Let let them know New Yorkers are paying attention, and that we object. They've gotten hundreds of letters so far -- more than ever before.
Showing posts with label actions by QAIA. Show all posts
Showing posts with label actions by QAIA. Show all posts
Action: Write to NYC Councilmembers headed to Israel
1/21/15
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actions by QAIA,
NYC solidarity
New Yorkers ask City Councilmembers to skip racist Israel junket
1/10/15
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QAIA joins with the 65+ New York City community groups calling on our elected officials -- many of whom are in the LGBT and Progressive Caucuses of the NYC Council -- to skip a trip to Israel. Below is the text of the letter.
The 9-day junket (!) is paid for and organized by the Jewish Community Relations Council and the United Jewish Appeal. NYC Councilmembers who are planning to go on the Feb. 15 junket are: City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito and Members Mark Treyger, Brad Lander, Antonio Reynoso, David Greenfield, Rafael Espinal, Darlene Mealy, Mark Levine, Helen Rosenthal, Corey Johnson, Ritchie Torres, Andrew Cohen, Donovan Richards, Eric Ulrich, and James Van Bramer.
------
OPEN LETTER
As a diverse coalition of concerned New Yorkers and grassroots social justice groups, we urge you to exercise the responsibility entrusted to you as elected officials by declining to accept an all-expenses-paid trip to Israel, scheduled for February 2015 and sponsored by the Jewish Community Relations Council of New York and United Jewish Appeal, which inaccurately claim to speak for the Jewish community. Do not neglect your official responsibilities to our diverse city by touring an apartheid state.
In light of the 2014 massacre in Gaza that killed over 2,300 people, including over 500 children, (1) injured over 10,000 (2), and left countless others displaced and psychologically scarred (3), this trip would be an exercise in misinformation. You will not see Israel’s Apartheid Wall, four times longer and twice as high as the Berlin Wall. Nor will you traverse the labyrinth of military checkpoints that West Bank Palestinians encounter daily. You will not walk Gaza’s decimated streets to speak to residents about their murdered families, or the poverty imposed upon 1.8 million people, mostly refugees, in an open-air prison one-third the size of New York City. (4)
As New Yorkers, we recognize that the struggle for social and racial justice in our own city is deeply connected to that of the Palestinian people. Israel’s callous disregard for international human rights norms and the impunity enjoyed by Israeli police and occupation forces cannot be viewed apart from the near-total lack of accountability mirrored by the NYPD and other police forces as they target communities of color in the United States.
In recent weeks, many of us joined demonstrations to protest the killings of countless Black people by police forces across the country. Members of City Council also protested these killings. However, these gestures are wholly incompatible with participating in a private tour funded by special interests hoping to legitimize Israel’s laws discriminating against its Palestinians citizens and the violence it inflicts upon Palestinians under military occupation. To demonstrate in support of racial justice while participating in a tour of apartheid is a fundamental contradiction.
International law requires Israel to protect the civilian population in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip, yet it has repeatedly failed to do so. The world has witnessed Israel’s increasingly horrendous war crimes, from the fatal shootings of protesters in the West Bank (5) to the horrific slaughter in Gaza. Strengthening cultural, business, and educational ties to a state engaged in these ongoing transgressions is not a proper goal for our city.
The trip is especially worrisome given the NYPD’s long history of cooperation with Israeli forces, including its 2012 establishment of an office in Kfar Saba, just outside of Tel Aviv, funded with our taxes. (6) NYPD officers, including former Commissioner Ray Kelly, have joined at least 9,000 US law enforcement officials on trips to Israel. (7)
These junkets have an undeniable effect on NYPD policies. A former official described the Department’s notorious Demographics Unit, disbanded in April after outrage followed revelations of its unconstitutional surveillance of Muslim communities, as “modeled in part on how Israeli authorities operate in the West Bank.” (8)
At a time of public outrage over police brutality, participation in a delegation ignoring Israeli policies that inspired and reinforced unjust tactics of the NYPD can only aggravate New Yorkers’ concerns. Any trip in support of Israel conflicts with a concern over domestic police abuses. Finally, accepting this invitation would breach a request for solidarity from Palestinian civil society organizations, who have called for boycott of, divestment from, and sanctions against Israel until it “meets its obligation to recognize the Palestinian people’s inalienable right to self-determination and fully complies with the precepts of international law by:
These demands, which have inspired a robust movement with international support, call on citizens and public officials alike to do their part in bringing comprehensive justice and peace to the region. Being part of this trip is the equivalent of crossing an international picket line. In a year when the people across the world have been inspired by the Palestinian people’s resistance to an unjust occupation, and at a moment of heightened political tension in our city, participating in an all-expense-paid vacation to a country committing war crimes enabled by United States tax dollars would be viewed by many as entirely inappropriate.
In the spirit of the progressive values you espouse, we urge you to withdraw from this delegation. We are eager to dialogue and will follow up with your offices in the coming weeks.
Sincerely, The Undersigned Groups
SIGNERS ON THE OPEN LETTER (as of Jan. 10, 2015)
Jewish Voice for Peace - New York
Adalah-NY: The New York Campaign for the Boycott of Israel
Direct Action Frontfor Palestine
Queers Against Israeli Apartheid
Jews Say No!
