PSNA Newsletter No 42 - March 16, 2021
16 March 2021
Newsletter No 42
Kia ora PSNA Supporter
PSNA National Meeting – 27/28 March in Auckland
This newsletter is devoted to our first face-to-face national meeting since the Covid pandemic. It’s an exciting agenda which will draw the national movement together for a dynamic mix of inspiring speakers, celebration of our hard work and successes and planning ahead to drive the campaign for Palestinian human rights.
You can see this from the full agenda included later with this newsletter.
If you can make it we’d love you to be there! In particular we want to extend our representation to many more centres around New Zealand. If you live in an “under-represented” area of New Zealand please get in touch and we can help to get you to Auckland!
The basic details are:
PSNA National Meeting: Saturday 27 and Sunday 28 March, 8.45am, Grey Lynn Library Hall, 474 Great North Road, Grey Lynn, Auckland (Please note the change of venue from the first notice of the meeting)
National meeting checklist:
Register: Register with an email to our National Secretary, Neil Scott, at Secretary@PSNA.nz so we know numbers for catering purposes. Please note there is no registration cost and meals will be provided on a koha basis.
Billets: If you need somewhere to stay in Auckland please let Neil know as Auckland supporters will be providing beds for those from out of town.
Travel costs: We are happy to help with travel expenses for petrol and flights as is necessary. Please don’t let the cost be a barrier to coming! Please email Neil to discuss what we can do to help to get you there.
Publicity: Everyone can help by posting the flyer (at the start of this newsletter) for the meeting on social media and encouraging others to come for all or part of the meeting (see agenda below)
Donations: If you can’t come you may be able to make a donation to help someone else to attend. Donations can be made to:
Account name: PALESTINE SOLIDARITY NETWORK
Account number: 38-9015-0849542-00
(Put “travel” in the reference field)
Speakers Include
Keynote speaker, Annette Sykes, pictured above. Annette is a Māori human rights lawyer at the heart of indigenous struggles here. She is an inspirational speaker who will talk about the connections between indigenous struggles here and in Palestine.
Palestinian Israeli activist and former MP in the Israeli Knesset (parliament), Haneen Zoabi, pictured above will speak (via zoom) from Palestine about the forthcoming Palestinian elections.
National Meeting Agenda
Saturday 27 March
8.45am MORNING TEA and registration
9.15am Welcome, introductions and scene setting
Zoom call from Palestinian Ambassador to Australia Izzat Abdulhadi (TBC)
9.30am Keynote Speaker – Annette Sykes – “Indigenous struggles in Aotearoa and Palestine”
10.30am Report from National Chair – John Minto
Financial report – Neil Scott
11.00am Workshops 1 – Strategies for local organising (choose one)
Organising local film screenings (eg “Imprisoning a Generation” and “Gaza Fights for Freedom”) (Randa Abbas
BDS international campaigns – Puma (Silver Ferns sponsor), HP and Sodastream (Neil Scott)
Social media – FB, Twitter, Instagram etc (Nedina Hohaia, Fred Hayward, Brandon Johnstone)
National organising tour based around the 40th anniversary of the Springbok Tour protests – from apartheid South Africa to apartheid Israel (John Minto/Don Carson)
Student-led organisations – (Gia Ngatai-Smith and Rahman Bashir)
11.30pm Plenary
Report back from Workshops 1
IHRA definition of anti-semitism report (Don Carson)
Superfund investments campaign (John Minto)
Elbit Systems Limited campaign (John Minto)
12.30pm LUNCH (provided on site – koha requested)
1.30pm Workshop 2 – Organising in local networks (Choose one)
Relating to Maori organisations (John Minto)
Religious groups – Christian, Islamic, Jewish etc (Steve Liddle/Janfrie Wakim/Billy Hania)
Trade Unions (Mike Treen)
Student organisations (Gia and Rahman)
2.15pm Reporting back in plenary
3.00pm AFTERNOON TEA
3.30pm Updates:
Julie Webb-Pullman – update on ICC holding Israel to account for war crimes
Roger Fowler – Kia Ora Gaza – flotilla update
4.00pm Working with the Palestinian Community in Aotearoa/New Zealand and Palestine
Dr Abdalla Gouda, Maher Nazal, Billy Hania, Tuma Hazou, Rand Hazou, Randa Abbasi (Contact Randa Abbasi randaabbasi@hotmail.com)
4.45pm Review of PSNA strategies and tactics (Randa Abbasi)
Feedback and suggestions on how we can improve our campaigning
5.30pm FILM SCREENING – “Gaza Fights for Freedom”
6.30pm Palestinian meal provided at venue!
7.30pm Updates from Palestine: (late in the day so speakers from Palestine don’t have to get up in the middle of the night!)
