Conference Video Highlights
We video-recorded the following plenary sessions from Saturday, September 17. Those will remain permanently available here. See the complete conference agenda here (PDF). Unfortunately, due to technology malfunctions, we were unable to record Friday's public plenary session including the opening address by Omar Barghouti, political analyst and author.
Facilitators:
Conference attendees received a brief orientation to the conference venue and an overview of the schedule and information package. Voting delegates also elected an Elections Committee to administer the election to the Steering Committee.
Panelists:
Moderator: Omar Barghouti, political analyst and author
As boycott and divestment activism in the United States continues to build momentum, panelists shared their experience on effective targets, tactics, and strategies to craft and sustain BDS campaigns that influence discourse and isolate Israeli apartheid, contributing toward change in U.S. policy and the goals of promoting freedom, equality and justice in Israel/Palestine.
Panelists then led small group discussions to further strategize about overcoming obstacles and moving forward on BDS campaigns.
Panelists:
Moderator: Phyllis Bennis, Institute for Policy Studies, US Campaign Steering Committee Member
Panelists from US Campaign member groups discussed their innovative educational and political initiatives to organize and mobilize to challenge U.S. support for Israeli occupation and apartheid and to change U.S. policy to support Palestinian rights. Many panelists emphasized how their groups’ initiatives fit into the larger US Campaign coalition’s goal and campaign of ending U.S. military aid to Israel as means to change policy.
Panelists then led small group discussions to further strategize and advance member group planning on moving these important initiatives forward, and reported back to the plenary on their plans.
Moderated by Omar Barghouti, political analyst and author. Students discussed successes and challenges with organizing campaigns on their campuses.
A Palestinian born in the village of Tarshiha in the Galilee, Shaheen's childhood was steeped in music. His father, Hikmat Shaheen, was a professor of music and a master 'oud player. "Learning to play on the 'oud from my father was the most powerful influence in my musical life," Shaheen recalls. He began playing on the 'oud at the age of five, and a year later studying violin at the Conservatory for Western Classical Music in Haifa. "When I held and played these instruments, they felt like an extension of my arms."