Tadamon! collective statement, February 2012. Photo: Israeli apartheid wall in Occupied Palestine. Last fall, the Conservative government announced plans to expand the Canada-Israel Free Trade Agreement (CIFTA), a set of policies that serves to further legitimize Israeli occupation and apartheid, and deepen Canadian corporate and state involvement in Israeli racism and colonialism. Read more.
Feb 12, 2012
#BDS The Israel Lobby on campus in Illinois: A challenge for BDS
I only recently learned of Illinois Governor Pat Quinn’s trip to Israel this past summer (2011) for a “week-long educational mission where he sealed two important agreements and received briefings from high-ranking Israeli officials, academic experts and business leaders on topics ranging from high-tech development (read Motorola), energy, water conservation and environmentalism (sic) to disaster preparedness, Iran, and U.S.-Israel relations.” This is reported on the website of Jewish United Fund/Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago. The reader is expected, of course, to find the high-minded and triumphant tone of this article to be unproblematic. Read more.
#BDS Norcal Activists take on #Veolia
The North Coast Coalition for Palestine in the San Francisco North Bay are preparing to present a letter to the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors opposing the county's contract with Veolia. The French multinational company currently operates the county's bus system and has come under international pressure due to its involvement in a light rail line in Occupied East Jerusalem. Activists plans to collect signatures and present the letter to the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors. Read more.
#BDS Peter Tatchell protests Israel's pinkwashing and endorses BDS
This is a bit of a turn up. Peter Tatchell has added his name to a letter supporting boycott, divestment and sanctions against the State of Israel and protesting Israel's PR tactic of "pinkwashing", ie, presenting itself as a progressive democratic state on account of supposedly gay-friendly policies. Here's the letter. Source.
#BDS The 8th annual ‘Israeli Apartheid week’ is focused on BDS
The 8th annual Israeli Apartheid week is approaching, and it’s approaching fast. Israeli Apartheid Week is a week where Palestinian solidarity groups from around the globe mobilize events to spread awareness of the atrocities happening to the Palestinians because of Israel’s illegal occupation and apartheid system. It also is a week where these solidarity organizations can answer the call of the Palestinian civil society and launch or continue their Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions campaign. Read more here.
Feb 11, 2012
#BDS: مقاطعة إسرائيل ومقاطعة «إم.تي.في.»
تمادى محطة «إم.تي.في.» في استفزاز قسم كبير من الشعب اللبناني (والعربي). تتمادى كثيراً. هي تتمرّس في التعامل مع الجمهور على أنه مناصر لجيش لحد، وما يحمله من عقائد وسياسات وأغراض. تتعامل المحطة مع المواضيع بمنطق طائفي، كأنّ كل الشعب في مسخ الوطن، لبنان، يوافق على سياساتها، باستثناء الرعاع الشيعة من أنصار حزب الله (وهذا هو منطق حزب الكتائب أيضاً وحتى عائلة الحريري. وكأنّ الشيعة في لبنان، أو حتى أنصار حزب الله من الطائفة، يشكّلون تفصيلاً صغيراً يسهل كنسه متى نُزع سلاح المقاومة في لبنان). لا يعني ذلك أنّه ليس للمحطة معجبون ومؤيّدون (ومؤيّدات): لا شك أنّ الخط الصهيوني الصريح للمحطة، زائد هوسها بنيل إعجاب الرجل الأبيض ـــــ أيّ رجل أبيض، ولو كان عابراً للسبيل ـــــ يتوافق مع توجّهات عدد لا بأس به من اللبنانيّين. إنّ استطلاعات رأي عام عربيّ وعالميّ في لبنان، تثبت أنّ هناك فئة تناصر إسرائيل، وأنّ نحو ربع اللبنانيّين مثلاً (وفق استطلاع أجري في 2004 من قبل الجامعة الأردنيّة) يعتبر أي عمل عسكري ضد قوّات الاحتلال الإسرائيلي عملاً «إرهابيّاً». كما أنّ حرب تموز كانت مثالاً على حقيقة بشعة: ليس كلّ اللبنانيّين متوافقين على دعم مقاومة إسرائيل. هناك فريق عريض من اللبنانيّين (هم الأكثرية عدديّاً من دون شكّ) ممن قاوم مقاومة إسرائيل منذ 1982 (هل هناك من ينسى أنّ جريدة «النهار» عارضت مقاومة إسرائيل منذ 1982 ـــــ إن لم يكن قبل ـــــ حتى الساعة، أي قبل سنوات من الانسحاب المُذلّ لجيش العدوّ في 2000). وهناك فريق ممن اعتبر نفسه متفرّجاً على مقاومة إسرائيل (كان الحزب التقدمي الاشتراكي متفرّجاً على مقاومة إسرائيل ولسنوات طوال قبل أن يعاديها).
إقرأ\ي المزيد
Feb 10, 2012
Commemorating Palestinian Land Day: Join the #BDS Global Day of Action on 30 March 2012!
"Commemorating Land Day, the Palestinian BDS National Committee (BNC) invites people of conscience around the world to unite for a BDS Global Day of Action on 30 March 2012 in solidarity with the Palestinian people’s struggle for freedom, justice and equality and for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) against Israel until it fully complies with its obligations under international law.
