Arab Movement of Women Arising for Justice (AMWAJ), the International Jewish Solidarity Network – USA, Left Turn Magazine, and the Palestinian Popular Conference Network have brought together organizations and activists from across the country to develop this crucial track that will explore connections between Palestine Solidarity and domestic struggles for justice; reframe the issue of Palestine as a liberation struggle; analyze the history of US imperialism leading up to the current situation in Palestine and the Middle East; and foster discussions on how to build our movement.
Please join us in using this opportunity to come together for important discussions that will help us move beyond our isolation and build a stronger movement for justice.
Thursday, June 28
Facts on the Ground in Palestine: Approaching Apartheid 3:30p-5:30p
International C room at the Westin Hotel
How Israeli policies of house demolitions, settlement expansion, the building of the Separation Wall, along with displacement and control of resources are establishing apartheid in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
History of US Imperialism and Resistance in the Middle East/West Asia 1:00p-3:00p
Athena room at the Atlanta Marriott Downtown.
The Middle East/West Asia is the focus of US imperialism today and no country has been spared. This workshop will have speakers and a discussion the US’s role in Lebanon, Palestine, Iran, Iraq and regionally.
The Role of Anti-Zionist Jewish Organizing in Palestine Solidarity 1:00p-3:00p
International C room at the Westin Hotel.
Building a challenge to the racist ideology and religious supremacy political Zionism encourages and holding the governments we live under accountable for the economic, military and political support of the Israeli colonization of Palestine.
Women, War and Water 1:00p-3:00p
Socrates room at the Atlanta Marriott Downtown
This panel will expose the toxic track record of the U.S. Military Industrial Complex, as well as highlight issues of water and conflict around the world, which women bear the brunt of and are on the front lines in raising opposition.
9:00p: Opening Event at Palestine Tent!
Friday, June 29
BDS 101: From South Africa to Palestine 1:00p-3:00p
Second Floor Meeting Room room at the Central Library
An overview of the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions movement, and direct experience of BDS organizers, including speakers from Palestine, and how to strengthen the US BDS movement and how to overcome its weaknesses.
Blind Leading the Blinded: Militarization and Sexual Violence 10:30a-12:30p
Centennial Ballroom A room at the Atlanta Marriott Downtown
This workshop seeks to engage a critical conversation about how “social issues” like sexuality and women’s rights are historically and intimately linked to the Palestinian national movement as well as how Western portrayals of those social issues have been used to debase the national cause.
Forced Displacement and the Right to Return: Palestine, New Orleans, and Urban America 3:30p-5:30p
Centennial Ballroom A room at the Atlanta Marriott Downtown
The US and Israel are fighting against the grassroots struggles for the right of return for Palestinian and Katrina refugees. And creating new policies around permits and zoning displacing people of color and poor communities in the US and for Arab and Palestinian communities inside Israel.
Political Prisoners: from Guantanamo to Abu Ghraib to Palestine 10:30a-12:30p
Mezzanine Center room at the Atlanta Civic Center
Linking prisoners of occupation and imperialism around the world, including the prisoners of Iraq & Afghanistan, Guantanamo, and Palestinian political prisoners as solidarity movement work.
Unlearning Zionism: Transforming Histories of Collective Trauma towards Justice 3:30p-6:30p
Atlanta Ballroom C room at the Westin Hotel
Offering exercises, discussions and multi-media towards confronting our own struggles around identity and Zionism to create a vision of transformative justice that seeks to transform histories of European colonization of the Middle East.
Slingshot Hip Hop: Colonization and Resistance from Brooklyn to Palestine 10:30a-12:30p
Georgia Ballroom West room at the Renaissance Atlanta Hotel Downtown
Raising awareness about the struggle in Palestine and providing resources for activism. Palestinian hip hop videos, lyrics, role play exercises, documentary footage used to initiate discussions.
Building A Stronger Movement: Multi-racial organizing for Justice in the Middle East and at Home 3:30p-5:30p
NOT ADA - Room 105 room at the Little Five Points Community Center
Organized by Black, white and Arab activists from different regions of the US, this workshop is an attempt to address the lack of Black representation in the Palestine Solidarity Movement and offer strategies to increase participation.
Anti-Arab Racism and Islamophobia: Confronting Stereotypes and Dehumanization 1:00p-3:00p
Atlanta Ballroom D room at the Renaissance Atlanta Hotel Downtown.
A workshop on the many manifestations of anti-Arab racism and Islamphobia perpetuated by the US government featuring analysis and voices of Arabs and Muslims targeted by the US government, media and institutions.
Solidarity and Accountability 3:30p-5:30p
Poseiden room at the Atlanta Marriott Downtown
An analysis from various marginalized communities of the successes and failures of current solidarity movements with respect to accountability, providing the beginnings of a blueprint for increasing the accountability of solidarity activists to the communities with which they claim to be in solidarity.
Saturday, June 30
BDS for PSM activists: building a movement against Israeli apartheid 10:30a-12:30p
Socrates room at the Atlanta Marriott Downtown
This seminar is aimed at presenting the reasons and motivations for BDS, its goals and principles to the US audience. It hopes to create understanding and participation of a wider US spectrum of activists within the global BDS movements.
Digital Resistance: Palestinian Youth Media 1:00p-3:00p
Georgia Ballroom West room at the Renaissance Atlanta Hotel Downtown
Using film this workshop will challenge stereotyping of and racism towards Arabs, Palestinians in particular, and will introduce the US-Palestine Youth Solidarity Network (YSN) linking Palestinians, immigrants, and people of color.
Internal Coordination Workshop: Planning for Al-Nakba 60th Anniversary 1:00p-3:00p
Magnolia Conference Room room at the Days Inn Downtown
Preparation workshop for a broad assembly seeking to develop and draw out ideas, proposals, and actions for coordination around the 2008 60th anniversary commemoration of Al-Nakba.
Reproductive Justice in Israel/Palestine: Palestinians as the Demographic Threat 1:00p-3:00p
Socrates room at the Atlanta Marriott Downtown
Relating reproductive justice to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. Analyzing Israeli laws aimed at limiting the Palestinian population by denying them entry, denying them basic services, denying them equal access to land, and by offering incentives to procreate exclusively to Jewish-Israeli families.
6:30 PM - 8:30 PM - Gathering for Arab USSF attendees: eat, drink, socialize and connect with each other. Hosted by the Arab Resource and Organizing Center, SF and AMWAJ at the Palestine Tent
9:00pm: Screening of Occupation 101 at the Palestine Tent
“NAHR AL-BARED PALESTINE TENT” open all day, every day!
Stop by for cultural events, book releases, activist gatherings, vendor tables, evening film screenings, and an amazing display of photographs from youth in Balata refugee camp.
