BDS – Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (also see Israel Boycott)
Updated 2024-07-15
Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions In 2005, 170 Palestinian civil society organizations issued a historic, rights-based call to the international community for boycotts, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) targeting Israel and institutions complicit in its oppressive policies towards Palestinians until it complies with international law and ensures freedom, justice, and equality.
USCPR endorsed the Palestinian call for BDS shortly after it was issued in July 2005. Academic and cultural boycott were endorsed in 2009. Active campaigns in the US include those targeting Ahava, Airbnb, Ben & Jerry’s, G4S, HP, Jewish National Fund, Re/Max, Sabra Hummus, and SodaStream. Divestment campaigns are happening in churches, campuses, local city councils, and beyond, and have already won more than 250 victories in the United States alone. Here’s a list of victories! https://uscpr.org/activist-resource/boycott-divestment-and-sanctions/
Israel Anti-Boycott Act, H.R. 6940 was introduced again in March 2022. Versions of this bill have been introduced and did not pass in previous Congresses (116th Congress, H.R. 5595; 115th Congress, S. 720). The bill criminalizes participating in boycotts of Israel, specifically banning U.S. organizations and institutions from complying with boycotts of Israel imposed by international organizations, such as the UN or the EU. It also prohibits supplying information for the U.N. Human Rights Council database for companies contributing to illegal Israeli settlement expansion. The bill is not currently expected to come up for a vote.
The Combating BDS act of 2021, S. 2119, attempts to authorize state and local laws that prohibit state contracts with organizations engaging in BDS campaigns. Many of these kinds of local laws have been found unconstitutional and blocked by courts. The bill only has two cosponsors and is not currently expected to come up for a vote. https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/house-bill/6940?r=1&s=2
We Have a Right to Boycott for Justice – USCPR In the face of both rising justice movements and a rising right wing, defending our right to boycott for justice is vital. There are regularly various bills proposed in Congress that limit the right to boycott, or criminalize solidarity with the Palestinian people through other means. See below for an overview on different legislation from the current 117th Congress, as well as campaigns from the 116th Congress. https://uscpr.org/campaigns/right-to-boycott/
2024-02-04 ‘Divestment from Israel’ – Palestinian, Jewish Students Launch Hunger Strike at Brown University The group, consisting of 19 students, including Palestinians, Jews, and others, vows to continue the strike until the university takes action to promote an immediate and permanent ceasefire. Their key demand is the introduction of a divestment resolution during the upcoming meeting of the university’s highest governing body, the Corporation of Brown University. https://www.palestinechronicle.com/divestment-from-israel-palestinian-jewish-students-launch-hunger-strike-at-brown-university/
2021-12-24 Wadie Said on the New McCarthyism People in the U.S., the story goes, value few things more than individual freedom and money. So you’d think the way an individual uses their money would be sacrosanct. A sign of where we’re at are currently congressional efforts to put people in prison, and fine them millions of dollars, for choosing not to buy products from countries that are not declared “official enemies” by, well, presumably whoever’s in the White House at the moment. The anti-boycott measure the House Foreign Affairs Committee is pushing may never see daylight, of course, but it indicates a willingness by some in elected office to use state power to silence and sanction anyone using their voice in dissent of official actions — in this one case, of people critical of Israel’s ongoing mass murder and displacement of Palestinians.
The work to shut down opposition to the siege of Gaza, and U.S. facilitation of it, reminds Americans of what it means when powerful institutions, including in the media, combine a decidedly selective understanding of free expression with a vehement desire to enforce it.
We talk about that with Wadie Said, professor of law at the University of Colorado Law School, and author of the book Crimes of Terror: The Legal and Political Implications of Federal Terrorism Prosecutions. https://kpfa.org/episode/counterspin-december-24-2023/
2020-12-01 Silenced in Savannah: Journalist Abby Martin Challenges Georgia’s BDS “Gag Law” Journalist and filmmaker Abby Martin, a supporter of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement that aims to end support for Israel’s oppression of Palestinians, was scheduled to give a keynote speech to the annual International Critical Media Literacy Conference that was to be held at Georgia Southern University on February 28 and 29, 2020. Her talk was canceled because she refused to sign a contract stating she would not support a boycott of Israel. Georgia, along with 27 other states, has enacted anti-boycott laws that prohibit state offices or agencies from doing business with any companies or individuals that boycott Israel, as teleSUR English reported. Eventually the conference at which Martin was to speak was called off entirely after numerous colleagues supported Martin in her refusal to sign the contractual pledge.
