Support UC Berkeley's Divestment from the Israeli Occupation
Primary tabs
On April 28th students are going to try again to get the University of California's Berkeley campus to divest from companies profiting from the Israeli occupation. In March, there was enormous support in the student senate for divestment. The students spent a year researching and writing the divestment bill that was to be voted on. The first vote taken was 16 to 4 in favor of the divestment bill. But, shortly after the president of the student senate vetoed their vote. Then, a vote to overturn the veto was attempted on the evening of April 15th . After hours and hours of testimony that went well into the night the vote to overturn the veto was tabled. In the room, were Muslims, Jews, Palestinians, Israelis, Christians, grandmothers and students and everyone in between with the majority supporting divestment. The testimonies given included testimonies from supporters of divestment such as Judith Butler, the Holocaust survivor Hedy Epstein, Richard Falk, Hatem Bazian and George Bisharat. The room was packed with an estimated 900 people in it. The effort also drew support from Naomi Klein, Noam Chomsky and Rabbi Lynn Gottlieb who played critical roles.
Most supporters of the effort to divest from companies profiting from the Israeli occupation cannot be in the room for the vote taking place on April 28th. But, they can still support the students who are trying to overturn this veto and have their university campus divest from those that profit from the Israeli occupation. They have already won support for divestment from a wide range of people. These include Nobel prize winners, rabbis, world renown scholars, Israeli and Palestinian peace groups and more. Last week during the vote to overturn the veto several hundred people in the room wore bright green stickers that said “Another (fill in the blank) for human rights. Divest from the Israeli occupation. Please click on the link below to add your name to the sticker. You will be represented by a bright green statement that will be worn by the divestment supporters. This campaign hopes to turn the room into a sea of bright green.
