Category Archives: Events

MN Break the Bonds Campaign events

Events, Featured

Josh Ruebner discusses his book Shattered Hopes

Josh Ruebner flyerJosh Ruebner, National Advocacy Director of the US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation, will be in the Twin Cities to discuss his book Shattered Hopes: Obama’s Failure to Broker Israeli-Palestinian Peace. The book describes the failures of the Obama administration to bring peace to the Middle East.

Phyllis Bennis, director of New Internationalism Project, Institute for Policy Studies, has written: “…this book provides a welcome clarity that cuts through years of stale disinformation.” Bill Fletcher, Jr., writer/activist and past president of the Trans AfricaForum wrote “Josh Ruebner has offered a badly needed contribution to a discussion that is all too often suppressed in the mainstream media.”

Read more at www.shattered-hopes.com.

The event is sponsored by Friends for a Nonviolent World, Minnesota Break the Bonds Campaign, and Middle East Peace Now. It is endorsed by Jewish Voice for Peace Minnesota, Minnesota Coalition for Palestinian Rights, and Women Against Military Madness – Middle East Committee.

 

Mr. Ruebner will be speaking and signing copies of his book at Christ the Redeemer Lutheran Church, 5440 Penn Ave. South, Minneapolis, MN 55419 at 7:00 pm November 20, 2013.

Events

Fast Times in Palestine Author Pamela Olson Draws Large Crowd in Rochester

Fast Times in Palestine author Pamela Olson Draws Large Crowd in Rochester

By Darlene Coffman

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On October 29, 2013 in the Fireside Room of a church in downtown Rochester, the MNBBC Rochester Chapter and the SE MN Alliance of Peacemakers (SEMNAP) hosted author Pamela Olson in a presentation based on her memoir:  Fast Times in Palestine:  An Affair with a Homeless Homeland.   She had spoken earlier in the day to a receptive audience of 80 high school students and their instructors at a private high school.  For a city the size of Rochester (110,000) an audience of over 60 people attending the evening event may not sound impressive, but at past events on Palestine, half that number was considered a satisfactory turnout.

Why the larger turnout?  As one of the organizers said, “There seemed to be such positive vibes in the air–I could feel it even before the program started.”  Had people come because they had checked out the author’s website where they found excerpts from her memoir and saw the awards and reviews her book had received?  We included her website on all communications, including the ad in the newspaper that one of the committee paid for; otherwise, there had been no other media coverage even though both the newspaper and local TV stations had been notified.   Quite a few people arrived with other friends or family.  On their evaluations many indicated they came because they had been invited by a friend.   Had the friend seen one of the 60 flyers that one member had delivered to houses of worship and business establishments, or had the friend received one of the 100 flyers that another member distributed in his neighborhood?    A group of women from the local Mosque seemed pleased and grateful for the program; one woman wished it had been presented in the public high schools.  One couple had been to Palestine in recent years and another was leaving soon on a trip there.

Whatever their reason for coming, they received Pamela Olson’s best effort at providing  a “sophisticated understanding of the Israel/Palestine conflict in a way that [was] enjoyable and accessible to all.”  She related her experiences and observations gathered over a two and one-half year period in the West Bank where she shared in the everyday life of Palestinians living under the Occupation—but not defined by it.   Her pictures and descriptions of the Israeli government’s system of cruelty (especially in Gaza) should shock and enrage any audience, but Ms Olson wants us to know that such oppression has not squeezed the life force out of the Palestinians.   In spite of all the check points and fences, and the incidents of violence, terror, and murder, the rhythm of life in the West Bank somehow goes on with its hospitality, special foods, harvests, celebrations, and enjoyment of the moment.

From the point of view of the organizers, the event reinforced the importance of the BDS movement and the MNBBC focus of it.   We would like to think that the larger turnout is evidence of a growing consciousness of the “facts on the ground” in Palestine, and a growing intolerance of them.   On one point we can be certain:  we owe gratitude to the Palestinians (and the Israelis who companion them) whose nonviolent resistance and remarkable resilience model for us:  to exist is to resist.

Note:   Pamela Olson is currently working on a sequel to her memoir;   Palestine, D.C.

