#BDS campaigners meet in Adelaide for national conference #Australia #fuckIsrael

"The third Australia-wide gathering of boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) campaigners took place in Adelaide from September 21 to 23. The Australian Friends of Palestine Association (AFOPA) hosted the weekend of events.

A highlight of the three days was the appearance by London-based Israeli academic Ilan Pappe, who spoke twice. He spoke to 600 people at the annual Edward Said Memorial lecture, which is named for the late Palestinian academic."

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#BDS Video: First Brisbane BDS Walking Tour #Australia #fuckIsrael

#BDS: Melbourne court clears 11 pro-Palestinians in boycott #Israel protest #Ausralia

"Eleven pro-Palestinian protesters had charges against them dismissed in a Melbourne court Monday while five others must wait to find out whether they will be penalized for their part in a violent scuffle with police last year."

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#BDS: #Australia-n educational program bars speakers who support #Israel boycott

"Limmud Oz, an offshoot of the international festival of Jewish learning, canceled a panel featuring several controversial Jewish speakers for its upcoming conference in Melbourne.

The Jewish panelists no longer speaking, although they initially appeared on the Limmud Oz website, include Vivienne Porzsolt, a spokeswoman for Jews Against the Occupation who was detained in Israel last year en route to the flotilla to Gaza, and who recently marched in Sydney alongside Hezbollah supporters; Avigail Abarbanel, who renounced her Israeli citizenship in 2001; and Peter Slezak, a co-founder of the far-left Independent Australian Jewish Voices."

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#BDS: PHOTOS: Rally supports BDS campaign #Australia

"About 200 people marched in Melbourne on May 18 in support of the global boycott, divestment and sanctions campaign for Palestinian human rights. The campaign has come under attack from the state government, with 19 protesters arrested during a BDS protest last year.

Nick Carson from Occupy Melbourne said: “Victorian Police are looking for a way to shut down protest."

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#BDS: Defend the Boycott Israel 19 #Australia

"Statement read by Jerome Small - one of the Defend the Boycott Israel 19 on May 1st outside the Melbourne Magistrates Court, on the first day of their trial. 


Our first task is to acknowledge that where we are standing right now is stolen land, and that the Wurundjeri people and the Kulin nations have never surrendered this land, nor given up their sovereignty.


Our next task is to acknowledge the colossal, life and death struggle being waged as we speak by Palestinian prisoners inside the jails of Apartheid Israel."


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#BDS: Friends of Palestine #Australia to launch boycott #Veolia campaign

"On 4 February, at its annual general meeting, Friends of Palestine WA (FOPWA) resolved to make the French multinational Veolia “the major target for its boycott divestment and sanctions (BDS) campaign work in 2012, organising protest actions, lobbying and other activities to draw attention to Veolia's role in profiting from the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories.” This article by FOPWA member Nick Everett is based on one of the reports to that meeting.

For decades, the state of Israel has denied Palestinians their fundamental rights of freedom, equality, and self-determination through ethnic cleansing, colonization, racial discrimination, and military occupation. Despite abundant condemnation of Israeli policies by the United Nations, international bodies, and human rights organisations, Israel’s crimes have continued with impunity.

On July 9 2005, a year after the International Court of Justice declared Israel’s apartheid wall in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT) to be illegal, a clear majority of Palestinian civil society called upon people of conscience all over the world to launch broad boycotts, implement divestment initiatives, and to demand sanctions against Israel, until Palestinian rights are recognised in full compliance with international law."

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#BDS Video: Boycott Max Brenner, Join the BDS!

#BDS: Occupy Brisbane’s 'Free University' gets creative

"The second Sunday forum of the Free University of Occupied Brisbane discussed “creative forms of protest” on October 30 in Post Office Square. Phil Monsour fromJustice for Palestine talked about the boycott divestment and sanctions campaign against apartheid Israel.

He discussed the creative nature of the campaign, including the use of flash mobs to highlight the need to boycott Israeli companies, all around the world.

He said "the most successful action" staged by Justice for Palestine Brisbane had been the “We will boycott Israel” flash mob taken against the Israeli Dead Sea cosmetics company Seacret, in the Myer Centre, earlier this year."

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#BDS: Video: Boycott Apartheid Israel Rally #Australia

Australian parliament debate erupts over #BDS. #Australia

"The Australian parliament was up in arms on Tuesday with one of the most heated debates it has witnessed as senators wrangled over their support and opposition to the pro-Palestinian Boycotts, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement and the boycott it is leading against Israeli made products. The debate soon deteriorated to comparisons with the Nazi boycott on Jewish businesses.


The BDS movement is actively seeking to operate against Israel on a global level through various boycotts including on Israeli-made products and companies that operate in Israel. The movement has been active in Australia for some time now with its activists recently participating in demonstrations against the Max Brenner chocolate stores in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane."

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#BDS: Australian BDS protesters say they won’t be silenced, intimidated

"Brisbane supporters of the boycott, sanctions and divestment campaign (BDS) have pledged to intensify their campaign following a successful protest on August 27. Despite the rain, fifty protesters took to the streets to highlight the links between the Max Brenner chocolate store and the Israeli military occupation of Palestine.

Protest organisers from the Justice for Palestine group believe that the success of the protest was made apparent by the response it received from supporters of apartheid Israel."

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#BDS Australian Labor divided over union support for #Israel boycott

"VICTORIAN Labor is facing an increasingly embarrassing debate over party members and key unionists who are refusing to walk away from their support for an aggressive campaign targeting businesses with links to Israel.

The Baillieu government has called on Victorian Opposition Leader Daniel Andrews to reject any union donations paid to Labor by pro-Palestinian sympathisers backing the campaign.

