MN BREAK THE BONDS CAMPAIGN HOLDS THIRD ANNUAL DAY ON THE HILL

[St. Paul] MN Break the Bonds Campaign (MN BBC) is a statewide campaign aimed at stopping the State of Minnesota’s investment of millions of dollars of state retirement funds in Israel’s human rights and international law violations. On March 6, MN BBC will hold its third annual Day on the Hill by first attending the State Board of Investment (SBI) quarterly meeting to express dissatisfaction with the Board’s extreme indifference to the injurious human rights consequences of its investment decisions. Following the SBI meeting, MN BBC members will then engage in constituent meetings with legislators.

The SBI is violating its own internal agency guidelines. Pursuant to SBI foreign investment guidelines, because of Israel’s dismal human rights record, as documented by official State Department reports, the SBI can only invest in Israeli securities if it finds that its fiduciary obligations would be breached by failing to do so. The SBI has failed to make any such findings. Yet, it has invested millions of dollars of taxpayer funds not only in Israel’s government bonds, knowing that Israel uses Israel Bond funds to pay for illegal settlement activities and other international law violations, but in Israeli corporations that profit from Israel’s illegal settlement activities and racial discrimination against the indigenous Palestinians as well. The SBI has been put on notice that these investments are aiding and abetting violations of international law which exposes the SBI and the state retirement funds it manages to potential liability.

Following the SBI meeting, MN BBC members will visit their legislators asking them to sponsor a bill to divest from Israel Bonds until Israel agrees to participate in the UN Human Rights Council Periodic Review Process and obtains an objectively favorable human rights review confirming that it is in compliance with its international law and human rights obligations. Israel recently became the first UN member nation ever to refuse to participate in the review process, despite efforts by the United States Government encouraging Israel to participate.

The State Board of Investment meets at 9:00 am on March 6 in room 118 of the Capitol. MN BBC members are encouraged to arrive early to get a seat in the room.

Click to read the MNBBC Letter to the SBI to Renew Divestment Demand.

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Photo: www.imemc.org

The Minnesota Break the Bonds Campaign (MN BBC) expresses solidarity in spirit and in action with the Idle No More movement and its calls for Indigenous sovereignty and rights, self-determination, and environmental protections, and against ongoing colonization, racism, genocide, and oppression.

 Though MN BBC focuses on on ending Minnesota’s complicity in Israeli settler colonialism, apartheid, and occupation in Palestine, we stand in support of Indigenous resistance to all forms of oppression and injustice worldwide. We recognize that Palestinians and the Indigenous people of the Americas have suffered ethnic cleansing and innumerable attempts to destroy their variety of cultures and identities at the hands of the very same forces of European colonization. We therefore join Idle No More in demanding the upholding of First Nations treaty rights by the Canadian government, and in demanding an end to the ongoing theft of indigenous lands and to resource exploitation and environmental devastation (including tar sands and pipelines) by corporations and governments. In addition, we are inspired and grateful for INM’s explicit call for the protection of women, land, and water and their vision for a world made up of just, equitable and sustainable communities.

As a Minnesota-based organization, MN BBC acknowledges our own state’s history of colonization of Dakota and Ojibwe lands and the profound impacts that genocide, racism, oppression, and injustice have had and continue to have on the Indigenous people of Minnesota. After over four hundred years of land theft and treaty violations, the Dakota and Ojibwe Nations have less than 4% of their historic lands and individuals and communities still have to fight for rights like fishing and hunting. We see huge disparities in health in our Native communities such as vastly disproportionate suicide rates, occurrences of mental illness, heart disease, diabetes, various forms of cancer, and increasing poverty. As a result of the historical trauma caused by the Indian Boarding School system, specifically in Morris and Pipestone locally, we see less than half of our Native students, only 42%, graduating from high school compared to an overall statewide graduation rate of 76 percent.

As an organization currently made up of mostly non-Indigenous members, MN BBC also acknowledges our role as settlers on this land. We cannot and should not work for decolonization of Palestinian lands, without being in solidarity in word and action with decolonization struggles at home. For Palestinian liberation is intrinsically tied to the liberation of Dakota and Ojibwe peoples, and to all Indigenous people worldwide. That is why we stand with Idle No More here today, and why you can count on our support in the days, weeks, months, and years to come.

