18 March 09

Social Justice Network concludes its campaign “School Bags for Gaza children” with a fundraising dinner

Social Justice Network would like to thank everyone who made the campaign “School Bags for Gaza children” a successful one. The campaign was concluded by a fundraising dinner last Wednesday, 11 March 09, at Vatan restaurant in Auburn. Many community organizations and leaders participated in this dinner. We would like to especially thank Sheikh Hayder Al Simyany (representing Ahl Al Bait centre), representatives of women group at Gallipoli mosque, representatives of Alquds Palestinian community centre and all community members who participated in the dinner.

In the dinner there were speeches about the event and about the heroic resistance of Gaza people against the barbaric invasion. They also stressed the shameful stances of ALL Australian parties represented in the parliaments. These stances that ranged from totally supporting Israeli aggression or at best equating in condemnation of both the aggressors and the victims. The speeches vowed to make the Israeli crimes an issue of public interest in the next elections, to pressure the different parties to change their shameful stance.

During dinner, film about the history of Israeli massacres was shown.

The Network would like to send special thanks also to all media outlets that participated in covering and promoting the campaign activities. These include the ethnic and local media outlets. The network would like to especially thank SBS – Arabic program, ethnic media (especially Arabic newspapers) and the local newspapers in Auburn and Bankstown, the Auburn Review and the Torch.

The network would like to mention here that the campaign had resulted in collecting around half container load of clothes, shoes, school bags and children toys. These donated items were handed to representatives of AFIC on Thursday, 19 March 09. AFIC will arrange sending container of donated items to Gaza.

The campaign also collected so far around $4,500. The money will be handed soon to APHEDA for the purpose of buying school bags from Gaza local market.

The Network is happy with the result of the campaign. The most important for the network is that it empowered members of marginalised communities to take active steps to increase their participation in political, economical and social life of this great nation. Further steps will be taken to further this empowerment and participation. The network will announce these steps in according times.

For media contacts, you can contact Jamal Daoud, the network’s spokesperson, on 0424 163 667