Granny Peace Brigade
CUNY for Palestine
Students for Justice in Palestine Chapters: Hunter, Brooklyn College, Pace, NYU, Columbia, CUNY School of Law, College
of Staten Island, John Jay
CODEPINK NYC
Women in Black Union Square
NYC Solidarity with Palestine
We Are All Dominican
Committee for Open Discussion of Zionism
Librarians and Archivists with Palestine
New Day Church
Existence is Resistance
Queens Families Speak Out
MADRE
Center for Constitutional Rights
Palestine Solidarity Legal Support
Laborfor Palestine
International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network - New York
New York Association for Gender Rights Advocacy (NYAGRA)
Al-Awda NY: The Palestine Right to Return Coalition
New York City Labor Against the War
Boricuas for Palestine
People Power Movement
Brooklyn For Peace
Malcolm X Grassroots Movement
New Yorkers Against the Cornell-Technion Partnership (NYACT)
US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation
VirtualBoricua.org
Trinity Lutheran Church (Brooklyn)
American Muslimsfor Palestine
Palestinian Youth Movement (PYM)
Breakaway
National Lawyers Guild, NYC Chapter
North Manhattan Neighbors for Peace
West-Park Presbyterian Church
Act Now to Stop War and End Racism (ANSWER) Coalition
International Socialist Organization (ISO)
Committee Against Anti-Asian Violence (CAAAV)/Organizing Asian Communities
Free Mumia Abu-Jamal Coalition (NYC)
Campaign to End the New Jim Crow-NY
Freedom Road Socialist Organization, NY/NJ District
(continued)St. Michael's Task Force on Israel Palestine
Park Slope Food Coop Members for BDS
Irish Queers
Rising Tide NYC
Critical Resistance, NYC Chapter
YaYa Network
Washington Heights Women In Black
Queens Peace Council
War Resisters League, National Office
Justice Committee
Notes:
1) Ma’an News Agency | maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=751290
2) UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs | ochaopt.org/documents/ocha_opt_sitrep_04_09_2014.pdf
3) Washington Post | wapo.st/1uq7cHK
4) British Broadcasting Company - Profile: Gaza Strip | bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-19975211
5) Amnesty International | amnesty.org/en/news/trigger-happy-israeli-army-and-police-use-reckless-force-west-bank-2014-02-27
6) Al Monitor | al-monitor.com/pulse/security/01/09/nypd-kfar-saba-branch-new-york-p.html
7) Al-Akhbar | al-akhbar.com/content/occupation-%E2%80%9Coccupy%E2%80%9D-israelification-american-domestic-security
8) Associated Press | ap.org/Content/AP-In-The-News/2011/With-CIA-help-NYPD-moves-covertly-in-Muslim-areas
9) BDS National Committee | bdsmovement.net/call
Read more »
The 9-day junket (!) is paid for and organized by the Jewish Community Relations Council and the United Jewish Appeal. NYC Councilmembers who are planning to go on the Feb. 15 junket are: City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito and Members Mark Treyger, Brad Lander, Antonio Reynoso, David Greenfield, Rafael Espinal, Darlene Mealy, Mark Levine, Helen Rosenthal, Corey Johnson, Ritchie Torres, Andrew Cohen, Donovan Richards, Eric Ulrich, and James Van Bramer.
------
OPEN LETTER
As a diverse coalition of concerned New Yorkers and grassroots social justice groups, we urge you to exercise the responsibility entrusted to you as elected officials by declining to accept an all-expenses-paid trip to Israel, scheduled for February 2015 and sponsored by the Jewish Community Relations Council of New York and United Jewish Appeal, which inaccurately claim to speak for the Jewish community. Do not neglect your official responsibilities to our diverse city by touring an apartheid state.
In light of the 2014 massacre in Gaza that killed over 2,300 people, including over 500 children, (1) injured over 10,000 (2), and left countless others displaced and psychologically scarred (3), this trip would be an exercise in misinformation. You will not see Israel’s Apartheid Wall, four times longer and twice as high as the Berlin Wall. Nor will you traverse the labyrinth of military checkpoints that West Bank Palestinians encounter daily. You will not walk Gaza’s decimated streets to speak to residents about their murdered families, or the poverty imposed upon 1.8 million people, mostly refugees, in an open-air prison one-third the size of New York City. (4)
As New Yorkers, we recognize that the struggle for social and racial justice in our own city is deeply connected to that of the Palestinian people. Israel’s callous disregard for international human rights norms and the impunity enjoyed by Israeli police and occupation forces cannot be viewed apart from the near-total lack of accountability mirrored by the NYPD and other police forces as they target communities of color in the United States.
In recent weeks, many of us joined demonstrations to protest the killings of countless Black people by police forces across the country. Members of City Council also protested these killings. However, these gestures are wholly incompatible with participating in a private tour funded by special interests hoping to legitimize Israel’s laws discriminating against its Palestinians citizens and the violence it inflicts upon Palestinians under military occupation. To demonstrate in support of racial justice while participating in a tour of apartheid is a fundamental contradiction.
International law requires Israel to protect the civilian population in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip, yet it has repeatedly failed to do so. The world has witnessed Israel’s increasingly horrendous war crimes, from the fatal shootings of protesters in the West Bank (5) to the horrific slaughter in Gaza. Strengthening cultural, business, and educational ties to a state engaged in these ongoing transgressions is not a proper goal for our city.
