May 2005

http://alawda.newjerseysolidarity.org

New Jersey Solidarity - Activists for the Liberation of Palestine: Who We Are

New Jersey Solidarity - Activists for the Liberation of Palestine is an organization engaging in activism and education to support and build solidarity for the national liberation struggle of the Palestinian people, and against imperialism and oppression everywhere. We are the publishers and editors of this publication, and we invite you to learn more about us, become involved, and join us in our work!

Our Mission

New Jersey Solidarity--Activists for the Liberation of Palestine is a grassroots organization dedicated to resistance and action in support of the Palestinian struggle for justice, national liberation, human rights and self-determination. We are dedicated to building coalitions, educating the public, spreading awareness, and organizing actions and events that highlight the pressing need for justice and spotlight ways in which we may take part in securing meaningful justice in Palestine. We are committed to standing in solidarity with the liberation struggle of the Palestinian people, supporting Palestinian resistance, and developing a strong and united resistance movement in the United States in solidarity with the liberation of Palestine.

As a movement, we are committed to standing firmly against racism and all forms of oppression, and to working in solidarity with liberation struggles of people around the world against imperialism and colonialism. We draw lessons and inspiration from earlier and continuing movements for liberation within the United States and around the world, and from the history of Palestinian resistance. Within the United States, we are committed to acting against all forms and structures of oppression, standing in solidarity with all movements for justice, and securing a foreign policy that rejects imperialism and embraces international human rights and economic and social justice. We are dedicated to exposing and highlighting the role of the United States in furthering injustice and oppression in Palestine, and call for an immediate end to all U.S. aid--political, military and economic--to Israel. We recognize our natural solidarity with all anti-racist struggles and the struggles of indigenous peoples and will work to expand our links of solidarity.

We are committed to several primary principles of unity to guide our organizing. We call for an immediate end to the Israeli occupation of all Palestinian territories, the recognition of the full, non-negotiable human right of return for all Palestinian refugees, and full political, social and economic equality under law for all people in historic Palestine. We are opposed to the existence of the apartheid colonial settler state of Israel, as it is based on the racist ideology of Zionism and is an expression of colonialism and imperialism, and we stand for the total liberation of all of historic Palestine. As an anti-racist, anti-imperialist movement, we support equality and justice for all peoples and all religious identities.

As a solidarity movement, we are committed to working fully in support of the Palestinian people's resistance movement. We unconditionally support Palestinians' human right to resist occupation and oppression by any means necessary. We are committed to building unity at local, national and international levels in order to provide the international support needed by the Palestinian people in their struggle for liberation, and we invite all that share this commitment to join us in struggle.

Our Work and Projects

There are many ways for you to become involved with NJS! Take leadership on a project, work to develop an event, engage in outreach, write articles, publicize events, organize direct actions and rallies, and more - your skills, commitment and dedication are valuable and necessary. Don't see what you're looking for here? Pioneer a new project - new and innovative ideas are the lifeblood of a vital movement.

The Palestinian people have lived with relentless oppression, dispossession and occupation for over 57 years, and have continually resisted, organized and struggled to break those chains. We can and must do all we can to support that struggle here!

Al-Awda Band from Palestine 48 performs in Jersey City

Educational Events and Activities - New Jersey Solidarity has sponsored numerous speakers and educational presentations. Academics, activists and community leaders have shared their perspectives, knowledge and analysis about Palestine with the community. Activists like South African anti-apartheid organizer Na'eem Jeenah, International Action Center director Sara Flounders, Al-Awda coordinators Rima Anabtawi and Rama Kased and Muslim American Society Freedom Foundation director Mahdi Bray, academics like Dr. Hatem Bazian of Berkeley and Dr. Joseph Massad of Columbia, writers like Tariq Ali, Ramzy Baroud and Adel Samara, Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney, artist Samia Halaby, among many others, have traveled here to share their insight and experience. We have also brought a number of speakers to address related struggles for justice, including Colombian trade unionist and anti-Coca-Cola organizer Luis Adolfo Cardona and Mexican women's leader Marisela Ortiz Rivera. New Jersey Solidarity members have also presented at educational events, including teach-ins on Palestine and Iraq, discussions of the Apartheid Wall in Palestine, presentations on divestment, and many others. We also invite local activists like Jeannette Gabriel, Dustin Langley, Conor McGrady, and Dave Pugh from groups like No Draft No Way, Al-Awda New York and the Network in Solidarity with the People of the Philippines, to speak and present, enhancing our coalition work and supporting other local groups.

