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by Jamal Juma
The Israeli invasion of Gaza, which
has now claimed more than 1,400 lives, generated serious popular
backlash the world over. The overwhelmingly weak official positions
and statements, especially in the Arab world, stood in stark
contrast to the outpouring of rage that was witnessed in the streets
of capitals, cities, and towns across the globe. However, this
recent wave of protests has a particular quality that differentiates
it from past mobilizations: the initial flare-up of energy is being
channeled into effective grassroots political action, primarily in
the form of an ongoing campaign of boycott, divestment and sanctions
(BDS).
The tangible victories and rise of BDS activism immediately
following Gaza are a direct result of the many years of often little-acknowledged
organizing, building and mobilizing that was undertaken following
the 2005 call from Palestinian civil society. It is important to
look at these last four years in order to make sure that we continue
to build on these victories. We have moved beyond questioning the
efficacy of BDS and must now work to incorporate the growing numbers
of people who, while outraged at the events in Gaza, are not yet
connected to the BDS movement. We also must expand the actors and
struggles involved in BDS by linking the Palestinian cause to other
similar fights for social, economic and political justice.
A number of commentators have already noted the mass mobilizations
that occurred in response to Israel's invasion of Gaza.
Demonstrations and protests were undertaken on every inhabited
continent involving millions of people across hundreds of cities. In
the Middle East, Southeast Asia and Western Europe, where
pro-Palestine demonstrations are typically strong, the numbers of
participants and scale of actions were astronomical.
In the Middle East, particularly in Jordan and Egypt, the disconnect
between the stance of US-backed regimes and their people
vis-a-vis Israel was laid bare. In Egypt, the regime's army of
riot police was often unable to suppress demonstrations, which on
many occasions numbered well into the tens of thousands. Similar
scenes took place in Jordan, where thousands of protestors in Amman
hurled stones at state police who blocked the street to the Israeli
embassy.
Latin America, on the other hand, is the only region wherein popular
anger was more or less reflected in official discourse and action.
It is no coincidence that Bolivia and Venezuela, the two countries
in the region that cut diplomatic ties with Israel, are also the two
states whose governments operate, both in principle and in practice,
according to the needs of the majority.
Palestine has developed into a global litmus test for democracy.
While more progressive states in Latin America stood up for
Palestine and BDS, repressive Middle Eastern regimes did their best
to crush popular mobilization. The EU governments stood somewhere in
the middle, giving further proof of their special form of "democracy"
wherein people are allowed to express their opinions but not
influence government decisions.
Regardless of governmental political leanings, the mobilizations
evidence a considerable and growing popular support for the
Palestinian people. Yet, these protests, while encouraging, do not
guarantee longer-term political gains. The most recent and sobering
example of this were the record numbers of people who turned out to
protest the most recent invasion of Iraq and the subsequent problems
that have plagued the creation of an effective anti-war movement.
Instead, we should look to the concrete BDS victories that followed
Gaza as evidence of lasting political change. The actions of South
African workers and Latin American social movements, to mention only
a few examples, represent not only anger over Gaza, but also its
effective channeling into an organized movement that far predates
this most recent atrocity. They indicate that we have managed to
build, in a short period of time, an effective focal point for
uniting international solidarity and support for the Palestinian
cause.
Immediately following Gaza, South African trade unions took action
against Israel. The South African Transport and Allied Workers Union
(SATAWU), part of the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU)
declared that they would no longer handle Israeli ships. Things came
to a head when the Johanna Russ, a ship operated by the Zim
Israel Navigation Company, attempted to dock in the Durban port.
Despite pressure and threats, SATAWU workers refused to handle the
cargo or to allow scab labor to unload the ship.
This victory can be traced back to the early work of the Palestine
Solidarity Committee, which, since its founding at the beginning of
the second Palestinian intifada, has been active in promoting a
South African boycott of Israel. The 2005 call from Palestinian
civil society bolstered the movement, and, over the past four years,
organizers have built up considerable support for BDS within South
African trade unions, movements, churches, and institutions. In a
2006 speech in the UK to the Palestine Solidarity Campaign's trade
union conference, Willy Madisha of COSATU endorsed the BDS call and
stated that "the trade union movement must move beyond resolutions,
otherwise history will look back on us and spit on our graves."
