“This is what occupation looks like,” said Ali Abunimah, the keynote speaker at the well-attended Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions Conference held at the University of Pennsylvania Feb 3-5. “Imagine watching your mother beaten, your home raided, your sons, brothers, fathers arrested and detained,”—unjustly; without reason. Who do you go to?
“This is what occupation looks like,” continued Abunimah, “The ones committing the atrocities are the same supposedly enforcing the law.”
In response to this brutal reality, the weekend conference was organized by University of Pennsylvania students to address the success and future of the BDS campaign against Israeli apartheid. It brought together close to 300 people from across the country representing the diverse array of fronts within the movement. Workshops included reviews of ongoing campaigns such as the divestment of the Olympia Food Co-Op in Washington state and the ongoing Cultural Boycott of Israel as well as strategizing sessions for the movement’s future such as initiating a successful divestment campaign on campus or a targeted consumer boycott.
Other sessions were held as well, such as: BDS and the Black Community, Queer Organizing and BDS, and Community Coalition Building, highlighting the broad-based, inclusive aims of the movement. The conference featured speeches by journalists Ali Abunimah and Max Blumenthal reflecting on media coverage and the politics of the struggle of Palestinians as well as video addresses by Omar Barghouti and Archbishop Desmond Tutu addressing the strength and importance of the BDS movement.
Meanwhile, President Barack Obama continued to boast of increasing United States support and funding for the State of Israel and its egregious acts of violence and occupation of Palestine. In his recent State of the Union address, the president made the relationship clear, emphasizing the United States’ “iron-clad commitment” to the “security of Israel.” This security currently comes at the cost of $3 billion in annual aid to Israel while one in four children in the United States relies on food stamps for their next meal, and increased deficits have resulted in severe cuts to state funding for public services and education.
The BDS strategy allows people all over the world to get involved in opposing the injustice of Israeli apartheid by raising awareness and withdrawing financial support for the occupation.
BDS is limited as a conditional response to a capitalist-imperialist system, but, said Abunimah in his closing remarks, “Our potential is unlimited.”
“We are part of a movement. A movement that really does welcome everyone—and our struggle depends on it.”
All progressive people should stand in support of self-determination and human rights for the Palestinian people. One way to do this is to support the BDS movement.
Not another nickel! Not another dime! No more money for Israel’s crimes!
