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Press Release from BRICUP (the British Committee for the Universities of Palestine)
A Boycott of Israeli Goods and Institutions – the British Launch of an International Campaign
LEADING FIGURES FROM THE SOUTH AFRICAN POLITICAL AND TRADE UNION LEADERSHIP WHO WORK FOR BOYCOTT AND SANCTIONS AGAINST ISRAEL WILL JOIN PALESTINIAN BOYCOTT ACTIVIST, OMAR BARGOUTI.
The debate on sanctions against Israel is about to heat up again. This week and next, there is a major initiative in the launch of a trade union boycott movement (‘boycott, disinvestment and sanctions’ or BDS) with public meetings in London, Manchester, Leeds, Glasgow and Edinburgh.
The meetings will be addressed by one of the leading Palestinian figures in the boycott campaign, Omar Barghouti, from the Palestinian Boycott National Committee (BNC). Key figures from South Africa with their own experience of the sanctions campaign against Apartheid will also speak at the meetings.
Ronnie Kasrils, who was Minister of Water and of Minister of Intelligence Services in Nelson Mandela’s ANC Government, has been a life-long fighter against Apartheid, and was a leading member of the ANC in exile. He will speak about the political and economic importance of the sanctions movement in bringing the white minority Government of Apartheid South Africa to the realization that it could not preserve white privilege forever.
Joining Kasrils will be Bongani Masuku, International Officer, and George Mahlangu, Campaign Officer, of the South African trade union federation, COSATU, speaking about the campaign against Israeli goods and cooperation in Africa, and about the role of the trade union movement internationally.
The meetings are organized jointly by the British Committee for the Universities of Palestine (BRICUP), War on Want, the Scottish Trade Union Congress (STUC), and the Palestine Society at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), and supported by the Palestine Solidarity Campaign. Also speaking at various of the meetings will be Dave Moxham (Deputy General Secretary of the STUC), Terry Brotherstone (General Council of the STUC), Yasmin Khan (War on Want), and Tom Hickey (National Executive Committee member of the University and Colleges Union (UCU), and a member of BRICUP).
The first meeting, this Friday, will be held at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London (off Malet Street) at 19.00. Subsequent meetings will be in Manchester (Monday 7th), Leeds (Tuesday 8th), Glasgow (Wednesday 9th) and Edinburgh (Thursday 10th) – see attached details.
At the same time an international conference of trade unionists is being hosted by the University and Colleges Union (the UCU) on Saturday 5th December to launch an international movement for coordinating initiatives and sharing information. The conference will also be addressed by representatives of the BNC and Cosatu, and by Ronnie Kasrils.
The UCU became prominent in the boycott movement three years ago when its Congress overwhelmingly adopted a resolution to consider the boycott of Israeli academic institutions that are complicit in the illegal occupation, and in the colonization of the West Bank with illegal settlements. The resolution was initiated by BRICUP and brought to the Congress by a range of branches. This provoked a furious response from the Israeli Government, which accused the UCU, and those involved in the campaign, of anti-Semitism.
At the Congress of the Scottish TUC last year, the BDS position was adopted overwhelmingly. At the Congress of the English and Welsh TUC, support for a similar position was adopted.
The barbarity of the Israeli assault on Gaza has been a significant factor in the growing popularity of BDS. The Israeli policy of making the whole people suffer, via the use of phosphorus bombs and the destruction of hospitals, dwellings, schools, universities, electricity and water supply, and local agriculture, has revealed the level of intransigence and the disdain for Palestinian lives.
Asked about why these meetings are being held now, Tom Hickey responded, “There can be little doubt about the real seriousness of what is happening to the West Bank in the attempt to drive them from what remains of Palestine, and to create a Greater Israel through colonization.”
Hickey argues that to do nothing in these circumstances is not an option: “To stay silent in these circumstances is to make oneself complicit in the process. In the knowledge of what is being done, the only moral position is to take a stand against it. For us in the wider world, that means cutting our links with a regime that deals out this barbarous policy. It means not profiting as consumers or businesses from trade with Israel. It means pressing our Governments to impose sanctions on Israel until it withdraws to its pre-67 borders. It means urging companies, in their own commercial interests, to cut their ties with Israeli suppliers.”
Is it anti-Semitic? Hickey is dismissive of the charge. “It is absurd. Many of those who work in BRICUP are Jewish professors. Our adversaries accuse us of anti-Semitism because it is a highly effective weapon to silence critics. After the Holocaust, there is no more damning accusation that can be thrown at an opponent. But it is used not because there is a fragment of truth in it but in order to silence any and all criticism of Israel and of Israeli policy. In the academy the call for a boycott was directed at complicit Israeli institutions, and NOT at individual Israeli colleagues.”
International visitors (Omar Barghouti, Ronnie Kasrils, Bongani Masuku and George Malangu) will also be available for interview from Friday.
Tom Hickey can be contacted directly on 07816 921105.
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