The trip is especially worrisome given the NYPD’s long history of cooperation with Israeli forces, including its 2012 establishment of an office in Kfar Saba, just outside of Tel Aviv, funded with our taxes. (6) NYPD officers, including former Commissioner Ray Kelly, have joined at least 9,000 US law enforcement officials on trips to Israel. (7)
These junkets have an undeniable effect on NYPD policies. A former official described the Department’s notorious Demographics Unit, disbanded in April after outrage followed revelations of its unconstitutional surveillance of Muslim communities, as “modeled in part on how Israeli authorities operate in the West Bank.” (8)
At a time of public outrage over police brutality, participation in a delegation ignoring Israeli policies that inspired and reinforced unjust tactics of the NYPD can only aggravate New Yorkers’ concerns. Any trip in support of Israel conflicts with a concern over domestic police abuses. Finally, accepting this invitation would breach a request for solidarity from Palestinian civil society organizations, who have called for boycott of, divestment from, and sanctions against Israel until it “meets its obligation to recognize the Palestinian people’s inalienable right to self-determination and fully complies with the precepts of international law by:
- Ending its occupation and colonization of all Arab lands and dismantling the Wall
- Recognizing the fundamental rights of the Arab-Palestinian citizens of Israel to full equality; and
- Respecting, protecting and promoting the rights of Palestinian refugees to return to their homes and properties as stipulated in UN resolution 194.” (9)
These demands, which have inspired a robust movement with international support, call on citizens and public officials alike to do their part in bringing comprehensive justice and peace to the region. Being part of this trip is the equivalent of crossing an international picket line. In a year when the people across the world have been inspired by the Palestinian people’s resistance to an unjust occupation, and at a moment of heightened political tension in our city, participating in an all-expense-paid vacation to a country committing war crimes enabled by United States tax dollars would be viewed by many as entirely inappropriate.
In the spirit of the progressive values you espouse, we urge you to withdraw from this delegation. We are eager to dialogue and will follow up with your offices in the coming weeks.
Sincerely, The Undersigned Groups
SIGNERS ON THE OPEN LETTER (as of Jan. 10, 2015)
Jewish Voice for Peace - New York
Adalah-NY: The New York Campaign for the Boycott of Israel
Direct Action Frontfor Palestine
Queers Against Israeli Apartheid
Jews Say No!
Granny Peace Brigade
CUNY for Palestine
Students for Justice in Palestine Chapters: Hunter, Brooklyn College, Pace, NYU, Columbia, CUNY School of Law, College
of Staten Island, John Jay
CODEPINK NYC
Women in Black Union Square
NYC Solidarity with Palestine
We Are All Dominican
Committee for Open Discussion of Zionism
Librarians and Archivists with Palestine
New Day Church
Existence is Resistance
Queens Families Speak Out
MADRE
Center for Constitutional Rights
Palestine Solidarity Legal Support
Laborfor Palestine
International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network - New York
New York Association for Gender Rights Advocacy (NYAGRA)
Al-Awda NY: The Palestine Right to Return Coalition
New York City Labor Against the War
Boricuas for Palestine
People Power Movement
Brooklyn For Peace
Malcolm X Grassroots Movement
New Yorkers Against the Cornell-Technion Partnership (NYACT)
US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation
VirtualBoricua.org
Trinity Lutheran Church (Brooklyn)
American Muslimsfor Palestine
Palestinian Youth Movement (PYM)
Breakaway
National Lawyers Guild, NYC Chapter
North Manhattan Neighbors for Peace
West-Park Presbyterian Church
Act Now to Stop War and End Racism (ANSWER) Coalition
International Socialist Organization (ISO)
Committee Against Anti-Asian Violence (CAAAV)/Organizing Asian Communities
Free Mumia Abu-Jamal Coalition (NYC)
Campaign to End the New Jim Crow-NY
Freedom Road Socialist Organization, NY/NJ District
(continued)St. Michael's Task Force on Israel Palestine
Park Slope Food Coop Members for BDS
Irish Queers
Rising Tide NYC
Critical Resistance, NYC Chapter
YaYa Network
Washington Heights Women In Black
Queens Peace Council
War Resisters League, National Office
Justice Committee
Notes:
1) Ma’an News Agency | maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=751290
2) UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs | ochaopt.org/documents/ocha_opt_sitrep_04_09_2014.pdf
3) Washington Post | wapo.st/1uq7cHK
4) British Broadcasting Company - Profile: Gaza Strip | bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-19975211
5) Amnesty International | amnesty.org/en/news/trigger-happy-israeli-army-and-police-use-reckless-force-west-bank-2014-02-27
6) Al Monitor | al-monitor.com/pulse/security/01/09/nypd-kfar-saba-branch-new-york-p.html
7) Al-Akhbar | al-akhbar.com/content/occupation-%E2%80%9Coccupy%E2%80%9D-israelification-american-domestic-security
8) Associated Press | ap.org/Content/AP-In-The-News/2011/With-CIA-help-NYPD-moves-covertly-in-Muslim-areas
9) BDS National Committee | bdsmovement.net/call
Queens Pride House/QAIA event this Sat.!