Let’s showcase our BDS successes through creative actions and media efforts and mobilize for the World Social Forum Free Palestine in November 2012."
Read more
#BDS: Israeli boycotters call for end to greenwashing
"Boycott from Within stands in opposition to the Keren Kayemeth LeIsrael-Jewish National Fund's (KKL-JNF) abuse of Jewish tradition and values, as is carried out today during the day of Tu B'shvat. The JNF routinely attempts to greenwash its crimes by showing a veneer of an ecologically aware organization.
No amount of tree-planting, especially when done on stolen Palestinian land, could wash away the JNF's complicity in occupation and apartheid."
Read more
#BDS: The Academic Boycott on Campus: Breaking New Ground, Gaining Momentum
"In an open letter dated October 21, 2011 [1], Palestinian students wrote to their counterparts across the world, “we hope you put BDS at the forefront of your campaigns and join together for Israeli Apartheid Week, the pinnacle of action across universities worldwide”. The 8th Annual Israeli Apartheid Week (IAW) [2] constitutes a direct response to this call, at a crucial moment when youth are taking to the streets to combat dictatorships and an international economic crisis marked by record levels of youth unemployment. In our joint struggle for freedom, justice and equality in a framework of economic and social justice, we at the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI) look forward to yet another inspiring IAW. We take this opportunity to salute the dynamism and creativity of a new generation of BDS advocates on campuses and to thank those who have supported our call for the cultural and academic boycott of Israel from the start."
Read more
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#BDS: Faith-based communities provide fertile ground for boycott movement #PennBDS
"The road to equality and justice is well lit by people of faith. Conversely, the world of oppression and injustice is well maintained by other people of faith. For the purpose of this panel discussion, the term faith-based communities will refer to the former.
Our various ethical traditions are concerned with how we live, how we treat other people, and how to promote a more just world. Communities of faith find common ground in their shared commitment to ethical action.
Religion speaks in the language of faith, hope, peace and love. The political equivalent is a framework of non-violence, universal human rights, international law, and social responsibility. This makes BDS is a sensible, tested, and unambiguous response for people of faith to Israeli apartheid, injustice, and occupation. "
Read more
#BDS: #India, #Israel to collaborate on urban renewal, water treatment
"India and Israel are expected to sign an agreement on collaboration in the field of water treatment technologies in urban areas during the forthcoming visit of Minister of Urban Development Kamal Nath.
With India and Israel commemorating 20 years of establishment of diplomatic relations, the new year has seen a flurry of activities and further diversification in areas of cooperation to include many new fields.
Earlier this year, Minister for External Affairs S M Krishna dubbed the two countries as "natural allies in all frontiers of sciences" during his visit to Israel."
Read more
#BDS roundup: South Africa to consider Israel boycott; defending academic freedom; and more
"While South Africa considers economic and cultural sanctions against Israel, Canadian radio broadcasters urge a Vancouver station to adopt a BDS resolution, boycott campaigners urge Cat Power to cancel her upcoming Tel Aviv performance, and organizers for the global Israeli Apartheid Week 2012 gear up for another successful schedule of events.
South Africa considers BDS against Israel
Invoking historic ties of solidarity between South Africans and Palestinians during South Africa’s historical struggle for liberation from apartheid, the country’s Minister of Arts and Culture announced over the weekend that the government has “no problem with supporting the boycott, divestment and sanctions campaign against Israel.”
Read more
#BDS victory: Cat Power cancels show in #Israel
"This morning, Cat Power announced her show had been canceled, and tweeted:
Her announcement came after she sent out a few tweets asking her fans to “find a show in Ramallah … for the people of Palestine.” However, it is against the Palestinian-led BDS call to support an artist seeking to mitigate the apartheid policy by “balancing” their performance in Tel Aviv with a performance in the occupied West Bank."
Read more#BDS Get Your City to Take a Stand against Weapons to Israel
On Monday, President Obama is scheduled to submit his 2013 budget request to Congress, which could include as much as $3.1 billion in military aid to Israel! Weapons that we taxpayers give to Israel demand anunacceptable moral cost, enabling Israel to injure and kill Palestinian civilians, entrench its 44-year military occupation of the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip, expropriate Palestinian land for illegal Israeli settlements, and perpetuate its apartheid regime over Palestinians. Read more here.
Feb 9, 2012
#BDS Palestinian youth to France: “Stop financing the killing of our people”
Two protests have been held today in Palestine to protest a French-Israeli military deal. A wide variety of youth organizations has organized the protests to oppose the French acquisition of $500 million worth of drones from Israeli Airspace Indistries. Some 30 people gathered in Jerusalem in front of the French consulate and only hours later some 50 people protested in Ramallah in front of the French cultural center. The activists targeting the French institutions to express their outrage against French complicity with the Israeli military and Israeli war crimes held up banners calling for an immediate military embargo against Israel and for a boycott of Israel. They shouted slogans denouncing this latest deal betwen Israel and the French government. Source.
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