Photo: montrealsimon.blogspot.com

Photo: Jihad Misharawi, BBC Arabic Correspondent, carries his son’s body at a Gaza hospital. (AP)

TAKE ACTION FOR GAZA: Stop the bombs, stop the siege, stop the blank check

[November 20, 2012] Over120 Palestinians have already been killed and 920 injured in Israel’s relentless attack on Gaza. We urge each of you to mark your calendar for at least one of the following events to join folks from across the Twin Cities and Minnesota to SAY NO TO INJUSTICE. Individually we can be ignored, but together we can make our voices heard. For the latest news on what is taking place on the ground in Gaza, visit imeu.net. In addition, check out these helpful Talking Points from the US Campaign.

We also urge you to call call your Congresspeople and demand that our government insist that Israel stop its attacks on Gaza NOW:

Congressman Keith Ellison DC 202-225-4755 or Mpls 612-522-1212
Congresswoman Betty McCollum DC 202-225-6631 or St Paul 651-224-9191
Senator Franken DC 202-224-5641 or St. Paul 651-221-1016
Senator Klobuchar DC 202-224-3244 or Mpls 612-727-5220

1. Wednesday November 21 4:30-5:30 weekly vigil on Lake Street Bridge over Mississippi (Marshall Ave on St. Paul side.) Focus will be on Gaza. Park on either side. There is a gathering for comments and announcements at 5:30 on St. Paul side. (Initiated by Twin Cities Peace Campaign, WAMM and Antiwar Committee) → This event on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/436794309710852/

2. Friday November 23

A. 12:45 PM Rochester March from Islamic Center to Govt. Center

B. 4:15-5:30 PM Weekly Palestine Vigil Summit and Snelling St. Paul

3. Saturday November 24 2:00-3:00 pm Banner / Rally / March. Gather Loring Park (Hennepin Ave. side near bandshell and near footbridge over Hennepin) (Initiated by Coalition for Palestinian Rights) → This event on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/133543070130757/

4. Wednesday November 28 12:15 PM Northrup Mall at U of M a “Die In.” (Initiated by Students for a Democratic Society and Student for Justice in Palestine)

5. Thursday November 29 4:00-5:30 PM Demonstration and Rally outside Senator Klobuchar’s office 1200 Washington Ave. (across 35W from West Bank) Following action caravan to 4200 Cedar Ave. for dinner and 6 PM forum “Who Are the Holy Land 5?” (Initiated by Committee to Stop FBI Repression)

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

October 16, 2012

ANTI-APARTHEID PROTESTORS EJECTED AND ASSAULTED AT TIMBERWOLVES EXHIBITION GAME AGAINST ISRAELI TEAM

[Minneapolis] Following in the footsteps of the sports boycott of South Africa that contributed to the demise of apartheid, approximately 20 protesters advocating for human rights for Palestinians made their presence known at the Tuesday night Minnesota Timberwolves game against Maccabi-Haifa. Palestinian flags and banners calling for a boycott of Israeli apartheid were displayed and anti-apartheid chants were heard throughout the Target Center minutes into the game clearly catching the attention of the players.

As the banners were unfurled, Target Center security accompanied by Minneapolis Police began ejecting most of the protesters who were waving Palestinian flags and the anti-apartheid banners which were equivalent in size as those waved by pro-Israel counter-protesters, who were not ejected. An experienced legal observer and civil rights attorney who attempted to film the actions of a Target security guard was assaulted by a Target security supervisor, placed under arrest by an accompanying police officer and ejected with the promise of prosecution. Several persons were witness to the incident, which was also filmed by a protester. (Click here to see the footage on YouTube.)

The game was preceded by a letter to each of the Timberwolves players signed by over 100 worldwide human rights organizations requesting that the players boycott the exhibition game against the Israeli team. In addition, hundreds of individuals added their support to this letter through an online petition, tweeting, and Facebook. The organizations, which include church, veteran, women, student and lawyer groups, have all signed onto the Palestinian Civil Society call for boycott, divestment and sanctions against Israel until Israel complies with international law and ends its human rights abuses against Palestinians.

