Despite protests from students and faculty, the Activism 102 conference was held Saturday. Titled “A Day of Skills Workshops for Middle East Activists,” the event gathered between 70 and 80 students and others involved in Israel-Palestine issues. It took place without incident, to the relief of many community members who feared conflicting opinions would escalate to unsafe levels.
The conference was organized by Wesleyan’s Students for a Free Palestine (SFP), New Haven organization Middle East Crisis Committee (MECC), and the Conn.-based Palestine Right to Return Coalition (Al-Awda). Representatives from each group and many other local and national organizations were present to lead workshops and lectures.
“It [was] for Middle East activists to develop various skills, like media work and organizing and how to run a political organization,” said Stanley Heller, chairperson of the MECC. “We don’t like the words ‘pro-Palestinian’ or ‘pro-Israeli—we’re trying to create dialogues and peace.”
The all-day conference was divided into four sessions featured two workshops each. Topics ranged from “Influencing Government” to “Protest Art,” and each focused on means for Palestinian activists to join together to affect change.
“I think it’s important for us to organize and be together and feel like we can make a change,” said SFP member Javier Gaston-Greenberg ’05. “One of our main issues is to make sure that we branch out. That’s where we find power.”
The morning began with opening statements from Ady Ben Israel ’96 of Jews Against the Occupation (JAO) and Patrick Connor of the International Solidarity Movement (ISM), both pro-Palestinian groups.
Israel told the audience of her work in “direct action” in Palestine, meaning activism that directly affects the lives of Palestinians, such as physically stopping soldiers or assisting Palestinian farmers.
“’Go home and tell our stories,’” Israel said, quoting the Palestinians she met. “’Your work is in the U.S.’ ”
As a Jew with strong connections to Israel, she also stressed the prevalence of many opinions on the conflict among Jews.
“I think it’s incredibly important that we stand up as a voice of opposition in the Jewish community,” Israel said. “It’s really important for us to show that there’s not a monolithic point of view on this issue.”
Connor and Israel conducted an exercise in which they asked audience members to consider certain situations involving pro-Palestinian protesters and judge for themselves whether the actions were violent or non-violent. Both speakers focused on the importance of non-violent direct action in the Middle East, despite its potential ramifications.
“It’s for participating in this type of peaceful protest that I’m not being allowed back into Israel,” Connor said afterwards.
Participants signed up for one of two workshops given during each of the four sessions during the day. Most focused on general activism tactics, but often included items specific to pro-Palestinian activists.
“I think a lot of the stuff at the conference could have been useful to activists from other groups on campus,” said Zach Strassburger ’06, who attended the workshops. “[However] I think that the people who were there benefited from the specificity of it.”
One workshop, titled “Networking and Outreach,” featured facilitators who had worked in both the Middle East and the United States on Palestinian issues.
“Do not lose opportunities to get your message out,” said facilitator Fatma Ahmed, a member of the multi-faith group We Refuse to be Enemies and the Islamic Association of Greater Hartford. “I think we tend to generalize if we do not know. Education is the key issue.”
Another workshop, which focused on means to influence government through activism, received a positive response from some attendees.
“I loved it,” said Walter Zielinksi of Staffordville, Conn. “This is great information. I think what it’s teaching me is how to become more active in government.”
One of SFP’s major goals was to network with other pro-Palestinian groups on local college campuses.
“I think it was a successful event in that many more students from surrounding schools were able to attend the conference,” said SFP member Angela Saad ’04.
Mike Butterfield ’06, an SFP member who led the student-networking workshop, also appreciated the chance to meet with other student activists.
“I wanted to get a student network going,” Butterfield said. “The time that we had to build an idea of what we wanted was pretty productive I thought. We’re planning to go to some other people’s events and meet again to have further discussions.”
Several Wesleyan students, some from pro-Israel organizations like Kol Israel, attended the conference with the intention of questioning and possibly opposing the speakers and viewpoints presented. Fears had been raised before the conference that the speakers may present anti-Semitic statements, prompting President Bennet to send a campus-wide email on Friday stating his confidence in Wesleyan to host the conference in a civil manner. (For more information on the controversy surrounding the conference, see “Conference goes on, despite controversy” page 4.)
Other students from outside Wesleyan attended, skeptical of the speaker’s opinions.
“As someone who leans a little more toward Israel, I get to view the other side,” said Sarah Mossberg, a first-year student at Smith College. “I think that that’s part of being any kind of activist or any kind of educated person.”
The day ended with a lecture by Adam Shapiro, a leader of ISM who had recently spent time in Iraq filming a documentary about the issues surrounding U.S. occupation of Iraq. Shapiro compared his experience in Iraq to the Israel-Palestine conflict.
“We have a responsibility to Iraq, whether we are for the war or against the war,” Shapiro said. “Resistance to the occupation has to happen here.”
“I thought he made some good connections to the war in Iraq,” Strassburger said of the lecture.
The lecture drew about 150 people, some of whom attended it, like the conference, expecting to be critical.
“Adam Shapiro dodged the difficult questions, and I was frustrated that he did not answer the controversial questions about terrorism,” said Jewish University Chaplain David Leipziger. “I thought for someone who’s a Ph.D candidate speaking to bright college students and educated people, there should have been more.”
Despite the criticism that sprang up around the conference, organizers and participants believed the day was a success.
“Everyone in SFP will take something from this and do something with it,” Saad said.