ASU’s Students for Justice in Palestine hosted a discussion Wednesday evening on the Tempe campus with Omar Barghouti, human rights activist and a founding member of the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel.
The lecture, titled “Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions and the Legacy of Mandela and King,” focused on the establishment of the Israeli occupation in historically Palestinian lands.
Barghouti also discussed Israeli abuses toward Palestinians during the occupation, as well as how to end the occupation.
“People were reduced to relative humans, not humans in the full sense of the term,” Barghouti said. “So we were reduced to relative human rights, not human rights.”
Civil engineering senior Lina Bearat is the president of ASU's Students for Justice in Palestine and has been involved in the club for almost three years. This group focuses on social activism involved in the on-going occupation.
One of the goals of SJP is to educate students about the Israeli occupation and other elements of the conflict by bringing in speakers involved in the subject, Bearat said.
The SJP has chapters on universities nationwide.
As Barghouti was scheduled to tour and speak at universities along the East Coast, SJP groups on the West Coast worked to reorganize the tour and fund transportation and board costs so he could bring his message to their schools, Bearat said.
Though the club fundraises for money, most of the funding for Barghouti's appearance came from ASU’s Undergraduate Student Government, she said.
The lecture also commented on the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions Movement, which uses divestment measures to boycott support of the Israeli occupation.
Students used a similar protest method when awareness was being spread about South African Apartheid in the ‘80s, economics senior Danielle Bäck said.
SJP hopes to inspire a change in the way the Israeli occupations are supported by the U.S. in a similar way changes occurred in the South African apartheid.
Bäck, the public relations coordinator for Students for Justice in Palestine, said it was the students who initiated the spread of international awareness about the issues, which started at the university level.
"It's a very slow process, and it can take over a decade, but at the same time the students have been very effective," Bäck said.
Both Bearat and Bäck said the group and its event were not anti-Jewish, but looks to return Palestine to a peaceful state.
Started about four years ago, SJP is comprised of a multitude of different religions and cultural backgrounds including those of the U.S., Arab countries, African Americans and Native Americans, Bearat said.
The club has approximately 100 to 200 members that actively participate in events on a regular basis.
"It's important to note that our strategy at ASU is not a blanket strategy, it's not boycotting, divesting, or sanctioning anything that's related to Israel," Bäck said. "We're only focusing on divesting, boycotting, or sanctioning corporations that are supporting the illegal occupation or things that are illegal under international law, so it's very targeted."
She said the group wants changes in ASU’s investment strategy to be sustainable.
"So we're trying to ensure that ASU supports human rights throughout everything that it does, including where it puts its money," Bäck said.
Reach the reporter at dgrobmei@asu.edu
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