BDS

Letter: Over 100 Artists Announce A Cultural Boycott Of Israel

February 16, 2015 Artists For Palestine, www.theguardian.com Organize! Art, BDS, Israel, Palestine

Along with more than 600 other fellow artists, we are announcing today that we will not engage in business-as-usual cultural relations with Israel. We will accept neither professional invitations to Israel, nor funding, from any institutions linked to its government. Since the summer war on Gaza, Palestinians have enjoyed no respite from Israel’s unrelenting attack on their land, their livelihood, their right to political existence. “2014,” says the Israeli human rights organisation B’Tselem, was “one of the cruellest and deadliest in the history of the occupation.” The Palestinian catastrophe goes on. Israel’s wars are fought on the cultural front too. Its army targets Palestinian cultural institutions for attack, and prevents the free movement of cultural workers.

#ShutDownRemax In Las Vegas, Nevada!

February 14, 2015 Boycott Remax, www.boycottremax.org Organize! BDS, Israel, Palestine

Enough is enough. CODEPINK and allies will be having a national mobilization to theRE/MAX R4 Convention March 2-4, 2015 at the Mandalay Bay Resort, Las Vegas to protest RE/MAX’s selling of stolen Palestinian land in the West Bank. The mobilization will target the RE/MAX R4 Convention, the largest annual gathering with over 6,000 RE/MAX representatives in attendance from more than 60 countries around the world. We will be staging a three day presence outside the event which includes speakers like top RE/MAX executives, Peyton Manning, and even a performance by Aerosmith frontman Steven Tyler. While RE/MAX Parties, Palestinians are Dying. Denver-based, RE/MAX International is directly profiting off of the selling of illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank through RE/MAX Israel.

Students Save Palestine

January 31, 2015 David Swanson, www.worldbeyondwar.org Organize! BDS, Israel, Palestine, Student Activism

In proposing that Congress Members boycott or walk out on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s planned speech to Congress, expected to push for sanctions if not war on Iran, activists are drawing on actions engaged in by college students in recent years, as they have boycotted or walked out on or disrupted speeches by Israeli soldiers and officials on U.S. campuses. Netanyahu’s noodle-headed move — oblivious, apparently, to the U.S. government’s effective evolution into a term-limited monarchy — may provide a boost to both the movement to free Palestine and the movement to prevent a war on Iran. Peace activists sometimes marvel at how young people have taken up environmentalist activism (with very little emphasis on the environmental destruction caused by militarism). Why, antiwar activists ask, don’t young people get active opposing wars?

BDS, Academic Freedom And Self-Censoring Debate

January 18, 2015 David Palumbo-Liu, www.truthout.org Organize! BDS, Education, Gaza, Israel

Academic freedom is often understood as the protection academics in higher education enjoy against censorship. The type of censorship we are most familiar with is the type that institutions visit upon those whose exercise of academic freedom seems threatening. But there is another, perhaps even more pernicious type of censorship, and that is self-censorship, as it occurs in individuals, and in organizations. Self-censorship announces the successful internalization of all the controls institutions now have no need to exercise from without; those mechanisms are now safely in place within individuals and within organizations. Self-censorship's relation to the idea of a "commons" is that it effectively removes us from that space; we withdraw into the safety of received opinion and give up the democratic rights and responsibilities which members of an academic commons hold.

BDS: The Amazing Things We Achieved In 2014

January 1, 2015 BDS Movement, www.bdsmovement.net Strategize! BDS, Israel, Palestine

For Palestinians and people of conscience everywhere, 2014 will be remembered as the year in which Israel carried out its bloodiest ever massacre of Palestinians in the besieged Gaza strip. 2014 was also a year of resistance that saw continued resistance and unprecedented international solidarity with Palestine and huge steps forward for the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement. Here’s our round up of some of the key BDS developments of 2014. The Palestinian Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions National Committee (BNC), the coalition of Palestinian civil society organisations that works to lead and support the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement, warmly thanks each and every person who supported and contributed to the BDS movement this year.

Small Band Of Activists Is Humiliating An Israeli Shipping Giant

November 1, 2014 Murtaza Hussain, www.firstlook.org Resist! BDS, Israel, Palestine

Capping a series of victories by a modest band of pro-Palestinian activists, an Israel-based shipping company has re-routed a container ship from the Port of Oakland, where protestors had vowed to keep the ship from unloading, to an alternate destination in Russia. The company, Zim Integrated Shipping Services is one of the largest cargo shipping outfits in the world, but of late it has seen its operations seriously disrupted by a small group of activists motivated by the global Boycott, Divest and Sanctions movement (BDS), which targets companies implicated in Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian Territories. Zim is an Israel-based company, and the “Block the Boat” movement – a combined effort of labor activists and Palestinian solidarity groups – has successfully stopped its ships from docking at Oakland ports several times since this summer.

