May 2005

http://alawda.newjerseysolidarity.org

Successful Al-Awda Convention Held in Los Angeles

Al-Awda, the Palestine Right to Return Coalition held its Third Annual International Convention at the University of California in Los Angeles on the weekend of April 15-17, 2005. The convention entitled "Empowering the Palestine Right to Return Movement" was attended by hundreds of activists from the US, Canada and elsewhere, who came together to learn, discuss and share their ideas at a time when our voices are needed most.

The convention, which coincided with a number of Palestinian national anniversaries, including Palestinian Prisoners' Day, featured keynote Palestinian speakers Jaber Suleiman, founder of Aidoun from Lebanon and Sahar Francis, Addameer attorney from Palestine, as well as a former political prisoner, Akram Al-Ayassa, for whom the convention was the final U.S. stop on the political prisoner tour sponsored by Sumoud.

The convention opened on Friday night with presentations by Zahi Damuni, of Al-Awda California, and Lamis Deek, of Al-Awda New York, summarizing the work between Al-Awda's last anual convention and this convention, and kicking off a plan of action for the convention weekend. While hip-hop and spoken word performances, featuring Mark Gonzalez, Jade, Ahmed and Shaheed, took place in the main conference room, a recorded presentation by Dr. Salman Abu Sitta of the Palestine Land Society and Right to Return Congress played several times, laying out the history of the right to return movement and plans for achieving the return. The day-long organizing and strategizing workshops on Saturday followed an opening morning plenary session which included Dr. Saree Makdisi, Dr. George Bisharat and Elias Rashmawi. While the morning plenary provided a political and scholarly anchoring for the convention, the convention-wide workshop that followed, focusing on refugee support, emphasized practical programs and initiatives among the refugee communities in exile to support those communities in their struggle for justice, liberation and return. Jaber Suleiman of Aidoun, Randa Jamal of Al-Awda New York and Amanda Levin of the Coalition Against the Deportation of Palestinian Refugees in Montreal detailed programs and initiatives to serve as the basis for future and expanded work. The convention's workshops explored the wide range of activities characterizing the right to return movement in North America, from building in the Palestinian and Arab communities to coalition-building, focuses on women, youth, and students, cultural activism and struggle, and focuses on divestment, media campaigns, political prisoner work, and other targeted campaigns.

The student session was particularly large and well-attended by students from a variety of campuses, who made plans to develop and reactivate an Al-Awda student network that would provide a central focus on the right to return in campus work across the country, with coordinated weeks of action, tours and communication between campuses and groups across the country.

A Palestinian cultural night special event capped the second day of the convention. At this event, participants enjoyed an evening of poetry, folkloric dabke dance performed by the youth of Beir Zeit Society of Southern California, music by world famous maestro and violinist Dr. Nabil Azzam, and Palestinian and Arab nationalist songs by gifted Palestinian singer Worood, who mesmerized the crowd, especially with her rendition of Fairuz's "One Day We Shall Return". This was followed by a Palestinian fashion show and readings of essays from children in the refugee camps. In addition, the Saturday night event featured "Palestine: The Exodus & The Odyssey", an outstanding exhibit by Palestinian artist Ismail Shammout.

On Sunday morning, a general meeting was held in which the results of the workshop deliberations and resolutions were shared and discussed further.