Day School: Palestine, Internationalism, and the Left
Day School: Palestine, Internationalism, and the Left
Sunday, January 28, 2024, 9am - 5pm, London (North London) - register by 24 January 2024
In the face of Israel’s ongoing war against Gaza, millions have taken to the streets around the world in some of the largest mass mobilisations since the 2003 US/UK-led war against Iraq. Palestine has become the touchstone of a larger rebellion against Tory austerity and Labour Party complicity, with student walkouts across every corner of the country and inspiring blockades by hundreds of workers against arms factories in Britain. Yet despite these unprecedented actions, much of the discussion of the current war continues to frame Palestine as simply a question of humanitarian crisis and Israel’s ongoing violation of Palestinian rights. This perspective obscures Palestine’s central political importance to the Left – a key part to a renewal of consistent anti-capitalist, anti-racist, feminist, and internationalist politics today. Such a politics is crucial to building meaningful and genuine solidarity in these times.
This Day School will explore the history of Palestine and its place in wider anti-imperialist struggles in the Middle East. It will also be an opportunity to hear from organisers who have been working tirelessly to expand the Palestine solidarity movement, and to think critically about how to ground this work in solid political analysis.
Join us and let’s work towards building consistent, meaningful, and genuine solidarity with Palestine!
Palestine, Internationalism, and the Left
9am - 10am Registration
10am - 11:30am Framing Palestine: Settler Colonialism, Anti-Imperialism, and the Politics of Internationalism
Adam Hanieh is a Palestinian activist and author of several books, including Lineages of Revolt: Issues of Contemporary capitalism in the Middle East (Haymarket books) and the forthcoming Crude Capitalism: Oil, Corporate Power and the Making of the World Market (Verso, 2024).
Rob Knox is an activist and academic. His work focuses on anti-racism, anti-imperialism and critiques of international law.
Rafeef Ziadah is a Palestinian organiser with Workers in Palestine. She is the co-editor of the book Revolutionary Feminisms - Conversations on Collective Action and Radical Thought (Verso press).
11:30 -12pm - Coffee break
12pm-1:30pm Why Palestine is a Feminist, Anti-Racist, and Environmental Struggle
Shanice Octavia McBean is a Black feminist and Afro-Marxist organiser. She is the co-author of the book Abolition Revolution.
Joshua Virasami is an activist, writer and artist. He is the author of How to Change (#Merky Books) and a forthcoming edited collection A World without Racism (Pluto Books).
Hamza Hamouchene is an Algerian researcher and activist. He is the co-founder of Environmental Justice North Africa (EJNA) and the Siyada network for food sovereignty in the Arab region. He is currently the Arab region programme coordinator at the Transnational Institute (TNI).
Lunch (provided) 1:30 - 2:30pm
2:30-3:30pm Breakout Organising Sessions
- Justice for Palestine on campus
Hadeel Himmo and Yara Derbas are members of the Palestinian Youth Movement (PYM), which is a transnational base-building grassroots movement of Palestinian Arab youth in exile.
Mai Taha is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Sociology at the LSE. She is the Equalities Co-chair of LSE University and College Union (UCU).
Nimer Sultany is an organiser with Scholars for Palestine UK. He is a reader in Public Law in SOAS, University of London, and serves as the Editor-in-Chief of The Palestine Yearbook of International Law.
- Organising for Palestine in Your Trade Union 101
Laura Hone is an organiser with Organise Now! - a project built by workers from across the trade union movement that supports new worker organising.
Jamie Woodcock is a trade unionist, editor of Notes from Below, and Organise Now!
- Stop Arming Israel
Khem Rogaly is a senior researcher at Commonwealth. His work focuses on the YK’s military industry and industrial strategy.
Charlie Macnamara is a trade union organiser and involved in Workers for a Free Palestine.
- Medical workers for Palestine
Mohammed Seyam is a medical doctor from Gaza, Palestine, currently in London pursuing his MSc in Global Healthcare Management at UCL
Mashal Iftikhar is an NHS doctor training in psychiatry. She is currently organisng with Health Workers for a Free Palestine.
- Journalists & publishers for Palestine
Lina Saafin is a Palestinian writer and journalist whose work has appeared in Middle East Eye, The Times Literary Supplement, the News Internationalist, and Al Jazeera.
Rosie Warren is an editor at Verso Books and Editor-in-Chief of Salvage magazine. She is a member of the NUJ book branch, and organises with WFFP, the Just Reporting Network and Book Workers for a Free Palestine.
- Energy Embargo on Israel
Isla is a researcher working with Disrupt Power, a Palestinian-led coalition of researchers, organisers, artists, architects and activists based primarily in the Arab world working to impose an energy embargo to stop the genocide and free Palestine.
Masa is an activist with Energy Embargo for Palestine, a collective of activists based in Britain responding to the call issued by Palestinian trade unions to disrupt energy flow to Israel.
3:30-4pm - Coffee break
4-5pm - Closing plenary: Towards Liberation: Solidarity and Organising for Justice
Michael Deas is an organiser in the housing movement and has been active in the Palestine solidarity movement since 2008. He is a former coordinator with the BDS movement, where he led on international campaigns against corporate complicity in Israel’s crimes.
Riya Al’Sanah is a Palestinian organiser with Workers in Palestine. She is a PhD candidate researching Israeli financial inclusion policies, their history, neoliberal character and implications for the housing markets of 48 Palestinians.
More speakers and facilitators to be announced soon.
Childcare and lunch will be provided.
