Blog Archives
Coca-Cola’s investment in Gaza
Source: middleeastmonitor.com
By: Yvonne Ridley
Coca-Cola is building a factory in Gaza, but before you applaud such an investment in an area where the economy is shattered and unemployment ranks among the highest in the world, let’s examine the deal more closely. Who will actually benefit from this? It’s a rhetorical question really, because the Palestinians living there will be the long-term losers while the neighbouring State of Israel will count the shekels rolling in.
The first of the materials to build the factory came via Israel with a convoy of 10 trucks carrying assembly line machines through the Yitzhak Rabin border terminal; from there the lorries were processed by the Israeli military into Gaza through the Kerem Shalom border crossing last week. This, in itself, is amazing, since only 130,000 tons of construction materials have been allowed into Gaza since the latest Israeli blitz; five million tons are needed to try to rebuild the factories bombed to destruction by Israel in its last two wars against the civilians of Gaza.
Thousands of families are still without homes in the depths of a Gaza winter and some of the dead are still buried under the tons of rubble where tower blocks stood before the Israeli military destroyed them. Despite international promises of humanitarian aid and a massive rebuilding programme nothing of any substance has happened because of the ongoing siege of the territory led by Israel and Egypt.
Israel Announces Massive West Bank Land Grab
It’s quiet in #Gaza but apartheid #israel is still stealing land! #FreePalestine#Boycottisrael #bds #icc4israel
Source: huffingtonpost.com
By: Jeffrey Heller
JERUSALEM, Aug 31 (Reuters) – Israel announced on Sunday a land appropriation in the occupied West Bank that an anti-settlement group termed the biggest in 30 years, drawing Palestinian condemnation and a U.S. rebuke.
Join the BDS movement and make an impact!
Source: http://www.bdsmovement.net
Why should I join the boycott of Israel?
World governments have failed to end their support for Israel’s crimes or put pressure on Israel to comply with international law and human rights.
By working together on focused consumer boycotts and campaigns against the companies and institutions that help Israel to commit its crimes, the Palestinian-led boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement is a powerful and strategic tool for isolating Israel.
Check out our timeline to see BDS-related achievements to date. Boycotts and sanctions helped end apartheid in South Africa!
Multiple reports on arab media right now of a long-term ceasefire in Gaza
By: Omar Suleiman
Multiple reports on arab media right now of a long-term ceasefire in #Gaza insha’Allah. But our boycott and spreading awareness about Apartheid #Israel should not slow down one bit. This massacre has opened many eyes around the word, and it’s our job to ensure those eyes never again shut as many innocent Palestinian children will never be able to open theirs again. This is the largest global movement of non violent resistance the world has ever seen and it cannot afford people losing interest all of a sudden. The occupation must end and the racist Zionist movement must be confronted. #FreePalestine #ICC4Israel #ISupportGaza #BoycottIsrael #BDS
9 ways to get involved in the BDS movement
Source: http://www.bdsmovement.net/get-involved
Initiated by an overwhelming majority of Palestinian grassroots organisations in 2005 and inspired by the South African anti-apartheid movement, the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement is now a widespread international movement.
BDS is proving capable of winning mass support and persuading companies, cultural institutions, artists and governments to join or observe the boycott of Israel.
The successes and growth of the global BDS movement has only been possible because of the creative and determined action by conscientious people and organizations and unions across the world.
The BDS movement is supported and led by the Palestinian BDS National Committee (BNC), and we’ve put together this set of ideas on how to support in the BDS movement.
Get involved today and help to build the international BDS movement against Israel’s regime of occupation, colonialism and apartheid.
- Boycott goods of Israeli companies as well as international companies involved in Israel’s human rights violations
The most basic step is to stop buying products and services of Israeli companies and, whenever feasible, of international companies involved in Israel’s human rights violations. Try to encourage your friends, family and community to join you in doing so.
It differs from country to country, but the most common Israeli exports include:
– fresh fruit and vegetables such as Jaffa citrus fruits and Israeli Medjoul Dates
– Ahava cosmetics
– SodaStream drinks machines
– Eden Springs bottled water
– Golan Heights Wineries and other Israeli wines
There are many international companies that are complicit in Israeli violations of international law. Examples include HP, Caterpillar, Volvo, Hyundai, among many others.
Trying to boycott the products of every single company that participates in Israeli apartheid is a daunting task that has a slim change of having a concrete impact.
It makes more sense to focus on optimal targets that are being targeted as part of national or international campaigns. Consumer boycotts are most effective when part of a broader campaign against a particular product or aiming to pressure a retailer to stop selling a particular Israeli product.
Get in contact with a BDS organisation in your area to find out what companies and products are being targeted and how to support local campaigns. If no such organization exists, start your own campaign, in coordination with well-recognized BDS organizations.