Delegations and Reportbacks - New Jersey Solidarity members have participated in delegations and solidarity trips to Palestine, and we have organized numerous reportbacks for local delegations to Palestine, bringing first-hand observations and experiences from the ground in Palestine.

Film Showings - New Jersey Solidarity has sponsored numerous film showings at Rutgers University and throughout the state. There are many powerful films about Palestine that are effective and powerful in communicating both the monstrous oppression Palestinians confront daily and the continuing Palestinian will to live and resist. We have an extensive film collection and a video projector and are always looking to acquire and screen more films. We have also held a mini-film festival over a weekend, in addition to our extensive screenings of individual films. Our film holdings include Jenin Jenin, Gaza Strip, until when…, The Revolution Will Not Be Televised, Qalqilya, Lord's Song in a Strange Land, Palestine is Waiting, Divine Intervention, People and the Land, Women in Struggle, Arna's Children and others.

Cultural Events - New Jersey Solidarity has organized and sponsored events highlighting Palestinian culture and heritage. We have hosted the world-famous Ibda'a folkloric dance troupe from Deheisheh refugee camp and the Palestinian folkloric musical band Al-Awda from Palestine 48, and have presented a cultural show with a dabkeh troupe, live music, Palestinian food, poetry, and merchandise.

Musical and Artistic Events - New Jersey Solidarity has organized numerous musical and artistic events. We have presented hip-hop shows featuring local Palestinian, Arab and solidarity rappers, and brought performers such as the Iron Sheik to New Brunswick, as well as sponsoring the periodic Café Intifada, featuring diverse performers including activist collective Movement in Motion, Filipino hip-hop group Kontrast, and women of color performance group Mahina Movement. We have featured poets such as Nathalie Handal and Paul Catafago, and performers including comedian Maysoon Zayid. We have presented activist/artist Kayhan Irani's performance on detentions and immigrant rights as part of the national day of solidarity with Arab, Muslim and South Asian Immigrants. We believe art and culture are important parts of the struggle for social justice.

Protest Against Rafah Invasion in New Brunswick

Rallies and Demonstrations - New Jersey Solidarity has organized numerous rallies and demonstrations on campus, as well as working to mobilize for major actions in New York City and Washington DC, and cooperating with other student groups for joint campus actions. We have organized rallies and vigils for justice in Palestine, against the Apartheid Wall, against the Zionist invasion of Rafah, to commemorate the anniversary of the Intifada, to protest the war and occupation of Iraq, and many more. We have helped to organize for major NY and DC mobilizations, and worked with smaller coalitions to organize rallies for Palestine in the greater New York metropolitan area. We have joined with other campus groups to protest for free speech on campus and in New Brunswick, against the war and occupation of Iraq, for women's rights, and much more.

Actions and Displays - New Jersey Solidarity has also engaged in creative and direct actions on campus and in the community, including banner drops in major highway locations, the construction of mock apartheid walls to dramatize the conditions under which Palestinians live, die-ins, and other street-theater and visual actions. We have constructed displays to commemorate Al-Nakba, the 1948 occupation of Palestine and dispossession of 750,000 Palestinians.

Tabling and Outreach - New Jersey Solidarity seeks to maintain a constant presence on campus, and in the community. To this end, we regularly table, providing information about Palestine, New Jersey Solidarity events, collecting names for our announcements list and signatures for the Rutgers divestment petition. Through tabling and outreach, we seek to broadly educate the community about the situation in Palestine.