2/5/14
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NYC QAIA is co-sponsoring a presentation by members of the Interfaith Peace-Builders at Queens Pride House this Saturday (Feb. 8). Two members of Interfaith Peace-Builders (one of whom is a member of QAIA) will report back on their delegation tour to Israel/Palestine in May/June 2013. The Audre Lorde Project and Queens Pride House are also co-sponsoring the event, which is open to the public and will take place at Queens Pride House from 7-9 p.m. For a map of the neighborhood & Pride House in relation to the Roosevelt Ave. subway station, click on this link:
Video: QAIA w. Haneen Maikey + Saadia Toor on Islamophobia
11/23/13
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 |
Please donate to Al Qaws' critical decolonizing work at their website.
Video: QAIA & Sarah Schulman at the LGBT Center
11/22/13
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Center actions,
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Oct. 25 - QAIA with Haneen & Saadia: Queers, Islamophobia & Apartheid!
10/17/13
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NYC QUEERS AGAINST ISRAELI APARTHEIDhost
HANEEN MAIKEY
alQaws for Sexual & Gender Diversity in Palestinian Society
and Palestinian Queers for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions
and
SAADIA TOOR
CUNY Associate Professor for Sociology, Anthropology and Social Work CUNY Associate Professor for Sociology, Anthropology and Social Work, and NYC queer and Muslim activist
Moderated by Emmaia Gelman, NYC QAIA
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 25th, 6:30-8:30pm@ the North Star Fund, 520 Eighth Ave, 22nd Floor (near W. 36th St.)
After the QPH forum: More straight people tell queers how great Israel is for us.
6/7/13
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Attached are the news story & the editorial that the Queens Chronicle just published on the Israel/Palestine forum that we had at Queens Pride House on Tuesday. As you can see, the article is a pretty 'straight forward' news story, even if the reporter did get QAIA's name wrong. The editorial, on the other hand, is more like a scene from "The Empire Strikes Back."
While the editorial is extremely misguided, just spewing talking points from the pinkwashing playbook, I think both the editorial & the news story represent something of a breakthrough, as they're the first instances I'm aware of that a Queens publication has published an article using the terms 'pinkwashing' & 'Israeli apartheid,' much less focusing on Israel/Palestine as an LGBT issue.
Labels:
actions by QAIA,
media,
Queens Pride House
March with QAIA in Brooklyn Pride! and other places!
Queers Against Israeli Apartheid @ Brooklyn Pride
Saturday, June 8th
Meet QAIA at 7 pm on 5th Ave. at Union Street,
in front of the gym - used to be a bank
In past years, it has been particularly fabulous to march in BK pride. Folks on the sidelines and in the march understand why we're there, and are mostly really supportive and glad to see queer anti-apartheid activists on the move. Let's go to there!
The parade begins at 7:30 pm, but we'd like to form our contingent by 7pm. Some of us will march in the parade, and others will hand out our new anti-pinkwashing, anti-occupation flyers. Let's make our presence known!!
If you can join us on Saturday in Brooklyn, please let us know by contacting Brad Taylor either by email at btaylor013@aol.com or by phone at 917-287-5597.
Looking ahead, we're planning on leafleting at several more Pride events at the end of the month:
- Trans Day of Action and the Drag March both on Friday, June 28th
- Dyke March on Saturday, June 29th
- NYC Pride Parade on Sunday, June 30th
If you can join us for any of these activities, please also contact Brad to let us know.
And if you're going to other pride events during June and want to hand out our leaflets, that would be great!!
We'll be sending out more details about the activities at the end of June as we get closer to those dates. In the meantime, we hope to see you this Saturday in Brooklyn!!
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NYC-QAIA,
Pride marches
Now at our community center!!! March 11: QAIA's Schulman reading
2/21/13
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Sarah Schulman reading from her new book
Israel/Palestine and the Queer International
Mon. March 11 @ 7pm
NYC LGBT Community Center (208 West 13th St.
Free & open to the public!
---------
Free & open to the public!
---------
Queers Against Israeli
Apartheid (NYC-QAIA)
is proud to welcome Sarah Schulman with a reading from her new book, Israel/Palestine
and the Queer International as NYC launches Israel Apartheid Week.
This event is
a huge victory for free speech and queer organizing, and we hope you’ll come
celebrate it with us! Beginning in March 2011, the NYC LGBT Center banned any
discussion of Palestine, in response to pressure from wealthy supporters of
Israel’s anti-Palestinian policies.
In February
2013, Queers Against Israeli Apartheid (QAIA) applied to the NYC LGBT Community
Center for space for this reading. But in response to that denial and the two
years history of censorship at the Center, the LGBT community mobilized in
outrage, and overturned the ban!
From Palestinian
Queers for BDS:
‘As Palestinian queers, our
struggle is not only against social injustice and our rights as a queer
minority in Palestinian society, but rather, our main struggle is one against
Israel’s colonization, occupation and apartheid; a system that has oppressed us
for the past 63 years… In the last years Israel has been leading an
international campaign that tries to present Israel as the “only democracy” and
the “gay haven” in the Middle East, while ironically portraying Palestinians,
who suffer every single day from Israel’s state racism and terrorism, as
barbaric and homophobic.’ (pqbds.com)
Gay City News: LGBT Center Bars Sarah Schulman Reading
2/14/13
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'A leading queer community author was barred from an appearance at the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Community Center apparently because the book she was to discuss deals with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.'
'“We requested space for me to do a presentation of my new book ‘Israel/ Palestine and the Queer International,’ which has gotten a good review in the Lambda Literary Review,” wrote Sarah Schulman in a February 11 email. “It is amazing to me that after all my work in the community, I could be refused a platform to present a queer book.”'
