection of Handschu and other limits on arbitrary power fought for by oppressed communities for decades.

This is the same Kelly, of course, whose “Stop and Frisk” policy terrorizes entire Black and Latin@ communities, as every young man and woman in those communities walks the street fearing harassment, arrest or even murder at the hands of the NYPD. (This is part of what Michelle Alexander has so correctly labeled “The New Jim Crow.”)

End selective, abusive and fake prosecutions!

Stop NYPD/CIA Surveillance of the Muslim community!

End Stop and Frisk!

Manhattan Criminal Court, 100 Centre St. between White & Leonard Sts.

Part 51, Judge Obus

Transit: N, Q to Canal; J, Z to Canal; #4, 5, 6 to Brooklyn Bridge-City Hall; R to City Hall; A, C to Chambers; #1, 2, 3 to Chambers

TO CO-SPONSOR THIS RALLY or for more info: defendahmedferhani@gmail.com or call 347 341-2521

Sponsored by the Committee to Defend Ahmed Ferhani

This year, the conference’s Palestine program includes plenary talks by Lamis Deek, co-chair of Al-Awda NY, and Andrew Dalack of the US Palestinian Community Network. We hope to see you there!

Palestine

at the UNAC national peace conference in Stamford, CT

March 23-25

It’s a chance for Palestinian rights activists to strategize and to link up with hundreds of activists involved in other anti-war and civil liberties and climate issues.

Speakers to the whole Conference:

Lamis Deek co-chair of Al-Awda New York, the Palestine Right to Return Committee http://al-awdany.org/

Andrew Dalack, Coordinating Committee, US Palestinian Community Network http://uspcn.org/

The two workshops on Palestine:

Workshop 1: “Palestine, Strategies for Liberation”
Chair: Nada Khader, Executive Director of WESPAC Foundation www.wespac.org
Lamis Deek, Co_Chair al-Awda New York
Andrew Dalack US Palestinian Community Network
As’ad AbuKhalil (via video) the Angry Arab blogger www.angryarab.blogspot.com Professor USC Stanislaus
Mazin Qumisiyeh (via video) Palestinian activist in Beit Sahour, Occupied Palestine, longtime professor at Duke and Yale

———————————-

Workshop #2: “Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions : Join Palestinian Non-Violent Resistance to Occupation”

Moderator: Stanley Heller, producer of “The Struggle” TV News
Ethan Heitner – artist, activist, Brooklyn,
Yasmine Moor – Adalah, NY
Students for Justice in Palestine - Boston

Resolutions on the issue for Conference Adoption. See Proposed Action Program at UNAC website (www.UNACpeace.org). You can send in amendments and/or resolutions for voting on in the plenary to UNACpeace@gmail.com. Join the Palestine Solidarity Caucus to promote Palestine solidarity activism at the conference by sending an email to: Palestine-solidarity-caucus-subscribe@googlegroups.com.
Take Part in working on those below (or create your own resolutions on Palestine work)

Resolutions that will be Proposed:
Specific ideas on the strategy of boycott, divestment and sanctions
Support for the Palestinian Contingent in the NATO-G8 May protest in Chicago on May 19
Calling for Unions and State Governments to Shed their Israel Bonds

Finally, UNAC has huge bills to pay for the convention that are due well before the convention. Could you please register in the next few days.

To register or learn more about other aspects of the conference www.UNACpeace.org.

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