Full schedule coming shortly!
For your travel plans: The conference will open at 5:00 pm on Friday, May 3, and officially close at approximately 2:00 pm on Sunday, May 5, 2013.
Details of our two major plenaries follow:
PALESTINIAN REPRESENTATION: Raising Our Voices in the Shatat in North America
The PLO is historically regarded as the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people, an overarching mechanism by which we all came together to deliberate on the strategies of our national movement. In this plenary, we will discuss the histories of political representation in our national movement, and what representation might mean today. Some of the questions addressed will include: What did the PLO look like, what does it look like now, and how/can it be remade? What can we learn from our earlier revolutionary histories? How has the current lack of representation impacted our struggle, and our ability to develop a coherent and cohesive national strategy for liberation and return? How do we create representation bodies that are inclusive of all our people and forces, and serve the needs of our national movement? How do we embody our demands for popular and democratic representation in our own communities and associations?
Speakers: Rabab Abdulhadi, Karma Nabulsi, Abdel Razzaq Takriti
Moderator: Jacqueline B. Husary
LOOKING BACK, FORGING FORWARD: Strengthening our Organizing in the Shatat
This plenary will examine Palestinian organizing in the shatat, looking at the past and moving to the present day. We will discuss the reasons and implications for how different methods and mechanisms came to frame our organizing as part of our liberation movement, and consider frameworks moving forward. Some of the questions addressed will include: What have been the organizing trends within the history of our movement? What has been the historical role of students, workers, and women? How do we forge our role and revitalize our sense of national responsibility in the shatat? How do our communities currently organize? What internal and external challenges are confronting our communities? How do we build community accountability and organizing discipline? How can we imagine and strategize ways to connect our organizing in North America with our brothers and sisters on the ground and in exile?
Speakers: Camille Odeh, Loubna Qutami, Issam al-Yamani