Teachers and School Staff Won't Be Silent: Palestine is AEU Business

All education unionists are welcome to join us to hear from guest speakers and join the facilitated discussion. We will discuss how we can take effective action as education unionists to break the silence on Palestine, and to break government ties with Israel. 

Panelists:  
Randa Abdel-Fattah:Dr. Randa Abdel-Fattah is a Future Fellow in the Department of Sociology at Macquarie University. Her research areas cover Islamophobia, race, Palestine, the war on terror, youth identities and social movement activism. Dr Abdel-Fattah is also one of Australia’s most prominent Palestine advocates, a lawyer, and the multi-award-winning author of 12 books published in over 20 countries and translated into over 15 languages. Her most recent picture story book "11 Words for Love" was shortlisted for the 2023 Prime Minister's Literary Award. In 2022 Randa created Australia's first early reader chapter book series, "Our Stories", explicitly focused on diversity and own voices. She is a regular speaker at schools around Australia and internationally.

Hamish McPherson: Hamish is a member of Labor Friends of Palestine, an AEU sub-branch rep and AEU conference delegate. Hamish is a primary school teacher. Hamish moved the successful ALP state conference resolution calling on the State Labor government “End Military Co-operation With Israel”. Hamish will join us live in Carlton. 

Ohad Kozminsky: Ohad is a member of the Advisory Committee of the Jewish Council of Australia. He is a Maribyrnong AEU regional executive member, a high school teacher, and on the Organising Committee of Teachers and School Staff for Palestine. Ohad will join us live in Carlton. 

Lucy Honan: Lucy is an AEU conference delegate, a high school teacher, and a member of the Organising Committee of Teachers and School Staff for Palestine. Lucy will join us live in Carlton.

This panel discussion will be facilitated by: Justine Makdessi. Justine is a Wellbeing Coordinator and Educator specialising in transformative and anti-oppressive approaches to education. Justine is an AEU conference delegate and a member of the Organising Committee of Teachers and School Staff for Palestine.

For the last 9 months, AEU Victoria branch members have been organising in our workplaces, in our union sub-branches and regions, and on the streets, to push our state and federal governments to end their support and complicity for Israeli violence in Gaza and the West Bank. 

Teachers and school staff have been intimidated and threatened in our efforts to promote the human rights of Palestinians. Shockingly, principals have received departmental advice to direct staff to remove Keffiyeh, stickers and badges from their person; to remove references to Palestine from lessons, to remove material referencing Palestine from staff rooms and to discipline students for their expressions of Palestine solidarity.

 AEU Victoria Branch has an opportunity to adopt clear policy in support of Palestinian rights, and in support of AEU member action for Palestine at the AEU State conference on July 20th. 

We are a powerful union. We are well placed to challenge the links between our state government, and the Department of Education, and Israel, that normalise and sanitise genocide. What are the next steps we can take to build support for education union action?

Cost: There is no cost to attend this event. Donations to APHEDA Gaza Appeal welcome: https://gaza-emergency-appeal-...