Metier Human Rights

Synopsis

The University of California at Berkeley, home of the Free Speech Movement, recently saw the nation's first extended public debates over the merits of a resolution advocating the divestment from companies militarily supporting Israel's occupation of the Palestinian West Bank and East Jerusalem, and the blockade of Gaza.

Using interviews, film from the Berkeley student senate proceedings, and supporting documentary footage from Palestinian territories and Egypt, PRESSURE POINTS explores the dynamics of the debate and its historic significance within U.S. social justice movements. Testimony of pro-Israel students from groups such as Hillel and top Israeli diplomat Akiva Tor is counterpointed by witnesses including several Palestinian students, a Holocaust survivor, representatives from Jewish Voice for Peace, diverse student activists, and noted academics.

The debates and the senate votes marked a watershed in American and international views on the justice of Israel's policies in Palestine, and a significant advance in the acceptance of boycott, divestment and sanctions as effective tools for ending the occupation and blockade, as the world sees a re-enactment of the international anti-apartheid movement that transformed South Africa.

PRESSURE POINTS Festival Tour:

World Premier: Karama Human Rights Film Festival, Amman, Jordan, Dec 2012

U.S. Premier: Fallbrook International Film Festival, CA, April 2013

Europe Premier: London Palestine Film Festival, May 2013