The movement has continued to move forward, and in 2008, COSATU
promised to take "drastic action to disrupt" a government deal with
the Israeli firm, Orsus Solutions Israel Ltd., which had been
awarded a $5 million contract to upgrade the South African
transportation system. With the Johanna Russ, the union took
their first concrete action. Furthermore, COSATU has scored
successes in gaining influence within the governing African National
Congress party during the past several years. While these kinds of
overall political dynamics have so far not stopped South Africa's
trade with Israel from growing yearly, they have laid the groundwork
for a possible turnaround in national politics that would place
moral responsibility for the implementation of BDS at the diplomatic
level.
In South America, serious pressure is building against the Israel-Mercosur
Free Trade Agreement (FTA), threatening to derail it entirely. South
American social movements, who have years of experience fighting
against free trade, have integrated Palestine solidarity into their
general work. Following the 2009 World Social Forum in Brazil, key
organizations in the country, including the MST (the Landless Rural
Workers' Movement), CUT (the chief union federation in Brazil), and
other smaller social movements are organizing actions on the popular
level against the agreement. Further, a number of members of the
ruling party are supportive of these efforts, and are working on the
official level to promote the rejection of the FTA.
This campaign is also based on the call from Palestinian civil
society. In 2006, when the agreement was first placed on the agenda
of the Mercosur, the outrage created by Israel's 2006 war on Lebanon
pushed the social movements into action. They raised the issue at
the Mercosur counter summit, and officials silently dropped the
agreement from the agenda. Later, taking advantage of a lull in
mobilization, the FTA was silently pressed through but is still
undergoing the ratification process. In Brazil, social movements,
unions, Arab organizations and Palestine solidarity groups organized
in a broad coalition and escalated their campaign against the Israel
-- Mercosur FTA. This coalition has done work on several levels,
including mobilizing popular resistance, while simultaneously
working and meeting with elected officials.
These successes provide us with a framework with which to ensure the
sustainability of expanding Palestine solidarity. This solidarity,
which in many cases is not new, became more visible and vocal during
Gaza and must be integrated into the global BDS movement. One way to
incorporate this expanding support is through a focus on common
struggles and on mutual solidarity and interest. We can look to
South Africa and Brazil for inspiration, where activists have been
keen on tying BDS with local struggles and histories. Fights against
racism, colonialism and economic exploitation as well as more
specific campaigns for housing, land, water and educational rights
are critical across the global south as well as in marginalized
communities in the global north.
Links can also be established on a more specific level, for
instance, against individual firms that benefit from perpetuating
apartheid and occupation in Palestine and are involved in similar
practices abroad. One such company is the Israeli Elbit Systems,
which supplies the Israeli military and is key in constructing
Israel's wall in the West Bank. Abroad, the company is responsible
for supplying drones to British and American occupation forces and
erecting the wall on the US-Mexico border. This approach has already
seen some exciting developments, for example activists fighting
against racism in the US have drawn interesting parallels between
the violence and racism as experienced in Oakland and Gaza as well
as in New Orleans.
In places where comparable shared experiences or histories may not
exist, activists have found other ways to link the Palestinian cause
to the broader community. University activism, for instance,
effectively uses the situation of Palestinian students and
universities to connect with the student community and build support
for BDS. Students' calls for divestment from Israel and academic
boycott are clearly linked with the call for more involvement in the
universities' decision-making processes and financial transparency.
The work over the last few years has set the stage for the various
actions that we have witnessed in the universities, including the
wave of direct action that took place in the UK, the push for
divestment at Hampshire College, and growing interest in the
academic boycott in Europe, the US and Canada.
Israel has lost this most recent war on all fronts. In addition to
failing to crush the resistance within Gaza, it was unable to
control dissent in any of the territories under its military
control. This defeat was mirrored on the international level,
despite a massive public relations effort coupled with an attempt to
control the flow of images and information coming out of Gaza,
Israel was unable to shape public understanding and discourse. A
growing majority has openly condemned the operation for what it was
-- a massacre -- and joined the BDS movement. The most recent
victories of the movement have shown that the global struggle for
genuine democracy and justice is not only a common ground on which
the support for Palestinian rights is based, but a crucial
precondition for effective solidarity. Our task now is to channel
popular outrage into coordinated, collective action.
Published on Wednesday, March 4,
2009 by
Electronic Intifada
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2009/03/04-11
© 2009 Electronic
Intifada
Jamal Juma' is the coordinator of the Palestinian Grassroots
Anti-Apartheid Wall Campaign (www.stopthewall.org).
Lawrence Davidson
Professor of History
West Chester University
West Chester, Pa 19383
USA
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