The United Nations has proclaimed 2014 as the International Year of Solidarity with the Palestinian people.
But every year should be a year of solidarity with the Palestinians.
- Every year of the 8 year siege of Gaza.
- Every year of the 47 year military occupation of the West Bank.
- Every year of the 66 years of dispossession since the terror, massacres and ethnic cleansing of the Nakba created the largest refugee population in the world.
Make your New Year Resolution for 2014 to join with people around the world showing your support and solidarity with the Palestinians. Get active in Edinburgh, come to our meetings, visit our stalls, join our demonstrations.
You can also become a member of the SPSC by joining online here http://scottishpsc.org.uk/index.php/contact-us/join-spsc .
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Saturday 4th January : Sainsburys STOP! Campaign
It’s an early start for our BDS campaigning as our participation in the UK national action continues into the new year. All around the country in places like London, Manchester and Glasgow supporters of Palestine will gather outside Sainburys stores.
Here in Edinburgh we will be at the following stores asking customers of Sainsburys to support us in putting pressure on the company to cease trading with Israeli companies complicit in the occupation.
Come and join us in your area this Saturday 4th January. We need as many volunteers as possible. Come along to the store nearest you. Each gathering will be led by an experienced SPSC activist to provide both advice and assistance.
Time: 12.00pm – 2.00pm
33-39 South Clerk Street, Newington.
Contact: Douglas 07724 875 829
Time: 12.00pm – 2.00pm
Dundee Street, Fountainbridge.
Contact: Janet 07562 799 926
Time: 12.00pm – 2.00pm
Bruntsfield Place, Bruntsfield.
Contact: Tom 07804 889 449
Time: 12.00pm – 2.00pm
Bernard Street, Leith
Contact: Torcuil 07809 297 599
Time: 2.00pm – 4.00pm
West Port, Grassmarket
Contact: Frank 07849 440 692
Please take note of the various times at the different locations.
Make your choice and join us and many others all over the UK this weekend.
Thursday 9th January – 7.30pm : Edinburgh Branch Meeting
This month, we will not be holding our branch meeting on the first Thursday of the month. Instead, it’s next Thursday 9th January at the usual time and venue: 7:30pm in St John’s Church on the corner of Lothian Road and Princes Street (enter by Princes St door).
Come along and find out more about the solidarity campaign here in Edinburgh and help us organise for our events. These include the two upcoming public meetings on 30th Jan and 4th Feb (see below).
Saturday and Sunday 11th and 12th January:
Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign AGM and Strategy Meeting
The national AGM of the SPSC will take place in Dundee University (precise location tbc) on Saturday 11th January. Plus on Sunday 12th January there will be a Strategy Meeting at the same venue. Both events will be from 11.00 a.m. to 4.00 p.m.
It’s open to all members of the SPSC and we would encourage everyone to attend if possible. Remember that you can become a member of the SPSC online SPSC membership 2014
Monday 13th January – 6.30pm: ‘Not Afraid to Look’ Exhibition.
A photographic exhibition organised by Phil Chetwynd of Edinburgh SPSC and the ‘Network of Photographers for Palestine’ (NPP) in memory of Tom Hurdall and Rachel Corrie.
The date marks the 10th anniversary of Tom Hurndall’s killing by an Israeli soldier in the Gaza Strip. Tom was a young English photography student and a volunteer with the International Solidarity Movement(ISM) in Gaza. He died after being in a coma for 9 months following a shot to the head by a sniper. His killer was only convicted of manslaughter.
But Tom Hurndall left behind a unique collection of pictures and reflections of his time in Gaza and some of these will be on display in this exhibition.
The opening event takes place on Monday 13th January in the ‘Out Of The Blue’ Drill Hall on Dalmeny Road, off Leith Walk. Start time is 6.30pm and Palestinian snacks and drinks will be available
Contact Phil at philchetwynd@yahoo.co.uk to reserve a place.
The exhibition will then run until Saturday 18th January.
Saturday 18th January – 3.00pm : Live link-up with Gaza
A special event linking up with Gaza on Skype on the final day of the ‘Not Afraid to Look’ exhibition on Saturday 18th January at 3pm at Out Of The Blue, Dalmeny Road.
Come along and talk with Ezz and Hassan in the live link-up and find out what life is like in Gaza today. Ezz and Hassan are two emerging young photographers who will talk about Tom Hurndall’s photographs and also give us their impressions of modern–day Gaza.
This is also a cultural event as prize-winning singer/songwriter Penny Stone will be singing along with Edinburgh’s radical song-group “Protest in Harmony”. Plus Gazi Hussein, an Edinburgh based poet will be reading one or two of his poems.
There will also be an important discussion chaired by SPSC’s Mick Napier on the subject of Palestinian solidarity work in Scotland.
Thursday 23rd January – 7.30pm: Divestment meeting
On Thursday 23rd January at 7:30pm in St John’s Church on the corner of Lothian Road and Princes Street (enter by Princes St door), there will be the next in the series of meetings on Divestment. The last was on 19th December (see below).
Thursday 30th January – 7.30pm: ‘Children in Chains’ public screening
Edinburgh SPSC will be hosting a public meeting to show Jon Pullman’s excellent film ‘Children in Chains’ about the abuse of Palestinian children in the Israeli Military Court System.
Many children stand up against the occupying soldiers of Israel combatting tanks and guns with mere stones but as the film explains “For them the consequences of defiance can be kidnap, torture and imprisonment” and this incarceration can include the solitary confinement of children.
The meeting starts at 7:30 pm on Thursday 30th January at the Augustine Church on the George IV Bridge.
All are welcome to attend. Watch a trailer of the video here – Children in Chains
Tuesday 4th February – 7.30pm: Public meeting on:
One for your diary in February.
Date and venue of the talk is 7:30pm Tuesday 4th February at St John’s Church Hall, West End, Edinburgh.
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Edinburgh SPSC report from December
Action at Australian Consulate in Leith
Edinburgh SPSC members took part in an action at the Australian consulate in Leith on 14th December.
This was in support of the Australian academic Professor Jake Lynch who is being prosecuted for supporting BDS in his refusal to sponsor an academic from an Israeli university linked to the occupation.
Edinburgh SPSC Branch AGM
On Thursday 5th December our AGM took place with a busy agenda. New posts were taken up for the branch organisation and early plans made for 2014.
Divestment Meeting
On Thursday 19th December we held another Divestment meeting to continue with our plans and ideas on how to promote divestment actions in Scotland. A ‘toolkit’ was proposed and will be developed at future meetings.
Tribute to Nelson Mandela
On Lothian Road at Festival Square there is a simple but evocative statue commemorating the victims of South African Apartheid. After the passing of Nelson Mandela there were many floral tributes and messages in memoriam laid at the site.
Among them was a message from Edinburgh SPSC which said.
It was a tribute and a reminder that Zionist apartheid still exists today in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories and must be fought as it was in South Africa.
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To keep yourself informed don’t wait for the next newsletter. Join our Facebook group. There are sure to be regular updates and more information here- Edinburgh SPSC Facebook Group
At the national level keep looking on the SPSC website on what’s happening all over Scotland in our campaigning. You will also find plenty of interesting articles, information and historical items on the Palestinian cause.
Best wishes Edinburgh SPSC
“We know too well that our freedom is incomplete without the freedom of the Palestinians.”
(Nelson Mandela 1918 – 2013)
