WeFightBack: Activists Confront Pro-Israel Rally At University of New Orleans

[Purveyor]

Jacob Flom | We Fight Back | January 29, 2013
New Orleans, LA – Students and community members confronted a pro-Israel rally titled “Declare Your Freedom” at the University of New Orleans (UNO) on Jan. 28. The event featured right-wing Zionist and notoriously anti-Arab speaker Daniel Pipes. About 30 young people were bused to the campus to support the Zionist rally.

But about two dozen UNO students and members of the General Union of Palestinian Students at UNO, joined by the community group Palestine Solidarity Committee, also showed up. These protesters staged a silent walk-out in the middle of the event, some holding signs. As they walked out en masse, they were joined by many others who were upset by anti-Arab and anti-gay marriage comments from the rally’s speakers.

“The way they promoted it I found it a bit hateful,” said Maiadah Bader, a Palestinian UNO student, “they were trying to instigate us but we held our ground.”

“The rally was a mousetrap set up to incite a provocation from us,” said Palestine Solidarity Committee member Olga Rocheeva, “They were photographing protesters up close trying to provoke a response, in a political climate where Arabs and Muslims are facing repression.”

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http://occupiedpalestine.wordpress.com/2013/01/30/wefightback-activists-confront-pro-israel-rally-at-university-of-new-orleans/

[oberliner]

1. The Palestine Solidarity Committee members "showed up" but the Zionist supporters were "bussed in"

Very interesting the language used here.

By the way, here's a photo of the young woman who organized the event (unlike Olga Rocheeva, she is actually a student at UNO):