FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, 15 August 2011

It emerged Thursday that Irish company Total Produce was no longer in the running to buy troubled Israeli exporter Agrexco. The Irish fruit company dropped out of the running after pressure from Boycott Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaigners, who had written because of Agrexco’s involvement in illegal West Bank settlements.

BDS campaigners in Ireland reacted swiftly to a call by the BDS National Committee (BNC) and wrote to Total Produce explaining how Agrexco was involved in the illegal and immoral occupation and exploitation of Palestinian land, urging them not to invest in Agrexco. They also warned the company that investment in Agrexco would turn Total into the next target of the BDS campaign.

“There is now a clear pattern of companies targeted by BDS campaigners going into serious financial meltdown” said Adel Abu Ni’meh, head of the Palestinian Farmers’ Union (part of the BNC). “Agrexco and Veolia, two major companies strongly linked to illegal Israeli settlements are both in serious trouble now. This shows that BDS hits companies complicit in Israeli occupation, colonialism and apartheid where it hurts: their bottom lines”.

The news come only days after Veolia, a French company targeted by the BDS campaign because of its involvement in illegal Israeli settlement projects, announced it would massively scale-back its global operations.

A Tel Aviv judge gave Agrexco bankruptcy proceedings a final extension Thursday, as Israeli company Kislev now seems to be the only serious buyer, according to Israeli financial news website Globes. There was one other bid from a Dutch company, but the judge dismissed it as “having more holes than Swiss cheese”.

Agrexco has been a prime target of Palestinian solidarity activists calling for BDS against Israel until it ends its illegal and criminal policies against Palestinians.

A new coalition of European campaigners last month promised to “put an end to Agrexco’s presence in Europe”. Twenty-three groups signed a declaration saying they had established mechanisms to coordinate boycott campaigns and court actions against the Israeli exporter.

>>> Read the full press release on the BDSMOVEMENT website HERE

 A founding member of the campaign for the academic and cultural boycott outlines the motivation behind the movement.

Author and history professor Mark LeVine speaks with sociologist Lisa Taraki, a co-founder of the Palestinian campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel.

Mark LeVine: What is the “Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions” movement and how is it related to the academic and cultural boycott movement? How have both evolved in the past few years in terms of their goals and methods?

Lisa Taraki: The BDS movement can be summed up as the struggle against Israeli colonisation, occupation and apartheid. BDS is a rights-based strategy to be pursued until Israel meets its obligation to recognise the Palestinian people’s inalienable right to self-determination and complies with the requirements of international law.

Within this framework, the academic and cultural boycott of Israel has gained considerable ground in the seven years since the launching of the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI) in 2004. The goals of the academic and cultural boycott call, as the aims of the Palestinian Civil Society Call for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions issued in 2005, have remained consistent: to end the colonisation of Palestinian lands occupied in 1967; to ensure full equality of Palestinian citizens of Israel and end the system of racial discrimination; and to realise the rights of Palestinian refugees to return to their homes and properties as stipulated in UN Resolution 194.

The logic of the BDS movement has also remained consistent. The basic logic of BDS is the logic of pressure, not diplomacy, persuasion, or dialogue. Diplomacy as a strategy for achieving Palestinian rights has proven to be futile, due to the protection and immunity Israel enjoys from hegemonic world powers and those in their orbit.

Second, the logic of persuasion has also shown its bankruptcy, since no amount of “education” of Israelis about the horrors of occupation and other forms of oppression seems to have turned the tide. Dialogue between Palestinians and Israelis, which remains very popular among Israeli liberals and Western foundations and governments that fund the activities, has also failed miserably. Dialogue is often framed in terms of “two sides to the story”, in the sense that each side must understand the pain, anguish, and suffering of the other, and to accept the narrative of the other.

This presents the “two sides” as if they were equally culpable, and deliberately avoids acknowledgment of the basic coloniser-colonised relationship. Dialogue does not promote change, but rather reinforces the status quo, and in fact is mainly in the interest of the Israeli side of the dialogue, since it makes Israelis feel that they are doing something while in fact they are not. The logic of BDS is the logic of pressure. And that pressure has been amplifying.

