 UKPALMHN Solidarity Space Monday 18 November at 1pm (UK time) This is an open space where people exchange their emotional responses with a view to remaining resilient amidst a constant stream of distressing news. Please contact ukpalmhn@gmail.com if you would like a link to this meeting. Responding to ‘Scholasticide’ in Gaza: The Role of the UK International Education and Training Community Monday 18 November from 10:00 am – 3:30 pm (UK time) A conference organised by Friends of Birzeit University. Hear first-hand from representatives of Palestinian educational institutions in Gaza and Palestine. Consider how best respond to the immediate needs of learners and educators in Gaza. https://www.tickettailor.com/events/ukfiet/1399229 Global Week of Action Wednesday 20 to Friday 29 November From the Palestinian-led Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign Never again is now: Sanction Israel’s genocidal apartheid regime. Pressure states and the UN to impose lawful sanctions on Israel. The web page details five objectives of the campaign and three actions that you can take https://bdsmovement.net/UNGA-2024-Global-Week-of-Action National Demonstration for Palestine Saturday 30 November at 12 noon in central London-based <more details to follow> Professor Haim Bresheeth arrested Professor Haim Bresheeth, a friend and comrade of our network, an Israel Jew and son of holocaust survivors, was arrested on Friday 1 November in London under anti terrorism laws. You can learn the details of his ordeal in this interview. He has since been informed that no charges will be brought against him. Two things stand out for us: the sinister nature of his arrest and detention and the extraordinary courage, determination and steadfastness he has demonstrated both during and after his detention. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hDJMeqU9RvQ As Millions Starve in Gaza, Israel Terminates Agreement With UNRWA ‘Restricting humanitarian access and at the same time dismantling UNRWA will add an additional layer of suffering to already unspeakable suffering’ said the U.N. agency’s commissioner-general. https://www.commondreams.org/news/israel-agreement-unrwa Statement of UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini to the United Nations General Assembly The final paragraph: ‘The future of Palestine Refugees is a shared responsibility. My staff has given far more than we have any right to expect of them to deliver UNRWA’s mandate. They have worked for 13 months without pause, amid immense personal hardship and loss. Thanks to them, Gaza has survived until now. Today, I am asking Member States to act in defence of Palestine Refugees and of UNRWA. To do so is to defend the United Nations, which lies at the heart of our multilateral system. It is to defend our collective future, which is today in the greatest jeopardy.’ https://www.unrwa.org/newsroom/official-statements/statement-unrwa-commissioner-general-philippe-lazzarini-united-nations-general-assembly < An aim of the UK-Palestine Mental Health Network is: ‘To encourage our colleagues individually and collectively to consider their response to the Palestinian call for boycott, divestment and sanctions’> The Boycott Divestment and Sanctions movement has partnered with the Boycat app The Palestinian-led BDS movement has officially partnered with Boycat, an innovative ethical shopping platform and application, in order to allow you to join consumer-focused BDS campaigns more effectively. A key element of our partnership with Boycat is the app’s tiering system, categorizing corporations based on the level of their involvement in Israel’s crimes and the priorities of the BDS movement. This allows you to focus on strategic campaigns of the BDS movement while also learning more and taking action against other complicit corporations implicated in Israel’s genocide, apartheid and illegal occupation. https://bdsmovement.net/BDS-Has-Partnered-With-Boycat-App Aid for Children and Families in Gaza The Palestinian Youth Movement is a transnational, independent, grassroots movement of Palestinian and Arab youth. It has joined with the Middle East Children’s Alliance with the hope of raising $1,000,000. The fundraiser reaffirms our unity and solidarity with Gaza and helps to fulfil our critical role to support the Palestinians of Gaza’s steadfastness in remaining on their land in the face of genocide and mass starvation. https://www.globalgiving.org/fundraisers/standwithgaza/ WE WON’T BE SILENT Updates from activist groups working for Palestine in professional associations‘ Psychoanalytic Voices for Palestine’ (PVP) is a relatively new and growing group of psychoanalysts and psychoanalytic psychotherapists. Our Google group offers an active platform on which we share our thoughts/feelings and any relevant Palestine-related information. From