When
Why
FREE ONLINE CONFERENCE HOSTED BY THE UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY SYDNEY'S DIVERSITIES AND SOCIAL INCLUSION RESEARCH GROUP, FACULTY OF ARTS AND SOCIAL SCIENCE
“There’s really no such thing as the voiceless. There are only the deliberately silenced or the preferably unheard.” Arundhati Roy, 2004
This online conference is aimed at anyone interested in the current situation in Palestine. Students, academics, journalists, and community members alike are welcome to join. Sessions are in webinar format allowing participants to put questions to speakers. It is free of charge and recordings will be available.
PROGRAM
Friday 5th July 5pm-7.30m, AEST
Welcome and Acknowledgement of Country
Session 1: Palestine, Beyond Erasure
What is the history of erasure in Palestine and how does it enable present-day war crimes? How has defiance resonated and inspired ongoing resistance?
Keynote: Jeanine Hourani (University of Exeter & Palestinian Youth Movement)
Panel Moderator: Souheir Edelbi (Law Lecturer, Western Sydney University)
Panel 1: Randa Abdel-Fattah (Author, Lawyer, Academic), Udi Raz (Jewish Voice for a Just Peace in the Middle East, Germany), Annie Pfingst (Independent scholar of Palestine-Israel), Jessica Holland (Researcher, Memory Worker, Curator).
Saturday 6 July 9.30-1pm, AEST
Acknowledgement of Country
Session 2: Social Movements, in Defiance
How have social movements responded to the genocidal war? What new connections, commitments and actions have emerged?
Keynote: Jeff Halper (Director, Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions)
Panel 2: Moderator Alison Harwood (Social Change Practitioner).
Panelists: Nasser Mashni (President, Australia Palestine Advocacy Network), Sarah Schwartz (Lawyer, Executive Officer, Jewish Council of Australia), Latoya Rule (UTS Jumbunna Institute for Indigenous Education & Research)
Special Session: Moderator Daz Chandler (Interdisciplinary Storyteller & Producer)
'Live' Discussion with participants involved in the University Campus encampments. Students from University of Sydney, University of Melbourne, University of California Los Angeles, University of London and Monash University.
Saturday 6 July 1.30-5pm AEST
Session 3: From the Field
How have public actors contested erasure and silencing, what strategies have emerged, are there shared lessons and possibilities?
Panel 3: Moderator Paula Abood (Cultural Worker & Educator, Writer & Creative Producer)
Panelists: Maher Mughrabi (Journalist, The Age), Sara Saleh (Author & Human Rights Lawyer), Lena Mozayani (NSW Teachers for Palestine), Dr Sana Pathan (ANZ Doctors for Palestine), Cathy Peters (Media Worker & Co-Founder of BDS Australia), Martin Newman (UTS Journalism).
Closing reflections and key issues to carry forward.
RATIONALE:
As we witness an onslaught of carnage, destruction and devastation in Palestine, voices for Palestine in Australia and beyond have been silenced on an unprecedented level in the mainstream media, academia and education, in the arts and elsewhere. Meanwhile, the streets have filled with ongoing protests in solidarity with Palestinians, creating a new visibility for an old and ongoing struggle, with support coming from a wide range of groups, suggesting new possibilities for dialogue and alliances.
The UTS Diversities and Social Inclusion Research Group presents a conference which addresses the politics of silence and voice, in the post-7 October 2023 contexts. Which voices have been heard or amplified, and which have been silenced, by whom and for what purposes? What new dialogues and solidarities have emerged? The enormity of the violence has closed-off possibilities, but to what extent is there new salience to ongoing debates and agendas?
The focus of the conference will be the ongoing situation in Palestine and on local and international experiences. Organisers and participants include Palestinian, Muslim, Jewish and Indigenous voices, tackling on the ground manifestations evidenced in protests, politics, human rights advocacy, legal issues, media narratives, (multi) cultural views, and artistic expressions.
The conference will be held online and published, with participants also invited to submit full articles for scholarly and other publications. Co-convenors are: Barbara Bloch, Wafa Chafic, James Goodman, Derek Halawa and Christina Ho.
For more information contact James.Goodman@uts.edu.au