PSNA Newsletter No 55 - September 14, 2021

14 Mahuru 2021
14 September 2021

Tēnei te wiki o Te Reo Māori - Kia kaha Te Reo Māori!

Newsletter No 55 – A third lockdown newsletter

Kia ora Palestinian Human Rights Supporter

This is our third newsletter in lockdown – would be nice to think it will be the last one in difficult circumstances…

Important things you can do right now – with just a few clicks…

Number One
Join the global movement to get the United Nations General Assembly to begin an investigation into Israel’s apartheid policies towards Palestinians

There are several very important steps we can all take. These are listed at this link.

(NOTE – the time in Aotearoa New Zealand for the Twitter storm is 5am to 7am tomorrow morning! Just join when you can!)

Number Two
Join the global campaign to Boycott Puma

a) The fifth International Day of Action to Boycott Puma is being held around the world this Saturday September 18th. Post this image from BDS Australia on your social media pages.

b) Amputees in Gaza call for a boycott of Puma. It is a favourite tactic of the Israeli Defence Force to shoot through the Gaza border fence and create amputees from Palestinian protestors.

i) Put this picture on your social media pages this weekend

i) Email a copy of the above picture to the Silver Ferns CEO Jenny Wylie info@netballnz.co.nz and ask her if she is OK with Puma supporting breaches of international law and war crimes against Palestinian protestors, many of whom are also footballers who will never play competitively again.

Government folds to pressure from racists

Thanks to everyone who wrote to Nanaia Mahuta two weeks ago asking her to ensure New Zealand was represented at the “Durban IV” meeting against racism in all its forms in New York on 22 September. Unfortunately, Ms Mahuta, like former National Foreign Affairs Minister Murray McCully, folded to pressure from the pro-Israel lobby who were furious being called out as a racist, apartheid at earlier Durban meetings and made false smears of anti-Semitism against the organisers.

40th anniversary tour will be rescheduled

It has been a frustrating time trying to get the remainder of the 40th anniversary tour rescheduled because it is very hard to know when we will be back to Level 1 Covid restrictions.

At the moment we have tentatively rescheduled the Auckland meeting to:

3pm Sunday
14th November 2021 (changed from 12 September)

We will try to build other meetings around this date and will hopefully have more details in the next newsletter of other meetings.

Two inspiring movies for lockdown

Try to make time to watch these two superb, inspiring movies – we have mentioned them before in previous newsletters and lockdown might give you time to watch them:

1. Palestine Action – a year of direct action against Elbit Systems Limited

2. Gaza fights for Freedom!

Introducing the National Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies at Otago University

The National Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies at Otago University addresses the most enduring and intractable problems confronting humanity.

Prof Richard Jackson heads the Centre and his interests can be found here

He wrote an excellent piece recently on the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan.

He and the Centre offer supervision of graduate research on pacifism, anarchism and nonviolent politics; civilian-based nonviolent national defence; nonviolent resistance movements; unarmed peacekeeping and civilian protection; critical peace research; critical terrorism studies.

It is the Centre’s aspiration to progress building a fully bicultural centre consistent with the University of Otago’s Māori Strategic Framework. In this it supported by the Aotearoa-NZ Peace and Conflict Studies Centre Trust.

Anyone interested in the work of the Centre and studying there should check out possibilities.There are numerous scholarships available to make study viable. Details are here and here.

Of particular interest to PSNA there are Palestinian scholars studying there include Rula Talahma. Further academic links are here and here.

Stories from the Web

1. Shifting the Western discourse on Palestine here

2. Palestinian political prisoners here

3. Noam Chomsky at 92 – what are the prospects for peace in the Middle East here

4. Ending US support for Israeli racism here

5. Sports boycotts and apartheid – from South Africa to Israel here

6. Biden welcomes Israeli PM who boats of war crimes here

7. Israeli settlers abduct 15-year-old boy here

8. Palestinians continue protests over Nizar Banat’s killing here

9. Australia – a win in the debate for intellectual freedom here

10. Tour group assaulted by Israeli onlookers here

11. Gaza child shot in neck by Israeli sniper here

12. Israel offers Palestinians their own money back as a gesture of goodwill here

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

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)