Location and further information to be sent upon registration. To attend, please register by 24 January 2024: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1iSK7t0BmcDQDaL3oLjaRYkENOFln7XI6jrUXjoB3Rws/edit
Sunday, January 28, 2024, 9am - 5pm, London (North London) - register by 24 January 2024
In the face of Israel’s ongoing war against Gaza, millions have taken to the streets around the world in some of the largest mass mobilisations since the 2003 US/UK-led war against Iraq. Palestine has become the touchstone of a larger rebellion against Tory austerity and Labour Party complicity, with student walkouts across every corner of the country and inspiring blockades by hundreds of workers against arms factories in Britain. Yet despite these unprecedented actions, much of the discussion of the current war continues to frame Palestine as simply a question of humanitarian crisis and Israel’s ongoing violation of Palestinian rights. This perspective obscures Palestine’s central political importance to the Left – a key part to a renewal of consistent anti-capitalist, anti-racist, feminist, and internationalist politics today. Such a politics is crucial to building meaningful and genuine solidarity in these times.
This Day School will explore the history of Palestine and its place in wider anti-imperialist struggles in the Middle East. It will also be an opportunity to hear from organisers who have been working tirelessly to expand the Palestine solidarity movement, and to think critically about how to ground this work in solid political analysis.
Join us and let’s work towards building consistent, meaningful, and genuine solidarity with Palestine!
Palestine, Internationalism, and the Left
9am - 10am Registration
10am - 11:30am Framing Palestine: Settler Colonialism, Anti-Imperialism, and the Politics of Internationalism
Adam Hanieh is a Palestinian activist and author of several books, including Lineages of Revolt: Issues of Contemporary capitalism in the Middle East (Haymarket books) and the forthcoming Crude Capitalism: Oil, Corporate Power and the Making of the World Market (Verso, 2024).
Rob Knox is an activist and academic. His work focuses on anti-racism, anti-imperialism and critiques of international law.
Rafeef Ziadah is a Palestinian organiser with Workers in Palestine. She is the co-editor of the book Revolutionary Feminisms - Conversations on Collective Action and Radical Thought (Verso press).
11:30 -12pm - Coffee break
12pm-1:30pm Why Palestine is a Feminist, Anti-Racist, and Environmental Struggle
Shanice Octavia McBean is a Black feminist and Afro-Marxist organiser. She is the co-author of the book Abolition Revolution.
Joshua Virasami is an activist, writer and artist. He is the author of How to Change (#Merky Books) and a forthcoming edited collection A World without Racism (Pluto Books).
Hamza Hamouchene is an Algerian researcher and activist. He is the co-founder of Environmental Justice North Africa (EJNA) and the Siyada network for food sovereignty in the Arab region. He is currently the Arab region programme coordinator at the Transnational Institute (TNI).
Lunch (provided) 1:30 - 2:30pm
2:30-3:30pm Breakout Organising Sessions
- Justice for Palestine on campus
Hadeel Himmo and Yara Derbas are members of the Palestinian Youth Movement (PYM), which is a transnational base-building grassroots movement of Palestinian Arab youth in exile.
Mai Taha is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Sociology at the LSE. She is the Equalities Co-chair of LSE University and College Union (UCU).
Nimer Sultany is an organiser with Scholars for Palestine UK. He is a reader in Public Law in SOAS, University of London, and serves as the Editor-in-Chief of The Palestine Yearbook of International Law.
- Organising for Palestine in Your Trade Union 101
Laura Hone is an organiser with Organise Now! - a project built by workers from across the trade union movement that supports new worker organising.
Jamie Woodcock is a trade unionist, editor of Notes from Below, and Organise Now!
- Stop Arming Israel
Khem Rogaly is a senior researcher at Commonwealth. His work focuses on the YK’s military industry and industrial strategy.
Charlie Macnamara is a trade union organiser and involved in Workers for a Free Palestine.
- Medical workers for Palestine
Mohammed Seyam is a medical doctor from Gaza, Palestine, currently in London pursuing his MSc in Global Healthcare Management at UCL
Mashal Iftikhar is an NHS doctor training in psychiatry. She is currently organisng with Health Workers for a Free Palestine.
- Journalists & publishers for Palestine
Lina Saafin is a Palestinian writer and journalist whose work has appeared in Middle East Eye, The Times Literary Supplement, the News Internationalist, and Al Jazeera.
Rosie Warren is an editor at Verso Books and Editor-in-Chief of Salvage magazine. She is a member of the NUJ book branch, and organises with WFFP, the Just Reporting Network and Book Workers for a Free Palestine.
- Energy Embargo on Israel
Isla is a researcher working with Disrupt Power, a Palestinian-led coalition of researchers, organisers, artists, architects and activists based primarily in the Arab world working to impose an energy embargo to stop the genocide and free Palestine.
Masa is an activist with Energy Embargo for Palestine, a collective of activists based in Britain responding to the call issued by Palestinian trade unions to disrupt energy flow to Israel.
3:30-4pm - Coffee break
4-5pm - Closing plenary: Towards Liberation: Solidarity and Organising for Justice
Michael Deas is an organiser in the housing movement and has been active in the Palestine solidarity movement since 2008. He is a former coordinator with the BDS movement, where he led on international campaigns against corporate complicity in Israel’s crimes.
Riya Al’Sanah is a Palestinian organiser with Workers in Palestine. She is a PhD candidate researching Israeli financial inclusion policies, their history, neoliberal character and implications for the housing markets of 48 Palestinians.
More speakers and facilitators to be announced soon.
Childcare and lunch will be provided.
Location and further information to be sent upon registration. To attend, please register by 24 January 2024: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1iSK7t0BmcDQDaL3oLjaRYkENOFln7XI6jrUXjoB3Rws/edit