In a decision that was monumental for the anti-apartheid organizing in Canada, the membership of the University of Regina Students’ Union (URSU) voted on Feb 8th to adopt a Boycott, Disvestment, and Sanctions position. WCAIA would like to express our solidarity and support for URSU and its membership, and our respect for accomplishing this important victory!
You can find a message from Students’ Against Israeli Apartheid (SAIA) Regina here about the development, and the text of the motion adopted by the URSU membership is below:
RESOLUTION TO JOIN THE GLOBAL MOVEMENT IN SUPPORT OF PALESTINIAN RIGHTS
February 1, 2012
WHERAS Israel is currently in defiance of over 30 UN Security Council Resolutions pertaining to its illegal military occupation of Palestine and is in flagrant violation of international humanitarian law under the Geneva Conventions, as affirmed by the International Court of Justice in 2004;
WHEREAS Israel systematically obstructs Palestinian students’ right to education through military checkpoints and roadblocks, the illegal apartheid wall, and the frequent closure of cities, routinely preventing thousands of students and teachers from reaching their schools and universities;
WHEREAS on July 9, 2005, 171 Palestinian organizations called upon people of conscience around the world to implement a global campaign of boycotts, divestment and sanctions (BDS) against Israel, similar to those applied to South Africa in the apartheid era;
WHEREAS students around the world, from York to Concordia, Carleton, UC Berkeley, McGill, the University of Toronto and New York University have been at the forefront of this global movement by campaigning for divestment of university funds from companies that support or profit from Israel’s illegal occupation and systematic denial of Palestinian human rights;
BE IT RESOLVED THAT the University of Regina Student Union:
Recognize that the right to education is a fundamental human right that is basic to human freedom;
Join student organizations around the globe by endorsing the 2005 call for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions from Palestinian civil society;
Commit to identifying and divesting from companies that support or profit from Israeli war crimes, occupation and oppression;
Affirm that students have a vital role in supporting struggles for social justice, and stand in solidarity with Palestinians’ struggle for self-determination and freedom.
WINNIPEG RALLY FOR GAZA
