“Peacewashing” the Occupation of Palestine

A community forum was held in Marrickville on Monday August 15, 2011 at the Addison Road Community Centre Art Gallery, to look at the subtext behind ‘people-to-people” and ‘peace’ projects or initiatives like the recent Peres Foundation sponsored  AFL Peace Team which visited Sydney in August.

What is the real impact of these projects and are they counter productive by attempting to ‘normalize’ the Occupation and dispossession of Palestinians and the  apartheid policies of the State of Israel?

Speakers were :

Ron Witton  – lawyer and human rights activist (Jews Against the Occupation)

Dr Ron Witton, has lectured in the social sciences in universities in Australia and overseas, and was a member of the international contingent who tried to reach Gaza for the 2010 Gaza Freedom March. His parents came to Australia as German Jewish refugees in 1939 and he is now a member of Jews Against the Occupation and Independent Australian Jewish Voices

Kolin Thumbadoo  –  Sth African anti-apartheid veteran

Kolin Thumbadoo was born in South Africa and active in the struggle against apartheid there before he emigrated to Australia in the early 1980s. In Sydney he joined the Australian Anti-Apartheid Movement and was elected president in 1985. In that role, he was instrumental in bringing to Australia, Oliver Tambo, who at that time was president of the ANC while Mandela was  in gaol. Kolin was a key organiser of the sports boycotts against Apartheid South Africa and  thesuccessful push to boycott South African Airways.

Wendy Bacon – lawyer and media academic (Australian Centre for Independent Journalism)

Inner West Resident , Professor Wendy Bacon is a widely-acclaimed investigative journalist who received a Walkley Award in 1984 for her exposure of official corruption in New South Wales. Throughout her career Wendy has worked consistently to critique oppression and expose corruption, and currently has a particular interest in humanitarian and environmental issues

She is a board member of the Australian Centre for Independent Journalism, and a contributing editor with the Pacific Journalism Review.

Moderator:  Paula Abood (Film maker and community development worker)

Introduction:  Miriam Pellicano (Friends of Hebron)

Organised by Leichhardt Friends of Hebron and Marrickville Peace Group.

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