According to the letter, the Israeli government sends cultural ambassadors, like the Maccabi-Haifa team, to Europe and the United States to present Israel as a “normal” society for the purpose of whitewashing its human rights and international law violations which include discriminatory laws and a system of apartheid. The letter can be read in its entirety on the Minnesota Break the Bonds Campaign website at http://mn.breakthebonds.org/?p=2036.

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The MN Timberwolves are scheduled to play against the Israeli team, Maccabi-Haifa, this Tuesday, October 16. This game is part of Israel’s vast public relations campaign to gloss over its crimes against humanity. One of Israel’s tactics is to send musicians, artists, and sports teams, abroad as “cultural ambassadors,” to give the impression that all is “normal” in Israel. We say apartheid should not be normalized!

A letter endorsed by over 100 human rights and community organizations was sent to each Timberwolves player, yet we have not heard a response from any of them.

Help us make our voices louder!

Sign our petition to demand “MN Timberwolves: Don’t Play with Apartheid, Boycott Israel!” http://chn.ge/QmcYTI

Tweet @MNTimberwolves using #BoycottIsraelSports between now and 7 pm on Tuesday, October 16 (game time).

Feel free to use these tweets and/or to get creative. You can just copy and paste–these are less than 140 characters, we checked!

RT if you think @MNTimberwolves should cancel their game with Maccabi-Haifa in s’port of human rights for all! #BoycottIsraelSports

RT if u think @MNTimberwolves should refuse to play Maccabi-Haifa because apartheid is not MN Nice #BoycottIsraelSports

We want to hear from you @MNTimberwolves! Will you s’port apartheid or equality? http://bit.ly/Tk924t #boycottisraelsports

RT if you think @KevinLove should boycott apartheid because love is more than just a name http://bit.ly/Tk924t #BoycottIsraelSports

–>You can also tweet at almost all the different Timberwolves players–just click on the links below!

Post on Facebook!

Make your status: Sign this petition if you think apartheid is not a game the MN Timberwolves should be playing: http://chn.ge/SXsgMt

Use this image for your cover or profile picture: http://mn.breakthebonds.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/LovBballHateApartheid.jpg

Thank you for taking action!

List of Twitter Accounts for Timberwolves players:

https://twitter.com/DlamarC33

https://twitter.com/RobbieHummel

https://twitter.com/KirilenkoJersey

https://twitter.com/leezy3

https://twitter.com/kevinlove

https://twitter.com/LukeRidnourNews

https://twitter.com/Brandon_Roy

https://twitter.com/rickyrubio9

https://twitter.com/Shved23

https://twitter.com/gregstiemsma

https://twitter.com/RealDwill7

https://twitter.com/CHILLCONROY

https://twitter.com/jtaylor8ball

On October 12, 2012, the Minnesota Break the Bonds Campaign, along with over 100 organizations from around the world, sent the following letter to each of the Minnesota Timberwolves players.

If you think the MN Timberwolves should take a stand for human rights and boycott Israeli apartheid, click here to join hundreds of others around the world who are taking action! http://mn.breakthebonds.org/?p=2075

Dear MN Timberwolves,

With a sense of urgency, we ask you to boycott the exhibition game against Maccabi-Haifa, the Israeli team that you are scheduled to play next Tuesday, October 16. Israel is committing grave human rights abuses involving an elaborate system of racial apartheid which discriminates against the native Palestinians in violation of international law. Israel’s abuses have been confirmed by the United Nations Security Council and the International Court of Justice. Israel has been convicted by the Russell Tribunal of the crime of apartheid. Nobel Laureate Desmond Tutu has described Israel’s apartheid system as worse than the apartheid that existed in South Africa. Yet, despite worldwide condemnation, Israel not only refuses to dismantle its apartheid system, but it continues to expand and reinforce it.

Join the worldwide cultural boycott of Israel. Join musicians, such as Roger Waters (of Pink Floyd), writers like Alice Walker (author of The Color Purple), academics like Gérard Toulouse (a member of the French Academy of Sciences), and many others who have all agreed to boycott Israel until Israel complies with international law and ends its human rights abuses against the Palestinians. Don’t play against Maccabi-Haifa. A sports boycott of Israel sends a powerful message to Israel that its policy of occupation, expulsion and racism against Palestinians is unacceptable.

