[Imc-newsroom] Re: Peace digest, Vol 1 #152 - 2 msgs

[Molly Stentz]

Hi Al,

I think this would make a good headline for Monday's IMC News Hour. Do you
have contact information for anyone in the group who could do a brief
interview before Monday?
Thanks.

-Molly

> --__--__--
>
> Message: 2
> Date: Fri, 22 Feb 2002 00:31:46 -0600
> To: peace at lists.groogroo.com
> From: Al Kagan <akagan at uiuc.edu>
> Subject: [Peace] Fwd: DI AD - divest from Israel
>
> >Delivered-To: akagan at alexia.lis.uiuc.edu
> >Delivered-To: SF-TALK at listproc.prairienet.org
> >Delivered-To: SF-TALK at prairienet.org
> >Date: Thu, 21 Feb 2002 23:25:48 -0600 (CST)
> >From: aaron michael love <amlove at students.uiuc.edu>
> >X-X-Sender:  <amlove at ux13.cso.uiuc.edu>
> >To: <SF-TALK at prairienet.org>
> >Subject: DI AD - divest from Israel
> >Sender: owner-sf-talk at prairienet.org
> >Status:
> >
> >TODAY (Fri, 22 Feb) you will find an AD in the DAILY ILLINI (pg 3, below
> >campus events) requesting that the University of Illinois divest from
> >companies that have significant dealings with or within Israel.
> >
> >Urbana-Champaign Unity and Struggle (UCUS), is spearheading this
> >campaign at the U of I.  The University should not morally associate
> >itself with the Israeli apartheid/colonial economy nor the weapons
> >manufacturers who supply one of the most powerful armies in the world.
> >U of I should withdraw its financial support for Israel.
> >
> >The attacks on the very social fabric of the Palestinian people in
> >Palestine/Israel demands that we, as students and community members in
> >the United States, mobilize in word and deed to show that we will take
> >this no longer.  We cannot rely on moral appeals to the State
> >Department, the Israeli government, the Arab governments or the United
> >Nations.  The status quo serves their interests and it is time for a
> >people-to-people foreign policy in Israel/Palestine and the wider Middle
> >East.
> >
> >It was the role of students in the 1980s that helped end South Afrika's
> >apartheid system.  Today it is our role to do the same to end Israeli
> >apartheid.  Divestment is one political tool that was used during the
> >previous anti-aparthied movement.  It is grassroots organizing to
> >pressure large institutions, such as the U of I, to sever any financial
> >ties to the state of Israel through the companies in which it invests.
> >
> >By divesting we shame companies like Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Raytheon,
> >Caterpillar and AT&T that openly deal with oppressive regimes.  We force
> >companies to question whether they will do business that profits from a
> >state that practices racism and all the brutal policies that follow.  As
> >Israel becomes more internationally isolated, Israel will have to come
> >to the negotiating table as a peer, not a dictating power than can
> >impose any solution it wants to on the Palestinian people.
> >
> >Currently, only the University of California and the University of
> >Illinois have been asked to divest.  We also join the city residents of
> >Ann Arbor, Michigan in their divestment efforts and the national boycott
> >of Israeli goods in Britain.  Recently, UCUS returned from a national
> >conference on divestment and Palestinian solidarity, attended by
> >representatives of 25 universities around the United States and Canada.
> >As the new "Palestinian Solidarity Student Movement", we expect new
> >divestment campaigns to begin at many other universities in the coming
> >months.
> >
> >We hope that you will express your support for this advertisment in the
> >coming days to your friends, neighbours and colleagues and on the
> >opinions pages of the Daily Illini and other local papers.
> >
> >If you wish, please join us or stop by and say hello on the Quad today
> >from 11:50 to 1PM as we hold a silent picket in recognition of the over
> >two dozen Palestinian dead and hundreds wounded this week.
> >
> >Thank you very much for your time and please feel free to contact us if
> >you have any questions or would like to help with our efforts.
> >
> >Sincerely,
> >
> >Urbana-Champaign Unity and Struggle
>
>