WRMEA, August 2010, Page 65

Waging Peace

Students for Justice in Palestine Remain Upbeat at UC Berkeley

AFTER weeks of debate and myriad dusk-to-dawn meetings, a bill by the Associated Students of the University of California at Berkeley (ASUC) directing the UC Regents and the student government to divest from General Electric (GE) and United Technologies (UT) failed by one vote. GE provides Israel with propulsion systems for its Apache assault helicopters, while UT provides aircraft engines for F-16 fighter jets. Both weapons have been used in attacks against Palestinian civilians, according to Amnesty International.

On March 18 the UC Divestment from War Crimes bill, co-authored by Emiliano Huet-Vaughn and Tom Pessah, passed with a 16-4 vote, but was vetoed March 24 by ASUC president Will Smelko. With a tally of 13-5 at the April 28 ASUC Senate meeting, supporters of the resolution came one vote short of meeting the required two-thirds majority vote to override the veto.

Despite their defeat, the UC Berkeley Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) optimistically stated on the Cal Divest From Apartheid Web site, "It is an overwhelmingly positive sign that we have garnered a solid majority of student support both inside student government and amongst the student population in general. The kind of activism we choose to engage in is not only a matter of intervening to stop human rights violations, it is also a reflection of the kind of world we want to live in."

SJP also urged students to "join us now to think critically and act effectively to stop Israel's persecution of the Palestinian people."

—Elaine Pasquini