- Action Palestine
Action Palestine is a UK wide student body, dedicated to defending Palestinian rights on university campuses around the UK. Action Palestine is non-party affiliated organization established in 2006.
Action Palestine is concerned with building a strong movement on UK campuses for defending Palestinian rights. It aims to achieve this by facilitating cooperation between pro-Palestine societies and individuals on UK campuses.
Action Palestine works closely with over 15 Palestine societies and numerous numbers of like minded individuals on UK campuses. Their work often takes the shape of building and/or facilitating national campaigns like the Anti-apartheid week- the biggest Anti-Apartheid campus protest since the fall of Apartheid South Africa that took place in Feb ’08, and they also launched and took a leading role in the “Trapped in Gaza”, the campaign for Palestinians locked in Gaza due to the Israeli blockade.
Right to Education in Palestine
Action Palestine is a student organization and therefore seeks to raise awareness of the plight of students in Palestine. The brutal Israeli Occupation has consistently denied the Right to Education for Palestinians – a right that is enshrined in the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Its attacks on schools and Universities, the restrictions on movement and the general economic and social oppression of Palestinians are part of a frontal assault on basic rights in Palestine, especially the Right to Education.
Action Palestine believes that the struggle for the Right to Education in Palestine is a crucial campaign that can highlight both the oppression suffered by Palestinians as well as the reasons for that oppression. A campaign to twin a British Students’ Union with a Palestinian one, like the recent campaigns at the LSE, University of Manchester, Leeds and many others raise many issues about the Occupation, while at the same time extending much-needed solidarity. It is through campaigns like this that we can challenge the pro-Israeli propaganda both in Britain and in Palestine.
Anti-Apartheid Week
Anti-apartheid week that took place in Feb ’08 was the biggest Anti-Apartheid campus protest since the fall of Apartheid South Africa.
The movement against the apartheid in South Africa was particularly strong in many UK universities, we believe to defeat apartheid in Palestine, there needs to be a strong mass anti-apartheid movement like that against apartheid in South Africa.
The anti-apartheid week was a week-long series of events held concurrently across various UK campuses and included lectures, informational booths, cultural events, film screenings and demonstrations.
The week received a lot of media coverage, some negative and some position, and for sure created lots of debate on UK campuses.
External links
* [http://www.actionpalestine.org Action Palestine official website]
* [http://www.manap.org.uk Action Palestine student society at the UMSU]
* [http://www.palsoc.org.uk Palestine Society at LSE-SU]
* [http://www.leedspsg.org Palestine Solidarity Group at Leeds University SU]
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