Freedom and justice For Gaza: Boycott action against 7 complicit companies | BDSmovement.net

Freedom and justice For Gaza: Boycott action against 7 complicit companies | BDSmovement.net

Israel’s
regime of occupation, settler-colonialism and apartheid is once again
committing heinous massacres on the Palestinian people in Gaza.


Israel enjoys criminal impunity because of the direct support from
governments in the North America and Europe but also from corporations
that are implicated in the Israeli occupation and egregious human rights
violations.


There are dozens of companies that play an active and ongoing role in
facilitating Israeli apartheid. In light of the exceptionally bloody
massacres Israel is currently committing in Gaza, the Palestinian BDS
National Committee (BNC) suggests to BDS activists and every
conscientious person and organization around the world to target the
following 7 companies as a matter of urgency.

- See more at:
http://www.bdsmovement.net/2014/freedom-and-justice-for-gaza-boycott-action-against-7-complicit-companies-12386#sthash.ZwAsxIe9.dpuf

Israel's regime of occupation, settler-colonialism and apartheid is once again committing heinous massacres on the Palestinian people in Gaza.

Israel enjoys criminal impunity because of the direct suppport from governments in North America and Europe but also from corporations that are implicated in the Israeli occupation and egregious human rights violations.



There are dozens of companies that play an active and ongoing role in facilitating Israeli apartheid. In light of the exceptionally bloody massacres Israel is currently committing in Gaza, the Palestinian BDS National Committee (BNC) suggests to BDS activists and every conscientious person and organisation around the world to target the following 7 companies as a matter of urgency.

At a time of such horror and such hypocrisy from our leaders here in Australia and elsewhere in the world, the movement for BDS against Israel gives us a way to take the power of solidarity into our own hands and stand up for the Palestinians.

Israel’s
regime of occupation, settler-colonialism and apartheid is once again
committing heinous massacres on the Palestinian people in Gaza.


Israel enjoys criminal impunity because of the direct support from
governments in the North America and Europe but also from corporations
that are implicated in the Israeli occupation and egregious human rights
violations.


There are dozens of companies that play an active and ongoing role in
facilitating Israeli apartheid. In light of the exceptionally bloody
massacres Israel is currently committing in Gaza, the Palestinian BDS
National Committee (BNC) suggests to BDS activists and every
conscientious person and organization around the world to target the
following 7 companies as a matter of urgency.

- See more at:
http://www.bdsmovement.net/2014/freedom-and-justice-for-gaza-boycott-action-against-7-complicit-companies-12386#sthash.ZwAsxIe9.dpuf

regime
of occupation, settler-colonialism and apartheid is once again
committing heinous massacres on the Palestinian people in Gaza.


Israel enjoys criminal impunity because of the direct support from
governments in the North America and Europe but also from corporations
that are implicated in the Israeli occupation and egregious human rights
violations.


There are dozens of companies that play an active and ongoing role in
facilitating Israeli apartheid. In light of the exceptionally bloody
massacres Israel is currently committing in Gaza, the Palestinian BDS
National Committee (BNC) suggests to BDS activists and every
conscientious person and organization around the world to target the
following 7 companies as a matter of urgency.

- See more at:
http://www.bdsmovement.net/2014/freedom-and-justice-for-gaza-boycott-action-against-7-complicit-companies-12386#sthash.ZwAsxIe9.dpuf

Israel’s
regime of occupation, settler-colonialism and apartheid is once again
committing heinous massacres on the Palestinian people in Gaza.


Israel enjoys criminal impunity because of the direct support from
governments in the North America and Europe but also from corporations
that are implicated in the Israeli occupation and egregious human rights
violations.


There are dozens of companies that play an active and ongoing role in
facilitating Israeli apartheid. In light of the exceptionally bloody
massacres Israel is currently committing in Gaza, the Palestinian BDS
National Committee (BNC) suggests to BDS activists and every
conscientious person and organization around the world to target the
following 7 companies as a matter of urgency.

- See more at:
http://www.bdsmovement.net/2014/freedom-and-justice-for-gaza-boycott-action-against-7-complicit-companies-12386#sthash.ZwAsxIe9.dpuf

Israel’s
regime of occupation, settler-colonialism and apartheid is once again
committing heinous massacres on the Palestinian people in Gaza.


