Methodist Federation for Social Action

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Ukraine & Palestine: Double Standards, Hypocrisy, Racism

Few would suggest that the devastating invasion of Ukraine deserves less than our deepest concern and a robust response. However, these events dominating our Western media for two months have also raised unavoidable and troubling questions among justice advocates and human rights defenders.

The continuing flood of media attention, the outrage over war crimes, the endorsement of grassroots militant resistance, the empathy for refugees and support for their determination to return home, the embrace of BDS actions in government and business...it goes on and on. While the vivid double standards and hypocrisy on display and the racism that underlies them are shocking, they may also be instructive.

In this webinar, we examine these developments more closely and consider what can be learned to inform and strengthen the movement for Palestinian liberation.

Speakers:

Nada Elia is a diaspora Palestinian writer, grassroots organizer, and university professor. She is the author of "Trances, Dances, and Vociferations: Agency and Resistance in Africana Women’s Narratives" and has contributed chapters to
"The Case for Sanctions Against Israel," "Palestine: A Socialist Introduction," and "Arab and Arab American Feminisms." Her upcoming book, "Greater Than the Sum of Our Parts: Palestine, Feminism, Inter/Nationalism," will be published this fall by Pluto Books. Her articles have been published in Middle East Eye, Mondoweiss, and numerous other publications. Nada is a core member of the Palestinian Feminist Collective and has been a plenary presenter at such national conferences as US Campaign for Palestinian Rights and Students for Justice in Palestine among others

Edo Konrad is the Editor-in-chief of +972 Magazine, a Israeli digital publication known for its bold and justice-oriented reporting, with in-depth analysis and commentary on current events in Israel/Palestine and the world. He is based in Tel Aviv, and previously worked as an editor at Haaretz. Edo studied International Relations at UCLA, and he has been published in The Daily Beast, Common Dreams, Jewish Currents, Electronic Intifada, and Gush Shalom, among many others.Under his leadership, +972 Magazine has embraced an identity that is "intersectional, progressive, and that centers the experiences and demands of vulnerable communities on the ground." They are challenging the pillars of apartheid in Israel/Palestine and "unpacking Zionism as a settler-colonial project."

Resources:

Two recent articles by Nada Elia on this webinar topic:
Bitter
Why anti-Russia boycotts should revive the Palestinian BDS movement

By Edo Konrad, on this topic:
Russia’s invasion should be a mirror for Israeli society

See UMKR's collection of reports and commentary on Ukraine and Palestine:

US media talks a lot about Palestinians — just without Palestinians 

Limiting media attention to only when ‘clashes erupt’ gives Western readers and viewers an incomplete picture