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The UAW2865 just became the first major US labor union to endorse
BDS through a membership vote. The vote was 65% in favor, 35%
against, a 30 point margin!!! 52% of members also personally pledged
to adhere to the academic boycott of Israeli academic institutions!
Complete info on the vote result is here: <b><a
moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.uaw2865.org/2014-bds-vote/">http://www.uaw2865.org/2014-bds-vote/</a></b><br>
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Submitted by the BDS Caucus<br>
<br>
Friends,<br>
<br>
When structures of oppression receive our unwilling financial
support, we must take a stand.<br>
Palestinian university teachers, labor unions, and students under
Israeli occupation have called for our<br>
solidarity. The Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions resolution will
push back against our complicity as<br>
union members, UC employees, and students from apartheid in
Palestine.<br>
<br>
The BDS call, made by Palestinian grassroots organizations, aims
to restore Palestinians’ human rights<br>
for: 1) Refugees forced to flee Palestine in 1948 and subsequently
due to Israeli military violence and<br>
ethnic cleansing who are barred from returning to their lands; 2)
Those facing the 47-year military<br>
occupation and ongoing land confiscation in the West Bank and
blockade in Gaza; and 3) Palestinians<br>
inside Israel facing second-class citizenship due to over 50
ethnically discriminatory laws that heavily<br>
restrict access to property ownership, education, and other
resources for Palestinians.<br>
<br>
By voting YES, we defend steadfastly the universal value of human
dignity and equality. We maintain<br>
that Palestinian lives are as valuable as Israeli lives. We demand
an end to the occupation of<br>
Palestinian lands; we support full equality for Palestinians in
Israel; and refugees’ right of return as<br>
stipulated by international law and U.N. Resolution 194.<br>
<br>
By voting YES, we honor our union’s commitment to political action
and community mobilization.<br>
We will continue educating our communities of racism against
Arabs, Muslims, Jews and people of<br>
Middle Eastern background, and stand against all forms of
discrimination. We continue Local 2865’s<br>
solidarities with other anti-racist, anti-colonial labor and
student movements globally; thus our<br>
opponents’ claim that we’re singling out Israel is patently false.
Rather than dictating the form of our<br>
solidarity to any aggrieved people, we must try to express it in
whatever form those people deem<br>
necessary to better their conditions, whether boycotts, sympathy
strikes, petitions, or organizing<br>
actions to support students and workers from Chile to South Africa
to workers here. Yet Israel<br>
constantly requests that we excuse its apartheid practices when we
would do so for no other country.<br>
<br>
By voting YES, we affirm our solidarity with all those striving
for peace with justice for all the land’s<br>
inhabitants. We join student governments of UCSD, UCI, UCR, UCB,
UCSC, and UCLA in calling<br>
for divestment from Israeli apartheid. We stand by members of all
national origins and religions who<br>
demand a situation where all people live with dignity regardless
of religion, ethnicity, or other identity.<br>
Some who stand to lose their privilege argue we must not meddle in
“controversial affairs”. Some<br>
argued this during Jim Crow segregation: they were wrong! Some
argued this to support South African<br>
apartheid: they were wrong! Some argue this to support raising
tuition and entrenching education as an upper-class, racist
privilege: they are wrong!<br>
<br>
Years from now, when peace with justice is under way in Palestine,
you will look back and think, “I<br>
made the right decision. I stood in solidarity during the most
difficult times.”<br>
Friends, it’s time to finally be counted on the right side of
history! Vote YES on BDS!<br>
<br>
Read the ballot here:<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.uaw2865.org/wp-content/uploads/BDSSampleBallot.pdf">http://www.uaw2865.org/wp-content/uploads/BDSSampleBallot.pdf</a><br>
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<div class="moz-signature">-- <br>
Freedom Archives
522 Valencia Street
San Francisco, CA 94110
415 863.9977
<a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="http://www.freedomarchives.org">www.freedomarchives.org</a>
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