Bay Area Activists Declare Victory After Israeli Carrier Cancels All Ships

November 1, 2014 Charlotte Silver, www.electronicintifada.net Resist! BDS, Israel, Palestine

On 28 October, San Francisco Bay Area activists organizing to block the unloading of Israeli shipping vessels declared their most significant victory yet: Israel’s Zim Integrated Shipping Services appears to have cancelled all future shipments to the Oakland Port. This past summer, at the peak of Israel’s brutal bombardment of Gaza, the Bay Area’s Arab Resource and Organizing Center (AROC) mobilized the community in response to the military assault. Deciding to focus on a tangible, highly-visible and big-money target, the group set its sights on Israel’s Zim lines, determined to block the company every time it tried to dock a ship at the busy Port of Oakland. But they didn’t know it would take only three months to send Israel’s largest shipping company packing — possibly for good — in what looks like an effort to avoid the tireless activists who have consistently out-maneuvered the cargo ships.

Los Angeles Activists Block Unloading Of Israeli Cargo Ship For Two Days

October 19, 2014 Charlotte Silver, www.electronicintifada.net Resist! BDS, Israel, Los Angeles, Palestine

The Block the Boat coalition of Los Angeles claimed another victory this weekend after an Israeli cargo ship, the Zim Savannah, delayed docking at the port of Long Beach for at least 34 hours. Cookie Partansky, an organizer with the LA Block the Boat coalition, told The Electronic Intifada that approximately 150 activists gathered at the Los Angeles port at 6am on Saturday, 18 October. The morning’s action followed weeks of communication with the longshoremen’s union and educating workers about Israel’s brutal occupation of Palestine, as well as the group’s reasons for targeting Zim, an Israeli shipping line. The coalition — representing nineteen different activism groups — showed up at the port Saturday morning despite being informed at 5am by a member of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) Local 13 that the ship was still at sea and no workers had been called in to unload it.

Student Threatened Over ‘Blood Bucket’ Video

September 26, 2014 Nora Barrows-Friedman, www.electronicintifada.net Resist! BDS, Israel, Palestine, Student Activism

Dozens of faculty members at Ohio University have come out in support of the student senate president who took a bold stand for justice in Palestine on 2 September and who has faced death threats and threats of rape since she videotaped herself pouring a bucket of fake blood over her head to protest Israel’s abuse of Palestinians. Megan Marzec has been at the center of a targeted campaign by anti-Palestinian individuals, Zionist groups and Israel-aligned media calling for her resignation. The Ohio University administration has both criticized her action and refused to publicly condemn the threats against her. “We are appalled by the death threats and other forms of intimidation that she has faced in response [to the video]. We are also disappointed in OU administrators and community members who have criticized her act but have not publicly defended her against this violent response,” the faculty letter states.

“Badhoneywell” Makes Its Nationwide Debut

September 1, 2014 Mathias Quackenbush, www.truth-out.org Resist! BDS, Drone, Israel, Nuclear Weapons, Wars and Militarism

The US government's complicity in the Israeli siege of Gaza is no secret. Israel has the eleventh largest military in the world, which is in large part due to US military aid of over $3 billion annually. What remains in the shadows, however, is the alarming extent to which United States corporations profit from the Israeli war machine. A prime example is Honeywell International Inc. Coalition to Oppose the Arms Trade, a Canadian group, has documented a long-lasting and profitable economic relationship between Honeywell and the Israeli military, with many of their collaborations traceable directly to war crimes committed by the IDF. The 2010 attack in the waters outside Gaza against the "Freedom Flotilla," in which 9 activists were killed in an attempt to bring humanitarian aid to Gaza through the Israeli blockade, was perpetrated by a Sa'ar V Corvette, built by another US company, Northrop-Grumman. Yet that ship was armed by Honeywell-built torpedoes. This relationship, in which Honeywell profits from some component of weapons production without appearing to be prominently involved, appears frequently. Take Israel's M270 MLRS missile system, produced by Lockheed Martin and Israeli Military Industries (IMI). Honeywell produces Jet Reaction Control and Trajectory Correction Systems critical to the M270, which it notes can be "retrofitted into unguided artillery rockets for improved precision." In the same promotional flier, the company describes its Jet Reaction Controls as providing "unmatched agility, maneuverability, and end-game lethality to tactical missiles and precision-guided munitions."