>>> Read full article on Al Jazeera’s website here.

JOINT STUDENT STATEMENT 

04 August 2011

There is no doubt, Israel is an Apartheid state; There is only one word, boycott! 

We, students and youth of a post Apartheid South Africa, who bear the scars of a racist history and who continue to fight for complete liberation, have a duty and responsibility to stand in solidarity with those facing oppression worldwide. Israeli apartheid is one such form of oppression. 

Israeli media boast that a mission of 150 Israeli propagandists will be sent to universities in 5 countries to fix Israel’s “serious image problems”. The Israeli mission will begin on South African campuses on the 11th of August, with a delegation that includes at least two aides from the Israeli parliament. A delegation member was clear about the intention of their trip: “We have to create some doubt in their [South African students’] minds.” 

Don’t patronize us! We lived apartheid, we suffered apartheid, we know what apartheid is, we recognise apartheid when we see it. And when we see Israel, we see a regime that practices apartheid. Israel’s image needs no changing; its policies do! We urge Israeli students to instead join the growing and inspiring internal resistance to their regime, particularly the boycott from within movement, rather than waste time and money on these propaganda trips to deceive us Black students, South Africans have no need for these Muldergate-like trips. 

A “major focus” of the Israeli trip will be the University of Johannesburg (UJ). On 1st April 2011 UJ’s Senate, with the full backing of UJ’s Student Representative Council, terminated its institutional relationship with Israel’s Ben-Gurion University. Indeed, UJ set an academic boycott of Israel precedent that all other South African and international universities can follow. 

Following UJ’s decision, and in response to a letter sent to us by Palestinian students, we urge all SRCs, student groups and other youth structures to strategize and implement a boycott of Israel and its campaigns. We declare that all SA campuses must be Apartheid-Israel free zones. 

As with the struggle against apartheid in South Africa, international solidarity is key in overcoming Israeli Apartheid. In Nelson Mandela’s words: ‘It behoves all South Africans, erstwhile beneficiaries of generous international support, to stand up and be counted among those contributing actively to the cause of freedom and justice….we know too well that our freedom is incomplete without the freedom of the Palestinians.’ 

FOR THE RECORD

A. On Education

1. The Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories has had disastrous effects on access to education for Palestinians. Palestinian students face poverty, harassment and humiliation as a result of Israeli policy and actions.

2. Israel mounted direct attacks on Palestinian education, including the complete closures of two Palestinian universities in 2003 and the targeting and bombing of more than 60 primary and secondary schools during the Israeli attacks on Gaza in 2009.

3. Israel’s assault on the education of Palestinians is illegal under international law. The right to education is a fundamental human right enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other international instruments.

4. The Israeli blockade of Gaza has had a detrimental impact on students. Gaza’s electricity supply is controlled by Israel and shut-down for several hours most days, making it difficult for students to study. Moreover, the blockade means insufficient quantities of educational equipment, such as paper, desks and books, reach students.

B. On Israeli Apartheid

5. Several of our senior leaders have compared Israel to Apartheid South Africa, including Comrades Kgalema Mothlantle, Blade Nzimande, Zwelinzima Vavi, Rob Davies, Jeremy Cronin, Ahmed Kathrada, Winnie Mandela, Ronnie  Kasrils, Denis Goldberg, the late Kader Asmal and Archbishop Desmond Tutu.

6. Both the former and current United Nations Special Rapporteurs for Human Rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territories have requested that Israel be investigated for the crime of apartheid.

7. In an official report commissioned by the South African government in 2009, the Human Sciences Research Council confirmed that Israel, by its policies and practices, is guilty of the crime of apartheid.

8. In November 2010, South Africa’s Department of International Relations and Cooperation called upon the Israeli government “to cease their activities that are reminiscent of apartheid forced removals…”

C. On Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS)

8. Palestinian civil society, including student groups, have called for a policy of Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) of Israel until it abides by international law.