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actions by QAIA,
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Comic biteback: There's a checkpoint around this Center!
2/12/13
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Check out Ethan Heitner's really beautiful exposition of Tara and Ana's throwdown at "Occupy the Center!" The full 8 panel comic is posted on mondoweiss.net today.
Read more »
Labels:
action/events by NYC queers,
actions by QAIA,
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documents
"The Times, They Are A-changing": On QAIA & the Dyke March
6/28/12
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A small group of us from "Queers Against Israeli Apartheid" marched in the Dykemarch on Saturday June 23, and in the Pridemarch on Sunday. We carried signs against the LGBT Center’s censorship of ANY programs or groups critical of Israel, and we carried signs protesting Israel’s "pinkwashing" (advertising Israel as a supposed haven for Gay people while suppressing the fact that it is a hell for Palestinians, whether Gay or straight.)
I was amazed by the response. On Saturday an adorable young person ran up to us, thanked us, bought one of our T-shirts, took a sign, and carried it throughout the march. Apparently he took it home with him, because he showed up on Sunday carrying the same "Queers Against Israeli Apartheid" sign. We sold out on QAIA tee-shirts. I sold out on "Occupy Wall Street, Not Palestine" buttons. People on the sidelines applauded us and thanked us. On Sunday we were a slightly larger group, and carried our banner, again to warmth, applause and enthusiasm. Even those people on the sidelines who were carrying Israeli flags were polite in their opposition. Some held thumbs down; one said I love you as gays, but I disagree with your politics." No vitriol. No rage. And much appreciation. (A young woman rushed over and kissed me as I scooted down the home stretch.) When we passed the various announcer’s stations, they announced our group.
As someone who became a teenager in the 1950's, when both gayness and opposition to Israeli policies were invisible; when many of us thought that we were "the only ones", it was a very moving experience. For many years I was a closetted lesbian. For 30 years I have demonstrated as a Jew against Israeli policies in an atmosphere of virulent hostility and hatred. But this Pride weekend was different: The times they are a-changing.
- Sherry Gorelick
QAIA @ PRIDE: March with us! (Meet-up details now posted.)
6/20/12
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We are seriously everywhere. You can march with QAIA five times this weekend!
Fri 6/22 - Trans Day of Action - 3-7pm @ Washington Sq. Park - QAIA has wholeheartedly endorsed this event, and a few of us will be there, but no contingent. It's at Washington Square Park, but we also heard there's a march down Christopher Street?
Fri 6/22 - Queer Ball - 6:30pm starting @ Washington Sq. Park - anti-corporate ki-ki from the end of the Trans march to the start of the Drag march, at Tompkins Square Park.
Fri 6/22 - Drag March - 7pm @ Tompkins Sq. Park - QueersAIA will be there! Look for us with signs, t-shirts and all the drama. Introduce yourselves!
Sat 6/23 - Dyke March - 4:30 @ Bryant Park, see details below.
Sun 6/24 - Manhattan/NYC/Corporate Pride - 11:30am at 39th St/6th Ave, see details below.
DYKE MARCH: QAIA will be at the Dyke March this Saturday 6/23! We'll meet at the Bryant Park fountain (south side) at 4:30 to stencil t-shirts, and then bio-boys/non-dykes will split off to cheer their sisters from the sidelines.
MANHATTAN PRIDE: Hope you can take the stand of "no pride in occupation" by joining our contingent for at least some of the march on Sunday. We're in Section 4 which lines up between 5th and 6th, near 6th on W 39th St. We have various politicians supporters leading the section, first for Kristen Gillibrand, followed by Nadler. We're it appears at the end of the section (order # 27), behind Act Up (#26) which is behind the AXIOS Eastern Orthodox LGBT Christians. Rest assured, Coca-Cola is in the lead Section. Line up at 11:30am. Pride steps off at noon.
Read more »
Fri 6/22 - Trans Day of Action - 3-7pm @ Washington Sq. Park - QAIA has wholeheartedly endorsed this event, and a few of us will be there, but no contingent. It's at Washington Square Park, but we also heard there's a march down Christopher Street?
Fri 6/22 - Queer Ball - 6:30pm starting @ Washington Sq. Park - anti-corporate ki-ki from the end of the Trans march to the start of the Drag march, at Tompkins Square Park.
Fri 6/22 - Drag March - 7pm @ Tompkins Sq. Park - QueersAIA will be there! Look for us with signs, t-shirts and all the drama. Introduce yourselves!
Sat 6/23 - Dyke March - 4:30 @ Bryant Park, see details below.
Sun 6/24 - Manhattan/NYC/Corporate Pride - 11:30am at 39th St/6th Ave, see details below.
DYKE MARCH: QAIA will be at the Dyke March this Saturday 6/23! We'll meet at the Bryant Park fountain (south side) at 4:30 to stencil t-shirts, and then bio-boys/non-dykes will split off to cheer their sisters from the sidelines.
MANHATTAN PRIDE: Hope you can take the stand of "no pride in occupation" by joining our contingent for at least some of the march on Sunday. We're in Section 4 which lines up between 5th and 6th, near 6th on W 39th St. We have various politicians supporters leading the section, first for Kristen Gillibrand, followed by Nadler. We're it appears at the end of the section (order # 27), behind Act Up (#26) which is behind the AXIOS Eastern Orthodox LGBT Christians. Rest assured, Coca-Cola is in the lead Section. Line up at 11:30am. Pride steps off at noon.
