Thursday, March 20, 7:00 pm, Sanctuary for Independent Media, 3361 6th Ave, Troy, NY .”No Other Land”, a documentary exposing the brutality of Israel’s occupation in the West Bank will be shown. There will also be a panel discussion after. This documentary just WON AN ACADEMY AWARD!!!! Please use the link below to register for the movie & panel discussion at the Sanctuary:
https://www.mediasanctuary.org/event/no-other-land/
Also, a reminder that this movie is also currently playing at the Spectrum 8 Theater right now and will play through March 6th. Link to purchase tickets at the Spectrum: https://www.btmcinemas.com/movies/326970-no-other-land/
No Other Land: For half a decade, Basel Adra, a Palestinian activist, films his community of Masafer Yatta being destroyed by Israel‘s occupation, as he builds an unlikely alliance with an Israeli journalist who wants to join his fight.
Saturday, March 22. 3:30 pm, Hudson Area Library, 51 N. 5th Street, Hudson, NY. A coalition of local human rights activists are presenting “Community Responses to Israel’s U.S.-Supported War on Palestinians: A Talk on Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions Campaigns” at the Hudson Area Library, 51 N. 5th Street, Hudson, NY. A moderated discussion will follow the presentations. RSVP for the event here.
The event comes on the heels of President Donald Trump’s meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, where Trump proposed to ethnically cleanse the 2 million Palestinians remaining in the decimated Gaza Strip, and take ownership of the territory, in violation of international law. Phase one of a ceasefire deal that Israel repeatedly violated has ended with no indication that Israel intends to negotiate subsequent phases. Estimates say that Israel has killed at least
48,346 Palestinians in Gaza. Israel is also
ramping up large-scale military attacks on Palestinians in the occupied West Bank.
Guest speakers for the talk are Riham Barghouti, a founding member of the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI), and Rebecca Vilkomerson, the Executive Director of the national organization Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) from 2009 – 2019. Barghouti and Vilkomerson will share information about the origins, principles, and strategy of the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement, as well as practical examples of effective BDS campaigns.
An update on a JVP-led divestment campaign, Break the Bonds New York State (BTBNYS), will be presented by organizers. According to JVP, as of March 2024, the New York State Common Retirement Fund (NYSCRF), the pension fund of the New York State and Local Retirement System (NYSLRS) and one of the largest public pension plans in the U.S., held over $340 million worth of Israel Bonds.
The BDS movement, founded in 2005, is a Palestinian-led movement for freedom, justice and equality for Palestine, inspired by the global boycott movement that helped end apartheid in South Africa. The BDS movement
calls for nonviolent pressure on Israel until it complies with international law by meeting three demands: 1) An end to Israel’s
occupation and colonization of the West Bank, East Jerusalem, the Gaza Strip and the Syrian Golan Heights, 2) Full equality for Palestinian citizens of Israel, and 3) Respect, protection, and promotion of the right of return of Palestinian refugees, as stipulated under UN Resolution 194. Boycotts are proven, time-honored tactics that have been employed in civil rights and labor struggles in the U.S., by the anti-apartheid movement in the U.S. and worldwide, and in other social justice struggles around the world. The Supreme Court has
ruled that political boycotts are protected by the First Amendment.
Riham Barghouti is a Palestinian-American educator and activist based in New York. She is actively involved with Amplify Palestine, a campaign and production house focused on building cultural power for Palestinian liberation, initiated by Adalah-NY: Campaign for the Boycott of Israel. Riham is a contributor to A Land With A People: Palestinians and Jews Confront Zionism. During her time in Palestine, she co-founded the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI), worked at Birzeit University and was a member of El-Funoun Palestinian Popular Dance Troupe. Her maternal grandmother’s family was exiled from the town of Safad and the city of Tiberias in the Nakba of 1948.
Rebecca Vilkomerson was the executive director of Jewish Voice for Peace, from 2009-2019. She co-authored the book, Solidarity Is the Political Version of Love, published by Haymarket Books in 2024 about organizing lessons from her time in JVP staff leadership.. She is currently the co-director of the Funding Freedom project, which organizes within philanthropy to build support for Palestinian liberation. She’s on the leadership team of JVP-NY, and serves on the boards of SURJ (Showing Up for Racial Justice) and her local synagogue.
This event has five co-sponsors: Columbia County for Palestine (CC4P) is a coalition of Columbia County, NY activists committed to the cause of a Free Palestine. Upper Hudson Valley CODEPINK (UHVCP) is the NY Capital Region Chapter of CODEPINK standing for peace, justice, and transnational/ anti-imperialist feminism. Jewish Voice for Peace Albany (JVP-Albany) are Capital Region New York Jews organizing towards Palestinian liberation and Judaism beyond Zionism. Palestinian Rights Committee Albany (PRC) educates and advocates for Palestinian human rights, and for Palestinians to democratically elect their own leaders and live in a dignified peace in Palestine with full civil, economic, and political rights. Lil’ Deb’s Oasis, a restaurant in Hudson, NY, is offering a 10 percent discount to those who attend this program and bring a copy of the event program to the restaurant by the end of March.
Admission to this event is free. Donations to help underwrite the event are welcome. For more information, please email
[email protected]