Coalition-Building - New Jersey Solidarity works very closely with several local groups, including Al-Awda New York, Al-Jisser Group and the New York Committee to Defend Palestine. We also work closely with the Troops Out Now coalition to organize demonstrations and major events. We have also worked with a number of community groups, including the New Jersey Civil Rights Defense Committee, the Free Farouk Committee, the Arab American Civic Organization, People's Organization for Progress, Inclusive Democracy Project, New Jersey Indymedia, the Central Jersey Coalition for Peace and Justice, Rutgers Acts for Peace and Justice, and others, to coordinate activities. We administer the RutgersActivism website, which seeks to provide information about diverse activist events and meetings to the Rutgers University community. We have also worked with many campus groups to co-sponsor events, rallies and activities, including the Women's Center Defense Coalition, Caellian, Islamic Society of Rutgers University, Progressive Graduate Students' Association, and many others. We believe strongly in coalition-building to raise awareness and mutual solidarity for Palestine.

Divestment Campaign - New Jersey Solidarity organizes the Rutgers Campaign for Divestment, part of a national movement to emulate the South African anti-apartheid movement of the 1980s, exposing the Zionist state as a racist, apartheid state, and demanding that Rutgers University and the State of New Jersey cease investing in corporations that continue to do business with the Zionist state despite its relentless violations of human rights law. We have obtained hundreds of signatures and seek to popularize this demand to the Board of Governors.

Ibdaa Youth Dance Troupe Performs in Newark

National and Regional Work - New Jersey Solidarity hosted the Third North American Conference of the Palestine Solidarity Movement in October 2003, despite being forced off-campus by the collaboration of NJ state government and the Rutgers University administration, by working with numerous groups across North America. NJS has also worked extensively on national projects including the Al-Awda conventions of 2003 and 2004 in Toronto and New York City, and participated in national tours, such as those of Al-Awda musical band, Ibda'a dance troupe, Palestinian writer Adel Samara, and Montreal activists Leila Mouammar and Stefan Christoff. We have raised thousands of dollars to support Palestinian refugees in Montreal facing deportation, and participated in coordinated national days of action in support of divestment, against the Apartheid Wall, and other major actions. There are many groups across North America doing critical and vibrant work in solidarity with Palestine, and we work to strengthen our ties with these groups in order to produce the most effective solidarity movement.

Palestine Children's Welfare Fund - New Jersey Solidarity sells merchandise, including keffiyehs, Palestinian olive oil, embroidered goods, and Palestinian flags, to support the Palestine Children's Welfare Fund, a charity that provides direct aid to the Palestinian people, to children's groups, and to the Union of Health Work Committees, as well as digging wells and planting trees in Palestine.

Merchandise for Fundraising - New Jersey Solidarity produces t-shirts and buttons to financially support the work that we do and to help others spread awareness about Palestine. Our products are sold at NJS events, national conferences and demonstrations, and online. We use historical artwork from the Palestinian liberation struggle as well as original artwork by NJS members in our designs.

Study Group and Activist Skillshares - New Jersey Solidarity is seeking to develop an internal study group and activist skillshares, in order for us to collectively expand and improve our knowledge about Palestine and other struggles against imperialism, and to share our knowledge and resources with one another. Past topics of discussion have included the relationship between the Black Panthers, Young Lords and the Palestinian national movement.

Websites - In addition to serving as a major outreach tool for keeping the public informed about our events and activities, the New Jersey Solidarity website also functions as a resource for activists. The website features photos and videos of our past events, an archive of our flyers and literature, an online store, links by subjects such as Women in the Struggle, Political Prisoners, the Right to Return, and maps, online versions of out-of-print classics "Our Roots Are Still Alive" and Ghassan Kanafani's "The 1936-1939 Revolt in Palestine."