This tour has ended; please see 2013 Tours for upcoming dates and sample invitation
Edmonton, AB, and BC interior:
Thurs, Sept 27 – 11:00 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. Sociology class at Grant MacEwan University, Edmonton
* Fri, Sept 28 – 12:00 noon MASS Student Organization, Room N102 at The King’s University College, 9125 – 50 Street, Edmonton
* Fri, Sept 28 – 7:30 p.m. Holyrood Mennonite Church, 9505 79 St NW Edmonton. Sponsored by the Edmonton Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers)
Sunday, Sept 30 – noontime, talk at a local adult Sunday school class.
* Tues, Oct 9 evening, 7:30 p.m, co-sponsored by Salmon Arm Kairos Committee and by the Shuswap Inclusion Project at First United Church, 450 Okanagan Ave. Salmon Arm, BC
Wed, Oct 10 – lunchtime meeting with Vernon activists;
* Wed, Oct 10 – 7 pm : People Place, Vernon., BC Admission by donation.
* Sat Oct 13, 3:00 p.m – sponsored bv the Kelowna Peace Group, Southern Interior Peace Coalition, Kelowna KAIROS, and Vernon Monthly Meeting of the Society of Friends (Quakers) at the Spiers Road B & B, Kelowna, BC
Vancouver, BC
* Wed, Nov 7, 7 pm – People’s Coop Book Store, 1391 Commercial Drive, Vancouver, BC. Endorsed by: Ahavat Olam progressive synagogue, Boycott Israeli Apartheid Campaign (BIAC), Building Bridges Vancouver (BBV),Canadian Friends Service Committee (CFSC),Gaza’s Ark, Independent Jewish Voices – Vancouver (IJV – Vancouver), International Solidarity Movement – Vancouver (ISM – Vancouver), Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights – UBC (SPHR – UBC), Vancouver Monthly Meeting of the Society of Friends (Quakers)
Calgary, AB
Sun, November 11 – participation in morning service at St. David’s United Church.
* Wed, November 14,7:30—9:00 pm- Sponsored by Project Ploughshares Calgary, Parkdale United Church Conference Room, 2919 8th Ave NW, Calgary, AB
Washington State
* November 28 – 12:00 noon – 1:20 pm – a World Issues Forum presentation at Fairhaven College of Interdisciplinary Studies (Western Washington University), Bellingham, WA (For more information on the World Issues Forum speaker series, visit the World Issues Forum Website at http://www.wwu.edu/depts/fairhaven.)
* 6:30 p.m. hosted by Whatcom Peace & Justice Center at CHANGE OF VENUE: the Center’s new space at 1220 Bay St, Bellingham, WA
Invitation to host / co-sponsor a book-related presentation on Refusing to be Enemies: Palestinian and Israeli Nonviolent Resistance to the Israeli Occupation
Dear Friends,
Those of you who know me are probably aware that I’m a Quaker Jew and a dual citizen of Canada and Israel, though born in the US (long story). I’m also a “semi-retired” activist and occasional journalist who lived in Jerusalem for seven years (December ’88 – mid-October ’95), during which time I was very involved in activism of the sort described in my book: nonviolent actions by Israelis and Palestinians, separately and together, challenging the Israeli occupation. I’ve subsequently made ten trips back to the region, many in connection with research for the book or updating the information for my presentations—most recently from March 27 – April 24 of this year.
Some of you may also have heard that Refusing to be Enemies: Palestinian and Israeli Nonviolent Resistance to the Israeli Occupation (my interview-based book with an introduction by Ursula Franklin and contributed chapters by Ghassan Andoni, Jeff Halper, Jonathan Kuttab, and Starhawk) is now available in a paperback and e-book edition, as well as the earlier hardcover edition (more info about the book below–my bibliography and activist CV is available on request).
Since the hardcover first came out in early 2010, I have done quite a bit of touring in the Eastern US and various parts of Canada, first, in 2010, promoting an unofficial paperback identical in content with the hardcover edition, and then in 2011 with the “official” paperback (including with a new Afterword and some updated URLs). This spring I gave presentations to some twenty groups in the UK and Ireland, including at Britain Yearly Meeting (Quakers), and I plan to visit Washington State, the BC interior, and Calgary and Edmonton, Alberta, this fall.
