Banners

[beccy]

Who are we trying to reach, and how can our message be most effective?

[jksavage]

We are trying to reach the public who will see our banners, I presume? Our banners need to be snappy, and they need to be in keeping with what we have democratically agreed between us.

I think therefore that the following ideas ought to be acceptable, although if anyone can think of better formulations, Kick Out The Jams, I wanna hear it....! (Forgive me if our position has changed since the occupation on any of these points, just point it out and we'll move on.)

1. Israel Out Of Palestine - Freedom for Gaza and the West Bank.
2. Gaza Is Still The Issue.
3. Support IDF refusers, Peace Across Borders!
4. No to the War, No to the Wall - Free Palestine.


However i'm also of the opinion that people should be allowed to bring their own banners, like on any protest. These are just some that I think CGS would be able to "sponsor"?

Solidarity.

[eddm]

Good slogans Jordan.

Seeing as we haven't really thrashed out a coherent political statement since our initial demands in the occupation, it makes sense to use them to formulate group slogans. Although obviously people can bring their own.

For instance, I think the slogans Beccy suggested on the list are a bit long-winded and place too much emphasis on appealing to Israelis, which if adopted by the group would shift our political emphasis somewhat.

[beccy]

I was simply pointing out what would be useful if we were addressing Israelis: if we're not, then fine, but if we are, that's the basic content of what it would be useful to say. I did point out they'd need to be snappier in practice. Maybe I come at this as someone who spends large portions of her time arguing with mainstream Israelis, but when people suggest things to address to them, I feel that this delightful pastime of mine ought to have some side-benefits.

It seems to me an important question, though: who precisely are we addressing? Our government, ordinary Israelis, ordinary Palestinians, British people, foreign governments, the university, who???

[beccy]

P.S. I liked Sam's slogans, since they're consistent, and it would be good to promote a bit of radical politics at the same time, but that might have to be a personal choice.

[eddm]

The question of who we are trying to address is an important one.

I don't think there should be a dichotomy between us addressing Israelis and non-Israelis. The number of Israeli and Jewish people who have been involved in CGS activities is, I think, proof that slogans like the ones Jordan put forward can be embraced by many people and aren't alienating. This is important because if we start shouting different things to different people we lose all political coherence.

As for who we are addressing, this is a discussion that needs to be had not only with regards to the one activity but to all our activity. Obviously general political slogans are there to be read by anyone who wants to read them, but we could benefit from some sort of focus.

In the aftermath of the occupation I felt that a lot of the support we got was a result of the university's behaviour, and we could have got political mileage out of flagging that up a bit more. It resonated with people that the undemocratic nature of the university was preventing all sorts of possible changes. We were also beginning to get across the complicity of the uni in imperialism through its links to the arms trade and so on.

It's unfortunate that we've spent most of our time doing things, like fundraising, that we wanted the uni to do in the first place. Fair enough; people thought it was necessary to show that we were serious. But as a result, our politics has suffered, to the point that we still have to ask the most basic questions, including this one about who we are trying to address.

Fact is, its better to formulate a political position and then weigh up how best to put that forward, where it will be best received etc. Once we go looking for people to talk to without actually knowing what we're trying to say, we'll be all over the place politically.

I think that, given the predominantly student makeup of the group and the pre-existence of other Palestine groups in the town etc, it's better for us to continue putting political demands on the uni