Al-Awda Convention, UCLA, April 15-17, 2005

(A photo/video essay by LGF reader LAchica.)

These images and movies were taken at the Al-Awda Convention, UCLA, April 15-17, 2005 ("Al-Awda" means "the Right of Return").

Here is the conference Web site.

Notes about the event:

Sparsely attended: there was a maximum of 85 attendees at the main session in the morning and at the lunch and shopping period at the outdoor vendor table, and about a third of the attendees seemed to be composed of the organizers themselves. This is remarkable when you consider that the event had 23 sponsoring organizations listed in the program, and 15 exhibitors. Sponsors included MSA, ANSWER, Women in Black, International Action Center, Cafe Intifada, etc.; exhibitors included Party for Socialism and Liberation, the East Jerusalem YWCA, and all sorts of Palestinian and socialist groups.

The rhetoric of the speakers was noticeably subdued. The event was an exercise in euphemisms, calling for the destruction of Israel but not saying it in exactly those words. The speakers frequently referred to a battle of "narratives" -- presenting their side of the story in a way that might seem palatable to the mainstream. Israel was dismissed as an illegal, colonialist occupation military force, whose very existence was a temporary glitch in history. When the "right of return" was discussed, the speakers described Palestinians controlling "all of historic Palestine" (i.e. river to sea), as an "Arab state," but little or no mention was ever made of what that would mean for Israel.

The speakers were pretty boring, because they kept pretty much talking in circles. The only speaker who really roused the audience was Sacramento activist Elias Rashmawi; two video clips of him can be found below.

The goal of the conference was very clear, to create a unified Marxist state on the area currently divided into Israel, West Bank, and Gaza, to be called Palestine and ruled by an Arab majority. If this were to come to pass, needless to say, Israel would cease to exist. The speakers and literature at the conference focused on the "Zionists" and their US supporters as the main enemy that needed to be confronted. But their real problem would be the Islamist Palestinian groups, such as Hamas, that would never let Marxists control a state of Palestine.

Photographs

Banner at the registration table -- complete with dripping blood.

Shirt on sale at the conference showing Palestine in the area where Israel currently exists.

Overview of the outdoor vendors and registration area -- you can see how small the event really was.

Richard Becker speaking.

Muna Coobtee speaking at the morning session.

Muna Coobtee speaking in the afternoon.

The audience at the main session on Saturday morning.

Selection of pins for sale at the outdoor vendor area.

Close-up of three of the buttons on sale at the outdoor vendor area.

Close-up of button depicting Palestinian holding a child while throwing a hand grenade.

Close-up of a pin showing triumphalist Palestinian "militant" with a "no Israel" map.

Close-up of pin showing "militant" with machine gun.

Banner displayed behind the podium.

UCLA students at the conference.

Banner behind the vendor area.

Books for sale.

Videos

Elias Rashmawi speaks at the morning session, saying Palestine must be all-inclusive for all Palestinians worldwide, and must be "in an Arab extent."

Elias Rashmawi describes the Palestinian negotiation style -- getting a place at the negotiating table and then "flipping it" over if they don't get what they want.

Representative of the International Socialist Organization explains how, logically, we must support the "Iraqi resistance" if we take an anti-war stance and "condemn the occupation."