Wed 6/20: SIT-IN MEETING for pride planning, t-shirt-making & sign-sparkling.
6/14/12
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Occupy the Center! Join Queers Against Israeli Apartheid (NYC) for our sign-making, Pride-planning SIT-IN at the LGBT Community Center this Wednesday night.
Read more »
NYC LGBT Community Center
208 W. 13th St. – Lobby!
Wed., June 20
6:30 PM
Bring a (very) light-colored t-shirt to get the QAIA stencil.
--------------------------
--------------------------
Ok queers – it’s time to Occupy the Center again! Until the Center takes a clear stand against anti-Arab hate – until the outrageous ban on pro-Palestinian queer organizing is rescinded – until the Center re-embraces its role as an activist hub for the conscientious queer community – we have to continue our occupation of the Center.
Since summer 2011, Queers Against Israeli Apartheid-NYC has been holding many of our regular meetings in the lobby of the Center. We don’t prefer it – we’d rather have a room! But Center management is entrenched in their right-wing, racist position of censorship and pinkwashing – so we’re forced to hold meetings in public, in the foyer of the building which is OUR LGBT community Center!
So join us, this coming Wed. evening at 6:30 for sign-making, t-shirt stenciling and planning, organizing for our QAIA-NYC contingent in the Manhattan Pride parade coming up on the 24th. See you Wednesday!
Join QAIA for Pride month events and actions.
6/7/12
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QAIA @ Brooklyn Pride! Saturday, June 9, 7:30pm
Palestine solidarity queers will stand alongside the Pride March route (instead of marching this year.)
Meet at 14th St., bet. 5th and 6th Aves.
-Subway: F,G,R to 4th Ave. and 9th St.-
(ISO, which will be part of the sideline Palestine contingent, is hosting a fundraiser/party starting at 6pm in the same location at 274 14th St.)
QAIA @ Manhattan Pride! Sunday, June 24 - Check back here for details.
QAIA will march as a contingent in NYC Pride.
To be kept updated, help with signs etc., email us at noprideinoccupation@gmail.com or join the low-traffic listerve.
QAIA meetings & actions for Pride season.
QAIA is finalizing plans this week -- we'll have at least one action in the days before Pride, and will be meeting to make signs, t-shirts, and more. Check back here and join our email list for updates! Email noprideinoccupation+subscribe@googlegroups.com to join.
Read more »
Palestine solidarity queers will stand alongside the Pride March route (instead of marching this year.)
Meet at 14th St., bet. 5th and 6th Aves.
-Subway: F,G,R to 4th Ave. and 9th St.-
(ISO, which will be part of the sideline Palestine contingent, is hosting a fundraiser/party starting at 6pm in the same location at 274 14th St.)
QAIA @ Manhattan Pride! Sunday, June 24 - Check back here for details.
QAIA will march as a contingent in NYC Pride.
To be kept updated, help with signs etc., email us at noprideinoccupation@gmail.com or join the low-traffic listerve.
QAIA meetings & actions for Pride season.
QAIA is finalizing plans this week -- we'll have at least one action in the days before Pride, and will be meeting to make signs, t-shirts, and more. Check back here and join our email list for updates! Email noprideinoccupation+subscribe@googlegroups.com to join.
At NYC Israel parade, QAIA challenges "gay rights" diversion from apartheid laws
6/3/12
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For immediate release
Date: June 3, 2010
"QUEERS AGAINST ISRAELI APARTHEID" PROTEST AT NYC ISRAEL PARADE
Protesters denounce Israeli government plan to use pro-gay messages to divert attention from apartheid laws; challenge Quinn to oppose anti-Muslim discrimination at LGBT Center
New York - LGBT activists protested at New York City's "Celebrate Israel" parade today, objecting to Israel's apartheid laws denying Palestinian human rights and its use of gay rights messaging to portray Israel as open and democratic. Signs reading "Support Palestinian Queers" and "Israel: Stop Pinkwashing Apartheid" dotted the sidelines of the Fifth Avenue parade. Queers Against Israeli Apartheid (QAIA) organized the protest.
"Israel is trying to repair its horrible human rights profile by painting itself as a gay mecca," said Brad Taylor of Queers Against Israeli Apartheid. "But having some gay clubs in Tel Aviv doesn't make Israel a democracy. Israel builds separate roads for Jews and Arabs, separate schools, separate neighborhoods. Your rights to work, travel, marry, etc. -- they all depend on whether or not you're Palestinian. It's apartheid, whether you're gay or straight."
The protesters also planned to challenge NYC Council Speaker Christine Quinn as she marched in the parade, calling on her to take action to stop Muslim-baiting at NYC's LGBT Community Center and in NYC's Gay Pride parade. The community center ejected and banned groups meeting in support of Palestinian LGBT organizations last year, at the demand of pro-Israel individuals. Shortly afterward, pro-Israel marchers in NYC's 2011 Gay Pride parade beset and assaulted a Palestine human rights contingent.
"Speaker Quinn is constantly telling us how important Israel is to her. But she hasn't uttered a word about the Arab-baiting and Muslim-baiting that pro-Israel groups are fomenting in the LGBTQ community -- her own backyard. The LGBT community is in an uproar about this discrimination, and she's giving it the all-clear," said Leslie Cagan of Queers Against Israeli Apartheid.
