Friends of Palestine Western Australia (FOPWA) BLOG
Please download,print, and sign the letter below if you wish to add your voice to the growing call for WesTrac to end its relationship with Caterpillar.
Once you have signed the letter, please print your name and address and send it to Friends of Palestine WA, P.O. Box 1410, West Perth 6872. We will then send it to WesTrac on your behalf.
On September 25, in line with the international day of solidarity for Palestine, Friends of Palestine (WA) held an information stall and computer video images for late night shoppers in Perth. The focus was on signing letters of protest to Caterpillar, and advertising the lecture at UWA on October 27 (see events tab).
There will be another information stall in the Murray Street Mall at 12 noon on Saturday 24 October (by the escalators up to Myer).
We encourage you to attend our next organisng meeting:
Tuesday October 20
at 6:30pm
at Citiplace Community Centre, Perth train station
[at the top of the escalators just outside the entry gates - after hours entry is via grey double doors at the back of the bookshop].
Please come along and be comfortable. We love new faces and ideas.
On Tuesday October 27th (details below) Friends of Palestine WA member Sarah Haynes will share her experiences of campaigning alongside Palestinians, Israelis and other international volunteers in the ongoing struggle to defend Palestinian communities from the ever-expanding reach of the Zionist colonial project.
After a brief historical overview Sarah will speak about her participation in a peaceful demonstration against the apartheid wall in the West Bank village of Bil’in (which naturally enough came under tear gas attack by Israeli soldiers, a weekly occurrence in the besieged village); her involvement in a home-rebuilding program with the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions; and her arrest in the East Jerusalem neighbourhood of Sheik Jarrah for the grave ‘crime’ of attempting to prevent the demolition of a Palestinian family’s home.
The presentation will include a photo essay and there will be plenty of time for questions and discussion of the way forward for the Palestine solidarity campaign in Western Australia. So please join us for this much-needed antidote to all the mainstream media nonsense currently doing the rounds about a renewed peace process and Israeli commitments to a settlement freeze.
Israeli Apartheid vs International Law: Perth local Sarah Haynes talks about defending Palestinian homes
Tuesday October 27th, 6.00pm for a 6.30pm start
UWA Social Sciences Lecture Theatre
Entry by donation (all proceeds go to the ICAHD)
Around 40 people came along to the MUA Office in North Fremantle last Friday night to contribute their ideas about how best we can build a boycott campaign against Caterpillar. There was a lot of energy in the room and a determination to see this campaign through to victory. Friends of Palestine WA would especially like to thank the MUA for the use of their office and look forward to working alongside the union movement in future BDS activities.
Don’t forget the picket of WesTrac Caterpillar next Friday September 4th, starting midday at 128-136 Great Eastern Highway in South Guildford. Call 0407 850 962 if you require a lift out there.
Some of the crowd last Friday night
FOPWA & MUA member Ian Jamieson
Upcoming events calender
Next FOPWA organising meeting: Tuesday August 4th, 6.30pm, Citiplace community centre, Perth train station concourse
Every Tuesday fortnight we hold an organising meeting to decide on our future campaigning activities. Everyone is not only welcome, but strongly encouraged to attend, as we are always looking for bright new ideas and bright new people to help us forge an effective and powerful Palestine solidarity movement in Western Australia.
Boycott Caterkiller display stall, Saturday August 8th, midday, Murray St mall (underneath the Carillon overpass), Perth CBD
Caterpillar, as the chief manufacturer of the bulldozers used to demolish Palestinian homes, is arguably the no. 1 corporate target of the global Boycott, Divestments & Sanctions (BDS) campaign. Our Boycott Caterkiller display stall will mark the opening of a long-term campaign to shut down the US corporation’s West Australian operations.
