Phil, Alex and Annie are in Philadelphia for the Penn BDS conference, and while we wait for their first report we thought we’d bring you up to speed on the story to this point. Here was our reporting in the lead up to the conference:
- BDS comes to Penn, 12/25/11
- A personal appeal– PennBDS needs your help, 1/9/12
- Abunimah and Woolsey debate BDS in the ‘Philadelphia Inquirer’, 1/29/12
- Opponents of Penn conference say: BDS bad, war good, 1/30/12
- Anti-Defamation League reprises debunked quote in attempt to discredit Helena Cobban and Penn BDS conference, 2/1/12
- Penn boycott conference is target in viral scare game, 2/2/12
- Penn’s president condemns article likening BDS conference to Nazism as ‘counter to her personal values and civility’, 2/2/12
- When Desmond Tutu got the ‘Penn BDS’ treatment, 2/3/12
- Barghouti: Attacks on the Penn BDS conference reveal panic that Israel is losing hearts and minds, 2/3/12
- Dershowitz justifies war on Iran (and Iraq? again?)– and Mort Zuckerman rides shotgun– in fresh attacks on BDS conference, 2/3/12
- Alumni donor threats and more Nazi analogies as the world awaits Penn BDS conference, 2/3/12
- Archbishop Desmond Tutu endorses PennBDS conference, 2/3/12
- Should Alan Dershowitz refuse to take himself seriously?, 2/4/12
Here is a message Omar Barghouti recorded for the conference that was played earlier today:
Alex Kane is live-tweeting from the conference. Follow him below or at twitter.com/mondoweiss:
Thank you, Phil, Alex and Annie, from all of us for attending and speaking. It is an important cause.
And congrats, Phil, for your ADL ranking and honor! Their values (see Norman Finkelstein for that) are unfortunately recently upside down.
While waiting for these reports (contributors/commentors Ahmed Moor, Phan Nguyen and commentor Pamela Olsen are also on the program), I listened to Ali Abunimah’s speech at the November 2009 BDS conference at Hampshire College, MA.
https://mondoweiss.mystagingwebsite.com/2009/11/ali-abunimahs-speech-at-hampshire.html
I was headed over and then found out the conference was full with a waiting list of 250. Also talked with some of the organizers and they said that many of the panels will be taped. At the Move over Aipac conference (now Occupy Aipac) last year Noura Erakat knocked my socks off. Brilliant, well spoken, clear on the issues, not afraid to call it like it is. Really wanted to hear her again. Anyway next year. Will be great to hear Phil, Alex and Annie’s reports. Hope to see the video footage also. Nothing like hearing what is said directly and not someone’s interpretation. But trust the Mondo team to do it up right
The retreat action from the Jewish organisations over BDS and what happens to Israel is going to be brutal.
They will resist change until there is no point in resistance. This is their biggest fear for Israel :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G6ajuhikl7A
sometimes I feel so insecure….