Israel/Palestine: Freedom of Speech, Freedom to Teach

Israel / Palestine:
Freedom of Speech, Freedom to Teach
A conference on elementary, secondary, and post-secondary education –
rights and repression

Friday, October 16, 7:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.
Saturday, October 17, 9:00 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.

Steelworkers Hall, 25 Cecil Street, Toronto

Friday registration – 6:30-6:55 p.m.
Friday panel - 7:00-9:00: Sharing Stories of Repression and Fightback

Panelists include Javier Davila, Adnan Husain, Golta Shahidi, and Palestinian educator, Saed Abu-Hijleh

Saturday, October 17 Programme – 8:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.

8:30 – 8:55 - Registration

9:00 – 10:30 - Keynote addresses: Yafa Jarrar and Sherene Razack

11:00-12:30 – Sectoral Workshops
*Post-Secondary Faculty - Academic Research, Conferences, Publication and Organizing
*Post-Secondary Faculty -Teaching and the Curriculum
*Elementary and Secondary Teachers – The Classroom, the Curriculum and

Finding Spaces within the Union
*Student Organizing
*Community

Lunch - 12:30 – 1:30 – vegetarian with vegan and gluten-free options (included in registration fees)

1:30 – 2:30 - Legal Context: Know Your Rights as Activists - Yutaka Dirks and Irina Ceric

2:45 - 4:00 - Plenary

4:00 – 4:15 - Closing Comments

Registration: $5–$30 sliding scale (includes lunch with vegetarian, vegan, and gluten-free options)

For further information and to pre-register, contact us at freedomtoteach.registration@yahoo.ca

Biographies of Speakers

Panelists: Friday, October 16

Saed Abu-Hijleh

Saed Abu-Hijleh is a Palestinian human geographer, poet, and radio show host, who is currently working as a lecturer of political and environmental geography at An-Najah National University in Nablus, Palestine. He is an activist with the Palestinian Right to Education Campaign.

Javier Davila

Javier Davila is a secondary school teacher with the Toronto District School Board. He is an active member of the Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation and a peace, social justice and solidarity activist with Educators for Peace and Justice and No One is Illegal.

Adnan Husain

Adnan Husain, an associate professor and Queen's National Scholar, is a
Medieval Mediterranean and Islamic World historian. Author of numerous articles, he is currently at work on a study of the intellectual and religious culture of Muslim diasporic minorities in "the West", while co-editing a collection on the cultural history of the Qur'an in translation. As well, Adnan Husain is the co-host of a weekly program, "Radio Bandung" on Queen's campus radio station (CFRC 101.9 FM, www.cfrc.ca).

Golta Shahidi

Golta Shahidi is a graduate student in York University’s Political Science department. She is active in Students Against Israeli Apartheid, and has organized Israeli Apartheid Week at U of T, where she was an undergraduate student. She is also one of the “Fight Fees 14” who successfully fought back victimization by the U of T administration and defended the right of students to organize on their campus.

Keynote speakers: Saturday, October 17

Yafa Jarrar

Yafa Jarrar was born in Jerusalem, Palestine. She moved to Canada in 2003 to attend Lester B. Pearson College of the Pacific. She is currently continuing her MA degree in Political Science at Carleton University, and is a member of Students Against Israeli Apartheid. Yafa represented Palestine in the Arab League of Nations in Cairo in 2001, addressing the effects of the Israeli occupation on the Palestinian educational process; and, also in 2001, was elected to represent Palestine to speak at the United Nations.

Sherene Razack

Sherene Razack is Professor of Sociology and Equity Studies in Education, at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education of the University of Toronto. Her research and teaching interests are in the area of race and gender issues in the law. Her courses include: ‘Race, Space and Citizenship;’ ‘Race and Knowledge Production’ and ‘Racial Violence and the Law.’ Her most recent book is entitled Casting Out: The Eviction of Muslims From Western Law and Politics (University of Toronto Press, 2008). She has also published Dark Threats and White Knights: The Somalia Affair, Peacekeeping and the New Imperialism (University of Toronto Press, 2004); Race, Space and the Law: Unmapping A White Settler Society (Toronto: Between the Lines, 2002); Looking White People in the Eye: Gender, Race, and Culture in Courtrooms and Classrooms (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1998,1999, 2000) and Canadian Feminism and the Law: The Women’s Legal and Education Fund and the Pursuit of Equality (Toronto: Second Story Press, 1991).

Legal Panel

Irina Ceric

Irina Ceric is a PhD candidate and adjunct professor at Osgoode Hall Law School. A lawyer and long-time community activist, she currently works primarily with the Law Union of Ontario's Movement Defence Committee and the Global Balkans Network.

Yutaka Dirks

Yutaka Dirks is a paralegal and activist, currently working as an tenant
rights organizer for a community legal clinic. He is a member of the Law
Union of Ontario's Movement Defence Committee.

Organized by Educators for Peace and Justice, Faculty for Palestine, and

Students Against Israeli Apartheid