The 2016 Right 2 Education campaign just finished a national tour of the U.S. Two college students speak of their experiences trying to gain an education that is relevant and culturally meaningful while under occupation by the Israeli government which controls their curriculum, limits the building of schools, access to classes and frequently fails to protect children from the attacks of religious extremest who terrorize Palestinian communities in a campaign to expand the illegal settler collonies in occupied Palestine. They describe the various means that Israel has used to interfere with their education and the origin of the Right 2 Education Campaign.
"The Right to Education Campaign is a grassroots Palestinian movement that seeks to document, research and raise awareness about the issues facing Palestinian students, teachers and academic institutions under Israeli military occupation. Demanding unimpeded access for all Palestinians to their academic institutions, the Right to Education Campaign opposes Israelâs illegal occupation and attacks on Palestinian educational rights. The campaign also seeks to build an international movement in support of Palestinian students, teachers and educational institutions.
The campaign is jointly run by four West Bank universities: Birzeit University in Birzeit, Al-Najah National University in Nablus, Hebron University in Hebron and Al Quds University in Abu Dis. These branches of the Campaign both collaborate on major projects and work on issues particular to each university. Currently, the four branches are working to establish roots in other universities both in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
The right to education is a basic human right and fundamental to human freedom. The United Nationâs Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that âeveryone has the right to educationâ (Article 26, 1948). The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, ratified by Israel in 1991, states that âEducation is both a human right in itself and an indispensable means of realizing other human rightsâ. However the Israeli military systematically obstructs education in the West Bank and Gaza, which violates the human rights of individuals and also impedes the development of Palestinian society." (R2Ed web site)
National SJP http://right2edu.birzeit.edu/ SJP- DePaul University
Treat Us As Human-beings
The recording is sometimes difficult as the speakers moved from the mic to screen where their images were projected. The students trade off in their presentation, speaking about their on going struggle , its history and the creativity and human decency that Palestinians bring to their resistance movement. I think the talk offers some scope to understanding the depth of the racist structures that are at the core of Israel's Zionist origins.
These videos, one of which, the Cage Bird, was mentioned, expose the myth of Israel and the settlers that are stealing Palestinian land and attacking Palestinians with impunity protected by IDF guns and State violence.
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