The Palestinian call for BDS in 2005 is supported by over 200 Palestinian trade unions, political organisations, civil society and church groups. Palestinians are calling for us in unequivocal terms to boycott Israel. Claims that boycott hurts Palestinians are akin to earlier claims made by the supporters of South African apartheid that boycott hurts black South Africans. In response, both Palestinians and black South Africans issued unambiguous and repeated calls for boycott of a deeply racialised system which offers them no future. Soda stream was not an easy target: its taken persistance and hard work by BDS activists. In July 2014, the UK department store John Lewis removed all SodaStream products from all its shelves, amid growing public pressure and declining sales. John Lewis Oxford Street, London, store was the site of biweekly BDS protests for its sale of SodaStream products. Additionally, after TWO YEARS of weekly BDS protests, SodaStream closed its Brighton store in July 2014. PEACEFUL DEMONSTRATIONS WORK so we need to keep it up! Why pick on Israel? Of course there are many countries with repressive regimes and we should condemn them all but inevitably we make choices. In fact, to have any effect we have to be selective. If theres a campaign about human rights in North Korea, does anyone ask why pick on them? Boycott is not always effective but that doesnt mean it shouldnt be used in cases where it is and where an oppressed population has called for international boycott. To bring up other cases suggests that Israel should be immune from censure until all other wrongs have been righted. Selective campaigns are necessary to deliver results. Currently BDS are asking Sainsburys to cease engaging with suppliers known to be sourcing from the illegal Israeli settlements and follow the example of the UKs fifth largest food retailer and largest mutual business - the co-operative. Additionally Israel is a special case. It continues to be a settler state in the 21st century, illegally occupying land others have cultivated for centuries. It is the only nuclear power in the Middle East yet immune somehow to the pressures exerted on Iran. Its in breach of numerous UN Resolutions and with US support no international law can act as a constraint on its behaviour. Israels creation is a direct result of European policies and its maintained with funding from the US and EU. The discrimination of Palestinians by Israel has a direct link to Western goverments so one could argue that western civil society groups have a particular obligation to speak out and act. Israel portrays itself as akin to western liberal democracy and sees itself as part of the west but theres no democracy for the Palestinians. The EU finds Israel special enough to ignore the human rights clauses in its own treaties and gives Israel special trading privileges embracing Israeli arms companies like the Israel Aerospace Industries for joint collaborative projects. The lack of transparancy over the end use of some of these projects from companies whose core business is the production of arms suggests much of the research ends up benefitting the Israeli arms industry. The EU applies preferential trade agreements (PTAs) with attached human rights obligations to a number of MENA (Middle East/North African region) countries. Why not Israel? The double standards which operate in international affairs favour Israel, so boycott as a tactical pressure is completely appropriate to effect a change in its policies. As for BDS not being effective, the numerous global consumer, cultural, academic and sports boycotts have had a significant impact and every action, every conversation and activity about Palestine is supporting Palestine and raising awareness: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boycott,_Divestment_and_Sanctions and bdsmovement.net/victories. Just last week, for the first time ever, a huge Israeli container ship was forced to re-route to Russia by the sustained peaceful efforts of an organised community at Oakland docks, USA, who repeatedly prevented it unloading. An extraordinary achievement and there was nothing easy about that either! There may be a long way to go. On the other hand, its that final drip through the roof that collapses it and thinkgs can change very fast then. Look at the Berlin Wall. We must keep going. There is increasing criticism of BDS and articles like this one suggest that BDS is achieving more than Israel likes to admit if they are bothering to give it column space. The Palestinian solidarity movement has become the successor to the Anti-Apartheid Campaign as the most important popular struggle on behalf of global justice in the early 21st century. BDS is a part of that. And we are not going away. haaretz/blogs/david-s-harp/.premium-1.624764
Posted on: Sat, 08 Nov 2014 10:23:17 +0000
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