Update on Covid 19 in Gaza, Palestine. Dr Medhat Abbass (TBC) Consultant, International Cooperation Department, Gaza Ministry of Health
Update on upcoming Palestinian elections (May to July) and Israeli election result (23 March) Haneen Zoabi – Palestinian Israeli – former member of the Israeli Knesset (via Zoom)
Apoorva Gautam – Asia-Pacific rep on Palestine National BDS Committee – via zoom from Delhi)
Sunday 28 March
8.00am For the early risers – new film “This is Palestine”
9.00am Review of National Structure – what can be improved (Don/Janfrie)
Election of National Chair and Secretary (Janfrie)
Appointment of National Committee
10.00am Political panel – building support for Palestinian human rights amongst MPs (Don Carson)
Duncan Webb – Labour Party
Golriz Ghahraman – Green Party
Bob Carr – former Labour Minister from Australia (on Zoom from Australia)
11.00am Further reflection from the ‘Review of PSNA strategies and tactics discussion from Saturday (Randa)
11.15pm Farewells and finish (the room has been booked from 11.30am by another group)
11.30-12.30 Protest on corner Great North Road and Williamson Ave – 100m from venue – to mark Palestine Land Day which is on 30 March.
We hope to see you there!
Are you able to donate a cup of coffee a month to the campaign?
We will need some serious money to make our campaign as effective as possible. For example, we will need somewhere in the vicinity of $25,000 to bring speakers to New Zealand over the next year and organise large public meetings to help spread the message.
You can help. Are you able to donate a cup of coffee a month to the campaign? In other words, can you afford to make an automatic payment of $5 per month to support the Palestinian struggle? (If you can afford more that would be great!)
Our account details are:
Account name: Palestine Solidarity Network
Account number: 38-9015-0849542-00
Or Pay Pal account: admin@palestinesolidaritynz.net
We are happy to provide a receipt upon request (however, we are not a registered charity so this is not tax-deductible)
In Occupied Palestine daily newsletter – an invitation to subscribe from Leslie Bravery
Because of mainstream news media complicity, daily headlines and commentary only occasionally ever mention the relentless Israeli violence in Palestine, not even the frequent air strikes!
However, daily news and statistics regarding the violence Palestinians are forced to live under are regularly reported on in the “In Occupied Palestine daily newsletter”, sourced and compiled for easy reading and correlation chiefly from the Palestinian Monitoring Group's daily situation reports.
The In Occupied Palestine daily newsletter continues to be circulated, by email, worldwide to subscribers only, as it has been over the last two decades.
Please contact lesliebravery@icloud.com if you also wish to become a subscriber.
Merchandise for sale
We have Merchandise you can buy including T-shirts from our website.
Go here - https://www.psna.nz/shop
More ways you can get involved
Forward this Newsletter – If you know people who may be interested in this movement, please forward this Newsletter to them.
Join in local activities in your area monthly Rallies - In Auckland at 2.00 pm on the first Saturday of every month. Please consider doing the same in your community. Contact Secretary@PSNA.nz if you would like to know where and how to get Flags and Banners
Help set up a Students for Justice in Palestine groups on your campus
Tell Your MP your opinions on Divestment and Sanctions of Israel.
Write Letters to Newspapers – Call Talkback Radio
Keep in touch with the campaign on social media
o NZ Palestine Solidarity Network website: https://www.PSNA.nz
o NZ Palestine Solidarity Network Facebook: www.facebook.com/groups/671376706283605/
o NZ Palestine Solidarity Network email: Secretary@PSNA.nz
The Palestine Human Rights Campaign produces the In Occupied Palestine newsletter. It is a regular daily newsletter on the daily situation in Palestine, compiled by Leslie Bravery and emailed to subscribers. If you would also like to become a subscriber, please contact Leslie at “lesliebravery @ icloud .com” (remove the spaces to use as an email address) for further information.
Keep Updated on our Facebook pages and websites (listed below)
Human rights for Uyghur refugees - In line with our support for human rights for the people of Palestine we have added our name to the petition in support of human rights for Uyghur refugees so they can be included in the government’s refugee quota. PSNA members who wish to also sign this petition can do so here - https://our.actionstation.org.nz/petitions/open-letter-let-s-show-compassion-to-the-uyghur-community
PSNA Groups
PSNA National Committee
Website: www.PSNA.nz
Chair - John Minto: Chair@PSNA.nz
Secretary - Neil Scott: Secretary@PSNA.nz
Regional Groups
Bay of Islands PSNA Bay of Islands (Email)
Whangarei PSNA Whangarei (Facebook)
Auckland PSNA Auckland – Tamaki Makaurau (Website)
Hamilton Palestine Human Rights Campaign Waikato (Facebook)
Tauranga Tauranga Moana 4 Palestine (Facebook)
Napier/Hastings Aotearoa Standing with Palestine (Facebook)
Palmerston North PSNA Palmerston North (Email)
New Plymouth PSNA New Plymouth (Email)
Wellington PSNA Wellington (Email)
Nelson Te Tau Ihu (Nelson) Palestine (Facebook)
Christchurch PSNA Christchurch (Facebook)
Dunedin Dunedin for Justice in Palestine (Facebook)
Invercargill PSNA Invercargill (Email)