Tim S's blog

The Progressive Student Alliance (PSA) of Georgia State University is deeply troubled by the allegations made on WSBTV on May 24, 2011 regarding a Freedom of Information Act request made by the PSA. The request concerns GILEE, the Georgia International Law Enforcement Exchange program, housed at Georgia State University, which is a police exchange program between Georgia police officers and the Israeli police.

In WSBTV’s coverage of the request, Attorney General Sam Olens stated that the PSA’s actions were motivated by the influence of an external organization that may seek a “terrorist attack on local law enforcement.” Not only are these comments completely false, misleading, and malicious, but Olens goes on to patronize students, insisting that “students don't wake up one morning and say I wonder where the Dunwoody police officers are receiving training in Israel on terrorism.” Olens argues that students would never have an interest in complex political and social issues and that “somebody bigger” is behind asking for a Freedom of Information Act request.

In response to the belligerent attacks on the civilian aid ship headed for Gaza early Monday morning, the local BDS organization in Atlanta, Movement to End Israeli Apartheid-Georgia, called for an emergency protest in front of the Israeli consulate. Over 100 people answered the call, from local BDS activists to high school students and members of other socialist organizations. Many of these demonstrators were Palestinian and a few were Jewish.

The majority of the outreach for the demonstration was done over Facebook and the Internet, showing the organizing capabilities of online promotion. The demonstration held for two hours and ended with a gathering calling for action to be taken in two ways. The first being focused on contacting representatives in government, and the second being done in a more effective means: a Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement at the Atlanta-based Georgia State University (GSU). GSU houses a program called the Georgia International Law Enforcement Exchange, which facilitates exchanges between Georgia police officials and security officials in Israel under the guise of sharing drug-enforcement and counter-terrorism techniques.

As the new year began, four students began a 1,500 mile walk from Miami to Washington, DC.