Israel enjoys criminal impunity because of the direct support from
governments in the North America and Europe but also from corporations
that are implicated in the Israeli occupation and egregious human rights
violations.


There are dozens of companies that play an active and ongoing role in
facilitating Israeli apartheid. In light of the exceptionally bloody
massacres Israel is currently committing in Gaza, the Palestinian BDS
National Committee (BNC) suggests to BDS activists and every
conscientious person and organization around the world to target the
following 7 companies as a matter of urgency.

- See more at:
http://www.bdsmovement.net/2014/freedom-and-justice-for-gaza-boycott-action-against-7-complicit-companies-12386#sthash.ZwAsxIe9.dpuf

Israel’s
regime of occupation, settler-colonialism and apartheid is once again
committing heinous massacres on the Palestinian people in Gaza.


Israel enjoys criminal impunity because of the direct support from
governments in the North America and Europe but also from corporations
that are implicated in the Israeli occupation and egregious human rights
violations.


There are dozens of companies that play an active and ongoing role in
facilitating Israeli apartheid. In light of the exceptionally bloody
massacres Israel is currently committing in Gaza, the Palestinian BDS
National Committee (BNC) suggests to BDS activists and every
conscientious person and organization around the world to target the
following 7 companies as a matter of urgency.

- See more at:
http://www.bdsmovement.net/2014/freedom-and-justice-for-gaza-boycott-action-against-7-complicit-companies-12386#sthash.ZwAsxIe9.dpuf

Israel’s
regime of occupation, settler-colonialism and apartheid is once again
committing heinous massacres on the Palestinian people in Gaza.


Israel enjoys criminal impunity because of the direct support from
governments in the North America and Europe but also from corporations
that are implicated in the Israeli occupation and egregious human rights
violations.


There are dozens of companies that play an active and ongoing role in
facilitating Israeli apartheid. In light of the exceptionally bloody
massacres Israel is currently committing in Gaza, the Palestinian BDS
National Committee (BNC) suggests to BDS activists and every
conscientious person and organization around the world to target the
following 7 companies as a matter of urgency.

- See more at:
http://www.bdsmovement.net/2014/freedom-and-justice-for-gaza-boycott-action-against-7-complicit-companies-12386#sthash.ZwAsxIe9.dpuf

Israel’s
regime of occupation, settler-colonialism and apartheid is once again
committing heinous massacres on the Palestinian people in Gaza.


Israel enjoys criminal impunity because of the direct support from
governments in the North America and Europe but also from corporations
that are implicated in the Israeli occupation and egregious human rights
violations.


There are dozens of companies that play an active and ongoing role in
facilitating Israeli apartheid. In light of the exceptionally bloody
massacres Israel is currently committing in Gaza, the Palestinian BDS
National Committee (BNC) suggests to BDS activists and every
conscientious person and organization around the world to target the
following 7 companies as a matter of urgency.

- See more at:
http://www.bdsmovement.net/2014/freedom-and-justice-for-gaza-boycott-action-against-7-complicit-companies-12386#sthash.ZwAsxIe9.dpuf

When the wizard gets to me, I'm asking for a smaller heart

As a huge fan, I'm really disappointed to hear that, despite looking at the situation closely, Amanda Palmer has decided to cross the picket line of the Palestinian call for a cultural boycott of Israel and organise a gig in Tel Aviv.

I first came across Amanda Palmer around 2007; I was playing in a band with a couple of schoolfriends, and one of them suggested we play Coin Operated Boy. We weren't particularly good, but it was fun, and I borrowed the Dresden Dolls' whole discography at the time to listen to. 

Track forward a few years, and, after buying tickets to the gig when it was supposed to be in February, I had the honour for the first time of rocking out with AMANDA FUCKING PALMER live for myself earlier this month. It was at my partner's insistence that we got the tickets; she also backed the AFP kickstarter.

The stories of friends who had attended concerts left me with high expectations for the show; even so I was blown away. It was truly one of the most amazing gigs of my life. Although there was no crowd surfing pashes for me or my friends, at one point during 'Do It With A Rockstar' she did thrust the microphone into my mouth. I nearly fainted!




But I'd never be able to appreciate her music in the same way if she goes ahead with this gig. Simply taking a tour with Breaking the Silence, which she's cited as the reason she tipped to booking a gig, doesn't neutralise performing a public show in an apartheid state.