this platform actions emerge. An important focus has been our professional organisations. We have been working to try and overcome the silence regarding the extreme violence being perpetrated on Palestinians. Early this year we issued a public statement calling for the end of Israeli impunity, the upholding of International Human Rights and against silencing of our voices for Palestine by our professional organisations https://docs.google.com/document/d/1fruVb-Sb3sAT2IgWHQPbLfvU5lyXpgDSXgHTI2wWna4/edit?pli=1&tab=t.0 We are also calling for divestment from companies implicated in war and climate damaging activities. Our inaugural public meeting at the Frontline Club in London on 10 May was entitled ‘Psychoanalytic professionals and the human catastrophe in Gaza’ and was attended by 430 people. https://youtu.be/IFRI3fFyhn0?si=00_0bR2bBnk3Eema Furthermore, a recent on-line lecture on Gaza, organised by Political Minds, had 350 attendees. Recently we signed the UK-Palestine Mental Health Network statement ‘A year of genocide, decades of impunity’ https://ukpalmhn.com/resources/a-year-of-genocide-decades-of-impunity/ A letter with over 100 signatures was sent to the Guardian, with copies to Keir Starmer, David Lammy and Rosena Allin-Khan https://ukpalmhn.com/pvp/letters-opinion-pieces-and-papers/ For further information, please see https://ukpalmhn.com/pvp/ OPINIONS ABOUT ACTIVISM The following items address ways in which Palestinian activism might change in response to changing world circumstances. The items do not necessarily reflect the views of the UK-Palestine Mental Health Network but feed into a discussion about how the Network might best achieve our Aims and Objectives. A Year of Genocide: Confronting Global Inaction A 2 ½ hour recording of a joint Red Clinic, Greene Clinic, and Psychosocial Foundation event on 26 October 2024. While we strongly recommend watching the whole recording of two and a half hours, if you are short of time the following are especially helpful in addressing activism: Lara Sheehi’s introduction Roula at 8.38 Our network colleague Lama Khouri at 35.22 Mohamed el Kurd 42.00 Another network colleague Razzan Quaran at 1.03 Tamar at 1.29 Aziz at 1.36 Elena Stein at 1.50 Finally our network colleague Rana Nashashibi at 2.01 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wivtP7uIcbo The Red Clinic has released an EP raising funds for the Ajyal Foundation/Red Clinic project to develop psychological support for Gazans. https://redclinic.bandcamp.com/album/ep-1 Keir Starmer’s Secret War on Gaza An hour long interview produced by The Thinking Muslim with Matt Kennard, a British journalist and author who co-founded Declassified UK From 42:37 the discussion looks at the need to reset the focus of the activist space. Matt argues that ‘protesting by itself, and on the same themes, is not working, and has not worked. And the Israelis are fine with it’ and that ‘the eco-system of daily protests and petitions is not working because it is not targeted not focused. Fatigue is setting in and a recalibration is required of how the pro-Palestinian movement should function’. He argues that ‘we can’t go back to what we were before. How have we changed? And how can we harness that for a free Palestine?’ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ReL3Bh_4Yxw What does the election of Donald Trump mean for the Palestinians? 20-minute video from Jeff Halper of the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions. Donald Trump will return to the role of US president with absolute power to push through his ultimate deals as he puts America first. He represents ‘transactionalism’, which is all to do with deals and is the opposite of a rules-based moral order. Trump wants to complete the Abraham Accords, with Saudi Arabia as the ‘jewel in the crown’, that will ‘normalize’ Israel on all of historic Palestine. View the recording to find out how to push-back against this and to stop the elimination of the Palestinian people. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4fbiGhvEQfo The role of non-violent resistance for Palestinians in the light of the Gaza war Thursday 14 November at 3pm (UK time) With Jonathan Kuttab, international human rights lawyer who was the co-founder of Al Haq, the leading Palestinian human rights organisation. https://mailchi.mp/balfourproject/enewsletter-13534420?e=69c36205de Want to take Action? Our website has a list of up to date petitions, letter writing campaigns and other ways you can express your solidarity. https://ukpalmhn.com/gaza-crisis/ Think it’s all hopeless? Look at this link celebrating the successes of the Palestinian-led Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement on its 19th anniversary in July 2024: https://bdsmovement.net/BDS_Impacts-In-Times-Of-Genocide |
الشبكة البريطانية الفلسطينية للصحة النفسية 