9. This call has the endorsement of the largest and most representative coalition of civil and political society in Palestine. The call also has the support of a growing number of progressive Israeli groups.

10. In 2010, the United Nations Special Rapporteur for Human Rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, Professor Richard Falk, said: “It is politically and morally appropriate, as well as legally correct, to accord maximum support to the BDS campaign.”

11. COSATU, South Africa’s largest trade union federation was one of the first unions to endorse the BDS call. Subsequently, numerous other international trade unions have also adopted a pro-BDS position.

12. Several international groups have began to advance the BDS call in the cultural, consumer, sports, economic and academic spheres. Earlier this year the largest student union in Europe, the ULU, passed a motion in support of BDS.” 

ISSUED AT WITS UNIVERSITY ON THURSDAY THE 4TH OF AUGUST 2011 BY

South African Union of Students, South African Student Congress and the Young Communist League of South Africa 

* The South African Student Congress (SASCO) is South Africa’s oldest and largest student organization.

** The SA Union of Students (SAUS) comprises all South African university Student Representative Councils and is the most representative student union in the country.

*** The Young Communist League of South Africa (YCL) has local branches at all South African universities

 

Please take a moment to write to the Co-Op board and sign the petition — see below for more details!

Olympia Food Co-op Boycotts Israeli Goods!
Now We Need Your Help!

Just last week the Board of Directors of the Olympia Food Co-op in Olympia, WA, the hometown of Rachel Corrie, took the courageous step of instituting a boycott of Israeli goods, the first grocery boycott of Israel in the US.

Already, there is a movement afoot to condemn the Co-op for taking this important stand. Please help us thank the Olympia Food Co-op and its board of directors for supporting human rights in Palestine!

• Send brief emails of thanks to board@olympiafood.coop
• Show your support for this boycott by signing our petition!
• Visit us at www.OlympiaBDS.org to learn more.

More Information

Olympia BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions) is a grassroots network of community members in Olympia, WA, joining the call by Palestinian civil society for a non-violent, global movement of boycott, divestment, and sanctions of Israel, until it meets the requirements of human rights and international law.

In answering to the Palestinian Call, we stand with Desmond Tutu, Naomi Klein, Elvis Costello, Richard Falk and many, many others. The failure of elected officials to hold Israel accountable for its atrocious actions forces global civil society to act, for a non-violent solution and justice for Palestinians and Israelis alike.

Olympia BDS
www.olympiabds.org
contact@olympiabds.org

The group did not specify why they were pulling out of the show, which was due to take place in Tel Aviv on 9 June.

However, organisers said the decision was linked to Israel’s deadly raid on a Gaza-bound aid flotilla last week.

Read the complete BBC article here.

Boycott From Within originally published an Open Letter calling on the Pixies to boycott Israel.

It is after considerable contemplation that I have lately arrived at the decision that I must withdraw from the two performances scheduled in Israel on the 30th of June and the 1st of July.

One lives in hope that music is more than mere noise, filling up idle time, whether intending to elate or lament.

He continues:

Sometimes a silence in music is better than adding to the static and so an end to it.

Read the complete statement here.

This follows in the footsteps of a similar decision by Gil Scott-Heron.  Let’s continue to put pressure on others including Elton John and Joan Armatrading!

Original poster in the Mission

New poster in the Mission

Detailed view (click for more detail)

Poster in the Castro

Note: BACEIA can in no way take credit for these redecorations, however we can’t say we don’t like it!

]]> http://www.baceia.org/2010/04/out-against-apartheid-posters/feed/ 0 http://www.baceia.org/2010/03/american-apparel/ http://www.baceia.org/2010/03/american-apparel/#comments Fri, 12 Mar 2010 23:22:12 +0000 hkornst1 http://www.baceia.org/?p=491 From some allies up in Seattle:

American Apparel (AA) bills itself as a socially conscious producer and vendor of “hip” clothing but there’s nothing progressive or admirable about supporting Israeli apartheid. On AA’s web site it is proudly asserted that AA “is part Israeli, literally.” When a pro-Israel blogger produced a parody “Zionist Apparel” ad, AA’s webmaster thought it was great and added it to their web site.