I hope Amanda (or anyone reading this) have read the PACBI website - if you haven't, you should really consider some of the arguments rebutting common reasons to break the boycott put here. Particularly worth reading in this context:

2. Why Not Boycott Other Human Rights Offenders Too?

...Israel is today the only state practicing a three-tiered system of oppression – occupation, colonization and apartheid – while being treated by Western states as part of their “democratic club” and, consequently, receiving unlimited political, economic, diplomatic, academic and cultural support from them. This entrenched and persistent Western complicity is precisely what perpetuates Israel’s colonial oppression and makes it a moral obligation for citizens of the West to endeavor to end their states’ respective complicity in Israel’s crimes. Striving to end collusion in human rights violations should be the absolute minimum that we expect from any conscientious artist or cultural worker.

I think AFP should go to Tel Aviv, and play for the kickstarter obligations. And I think she should take the tour with Breaking the Silence too. Visit the old city of Hebron, where a few hundred settlers terrorise the 10,000 Palestinian inhabitants in an attempt to ethnically cleanse the areas around the Ibrahim Mosque/Tomb of the Patriarchs. Visit Nablus, go through checkpoints where Palestinians are routinely denied entry while settlers are allowed to drive right though. Visit Bethlehem's 300 checkpoint at 4am, when Palestinian workers from the territories have to line up to try and get into Israel to start their jobs at 8am. If she is like me, then seeing these things for herself will break her heart and fill her with rage. If not, then I can respect that. Nonetheless, as someone who is totally on the right side of politics and who put on a 'Fuck Tony Abbott' T-shirt proferred by a fan during the signing after the gig, simply having that experience, documenting it, and sharing it with her fans will be a powerful thing.

But to play a public gig in Israel is to cross the picket line and say - this isn't cultural and religious apartheid, just another country with a few problems. And I would lose a lot of respect for Amanda Palmer and her amazing, challenging, uncompromising body of work if she does that.

Next Sydney rally for BDS

This week the chief Chazan and Rabbinate Choir of the IDF performed at a "Salute to Israel" concert at the Central Synagogue of Sydney. Although there was no protest there to greet them, it's nonetheless worthy of condemnation that officials of an occupying military would attempt to tour the world at a time when the writing is really on the wall.

Sydney's next rally for BDS will take place in Parramatta on November 15 - the date has changed after it was originally called for November 8, which clashes with another local event.

As part of the ongoing campaign for solidarity with Palestine, the Palestine Action Group is calling another peaceful protest against Max Brenner at Parramatta Westfield.

Max Brenner is an ongoing target of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign for its support for Israel and the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF). Max Brenner supports the torture, displacement and genocide of the Palestinians. The company is owned by the Israeli conglomerate the Strauss Group, which provides “care rations” for the Israeli military, including the Golani and the Givati brigades. These were two of the key Israeli military brigades involved in Israel’s brutal assault on Gaza in December 2008/January 2009, which killed more than 1300 Palestinians, the majority of whom were civilian, including over 300 children.

Since the Golani Brigade was deployed to Hebron in late 2011, Palestinian residents of Hebron have reported an increase of arbitrary arrests, home invasions, tightening of restrictions on movement and other acts of aggression as part of Israel's criminal occupation of the West Bank.

Max Brenner wants to "sweeten" the "special moments" of these brigades and be "there at the front to spoil them with our best products". It wants to sweeten genocide. It deserves to be boycotted.

Videos of the last protest:

There's been some recent victories in the global movement that are worth reflecting (and I don't think we'll have a victory anytime soon around Max Brenner, but mobilising in our hundreds to stand up for Palestine is a victory in itself :) The Israeli Batsheva Ensemble dance troupe last week announced they would cancel their performance in Brighton, England due to BDS protests, while protests called by Open Shuhada Street in Cape Town, South Africa won a campaign to have Israeli AHAVA products taken off shelves earlier this month.


The global campaign against Veolia continues to build pressure as well, with actions taking place in London against the Natural History Museum and Perth against the state government for contracting with the company. While I waited for the Palestinian Freedom Riders to get on their bus to Jerusalem, I was passed by several run by Veolia. *UPDATE* I find it quite cool that the Perth activists mirrored those freedom rides in their action by occupying a bus and singing a knock-off of "Wheels on the Bus" - definitely an addition to the West Bank action!

Peace and Justice.