#BDS: When Desmond Tutu got the ‘Penn BDS’ treatment

"In light of the attacks against the upcoming Penn BDS conference, I offer a reminder of the time Desmond Tutu got the “Penn BDS” treatment at other US universities, even when he wasn’t talking about BDS or Israel.

The article below was written in the summer of 2010, soon after the Olympia Food Co-op decided to boycott Israeli goods. At the time, many non-Jewish white progressives in Olympia felt they should defer to the “Jewish community’s” wishes on the Palestine/Israel issue."

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#BDS: Desmond #Tutu backs arms embargo on #Israel

"Archbishop Desmond Tutu has backed calls for an arms embargo against Israel made by a coalition of Palestinian groups on July 9.

“A comprehensive military embargo on Israel is long overdue,” reads the statement by the Palestinian Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions National Committee (BNC), a broad coalition of Palestinian political parties, trade unions, activist groups and NGOs. It continues, “It would constitute an effective, non-violent measure to pressure Israel to comply with its obligations under international law.”

“I endorse this call for an arms embargo because we desire peace and justice for Palestinians and Israelis through non-violent ways,” said Tutu. The 79-year old former Archbishop gained prominence for his role in fighting apartheid in South Africa, winning the Nobel Peace Prize in 1984."

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#BDS: Tutu: TIAA-CREF should hear us, divest from #Israel

"From Archbishop Desmond Tutu, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1984 and the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2009:

As shareholders with the retirement giant TIAA-CREF head to Charlotte this week for their national meeting, there is one issue they will find conspicuously absent from the agenda: divestment from the Israeli Occupation. Despite pleas from shareholders, including medical professionals, students and academics from universities across the United States, the pension fund refused to allow a vote on a resolution that would have compelled TIAA-CREF to consider divestment from companies such as Caterpillar or Elbit. These are companies that profit substantially from the illegal Israeli occupation of Palestinian land."

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#BDS: Tutu congratulates Sydney's Marrickville Council's #Israel boycott #Australia

"Archbishop Desmond Tutu, veteran leader against South African apartheid, sends letter of support and solidarity to Marrickville Mayor and Councillors.

The Coalition for Justice and Peace in Palestine warmly congratulates the Mayor of Marrickville, Fiona Byrne, who has received a letter from Archbishop Desmond Tutu as a result of her and other Councillors’ support for the Boycotts, Divestment and Sanctions call from Palestinian civil society. The letter will be presented to Mayor Byrne at Marrickville Council Chambers on Tuesday, June 7, 2011.

The letter makes reference to Marrickville Council’s Sister City relationship with Bethlehem, the importance of sporting boycotts in the campaign against apartheid in South Africa and the pressure placed on Marrickville Council."

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#BDS: Israel should be given the South African treatment

"“I am a black South African, and if I were to change the names, the description of what is happening in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank would be a description of what is happening in South Africa”

Archbishop Desmond Tutu, New York 1989

When Desmond Tutu made this comment, the South African apartheid regime was still in power. In 1994, after 45 years of racial segregation, the apartheid era was officially over. When watershed moments like this occur, multiple factors can be attributed. But history is clear that one of the many reasons this tyranny finally succumbed was an international boycott, divestment and sanctions campaign – BDS.

There is no doubt the decision taken by Sydney’s Marrickville council last December to heed the 2005 call for BDS by virtually all of Palestinian civil society was going to be controversial; so was the international movement against apartheid South Africa.

With a New South Wales state election just around the corner, and other local councils considering similar BDS proposals across Australia, this issue is generating predictable heat. The Sydney Morning Herald’s Gerard Henderson last week condemned the Greens for ignoring “democratic” Israel. A prominent mural in inner Sydney, normally aimed at attacking Muslim women who wear the burqa, was changed to attack Marrickville mayor and leading Greens candidate Fiona Byrne for supporting BDS. Even DFAT Secretary Dennis Richardson has entered the debate, calling BDS “wacko stuff”. "

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#BDS: Tutu urges South African opera not to tour Israel

JOHANNESBURG (AP) — Retired Anglican Archbishop Desmond Tutu, who earned a Nobel for his peaceful opposition to apartheid, is urging the Cape Town Opera troupe not to tour Israel until discrimination there ends.

In a statement Tuesday Tutu compared the troupe's visit next month to international artists performing in apartheid South Africa.

He says it would be "unconscionable" to perform "Porgy and Bess," which he says has a "universal message of nondiscrimination."

Tutu charges that by bringing international artists to perform, the Tel Aviv Opera House "advances Israel's fallacious claim to being a 'civilized democracy.'"

Tutu has emerged as a sharp critic of Israel. Last month, he backed calls for a South African academic boycott of Israel.