The UTLA fresh from making a deal that undermines student acheivement in LA’s schools has a new target. Israel. The UTLA Human Rights Committee is sponsoring a meeting of the radical leftist LA chapter of the Movement for a Democratic Society. (Noam Chomsky is on their National Board)The puropose is to identify and boycott goods and investment in the State of Israel.
The big question for the UTLA is this helps kids read how????
The bigger questions is. The State forces teachers to pay union dues to the UTLA because???
The good news is there is an organization that helps teachers that care about kids more than politics. Their goal is to make sure teachers understand their rights. It is called the The California Teachers Empowerment Network. You can see their site here.
Here is the email sent to me from a LA teacher
Please join the Los Angeles Chapter of Movement for a Democratic Society (MDS) in launching a local boycott, divestment and sanctions campaign in support of the Palestinian people.
WHEN ? Saturday, October 14 , 2006 1 PM to 3 PM
WHERE ? United Teachers of Los Angeles Headquarters
3303 Wilshire Blvd ( 2 blocks west of Vermont )
Los Angeles, CA 90010
WHY ?
To support the Palestinian people in their decades long struggle against Israeli aggression, dispossession and oppression . The Israeli government has systematically and continuously violated UN resolutions and international law in its treatment of the Palestinian people. When Israel was created in 1948, 75% of the Palestinians were forcibly dispossessed of their lands and forced into exile. Then in 1967, Israel illegally occupied Palestinian territories in the West Bank, Jordan Valley and Gaza. Palestinians within Israel are forced to live as third class citizens without civil rights and face legal, economic and social discrimination. Palestinians in the Occupied Territories fare even worse since Israel illegally subjects them to demolitions, closures, curfews and checkpoints ; extra-judicial detentions, kidnappings and assassinations ; military attacks against towns and camps ; racist , apartheid policies and programs. In addition, Israel continues to illegally seize Palestinian land and annex it to Israel and currently is constructing an immense concrete wall to protect illegal Israeli settlements and to isolate and divide Palestinian towns.
Israel’s apartheid and racist system of oppression closely resembles that which South Africa once had but which was eventually abolished in large part due to an international grassroots, activist movement to stop financial support of the regime.
HOW ?
A similar campaign to support the Palestinian people has been endorsed by over 150 organizations world-wide. We in Los Angeles can join this world-wide effort to bring justice to the Palestinian people through :
Boycott ( not buying Israeli products/services and boycotting companies that are invested in Israel or Israeli owned companies with a presence in Los Angeles )
Divestment ( stopping capital investment by companies doing business in Israel and by stopping trade unions , local / state governments ,churches and universities from investing their pension / endowment funds in Israeli companies , US companies invested in Israel or companies supplying Israel with military weapons )
Sanctions ( working to end US government foreign and military aid to Israel and impose a trade embargo )
Meeting Sponsored by : Los Angeles Chapter of MDS
Meeting Endorsed by : Los Angeles Palestine Labor Solidarity Committee
Cafe Intifada
Meeting Hosted by : UTLA Human Rights Committee
For More Info : Call Larry Lambert , MDS member , at 818-761-3320