For more information: queersagainstisraeliapartheid.blogspot.com
###
Sunday, June 3: PROTEST Salute To Israel parade with QAIA
5/31/12
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This Sunday, June 3rd, QAIA will be present with our anti-occupation and anti-pinkwashing signs at a location along the Celebrate Israel Parade!
NYC Council Speaker Christine Quinn is marching in the Salute to Israel parade. She's fresh from weighing in against the Park Slope Food Co-op even voting on whether to consider boycotting Israeli goods -- but has refused to meet with QAIA about how the LGBT Center has become a tool for anti-Palestinian bias and anti-Arab discrimination in NYC.
PROTEST THIS SUNDAY, June 3,
70th St. and Fifth Ave.
10:45am.
(The parade kicks off at 11am.)
If you can, please let QAIA know you're coming:
Thanks!
Jewish QAIA does CBST
5/28/12
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QAIA members handed the letter to folks on their way into the service. The only person who shoved it back at us came back later for a clean copy. Rabbi Kleinbaum came out to make sure we knew we were welcome inside. After Aharoni's glib talk about how to recruit Israel supporters, it was clear that many congregants were not buying it. So, another nice Friday evening in Manhattan.
------
May 25, 2012
Dear LGBTQ Jews…
Shabbat shalom! Here’s a resource list for those of us who
object to Israel’s human rights violations, and who refuse to bear that burden
on our souls.
As LGBTQ Jews of conscience, we stand for the human rights
of all people, everywhere. As Jews, we accept our particular responsibility to
challenge Israel – to refuse to let Israel speak for us when it builds
Jews-only neighborhoods, roads and schools. To refuse the demonization of
Palestinians who resist the violent domination of their lives by Israeli
settlers and soldiers. To refuse to be told that, as Jews, we should be loyal
to the Israeli government, rather than human beings and principles.
We don’t just stand for those things – we stand up. When the Israeli government uses “the Jewish people”
as cover for its crimes, there’s no room to be neutral. Jews of conscience have
to act. When Israel uses gay
rights to pinkwash its gross failure to be a democracy, LGBTQ Jews especially
must undo that damage.
We (like queers of conscience in Israel and worldwide) are
especially compelled by Palestinian LGBTQ groups’ call, which points out that
queer liberation can’t be built under apartheid laws that deny all Palestinians human and civil rights. To begin
Palestinian queer liberation, they say, help us end the occupation. And for our
liberation, too.
With love,
Leslie Cagan & Emmaia Gelman
on behalf of the Jewish members of Queers Against Israeli
Apartheid NYC
Resources for LGBTQ Jews of conscience:
Queers Against Israeli Apartheid - NYC
queersagainstisraeliapartheid.blogspot.com
Jews Say No
Young, Jewish & Proud
Jewish Voice for Peace
israelilaundry.org // jewishvoiceforpeace.org
Jews Against Islamophobia
jewsagainstislamophobia.org
Palestinian LGBTQ websites:
Al Qaws for Sexual & Gender
Diversity in Palestinian Society - alqaws.org
Aswat – Palestinian Gay Women -
aswatgroup.org
Palestinian Queers for BDS -
pqbds.org
Labels:
action/events by NYC queers,
actions by QAIA,
CBST,
NYC-QAIA
Heidi Boghosian (National Lawyers Guild) speaks @ "Occupy the Center!"
3/5/12
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Remarks by Heidi Boghosian, Executive Director, National Lawyers Guild
LGBT Center Protest, March 3, 2012
I’m not supposed to be here today!
The National Lawyers Guild Legal Observers are not supposed to be here today!
We usually fight the oppressors who squelch free speech.
This is the first Occupy event that I’ve addressed, and I had to come today because I am a part of this community.
As the legal arm to many social movements for 75 years, the National Lawyers Guild watched the growth of the LGBT Center with great pride. Our missions align in many ways—to ensure that all members of society are treated with dignity. The Guild publishes a legal treatise called “Sexual Orientation and the Law.” We also published the legal treatise “AIDS and the Law”—both working to challenge ill-informed hatred impacting this community.
We urge the Center to keep site of the roots of oppression—an economic and political system that enriches a few at the expense of so many. To the extent that the Center does not support others who are oppresses, its own struggle is diminished and its own liberation is incomplete.
As a community, we must join hands to defeat this economic and political system that create these problems rather than becoming a part of it. Our shared mission is to advance human rights. Let us not permit insular interests to split our solidarity with other community’s unjustly oppressed.
By failing to support victims of international law violations and human rights standards, and by succumbing to the outspoken in power, this Center betrays its historic mission.
Read more »
LGBT Center Protest, March 3, 2012
I’m not supposed to be here today!
The National Lawyers Guild Legal Observers are not supposed to be here today!
We usually fight the oppressors who squelch free speech.
This is the first Occupy event that I’ve addressed, and I had to come today because I am a part of this community.
As the legal arm to many social movements for 75 years, the National Lawyers Guild watched the growth of the LGBT Center with great pride. Our missions align in many ways—to ensure that all members of society are treated with dignity. The Guild publishes a legal treatise called “Sexual Orientation and the Law.” We also published the legal treatise “AIDS and the Law”—both working to challenge ill-informed hatred impacting this community.
