Boycotting Israel
Many do not believe in the power or effectiveness of boycott. Many think it’s a stupid way to deal with real issues, and many others believe it’s useless.
Well, not me. I’ve always believed that boycott is one of the most peaceful, effective, powerful and smart ways for us -citizens of this planet, who have no political or whatsoever authority- to show disagreement and actually punish whoever is causing problems or committing crimes, we are not in a position to stop.
Thanks to my husband and my friend Jalan-Jalan for forwarding this wonderful daring article by Virginia Tilley to me.
Here’s an excerpt:
“It is finally time. After years of internal arguments, confusion, and dithering, the time has come for a full-fledged international boycott of Israel. Good cause for a boycott has, of course, been in place for decades, as a raft of initiatives already attests. But Israel’s war crimes are now so shocking, its extremism so clear, the suffering so great, the UN so helpless, and the international community’s need to contain Israel’s behavior so urgent and compelling, that the time for global action has matured. A coordinated movement of divestment, sanctions, and boycotts against Israel must convene to contain not only Israel’s aggressive acts and crimes against humanitarian law but also, as in South Africa, its founding racist logics that inspired and still drive the entire Palestinian problem.
That second goal of the boycott campaign is indeed the primary one. Calls for a boycott have long cited specific crimes: Israel’s continual attacks on Palestinian civilians; its casual disdain for the Palestinian civilian lives “accidentally” destroyed in its assassinations and bombings; its deliberate ruin of the Palestinians’ economic and social conditions; its continuing annexation and dismemberment of Palestinian land; its torture of prisoners; its contempt for UN resolutions and international law; and especially, its refusal to allow Palestinian refugees to return to their homeland. But the boycott cannot target these practices alone. It must target their ideological source.”