In the fall of 2009, IJAN organizers attended the Campus BDS Conference at Hampshire College, the first US campus to divest from companies involved in the Israeli occupation. The conference was an inspiring gathering of students from more than 40 colleges and universities, and Palestine solidarity movement activists, working together to expand and solidify Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) work on campuses and in our communities across the U.S. Hampshire organizers shared lessons from their divestment campaign and looked to the work ahead of them to maintain divestment and grow the explicit commitment of the campus to Palestinian liberation. At the conference, IJAN organizers facilitated the following workshops in partnership with Berkeley Students for Justice in Palestine: "White Anti-Racism and Jewish Anti-Zionism: Building Alliance and Joint Struggle," "Dealing with Opposition and Backlash," and "Building and Sustaining Organizations." IJAN organizers were inspired by and excited to be a part of the Hampshire conference, and to have this opportunity to work towards making the national campus BDS movement more connected, informed, and accountable to the Palestinian call and movement for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions against Israel.

Severalscholar-activists represented IJAN's Academic Work Group at the US Assembly ofJews Confronting Israeli Apartheid and Racism, where we attended and directedworkshops, participated in roundtable discussions, and met as academics growingour network within IJAN and across anti-imperialist movements.  Currently,the IJAN Academic Work Group is collecting material for an anthology of reflections, essays, speeches, presentations and creative work presented at or emerging out of the US Assembly of Jews.  The Call for Papers is attached and downloadable by choosing "reed more" at the bottom of this text. Please send submissions to: academic.network@ijsn.net.

The IJANAcademic Work Group will hold its first meeting at the Critical Ethnic StudiesConference at UC Irvine in February 2011.  Please see the IJAN academicnetwork's statement of purpose in the entry directly below.

Stand for free speech and against Islamophobia

by signing your name in support of the

University of California Irvine's Muslim Student Union.

Background:

For years, Orange County Zionist Jewish organizations have been using false charges of anti-Semitism to try to silence the Muslim Student Union (MSU) for its Palestine solidarity activities. These groups have now convinced the UC Irvine Administration that MSU does nothave a right to exist as a campus organization.  Electronic Intifada summarizes the events of the past academic year: "In response to intense political pressure by multiple pro-Zionist organizations, administrators at the University of California, Irvine (UCI) have recommended the suspension of Muslim students' right to assemble and practice their faith together on campus. Alleging that emails anonymously "leaked" to the university prove that the Muslim Student Union was responsible for a protest of Israeli Ambassador Michael Oren'scampus appearance by eight UCI students, the administration plans to suspend the more than 250-member Muslim Student Union for a year beginning in September, and place it under intense scrutiny and disciplinary probation if the student group is allowed to re-apply for recognition in the fall of 2011. The student group is appealing this proposed ban, contending that the MSU did not sponsor theprotest, and that the students arrested for interrupting Oren's speech were acting as individuals. Members have also challenged UCI's moves to impose what their attorney Reem Salahi has described as "nothing but collective punishment" by proposing to suspend the entire group over a political protest. The ban would become official after a final university decision, pending the outcome of a hearing and if the student group's appeal fails." (Read the rest of the article at: http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article11374.shtml)