We urge the Center to keep site of the roots of oppression—an economic and political system that enriches a few at the expense of so many. To the extent that the Center does not support others who are oppresses, its own struggle is diminished and its own liberation is incomplete.
As a community, we must join hands to defeat this economic and political system that create these problems rather than becoming a part of it. Our shared mission is to advance human rights. Let us not permit insular interests to split our solidarity with other community’s unjustly oppressed.
By failing to support victims of international law violations and human rights standards, and by succumbing to the outspoken in power, this Center betrays its historic mission.
QAIA intro to "Occupy the LGBT Center!"
Mic check!! Queers Against Israeli Apartheid is here to Occupy the LGBT Center, to protest the Center's exclusion of queers from our own community space.
We see the barricades outside, we see the cops! They are shamefully policing queers who are challenging the Center's racist exclusion. They are shamefully policing queers who challenge pinkwashing of Israeli apartheid. Shamefully policing queers who challenge anti-Arab and anti-Muslim bigots.
For the last year, the Center's director and board have shut out queers:
Queers whose political organizing for human rights makes the Center nervous.
Queers whose Arab ethnicity or Muslim religion makes the Center nervous.
Queers whose challenging of Israel's racist apartheid laws makes the Center nervous.
How did this happen?!
Last year, the Center tossed out Siegebusters, and Palestine solidarity group of queers and non-queers, just days before its biggest awareness and fundraising event. Our communities were outraged! The Center heard from...
Palestinian queers who were outraged...
Immigrant queers who were outraged...
Queers of color who were outraged...
Trans queers who were outraged...
Activist queers who were outraged...
... all of whose work got queers the rights we "enjoy" today.
New York Association for Gender Rights Advocacy (NYAGRA)
Palestinian Queers for BDS
Siegebusters
South Asian Lesbian & Gay Association (SALGA)
Sylvia Rivera Law Project
Workers World Party
Young, Jewish and Proud
and... Queers Against Israeli Apartheid!
All of us together stand up against pinkwashing! Pinkwashing tries to use queer rights as cover to deny Palestinian rights, and to cover up apartheid. Queers reject pinkwashing in Israel!
And we won't let our community center be a tool for racism -- for excluding.
We're here to Occupy the Center, until the Center
- Ends the ban on Palestine solidarity organizing here.
- opens the Center for all.
- brings its board meetings and decision-making out of the corporate boardroom and back into our community!
Whose Center? Our Center!!
Anti-Arab hate? NO! Queers won't take the bait!
(Emmaia Gelman for Queers Against Israeli Apartheid.)
Read more »
We see the barricades outside, we see the cops! They are shamefully policing queers who are challenging the Center's racist exclusion. They are shamefully policing queers who challenge pinkwashing of Israeli apartheid. Shamefully policing queers who challenge anti-Arab and anti-Muslim bigots.
For the last year, the Center's director and board have shut out queers:
Queers whose political organizing for human rights makes the Center nervous.
Queers whose Arab ethnicity or Muslim religion makes the Center nervous.
Queers whose challenging of Israel's racist apartheid laws makes the Center nervous.
How did this happen?!
Last year, the Center tossed out Siegebusters, and Palestine solidarity group of queers and non-queers, just days before its biggest awareness and fundraising event. Our communities were outraged! The Center heard from...
Palestinian queers who were outraged...
Immigrant queers who were outraged...
Queers of color who were outraged...
Trans queers who were outraged...
Activist queers who were outraged...
... all of whose work got queers the rights we "enjoy" today.
The Center also heard from a few powerful gay and straight bigots. They said anyone who stands with Palestinian queers is providing "a fig leaf for Arab homophobes." They wanted to pit queers against Arabs and Muslims -- as if no Arabs or Muslims are queers. As if queers must go along with racism out of some twisted kind of self-interest.
The Center sided with the bigots. In a community meeting, they promised to "deal with the issue." One year later, they're still excluding us. From the Center, we've heard only silence.
But we will not be silent! Here's who's in the room today!
Queers for an Open LGBT Center (QFOLC)
alQaws for Sexual and Gender Diversity in Palestinian Society
Adalah-NY: the New York Campaign for Boycott of Israel
Brooklyn for Peace
FIERCE!
Jewish Voice for Peace-NY
Jews Say No!
International Action Center
International Socialist Organization
Lesbian & Gay Solidarity, Melbourne, Australia
Metropolitan Community Church of New YorkNew York Association for Gender Rights Advocacy (NYAGRA)
Palestinian Queers for BDS
Siegebusters
South Asian Lesbian & Gay Association (SALGA)
Sylvia Rivera Law Project
Workers World Party
Young, Jewish and Proud
and... Queers Against Israeli Apartheid!
All of us together stand up against pinkwashing! Pinkwashing tries to use queer rights as cover to deny Palestinian rights, and to cover up apartheid. Queers reject pinkwashing in Israel!
And we won't let our community center be a tool for racism -- for excluding.
We're here to Occupy the Center, until the Center
- Ends the ban on Palestine solidarity organizing here.
- opens the Center for all.
- brings its board meetings and decision-making out of the corporate boardroom and back into our community!
Whose Center? Our Center!!
Anti-Arab hate? NO! Queers won't take the bait!
(Emmaia Gelman for Queers Against Israeli Apartheid.)
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