Boycott Caterkiller campaign launch meeting, Friday August 21st, 6.30pm, MUA offices, Kwong Alley, North Fremantle
This meeting will serve as the official launching pad of our Boycott Caterkiller campaign. FOPWA members Ian Jamieson and Alex Whisson will present the case for why we need to boycott one of the world’s largest construction equipment companies. We will also be screening video footage of the destruction wrought by armoured Caterpillar bulldozers in the occupied territories. There will be plenty of time for discussion on the best way forward for the campaign. The launch meeting is being held at the headquarters of the Maritime Union of Australia (MUA), the WA branch of which passed a resolution in January in support of the BDS movement. We are particularly encouraging MUA members to attend with a view to carrying an argument as to why the union should ‘blackban’ Caterpillar equipment coming into Western Australian ports.
Picket Caterkiller’s local headquarters, Friday September 4th, midday, 128-136 Great Eastern Highway, South Guildford
The local subsidiary of Caterpillar operates out of Guildford under the name WesTrac CAT. Its main source of profit in Western Australia is the provision of mining and construction equipment to local industry. We are determined to let WesTrac CAT know they are going to be held to account for their parent corporation’s complicity in criminal activity. Subsidiary or not, and no matter how remote they might claim their local operations are from the sale of bulldozers to Israel, the fact of the matter is WesTrac CAT is part of the same corporate machine that facilitates not only the wanton physical destruction of entire Palestinian communities, but also the murder of men, women and children (many people have been brutally crushed to death by Caterpillar’s armoured bulldozers).
For more information on any of these upcoming events, please don’t hesitate to send an email to friendsofpalestinewa@gmail.com or alternatively phone the convener of Friends of Palestine WA on 0407 850 962
Friday 6.30pm July 31st
University of Western Australia
Fox Lecture Theatre (Arts Faculty)
Entry by donation
Phone 0407 850 962 for more information
Glenys’ talk will be preceded by a 26-minute documentary about life in
Nahr al Bared camp, A Sip of Coffee
As a physiotherapist working with people with disabilities, Glenys Davies began her Australian Volunteer International (AVI) assignment in Nahr al Bared Palestinian Refugee Camp in Lebanon in May 2006. Six weeks later the war with Israel began and she was evacuated back to Australia.
It was 9 months before she was able to return to work in the Bekaa Valley, in Dbayeh and the Bourj al Barajne refugee camp. Prior to returning home in June 2008,Glenys worked for approximately 6 months in Beddawi camp north of Tripoli with the Community Based Rehabilitation Association(CBRA).
Glenys returned in March this year for 6 weeks to work again in the Bekaa, in Beddawi, Bourj al Barajne and spent her final day in Lebanon back in Nahr al Bared.
The generosity,exuberance and resiliance of the Palestinian people made it an exhilarating experience which Glenys is keen to share with you.
If you know somewhere we can meet once or twice a month, that is fairly central, pretty quiet, and very cheap (preferably free) please let us know!
We can no longer meet on Monday evenings, the most likely scenario is a Tuesday evening.
Please note the earlier time. This will be our last Monday meeting at the Hellenic Club due to a scheduling conflict.
When: June 22, 6pm
Where: Hellenic Club, 75 Stirling Street, Northbridge
Future meetings: venue needed, preferably Tuesday nights
In order to encourage all of our members to feel comfortable to participate in FOP(WA) activities, we are running this workshop to understand member concerns and facilitate a positive engagement.
Working title: Engaging the public. Dealing with critics and conflict
When: Sunday June 21, 10am - 12noon
Where: Resistance Centre, 15/5 Aberdeen Street, East Perth
Directions: Adjacent to the carpark at McIver station.
Who should come? Anyone who wants to learn from others’ experience; build on FOP(WA)’s agency; highlight barriers to participation; get involved in a nurturing environment.
We regret that an alternative, central location was not available for this activity.
The meeting discussed the IGA action at Dianella; the Connex/ Veolia campaign in relation to Fremantle CAT buses; possible future speaking tours; potential workshops; contacting Caterpillar; possible topics for FAQ sheets.
Paid members can request detailed minutes if they are available.