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Vote Palestine: support Gaza
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Check out your candidates’ views on Gaza and the other issues:
If they haven’t yet responded contact them today to ask them to reply:
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Join Ken Loach’s call for sanctions now!
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Ken Loach has backed our campaign for the new Government to impose economic sanctions and an arms blockade on Israel. Watch his video and please do as he asks – sign and share our petition today!
(If the hyperlink above doesn’t work for you please copy and paste this link into your browser http://act.palestinecampaign.org/petition/28)
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Southampton Conference on Israel and
international law postponed |
On Tuesday the organisers of the Southampton Conference, hoping to defend the notion of academic freedom and overturn the University’s decision to cancel the conference took the case to the High Court. However, a High Court judge rejected the application for a judicial review. The organisers have released a statement explaining what happened and reiterating their commitment to continuing the fight for both academic freedom and justice for Palestine.
A lawyer acting for the university argued in court that the conference was not cancelled but merely “postponed”, and suggested that the university was offering to commission a report which would look into holding the conference at a later date.
Lawyers acting for the organisers focused on the university’s claim that protests would be held against the conference. In particular, they referenced the police report which suggested that protests would be led by Sussex Friends of Israel, and that this group worked with the English Defence League (EDL), a violent and racist group. They argued that that although the first police report identified the EDL and Sussex Friends of Israel as the potential protesters, it also said that the police were confident they could provide the necessary support to the university. University lawyers brought up the issue of a second police document: a weekly roundup of intelligence from the Met Police National Domestic Extremism Unit. However, they said it could not be released.
The organisers are still committed to protesting against the university decision and using “the moral strength of our cause to ensure freedom of speech and academic debate.” You can still sign the petition calling on the university to allow the conference to go ahead.
For more details on the decision, and the wider context of censorship at universities on debating Palestinian rights:
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Tamer Abu Ghazaleh UK Tour 16-18 April
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News and events
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