Movie night with Jeff Cohen


We had a very successful night showing My Neighbourhood, followed by Jeff Cohen's presentation. Jeff had visited the family portrayed in the film and talked about the family's continued battle to get their house back from Israeli settlers. 

We had many questions about the occupation, the US involvement in supporting it, and the role of established religion in this country in hiding Israeli's apartheid practices from our citizens. Several audience members talked about their Jewish upbringing and how difficult it was reconciling the ideals of their religious beliefs with the horrors of the racial humiliation and ethnic cleansing being done in the Jewish state. 

Jay had liberated a Nazi concentration camp as a young, Jewish soldier in World War II. His remembrance of that time coupled with a sad recognition of fascist tendencies in the state of Israel made us all think about the use the Holocaust by religious groups in denying human rights to Palestinians. 

We had a nice crowd at the event. Close to 40 people saw the film and listened to Jeff Cohen's talk. 



MECR cosponsored this event at Vassar College



We counted 120 for this event at Vassar College. A good part of the discussion with these two authors involved the growing BDS movement on campuses around the country. Also, many links were made between Obama's war on immigrants, the "New Jim Crow" mass incarceration of African Americans, and the oppression of Native American peoples. Highly militarized and undemocratic societies use racist propaganda to keep their citizens in line. Max Blumenthal referred to Israel as the most militarized society in the world. But US spending on weaponry shows our country to be in the same category.

-Wednesday, April 30, in Poughkeepsie: Max Blumenthal and Ali Abunimah on The Battle for Justice in Palestine 6:00pm - 8:30pm at Taylor Hall 203, Vassar College, 124 Raymond Ave., Poughkeepsie, NY 12604Sponsored by the Vassar College Students for Justice in Palestine and Haymarket Bookswww.haymarketbooks.orgCosponsored by Middle East Crisis Response www.mideastcrisis.org, Hudson Valley Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions www.hudsonvalleybds.org, and Hudson Valley International Socialist Organization, Contact:sjpvassar@gmail.com