If hosting or co-sponsoring a visit to your area is of interest to your faith group or peace/justice organization–here are the details:
Visiting Friends’ Meetings is a big part of what I hope to do, but a also very much want to do presentations for the wider nonviolence and Palestine-solidarity communities (and beyond, where feasible). I’m sometimes hosted by individual organizations or Quaker meetings, but what has seemed to work best is having a committee, preferably made up of folks from two or more groups working together. Some of the organizations that have hosted or co-sponsored my public presentations up to now–in addition to Quaker meetings—are local branches of Amnesty International (including in Galway, Ireland), Project Ploughshares, Building Bridges-Vancouver, Kairos—Canada, United Church of Canada, and Unitarian and Presbyterian churches in the US and Canada, Independent Jewish Voices-Canada (in Ottawa and Halifax; the national body also co-sponsored my recent UK/Ireland tour and helped fund my participation in the March 30, 2012 Global March to Jerusalem), Canadian Friends of Sabeel and Canadians, Arabs, and Jews for a Just Peace (in Halifax), the Peace Studies Program at St. Thomas University in Fredericton, Fredericton Jews for a Just Peace, Canadian Friends of Neve Shalom/Wahat al-Salaam (Calgary), Scottish Jews for a Just Peace, the Scottish Palestinian Forum, the Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign, Jews for Justice for Palestinians (UK), and various local peace and justice groups. As well, the Canadian Friends Service Committee (CFSC, on which I served for 12 years and am currently an associate member for Middle East projects, and which gave me much support during my researching of this book) has given permission to be named as a cosponsor or endorser of any of my book-related events.
Format of my presentations:
What I do most often is a public meeting with a PowerPoint presentation (this requires an appropriate projector or large-screen monitor with VGA cord) of approximately an hour (or shorter, if necessary, with prior notice) followed by QA, with books available for sale by one or more of my hosting organizations or by a local bookstore. In addition, I’d be glad to meet informally with Friends Meetings and groups of activists or students in relevant fields in or near the same towns (projector or large-screen monitor is not absolutely necessary for small groups around a table, although visibility is always improved by having one or the other).
Re books and reviews:
The main objective of my presentations is to share information about nonviolent activism by Palestinians and Israelis, separately and together, in challenging the Israeli occupation of Palestinian land–as this is a much under-publicized aspect of the Palestinian struggle. My other objective is to promote the book in a more personal way than just sending out emails and finding reviewers.
So it’s important to me that, as far as possible, at least one event in each location is one where copies of Refusing to be Enemies are available for sale.
Reviews have appeared in a number of print and on-line publications and include review essays by Simona Sharoni in the Journal of Palestine Studies and by US Quaker academics Steve Chase and Stephen Zunes in the online journal Nonviolent Change Journal and for a recent issue of Middle East Policy, respectively. There is also a write-up by Andrew Stimson in the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs and reviews in The Canadian Friend, Friends Journal, Quaker Life, and Outlook–Canada’s Progressive Jewish Magazine.
Outside of North America, it’s so far been reviewed in Palestine Chronicle (online)and De Brug, a progressive Dutch-Jewish magazine. You can find out more about the book and access all reviews at https://refusingtobeenemiesthebook.wordpress.com as they become available.
Ordering info for US (CANADIAN HOSTS/ SPONSORS, PLEASE CONTACT ME BEFORE CALLING ISBS – I can help you avoid considerable additional charges from UPS for “customs brokerage”):
Bulk orders for events: A retail trade discount is available from ISBS, the North American distributor of Refusing to be Enemies, when 5 or more copies are ordered for resale. Purchaser gets a 44% discount on the US purchase price of $24.95 (Academics please note: books that appear on course reading lists only receive a 20% discount). Purchaser pays shipping from Portland, Oregon, but only needs to pay 50% of the order cost up front and has a month to get them the rest, and the distributor does accept returns. (This arrangement means, in effect, that one usually has recovered their original outlay before needing to pay the credit card statement).
Contact info to discuss ordering and discount terms with ISBS is:
Lenny Gerson, ISBS Marketing & Sales
direct line (503) 546-4935
(or via 1-800-944-6190)
or by email at lenny@isbs.com .
Other costs:
Minimal. I’m not looking to make a profit, but I also have no funding to cover expenses. So what I generally do is request billeting with local activists plus some help with local food and travel costs, averaged among the cities I visit. Up to now this has come to between $25 and $50 per city, usually towards the lower end of that range. Certainly an amount that is easily recoverable by requesting a small donation at the door (with excess retained by the hosting group or donated to a worthy cause in Palestine or Israel).
With thanks,
Maxine Kaufman-Lacusta
refusingtobeenemiesthebook 