Israel has a vast propaganda machine which wages a constant public relations campaign to gloss over its crimes against humanity. One of Israel’s tactics is to send athletic teams abroad as “cultural ambassadors,” to give the impression that all is “normal” in Israel. We say apartheid should not be normalized! If you play against the Maccabi-Haifa team, you are being used by this propaganda machine.

History has shown that what ended apartheid in South Africa was not so much the economic boycotts leveled against the country, but the sporting and cultural boycotts, which focused the world’s attention on South Africa’s inhuman and racist system of apartheid designed to subjugate its own black citizens.  Recently reflecting on the actions that brought apartheid to an end in South Africa, Reverend Tutu identified the sports boycott as essential in “conveying to the sport-crazy South Africans that our society had placed itself beyond the pale by continuing to organize its life on the basis of racial discrimination.”

Palestinians living within the Israeli borders are discriminated against by a variety of Israeli laws that include the Law of Return (1950 – allowing Jews from anywhere in the world to immigrate to Israel, yet disallowing non-Jews that opportunity), the Absentee Property Law (1950 – allowing the State of Israel to confiscate the property of Palestinians who were ethnically cleansed from their homes in 1948), and the Citizenship & Entry into Israel Law (2012 – barring Palestinian Israeli citizens from living with their non-Israeli spouses). These laws and many others discriminate against an entire segment of the population based only on ethnicity.

Palestinians living in the West Bank and Gaza are ruled by Israel under “Military Order” while Jewish Israeli settlers, who are living in the West Bank (illegally, according to Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention) are ruled under Israeli civil law. Examples of the obscene differences between the two systems of laws are Military Order number 132, which declares Palestinians under military jurisdiction from age 12 and the age of majority age 16, while an Israeli is a minor until age 18; and the Administrative Detention policy, which allows a Palestinian to be held without charge or trial for an extendable 180 days, while an Israeli may be held for only 48 hours without charge or trial. Israel allocates 48 times more water to illegal Israeli settlers in the West Bank, per person, than the Palestinians who must pay twice as much for water and electricity,  which is regularly cut off. Israel operates a modern apartheid highway system throughout the West Bank that Palestinians are prohibited from using, leaving mostly long and rugged side roads and dirt paths as the only means of transportation. Palestinian villages are cut off from one another, dividing families, and are surrounded by walls and checkpoints requiring special identification and passes to enter and exit.

Israel has made it impossible with its blockades, checkpoints and travel restrictions for Palestinian sportsmen and women to even meet together to practice as a team. In addition, Israel destroys or prevents access to the very limited training facilities available in the occupied territories. In 2006 FIFA condemned the Israeli direct strike on Gaza Stadium which it deemed was “without any reason.” Israel routinely prevents Palestinian sportsmen from attending international sports competitions.

Palestinians and their descendants who were ethnically cleansed from Israel and Palestine in 1948 have been languishing since that time in refugee camps. They have never been allowed to return home, even though the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (which Israel signed and ratified), insists that all people must be allowed to return to their homes regardless of the reason that they left.

Be on the right side of history! Don’t normalize apartheid! Boycott Israel!

Signed,

Photos:twitter.com, ticketkingminnesota.blogspot.com

October 1, 2012

The MN BBC et. al. appeal was argued in the Minnesota Court of Appeals on September 27, 2012 to a three judge panel. We were honored by a large and attentive group of community supporters who filled the appellants’ side of the courtroom, compared to the attendance of only four men in suits, including Charles Nauen, on our opponent’s side of the spectators’ gallery. Nauen, specially trained by the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs to oppose BDS, is the Minneapolis attorney hired by Israel to monitor our lawsuit following recognition by Israel Bonds that our lawsuit could affect bond investments by 30 other states. Nauen has previously served as Governor Dayton’s attorney.

Unlike Judge Marrinan, the lower court judge who dismissed our case, the appellate judges were talkative, asking questions about standing, the meaning of the language in the Minnesota investment statute and even about the difference between Counts 2 and 3. One question that was asked was whether Minnesota courts have the power to enforce treaties (like the Geneva Convention). Although it was difficult to discern from the judge’s questions on which side of the issues they might fall, Judge Peterson, the only judge with significant legislative experience, asked a key question which the SBI’s attorney not only failed to answer but instead sidestepped in a visibly evasive manner. The question was central to our absurdity argument, that Minnesota’s statutory restrictions limiting investment in foreign governmental bonds to Canadian Bonds repaid in US Dollars can only be reconciled with the “international securities” investment provision if it excludes Israel Bonds. It was apparent that Judge Peterson understands the Minnesota statute in a manner that favors our position.