Victorian Consumer Affairs Minister Michael O'Brien has asked Mr Andrews to take action against senior party figures supporting the boycott, divestment and sanctions campaign.

Victorian Labor MP Bronwyn Halfpenny, a former unionist, is among key BDS supporters in the ALP. She told The Australian she backed peaceful protests against Israel's treatment of Palestinians.

Mr O'Brien said Mr Andrews -- who also opposes BDS -- should make a stand against any party members backing the nationwide campaign against companies such as the Max Brenner chain of chocolate shops."

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#BDS: Anti-Israeli campaigners protest in Sydney #Australia

"A protest took place for activists arrested for their involvement in boycott Israel activities. A number of groups have been formed in Australia dedicated the call for boycott, divestment and sanctions, or BDS, from a broad cross-section of Palestinian organisations in 2005.

On July 1st the Victorian police launched what protesters described as an unprovoked attack on a peaceful demonstration outside the Max Brenner cafe in Melbourne. 19 people were arrested in what protesters believe is an attempt to intimidate the BDS, which has been growing in Australia. Two Sydney activists were arrested on July 9 at a similar protest. The activists face up to $32,000 in fines. On Tuesday 9th August, 4 of the arrested activists in Melbourne were re-arrested in dawn raids for allegedly breaching their bail conditions by attending another BDS protest. $18,000 in surety had to be paid before the police would release them. "

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#BDS: #Australia Unionist's BDS support puts Labor on the spot

"A PROMINENT unionist has been revealed as a key supporter of the pro-Palestinian campaign attacking firms with links to Israel, exposing Victorian Labor's leadership to further embarrassment.

Former Victorian Trades Hall Council president Kevin Bracken yesterday strongly supported the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions campaign.

Mr Bracken said the Maritime Union of Australia Victorian branch backed the boycott and confirmed that he was a keynote speaker supporting the campaign last year. The MUA, of which he is Victorian secretary, also had allowed its rooms to be used for the campaign."

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#BDS: Boycott Israel protest in Brisbane Tomorrow at Max Brenner Store

"A protest in support of Palestinian rights will be held in Brisbane on Saturday August 27 as part of the international campaign of boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) against apartheid Israel.


The protest will gather in South Brisbane with a march to the Israeli owned Max Brenner chocolate store. The global chain of stores is owned by Israel’s second largest food company, the Strauss Group, which boasts of its support for the Israeli military occupation forces.


According to Justice for Palestine activist, Kathy Newnam, “The protest will seek to highlight the reality of life in Palestine under military occupation. It will combat the lies and misinformation and the continual mantra by politicians and the corporate media about the supposed need for “balance”.


“Just look at what is happening in Gaza right now. Israel has launched a bombing campaign that has killed at least 20 people in the past week. Israel claims that this brutality is a response to an attack on a bus which killed eight Israelis. The corporate media repeats this claim uncritically under the guise of “balance” despite the fact that Israel is carrying out a brutal form of collective punishment that is completely illegal under international law."


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#BDS: Max Brenner protesters reappear in court #Australia

"FOUR of the 19 pro-Palestinian activists arrested at the protest outside Max Brenner in Melbourne on July 1 were arrested again on Tuesday for breach of bail conditions.

This latest development comes amid Jewish community groups applauding the Victorian government for asking the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) to investigate if the recent anti-Israel Max Brenner protests are in breach of Australian competition law.

A spokesperson for Victoria Police confirmed the four arrested appeared in Melbourne Magistrates Court on Tuesday afternoon, and The AJN understands at least two face further hearings."

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#BDS: Australia’s repression of BDS movement coordinated with #Israel

"In the largest show of support for the Palestinian-initiated boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) campaign so far in Australia, more than 350 persons marched on 29 July in solidarity with the Palestinian struggle — and in opposition to an attempt by Victorian Police to criminalize Palestine solidarity activism in Melbourne.

A month earlier, on 1 July, a similar, peaceful BDS action involving 120 persons was brutally attacked by the Victorian Police. Nineteen individuals were arrested."

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#BDS: #Australia threatens further crackdown on boycott activists

"Things are heating up in Australia. The turmoil over boycott arrests previously covered here has escalated. A group called Defend the boycott Israel 19 has issued a press release today announcing Pro-Palestine activists arrested in dawn raids calling this "the most severe crack-down on civil liberties in decades". Protesters were arrested on the pretense of "breaching bail conditions", and it is said that they will be held until September 5th. 

This is just days after the Victoria government issued an unprecedented request bycalling in the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission to investigate citizens who have joined the BDS campaign."

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#BDS: 44 weeks of pro-Palestinian protest in Adelaide, #Australia

"Adelaide is the capital of South Australia. It’s a sprawling city; Adelaide’s metropolitan region is more than twice the size of Gaza but with a smaller population. Gaza has 1.7 million people compared with Adelaide’s 1.2 million. However there are much more significant differences. Here we move freely in and out of our city and country, trade with everyone, have ready access to water, food, medicines, hospitals, medical care and education. No-one has ever imprisoned our whole population and then bombed us. Yet in spite of our differences and the vast 13,000 km distance between our cities a growing number of people in Adelaide are developing a sense of solidarity with the people of Palestine.

As part of our contribution to the international BDS movement, over 10 months ago the Australian Friends of Palestine Association held the first Adelaide Seacret (Israeli cosmetic company) protest. Each week an ever increasing number of pro-Palestinian protesters have demonstrated in front of the Myer Centre shopping complex which hosts the Seacret kiosk. Our latest You Tube shows that despite strong opposition and varying intimidating tactics from Zionist sympathizers, we are determined to continue to educate the people of Adelaide about Palestine and encourage them to boycott Israeli products."

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