Well, the public meeting was a success, and it was great to see so many fresh faces debating the issue with the big names. I certainly learned a lot; every time Andy and Becky speak about their experiences volunteering in the West Bank with ISM I always feel a terrified, disgusted yet determined urge to go out there. Chris Nineham from Stop the War Coalition was also a powerful voice, urging and inspiring activists to take charge of their movement for peace around the world. Dr Marcello Svirsky expressed his support for our campaign, adding that it was very hard for him to see his native Israel behaving in the way it does. And the letter from Gaza read by Leanne Wood AM, which attempted to describe the extent of the devastation after the Israeli bombing, left the room stunned.
The next event CSAW recommends for everyone is the Debating Society event on Friday:
DEBATE ON: THE MIDDLE EAST AND BRITISH FOREIGN POLICY
TOWARDS HAMAS AND ISRAEL
Friday 20th March 09,
18.30-20.30,
Julian Hodge lecture theatre,
Colum Drive (Just off Colum Rd) CF10 3EU.
TOWARDS HAMAS AND ISRAEL
Friday 20th March 09,
18.30-20.30,
Julian Hodge lecture theatre,
Colum Drive (Just off Colum Rd) CF10 3EU.
"At least in spirit, British foreign policy is dictated by the will of the people. This means being heard is paramount and expression of one’s concerns and beliefs has never been more important. However, how we express our concerns and beliefs has never been so chaotic. We hear a great deal of emotionally charged, shouting and chanting but we no longer get to take part in discussion and debate and without understanding the merits of each other’s opinions a peaceful solution cannot be created here let alone be applied in the Middle East."
Speakers:
Jenny Willot MP – Social activist and Liberal Democrat MP for Cardiff Central.
Douglas Murray - Neocon Author, member of the European Institute for the Study of Contemporary Antisemitism, former director of the Centre for Social Cohesion in Westminster, London & support of Israeli right to defence.
Dr. Abdalla Yassin – Social activist and Chair of the Muslim Council of Wales.
Dr. Chris Norris – Distinguished Research Professor in Philosophy, An out spoken critic of the Israeli occupation in Gaza and leading literary critic.
Rhydian Morgan – Opinion writer, public speaker and Expert on international politics and law.
Willard Foxton – Barrister, novelist, and documentary producer for the BBC.
Andrew Fitch – legendary speaker and the debating community’s most influential judge.
Matthew Clarke – reigning debate champion of Wales, and larger than life orator on social justice, medicine & Ireland.
Julie Morgan – Labour MP for Cardiff North.
The organisers promise a fully interactive debate whereby people from the floor can make themselves heard. Therefore it is really important that we get a strong pro-Gaza contingent down to the event to argue that the reality of life for Palestinians is unbearable and should be unacceptable for the international community. The British government made token noises of condemnation during Israel's blitzkrieg in January, and then sent warships to join the naval blockade of Gaza, effectively helping Israel ensure that this marginalised, impoverished civilian population, who had just endured 22 days of assault from the land, sea and air, were still blockaded in their strip of land without adequate access to aid.
Anyway. Cardiff Students Against War is going to be relatively quiet for a couple of weeks as we all have essays and dissertations to finish in barely adequate periods of time. But stay tuned! We plan to be highly active next term, and plans are already underway for film screenings, and a benefit gig that looks set to be a corker!
If you want to do something RIGHT NOW we would greatly appreciate it if you could send Cardiff Uni Vice Chancellor Dr David Grant an email in support of scholarships for Gazan students. A template email is below; just copy it, paste it into a new email, edit what you like and add your name to the end, then send it to v-c@cardiff.ac.uk. The more you can personalise it the more impact it's going to have, so feel free to let Dr Grant know some of the realities of the situation in Palestine, but remember to keep it polite.
Dear Dr David Grant,
I am writing in support of a student campaign to provide 5 one year scholarships to students from conflict areas, with some reserved for Palestinian students.
I believe that through its investments in the arms trade, Cardiff University was complicit in providing the weapons which have destroyed the lifes of so many Palestinians, and the bombing of schools and universities in Gaza has undermined the universal right to education. Therefore we as a university community have a duty to provide students from Gaza with access to education.
A Gaza awareness meeting was held last week which was well attended and very supportive of this campaign.
I ask you to reconsider your previous decision not to provide scholarships and provide real material aid to those affected by the terrible attacks on Gaza.
I look forward to your reply.
Yours Sincerely,
That's all for now, stay tuned for our up and coming events!
Love,
Dan
CSAW