However, we need 2 out of the 3 judges to vote in our favor and, as we all know, the political culture in America has long tolerated exceptional impunity when it comes to Israel’s violations of international law and the human rights of Palestinians. A recent article on OpEdNews by two MN BBC members adroitly examines how this impunity has penetrated all branches of our government and the media. It is a poignant reminder that it is more important than ever to persist in our struggle for justice.

The Court of Appeals will issue a decision within 90 days of the oral arguments, so stay tuned!

For Immediate Release

September 24, 2012

On September 27, 2012, the Minnesota Court of Appeals will hear arguments in an appeal brought by the Minnesota Break the Bonds Campaign (MN BBC) against the Minnesota State Board of Investment (SBI). The hearing is currently scheduled to begin at 11:15 a.m. in Courtroom 300 of the Minnesota Judicial Center at 25 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., in St. Paul.

MN BBC and others, including the besieged Palestinian village of Bil’in in the West Bank, sued the SBI for violating Minnesota law by investing in Israel Bonds. The appellants contend that Minnesota Statute 11A.24 restricts the SBI’s investment in foreign government bonds to Canadian Bonds, which excludes Israel Bonds. They also contend that the purchase of Israel Bonds materially supports Israel’s human rights violations and its continuing construction of illegal settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories, an internationally recognized violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention, a ratified treaty binding on Minnesota courts pursuant to Article VI of the U.S. Constitution. The appeal followed the dismissal of the lawsuit by Ramsey County District Court Judge Margaret Marrinan earlier this year.

Israel Bonds, an arm of the Government of Israel, has hired Minneapolis attorney Charles Nauen to advise them about the issues surrounding the case. Israel Bonds is concerned that the lawsuit could set a precedent for lawsuits in other states, according to a recent statement by the executive director of Israel Bonds Midwest Region. Nauen is a local pro-Israel activist and a recognized political figure in Minnesota politics, having served as Governor Dayton’s chief co-counsel during the election recount. Nauen has boasted that he has received training from the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs in tactics employed to resist the worldwide Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement.

Patterned after the South African anti-apartheid movement, the worldwide BDS movement is a response to the Palestinian call for non-violent resistance to Israel’s violations of international law and human rights in its treatment of the indigenous Palestinian population. MN BBC is an active participant in the BDS movement. Because of Governor Dayton’s position as the chairperson of the SBI and his close ties to Nauen, Israel’s retention of Nauen to represent its interests with respect to MN BBC’s Israel Bond divestment efforts raises serious questions about the extent of Israeli governmental influence in the affairs of Minnesota state government. Governor Dayton has been particularly resistant to MN BBC’s divestment demands, even after receiving information that the SBI’s investment in Israel Bonds materially supports human rights violations and illegal settlement activities in the occupied Palestinian territories.

Media are invited to attend the hearing on September 27 but must register with the court prior to bringing recording devices.

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Photo: phototour.minneapolis.mn.us

Join us for a screening of the film Hunger, followed by a discussion of the role of prisoner rebellion and resistance in our shared struggles for liberation in the U.S., Palestine, and everywhere.

September 27, 2012 | 7 pm

at the Minnehaha Free Space 3747 Minnehaha Ave, Minneapolis

Across the globe and throughout history, struggles against colonialism and imperialism have been inextricably linked with the fight against incarceration and punitive social control. In the past year alone, we’ve seen prisoner strikes from Palestine to California, Syria to North Carolina, and Chile to the state of Georgia, all vital components of broader movements for social change.

Hunger (2008) follows the events of the 1981 Irish hunger strike by political prisoners in Northern Ireland’s Maze Prison. The hunger strike was called off after 10 Irish liberation prisoners, including leader Bobby Sands, died.

Note: Hunger is not rated, but contains graphic and disturbing footage that may be inappropriate for children. Childcare will be provided for this event, with a simultaneous screening of a kid’s movie.

Sponsored by Minnesota Break the Bonds Campaign, Mizna and the Women’s Prison Book Project