How Oakland Organized The Block The Boat Action

August 30, 2014 Hyphenated Republic, www.hyphenatedrepublic.wordpress.com Resist! BDS, Block the Boat, Direct Action, Oakland, Palestine, Solidarity

In August, 2014, an ad hoc coalition and ever-changing group of autonomous activists prevented the Zim Piraeus from offloading for four days and caused subsequent entanglements that prevented the vast majority of its cargo from touching dry Oakland land. Much has already been said about the relationship between labor and the BTB coaltion that was necessary for such a monumental win. I would like to speak of another hand in hand relationship that received less attention or press, but was just as important, and perhaps even more so, to the final impact of the Block the Boat coalition’s unprecedented victory in Oakland. That relationship between organizations in the Bay Area organizing scene that comprised the Block the Boat coalition and action taken through existing solidarity networks and individuals, acting autonomously. To understand the remarkable victory of Block the Boat, Oakland, one has to first trace the line of this uneasy partnership, and the incredible feedback loop it unintentionally unleashed, amping the Block the Boat signal higher and higher towards success*.

Handbook: How To Block A Ship Coming To Port

August 24, 2014 Staff, http://freepalestinemovement.org/ http://freepalestinemovement.org/ Resist! BDS, Gaza, Israel, Palestine

Following are some suggestions for actions of this type, based on our experience thus far. No doubt others can offer more, so as to expand the group knowledge. We are not including information of a confidential nature, but only that which law enforcement and port management can reasonably be expected to anticipate. 1. Points of blockage. Until now, no group has tried to prevent a ship from docking at the port, nor does this seems likely. The gates to the berths, through which there is entrance and egress seem to be the best points, with the intention of closing access for the workers. Sometimes/often a berth is accessible from a neighboring berth although it may be forbidden to use such access in normal circumstances. Leave no stone unturned. 2. The workers. There is no more important relationship than with the workers, represented by the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU). Intelligence from inside, and especially real time intelligence, from workers and other personnel, whether they are working the ship or doing another job, is immensely valuable. If possible have off duty or former workers on the picket line. They can provide invaluable advice and information. . .

Protests Targeting Zim Ships To Continue In Tacoma & LA

August 23, 2014 Corianne Egan, www.joc.com Resist! BDS, Gaza, Israel, Palestine

Protests will continue on the U.S. West Coast against Israel-based Zim Integrated Shipping Services, as new actions are scheduled in Seattle and Tacoma next week. Protesters from the activist group “Block the Boat” announced plans to protest in both Seattle and Tacoma, upon the arrival of the ship Zim Chicago. Zim faced protests at the Port of Oakland this week that forced a partially unloaded ship to return to Asia. The activists have followed Zim’s movements via spotters and also via websites meant to update customers on ship arrival times. According to the Block the Boat Northwest website, the protests, which were widely reported as scheduled for next week, will begin on Friday and run through the weekend. The protesters plan to follow the ship from its first stop in Tacoma to its second stop in Seattle. In a protest this past week in Oakland, Block the Boat organizers showed up en masse, stopping the Zim Piraeus from fully unloading.

Giant Palestinian Flag Unfurled Over NYC Bridge During Protest

August 21, 2014 Staff, www.rt.com Resist! BDS, Gaza, Israel, Palestine

Hundreds of protesters flooded the Brooklyn Bridge in New York City on Wednesday, carrying signs and chanting in support of Palestinians as violence continues to rage in Gaza. As demonstrators marched across the bridge, activists also dropped a huge Palestinian flag from the nearby Manhattan Bridge that read, “Boycott Divestment Sanctions.” Although it is unknown exactly how many people participated in the event, photographs from the vent on social media clearly indicate that at least several hundred were present [Note: participants in the event report 1,000 marchers]. During the last pro-Gaza rally in New York City, somewhere between 2,000 and 3,000 people took part. The latest demonstration comes as talks between Israelis and Palestinians fell apart yet again on Tuesday, renewing hostilities between the two parties.

Desmond Tutu: Israel Liberate Yourselves By Liberating Palestine

August 20, 2014 Desmond Tutu, www.haaretz.com Educate! BDS, Gaza, Israel, Palestine

We South Africans know about violence and hatred. We understand the pain of being the polecat of the world; when it seems nobody understands or is even willing to listen to our perspective. It is where we come from. We also know the benefits that dialogue between our leaders eventually brought us; when organizations labeled “terrorist” were unbanned and their leaders, including Nelson Mandela, were released from imprisonment, banishment and exile. What ultimately forced these leaders together around the negotiating table was the cocktail of persuasive, nonviolent tools that had been developed to isolate South Africa, economically, academically, culturally and psychologically. At a certain point – the tipping point – the then-government realized that the cost of attempting to preserve apartheid outweighed the benefits. The withdrawal of trade with South Africa by multinational corporations with a conscience in the 1980s was ultimately one of the key levers that brought the apartheid state – bloodlessly – to its knees. Those corporations understood that by contributing to South Africa’s economy, they were contributing to the retention of an unjust status quo. Those who continue to do business with Israel, who contribute to a sense of “normalcy” in Israeli society, are doing the people of Israel and Palestine a disservice. They are contributing to the perpetuation of a profoundly unjust status quo.

«1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 »

Daily movement news and resources