More importantly, contrary to the 2005 call of Palestinian civil society for “broad boycotts … against Israel,” AA has opened two stores in that country, one in Tel Aviv and another in al-Quds (Jerusalem) with plans to open another in Haifa. As the authors of the 2009 Toronto Declaration noted: “Tel Aviv is built on destroyed Palestinian villages, and … the city of Jaffa, Palestine’s main cultural hub until 1948, was annexed to Tel Aviv after the mass exiling of the Palestinian population.” The Tel Aviv store is in the Dizengoff Center, named after Meir Dizengoff, the first mayor of Tel Aviv. Dizengoff, who was born in Imperial Russia, first traveled to Palestine under the auspices of Baron Edmond de Rothschild’s colonization scheme.

While scouting locations for the al-Quds store, an AA employee took time out to mug for the camera with two armed soldiers from North America serving in an Israeli combat unit. The al-Quds store is located in/near the historic Mamilla district, “one of seven mixed or mainly Arab neighborhoods” that was “emptied of its Arab inhabitants” during the 1948 war (Bernard Wasserstein, Divided Jerusalem, p. 163). Today, despite protests and lawsuits a branch of the Museum of Tolerance is being built in an historic Muslim cemetery a couple of hundred meters south of AA’s al-Quds store (see mamillacampaign.org).

The planned location of AA’s third store is Haifa, one of the largest cities of Palestine to be ethnically cleansed during the Nakba–”Out of the 61,000 Palestinian Arabs who used to call Haifa home, only 3,566 Palestinians were allowed to stay.

And here’s more from American Apparel’s own website:

American Apparel is part Israeli, literally. Sylvia Safdie, mother of company founder Dov Charney, is from Israel. She moved with her family to Canada when she was 11 years old. Today she is an internationally known artist based in Montreal. Dov’s uncle, Israeli born Moshe Safdie, is a world known architect with a flourishing architectural practice which includes an office in Jerusalem. He has designed numerous public and private buildings of note in Israel which includes the Museum at Yad Vashem, Mamila Development Project, Ben Gurion Airside Terminal, David’s Village in Jerusalem and many more.

Dov’s mother’s family connection to Israel gives the Israeli stores special meaning for American Apparel.

We currently have a location in both Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, with plans for more. We’re also working on an Israeli Online Store so that our customers there will have the convenience of shopping in shekels. Eventually we also hope to open a store in Haifa, where Dov’s mom grew up.

And then there’s this quote from owner Dov Charney:

We believe in a new American imperialism. We are American imperialists who believe in life, liberty, property, and the pursuit of happiness for every man worldwide, including prisoners in Guantanamo.

Gross!  Many of us have had our doubts about American Apparel for years now, due to their sexist ads and dubious labor practices, but this is just the icing on the cake.

Read more about American Apparel (note: some of these may be triggering!)

• American Apparel gives Palestinian student a laptop for winning “History of Zionism” contest (Jewlicious)
• American Apparel Opens in Tel Aviv (Jewlicious, with photo off their staff member posing with IDF while scouting for sites in Jerusalem)
• Porn Stars In My Underwear (SF Gate)
• American Apparel to Be Sold to Investment Firm (NY Times)

Yesterday we reported that Dankse Bank has decided to exclude Elbit Systems and Africa Israel from its investment portfolio due to the companies’ involvement in the Israeli occupation.

Now there’s more good news–one of the largest Danish pension funds has divested from Elbit as well as two U.S. companies that are involved with Israel’s Apartheid Wall. Note that Elbit also has half of the contract on the Wall being built by the United States government on the Mexico border.

Read the entire press release from Stop The Wall on the US Campaign’s blog!