Webinar on “Anti-Palestinian Racism: Motives, Manifestations and Solutions“
Jurists for Palestine Forum – Season 2
Panel discussion 4 – Online
Jurists for Palestine Forum, one of Law for Palestine’s projects and the widest international network for legal professionals interested in the Question of Palestine, and in partnership with the Arab Renaissance for Democracy and Development (ARDD), are pleased to announce a webinar on the “Anti-Palestinian Racism: Motives, Manifestations and Solutions”.
Main Information:
- Date: Thursday 18th August 2022.
- Time: 7:00-8:30 PM (Jerusalem Time), 4:00-5:30 PM (GMT).
- Location: Online – Participants will be provided with a link prior to the webinar time.
- Language: The webinar will be conducted in English. Simultaneous translation into Arabic will be available.
- Registration is required: The webinar is open for the members of Jurists for Palestine Forum (You are not a member? Register here).
Background
Throughout the Palestinian struggle, as Palestinian rights have been under attack at home, the situation was not brighter for those defending Palestinian rights worldwide, be them Palestinians or people of other nationalities advocating the cause of justice and human rights for Palestine, mainly in Western countries. Restrictions to their freedom of expression, excluding them from platforms, denying them opportunities and other forms of harassment, advocated by pro-Israel groups and often implemented by their allies in power, are a defining feature of pro-Palestinian activism.
This state of ‘anti-Palestinianness’ has been described through several terms; such as Anti-Palestinianism, Anti-Palestinian Discrimination, Anti-Palestinian Bias. This diversity of terms led to none of them being of regular use, or any of them being properly established, defined and framed. Recently, a term has been coined to capture it all; Anti-Palestinian Racism (APR).
The APR term recently used, set out and framed comprehensively in a Canadian report released in April 2022. The report defines APR as “a form of anti-Arab racism that silences, excludes, erases, stereotypes, defames or dehumanizes Palestinians or their narratives. Anti-Palestinian racism takes various forms including: denying the Nakba and justifying violence against Palestinians; failing to acknowledge Palestinians as an Indigenous people with a collective identity, belonging and rights in relation to occupied and historic Palestine; erasing the human rights and equal dignity and worth of Palestinians; excluding or pressuring others to exclude Palestinian perspectives, Palestinians and their allies; defaming Palestinians and their allies with slander such as being inherently antisemitic, a terrorist threat/sympathizer or opposed to democratic values.”
In practice, the relative success of APR in suppressing voices leading to ‘voluntary’ and involuntary self-censorship is quite alarming, as besides suppressing the voice of the victims, it offers the Israeli government a blank cheque to continue violating international law with no fear of any sort of accountability. This requires a firm stance to stand united and stand behind one banner, as the multiple of definitions and terminology would lead to disorganized and ineffective action.
This webinar, gathering academics, experts and NGOs directly involved and having a first-hand experience with the variant manifestations of the concept, aims to:
- Highlight the different manifestations and consequences of APR.
- Examine the motives and incentives of APR, who suffers from it and how? and Who are the main instigators?
- Discuss the possible strategies to combat APR, what could be done by the international legal community, human rights lawyers, experts, and NGO’s to combat it?
In view of the need to seek justice and fight racism and discrimination equally, Law for Palestine, in partnership with ARDD, propose to conduct a webinar on: Anti-Palestinian Racism: Motives, Manifestations and Solutions.
Speakers:
- Abigail B. Bakan: Professor in the Department of Social Justice Education (SJE) at OISE, and cross-appointment Anne Tanenbaum Centre for Jewish Studies, University of Toronto. Her publications include: Israel, Palestine and the Politics of Race (with Yasmeen Abu-Laban).
- Dania Majid: Co-founder and president of the Arab Canadian Lawyers Association. She is also the co-founder and artistic director of the Toronto Palestine Film Festival. Dania sits on the steering committee for the Hearing Palestine program at the University of Toronto. In addition to being a long-time advocate for the Palestinian and Arab community, Dania is also a human rights lawyer and housing advocate with a legal aid clinic in Ontario.
- Ramzy Baroud: US-Palestinian journalist, media consultant, internationally-syndicated columnist, Editor of Palestine Chronicle (1999-present). Baroud is the author of six books and a contributor to many others; his latest volume , co-edited with Ilan Pappe is Our Vision for Liberation: Engaged Palestinian Leaders and Intellectuals Speak Out. His books are translated to many languages including French, Turkish, Arabic, Korean, Malayalam, among others.
Moderator:
Mjriam Abu Samra: Senior research officer at ARDD, she completed her PhD in International Relations at the University of Oxford, United Kingdom. Her work focuses on Palestinian Transnational Student Movements and their contribution to the broader Liberation Movement through different political periods. Mjriam is based in Amman where she has worked at the University of Jordan. She has been a co-founder of the Palestinian Youth Movement.