Events, Featured

Fast Times in Palestine Author Comes to Rochester

FAST TIMES IN PALESTINE

A Book Talk with Pamela J. Olson

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 29, 2013 at 7:00 pm

ZUMBRO LUTHERAN CHURCH – FIRESIDE ROOM

624 3rd Ave. SW

ROCHESTER, MN

FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC

 Pamela Olson will discuss her book Fast Times in Palestine, a memoir set in the heart of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.  The book is an account of Olson’s experience stumbling into the West Bank on a post-college backpacking trip, becoming a journalist, and serving as the foreign press coordinator for a Palestinian presidential candidate.

Little by little, the book reveals the realities of life under occupation –social, political, geographical, and psychological—in a narrative full of beauty, suspense, cruelty, star-crossed love, and dark humor.

I have read much of the writing of this conflict, and no other book has conveyed such an authentic, penetrating, and enchanting sense of the Palestinian people and their long struggle for rights and security. — Richard Falk, UN special Rapporteur on Human Rights in the Palestinian Territories

Brimming with tension and tragedy, but also with the humor, warmth, everyday foibles, and irrepressible hopes of a people determined to live free. —Tony Karon, Time

Sponsored by SouthEast Minnesota Alliance of Peacemakers (SEMNAP) and Minnesota Break the Bonds Campaign (MN BBC)

Questions?  Darlene Coffman at 507-250-0902.

Pamela Olson’s website: http://pamolson.org

Events

Show your support at the September SBI Meeting!

Help us increase the public pressure on the State Board of Investment!

Room 123, State Capitol (75 Rev Dr Martin Luther King Jr Blvd, St Paul)

9:00 am – 10 am September 11 (But arrive early to get a seat & sign!)

Join us for the public meeting of the State Board of Investments (SBI) at the State Capital. Show your support of divestment from Israel Bonds by wearing your Minnesota Break the Bonds t-shirt, or grab a protest sign from us. We will be waiting outside the meeting room at 8:30 with signs for you. Please be on time to not disrupt this meeting.

In addition, we will be distributing our just-released White Paper to the SBI board members, entitled “Twenty Years of Failure- A Report on the MN State Board of Investment’s Neglect of Human Right.” Pick up your copy. We need you there. It is important we make a strong show of public support. Please share this important event with friends and allies.

For more information or to arrange carpool email: mn@breakthebonds.com

Events, Featured

MN BBC Third Annual Day on the Hill begins by renewing divestment demand to the SBI

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

Articles, Events, Featured

For immediate release: Anti-apartheid protestors ejected and assaulted at Timberwolves exhibition game against Israeli team

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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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Events, Past Events

From Georgia to Palestine: Connecting the Struggles Against Colonialism and Incarceration

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

Events

Teach-In at OccupyMN “Military Aid to Israel: Can Minnesota Afford It?”

Teach-In at OccupyMN THIS SATURDAY!

Brought to you by MN BBC & the U.S. Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation


Military Aid to Israel: Can Minnesota Afford It?
Presentation by Josh Reubner, U.S. Campaign
Saturday, November 6, 4:00 pm
300 South 6th St., Minneapolis
“Occupy Minnesota,” The People’s Plaza

The United States is scheduled to give $30 billion of taxpayer money for weapons to Israel between 2009 and 2018. Can Minnesotans afford this military aid to Israel? We’ll examine the financial, legal, political, and moral implications of this policy and will organize to end military aid to Israel and redirect that money to unmet needs in our communities.

Josh Reubner is a former Analyst in Middle East Affairs at Congressional Research Service, a federal government agency providing Members of Congress with policy analysis.  He holds a graduate degree in International Affairs from Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies in Washington, DC. Ruebner’s analysis and commentary on U.S. policy toward the Middle East appear frequently in media such as NBC, ABC Nightline, CSPAN, Al Jazeera, USA Today, Los Angeles Times, The Hill, Detroit Free Press, Huffington Post, Middle East Report, and more.

Josh will also be speaking at other events in Minneapolis over the week so please check out the U.S. Campaign’s Blog for the full schedule!

To get involved in planning education events like these, contact mn@breakthebonds.org.