PSNA Newsletter No 57 - October 12, 2021
12 12 Whiringa-ā-nuku 2021
12 October 2021
Newsletter No 57
Kia ora Palestinian Human Rights Supporter
Hang in there!
The pandemic rolls on and so does the campaign of Palestinian solidarity…
Something you can do now – with just a couple of clicks…
Please help circulate this poster on social media. It’s an Arabic version of our poster for the campaign to get Kiwisaver providers to divest from all the 112 companies identified by the UN Human Rights Council as complicit in the building and maintenance of illegal Jewish-only settlements on Palestinian land.
Post on Facebook, Twitter etc
Rescheduled meetings
40th anniversary of the 1981 Springbok Tour
The three meetings rescheduled for October in Nelson, Wellington and Napier went very well. A brief report on each meeting is below.
The November meetings are as follows.
Auckland:
Sunday 14th November,
4:00 pm
Mt Eden War Memorial Hall, 4pm
Whangarei:
Tuesday 16th November
6:00 pm
116 Community Centre, 116 Bank St
Kerikeri:
Saturday 20th November
7:00pm
Turner Centre
Other meetings will be included in future newsletters.
Or check the PSNA Facebook events page here.
Report on 40th anniversary meetings held in October
Nelson
A great turnout for the meeting with a marvellous supper to finish off. There was excellent discussion from the floor including the suggestion people make contact with https://www.972mag.com/about/ As well as PSNA Chair John Minto, the meeting also heard from Palestinian Saed Al Azza who runs “Saed’s Falafel’s” on the corner of Bridge and Trafalgar streets in Nelson (be sure to visit for great food when you are in Nelson!)
A big thanks to Te Tau Ihu Palestine Solidarity Group for all the organising.
Wellington
An excellent turnout with the meeting in Covid 19 configuration. Alongside PSNA Chair John Minto the meeting also heard from former All Black captain Graham Mourie who spoke about his refusal to play the Springboks in 1981 and former All Black Bob Burgess who also refused to play against racially selected South African teams at considerable personal cost to both. Palestinian activist Nadia Abu Shanab drew the links between the generation which fought apartheid in the 1970s and 1980s and the new generation of activists reflected in Black Lives Matter protests.
Napier
An excellent meeting addressed by Toro Waaka, former member of Nga Tamatoa (the young warriors) who protested racism and apartheid in the 1960s. It was an entertaining and informative presentation which was well received by the audience.
Ngatai Huata also entertained the meeting with songs and chants from the 1981 Springbok tour protests.
Ngatai Huata entertains at the Napier meeting
Meanwhile outside the Napier meeting 30/40 protestors gathered from Pastor Nigel Woodley’s evangelical Christian Church in support for Israel! It’s not nice to see good people led astray by Woodley’s misinformation and glib repetitions of Israeli propaganda. It’s worth noting that Woodley has spent close to $100,000 in the last few months in full-page advertisements in newspapers throughout Aotearoa New Zealand encouraging people to sign his petition for an Aotearoa New Zealand embassy to be set up in Israel (currently the NZ ambassador in Turkey is accredited to Israel). Despite the massive outlay Woodley’s petition has so far gained just 2,185 signatures. That’s about $50 spent per signature!
Pastor Woodley (the wayward shepherd with his misled flock) outside the Napier meeting
Support the campaign to release Palestinian political prisoners in British Jails
More details here
The 2021 Edward Said Memorial Lecture – a conversation with Noam Chomsky
Online via Zoom on Sunday 7 November 2021.
Registrations are not open yet but we hope to have details in next newsletter.
Award-winning Irish novelist stands up for Palestine
Award-winning Irish novelist Sally Rooney is refusing to allow her new bestseller to be translated into Hebrew unless the company declares its opposition to apartheid in Israel. More details are here.
Sally Rooney with one of her bestsellers
A small but important step for BDS
The Aotearoa New Zealand Methodist Church has divested from Motorola Solutions Inc., one of the 112 companies listed by the United Nations Human Rights Council as complicit in the building of illegal Jewish-only settlements on Palestinian land. Motorola Systems Inc. are providing the Israeli military with surveillance equipment used against Palestinians.
A tweet exposing Israeli “racism in action” against Palestinians
Delegates vote on Palestine resolution
Stories from the Web
Richard Falk on the rebranding of anti-Semitism after the holocaust here
Israeli media attack journalist who exposed settler violence here
Gaza’s bird man killed by Israeli snipers here
How apartheid Israel stifles Palestinian education and scientific research here
Israel will be gone in 20 years here
Why are Australia and its media so fearful of debate on Israel’s treatment of Palestinians here
Crossword clues and bulling – the influence of Australia’s pro-Israel lobby revealed here
Former Australian Foreign Minister Bob Carr on the Israel lobby overreach here
Report on the infamous massacres of Palestinian at Sabra and Shatila refugee camps in Lebanon here
Hamas and the dilemmas of representation and curtailment here
Why Palestinians are divided here
Labour conference Palestine Motion civil war not over here
Palestinian factions call to cancel UNRWA-US agreement 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)