Anti-Israel Conference Coming to Atlanta
Prepare for a wave of anti-Israel propaganda in Atlanta between Yom Kippur and Sukkot when hundreds of pro-Palestinian activists gather for the 14th annual national conference of the US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation.
Based at the Holiday Inn & Suites Airport North, 1380 Virginia Ave., the conference runs from Friday night to Sunday night, Sept. 25 to 27. The full conference experience costs $90 to $200, but each night’s main event is free and open to the public.
Under the theme of “Advancing a Mass Movement,” the conference aims to connect the Palestinian fight against Israel with civil rights efforts in the United States.
Thus, the opening-night event at First Iconium Baptist Church, “From Atlanta to Palestine,” portrays the frequently violent Palestinian cause as an extension of the nonviolent marches in the South 50 years ago. The speakers include Ruby Sales, a Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee organizer in the 1960s, and Patrisse Cullors, a co-founder of the Black Lives Matter movement.
The conference closes with a screening of a First Intifada documentary, “The Wanted 18,” which recently played at the San Francisco Jewish Film Festival and will be part of the Atlanta Palestine Film Festival from Oct. 15 to 25.
You can find the whole program at www.endtheoccupation.org/article.php?id=4512.
The conference was held in Atlanta once before, at the end of July 2005 at Georgia State University. The online report says more than 130 people attended, and the star of the show was Cynthia McKinney, then still in Congress.
Nearly 400 people reportedly attended last year’s conference in San Diego, where the focus was on bringing the BDS movement into the mainstream.
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