BDS is a global movement driven by citizen activists. It works to peacefully pressure corporations, universities, and cultural organizations to stop doing business with the state of Israel, with the goal of pressuring Israel to obey international law and respect the human rights of Palestinians. https://www.projectcensored.org/24-silenced-in-savannah-journalist-abby-martin-challenges-georgias-bds-gag-law/
2020-03-10 The US Supreme Court Is Putting Israel’s Interests Before the First Amendment On February 21, the United States Supreme Court revealed its cowardice when it refused to hear a case challenging an anti-Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) law in Arkansas.
BDS is a movement led by Palestinians calling on people to boycott Israeli products, divest institutions from the State of Israel and companies that uphold the occupation of Palestine, and impose sanctions banning business with Israeli settlements and ending military trade with Israel. The Arkansas law prohibits public employees from engaging in BDS — despite the fact that economic boycotting is a form of freedom of speech.
BDS, according to precedent, is protected by the First Amendment, but the Supreme Court refusing to hear the case allows the Arkansas law to stand. Although the Supreme Court’s refusal to hear the decision does not equate to a precedent that this law is constitutional, it nevertheless runs the risk of passively giving the green light for similar legislation in the future. https://codepink.substack.com/p/the-us-supreme-court-is-putting-israels
2014-02-06 Resolution 42: Palestinian solidarity: support for the Boycott Disinvestment and Sanctions campaign (BDS) The 29th World Congress of Public Services International (PSI), meeting in Durban, South Africa, on 27-30 November 2012 NOTES the following:
a) That Israel continues to ignore or flaunt UN resolutions aimed at reducing conflict, and continues to use lethal force and occupations of land to marginalise the Palestinian population in the region.
b) That Israel continues to be a major recipient of US arms and development aid despite the fact that it frequently and unapologetically transgresses international conventions.
c) That given the armaments and political support that Israel receives from the US and its allies, this Congress rejects the notion that there is an equal responsibility between Israel and the Palestinian people for the continuation of the crisis, and that the aggressive and divisive character of Israel and its occupation remain major stumbling blocks in arriving at a peaceful settlement.
d) That there is a growing opposition within Israel of those who are no longer prepared to support a military solution of the crisis, and within the broader Palestinian community of those who have rejected minority action in favour of building popular mass-based campaigns.
e) The courageous and vital role played by the PSI regional organisation in supporting independent and democratic trade unionism, and providing support for workers in struggle.
f) That in many parts of the world, an understanding of Israel being an apartheid state has gathered momentum and not least in South Africa where the characteristics of an apartheid state, and the implications for the oppressed are understood, and not evoked without serious consideration of the facts.
g) The launch of the BDS campaign in Palestine, and the broad global support that it has gained over the last two years from a very wide range of organisations including trade unions.This Congress further NOTES:
h) That one of the principal aims of the BDS campaign is to draw attention to the systemic discrimination that takes place against Palestinians by Israel, and which have earned it the dubious title of being an apartheid state.
i) That attempts to impose a solution of any description on the peoples of Israel and Palestine are unlikely to succeed as long as there continues to be widespread discrimination and manipulation of the Palestinian people, including attempts to marginalise them
.j) That only a democratic, inclusive and non-sectarian approach can provide a lasting peace to the conflict, and this is conditional on the dismantling of all oppressive instruments, including legislative, military, political, social, economic and political barriers. At the very least this must involve:
Recognising the fundamental rights of the Palestinian citizens of Israel to full equality;Respecting, protecting and promoting the rights of Palestinian refugees to return to their homes and properties;
An immediate end to Israel’s illegal settlements, and blockade on Gaza.
This Congress therefore RESOLVES:To endorse the BDS Campaign and support its associated activities including the annual Israeli Apartheid Week.
To share the activities of PSI affiliates in this regard, including campaigns to make every municipality/government department an Israeli Apartheid-Free Zone.
To continue to give maximum support to our PSI regional office (for North Africa and the Middle East) and its work to build representative, independent and democratic unions throughout the region including in Israel and Palestine.
To call upon all governments to acknowledge the divisive nature of the Israeli state and to argue for its isolation until it is prepared to dismantle its apartheid infrastructure in favour of democratisation and commit to abiding by UN resolutions.
To raise the demand in trade union and governmental forums for stopping the arming of the Israeli state by the United States of America and its allies.
To continue to speak out against all forms of discrimination including anti-semitism, islamophobia and other sectarian sentiments in favour of a secular and tolerant approach to the crisis in the region.
See all Congress resolutions including the Program of Action and the Constitution. https://publicservices.international/resources/news/resolution-42-palestinian-solidarity-support-for-the-boycott-disinvestment-and-sanctions-campaign-bds?
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