- Follow us on social media and help spread the word
There are new BDS successes and developments nearly every day. Help to magnify the impact of the BDS movement by following us on Twitter and Facebook and sharing news of BDS successes on social media.
You can also sign up for our regular newsletter and email updates.
- Learn more and share information about the BDS movement
Check out and consider sharing the pages in the Learn section of this website, including theIntroduction to BDS, and the list of successes of the BDS movement since 2005.
You can Tweet about the BDS movement and follow developments using the hashtag #BDS.
- Get involved in your area
There are vibrant organisations and campaigns in towns and cities all over the world that make an enormous contribution to boycott campaigns and the BDS movement as a whole.
Enter your details into our Get involved with a local BDS campaign form to be put in touch with a nearby group and start getting involved in local campaigning today.
- Take action online
Online petitions and letter writing actions can be an important part of building pressure, especially when they are part of vibrant local campaigning too.
Check out bdsmovement.net/takeaction to find out about on-going online actions. If you have your own suggestions for BDS campaigns, please share them with us through email.
- Campaign against your own community’s complicity in Israel’s violations of international law
Israel is only able to maintain its occupation and apartheid system because of the massive, unconditional support it receives from international governments, companies and institutions, such as universities.
Get in touch for ideas on how to research and campaign against links between your local community and the companies and institutions that enable Israel’s occupation and apartheid policies. Divesting pension or investment funds from companies involved in Israel’s human rights violations is a major component in many such campaigns.
- Encourage an organisation you are a member of to endorse BDS
All across the world, trade unions, student unions, NGOs, faith groups and other organisations are getting behind the BDS movement, launching their own BDS campaigns and divesting any shares they hold in Israeli companies or international companies such as Veolia, G4S and HP that are implicated in Israeli occupation and apartheid.
Persuading a union or association that you are a member of to endorse the Palestinian civil society’s BDS call can be a long-term project but is a particularly effective way to reach large numbers of people and build mainstream support for the boycott movement.
- Organise a boycott action at a retailer that sells Israeli goods
Boycott actions such as a protest or creative flashmob can be a great way to build awareness and support for the boycott of Israel and to pressure a retailer to stop stocking a particular product or Israeli goods in general.
Check out CODEPINK’s guide to organising a creative boycott action targeting Israeli cosmetics company Ahava. The guide works well for actions targeting other complicit products and companies too.
- Share this list
Help to inspire others to take action by sharing this list via social media.
Why Israel Fears the Boycott
By: Omar Barghouti
Source: http://www.nytimes.com/
JERUSALEM — IF Secretary of State John Kerry’s attempts to revive talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority fail because of Israel’s continuing construction of illegal settlements, the Israeli government is likely to face an international boycott “on steroids,” as Mr. Kerry warned last August.
These days, Israel seems as terrified by the “exponential” growth of the Palestinian-led Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (or B.D.S.) movement as it is by Iran’s rising clout in the region. Last June, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu effectively declared B.D.S. a strategic threat. Calling it the “delegitimization” movement, he assigned the overall responsibility for fighting it to his Strategic Affairs Ministry. But B.D.S. doesn’t pose an existential threat to Israel; it poses a serious challenge to Israel’s system of oppression of the Palestinian people, which is the root cause of its growing worldwide isolation.
Israel, Gaza, And The BDS Movement (Video)
Israel’s month-long assault on Gaza has over 1900 Palestinians dead, mostly civilians. It has sparked condemnation by the UN and of course on twitter. Outraged tweeps are using the hashtag #BDS, short for means boycott, divestment and sanctions — a growing movement to get Israel to change its policies when it comes to human rights.
Watch more on Israel and Palestine…
Zionism, BDS, and American Muslim Leadership
By: Zareena Grewal
Source: http://www.jadaliyya.com/
Organizing American Muslims
American Muslims are among the most diverse and heterogeneous national populations of Muslims in the world, made up of many different communities with different histories and priorities, yet American Muslim community leaders regularly refer to American Muslims as a singular community with a shared political agenda. Given the sociological fact of their diversity, consensus among American Muslims, particularly on controversial and divisive religious and political questions, is not a tenable goal. American Muslims do not need to achieve perfect consensus in order to effectively organize around particular political issues of shared concern and speak in a collective voice.
Consider the issue of racial/religious profiling. Although some American Muslims are more aggressively policed and profiled than others, a shared opposition to racial/religious profiling in principle allows American Muslim leaders to organize a diverse range of Muslim communities on this issue. Their collective opposition to racial/religious profiling certainly represents the perspective of the vast majority of American Muslims, although there are American Muslim outliers who defend such discriminatory practices.
