LOS ANGELES (Press Release) — StandWithUs launched a password-protected website Wednesday, Oct. 27 to help students pro-actively counter divestment campaigns on campus.
Campus divestment resolutions are the latest tool of anti-Israel activists who want to isolate and demonize Israel.
StandWithUs developed the website with students who fought divestment resolutions at UC Berkeley and UC San Diego last year. StandWithUs’ nine years of experience dealing with anti-Israel campaigns on campus coupled with the students’ personal experience with every step of the divestment process allowed us to provide unique insights and clear guidelines for other students who face divestment campaigns.
The StandWithUs website is comprehensive, easy to navigate and use, and has ready-made slogans and materials to counter divestment. It provides general support for students, suggests pro-active steps and strategies to forestall or defeat divestment resolutions, gives specific advice about strategies to use during student government debates on divestment and on how to navigate campus politics, presents counter-arguments to the most common accusations used to justify divestment, and exposes the weaknesses in past divestment campaigns that helped lead to their defeat.
There are also specific, ready-to-use sections, such as sample short statements that make the case against divestment which students can use during debates on divestment resolutions, and suggested op eds and ads to put in the school newspaper.
Another section details the arguments students can use to expose the hypocrisy and extremism of the divestment claims and demands. The divestment activists are anti-coexistence, and foment unnecessary and counter-productive divisiveness on campus.
The website also offers multiple resources for students. There are free T-shirts with effective slogans such as “Divestment divides our campus,” downloadable posters and signs with compelling messages that students can use before and during divestment debates, and links to videos that can be shown before and during divestment debates.
There will be a power point to help students structure and follow best practices, and a hot line to the StandWithUs office so students can get immediate assistance to adjust their arguments and strategy for their particular campus.
Students-users need to register and after vetting, will receive a password to access the new site.
SWU launched a website in October to fight the larger BDS movement (Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions). The newer site zeroes in exclusively on campus divestment efforts, and will act as a partner and guide for students who face these hostile campaigns.
*
Preceding provided by StandWithUs