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Towards a Global Movement: a Framework for Today’S Anti-Apartheid Activism

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Towards a Global Movement: a Framework for Today’S Anti-Apartheid Activism Grassroots Palestinian Anti-Apartheid Wall Campaign Towards a Global Movement: A framework for today’s anti-apartheid activism June 2007 ii Abstract Building and strengthening a global boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement has become a core aim for many involved in today’s solidarity work for Palestine. This report assesses the current state of the BDS movements – within the general context of Palestine solidarity work – and makes recommendations for improvement. Developing clarity, cohesion and coordination across the numerous local and national initiatives, campaigns and movements from around the world is crucial if solidarity is to be more effective. Our discussion and framework for action explores the central issues pertaining to any BDS strategy and sets out how global activism can have an important role to play in advancing the Palestinian cause and struggle. Reflections upon previous BDS strategies used to isolate Israel, from within and outside the Middle East, are explored together with a comprehensive study of the campaigns pursued by the anti-apartheid movement against South Africa. An evaluation seeks to learn from past BDS experiences and the implications for Palestine campaign work today. The findings are addressed to solidarity movements, trade unions and social justice organizations around the world, with the intention of creating stronger global networks and alliances with Palestine at a grassroots and civil society level. Moreover, they build upon the Palestinian Call (2005) for BDS as a means of support for their struggle to obtain freedom and justice. iii CONTENTS ABBREVIATIONS v. PREFACE vii. 1 Boycotts, Divestments and Sanctions (BDS): Building Political and Social Influence 1 1.1 Introduction 1 1.2 Defining BDS 3 1.3 Building a Successful Campaign: The Methodology of Applying Solidarity Work 7 1.4 Strengths and Weaknesses of BDS in Support of the Palestinian Liberation Struggle 10 2 The Arab League Boycott 15 2.1 The Context 15 2.2 Beginning the Boycott: Opposition to Zionism and Israel 16 2.3 Objectives and Priorities 18 2.4 Oslo, Normalization and the Decline of the League Boycott 22 2.5 The Boycott is Grassroots 27 2.6 In Retrospect: Lessons for Today’s Solidarity 29 3 The Call to Boycott and Resurgence of Palestinian Civil Society 38 3.1 Historical Overview 38 3.2 The Call 41 3.3 BDS Initiatives 43 4 Apartheid South Africa and Israel 75 4.1 Introduction: South African Liberation 75 4.2 Reflections on BDS Against South African Apartheid: Strategies and Tactics 85 4.3 Israel and Apartheid South Africa: Making Comparisons and Distinctions in Solidarity Work 107 4.4 Solidarity Work Today: Learning from the South African Struggle 126 iv 5 Building the BDS Movement: Where Next for Global Solidarity? 129 5.1 The Internal Boycott 129 5.2 A Global Boycott: Can it Work? 137 5.3 Turning the Tide: Media and Popular Opinion 155 5.4 Concluding Remarks for a BDS movement 161 APPENDIX 163 v ABBREVIATIONS Anti-Apartheid Movement (AAM) African National Congress (ANC) All Africa Council of Churches (AACC) American Committee on Africa (ACOA) American Federation of Labour and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) Auto-ja Kujetysalan Tyőntekijäliitto (AKT) – Finnish Transport Union Arab Inter-Parliamentary Union (AIPU) Architects and Planners for Justice in Palestine (APJP) Association of University Teachers (AUT) Azanian People’s Organization (AZAPO) Black Consciousness (BC) Black Local Authorities (BLA) Boycotts, Divestments and Sanctions (BDS) Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) Central Boycott Office (CBO) Central Única dos Trabalhadores (CUT) – United Workers Centre Coalition on Southern Africa (COSA) Committee to Oppose Bank Loans to South Africa (COBLSA) Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) Convention for a Democratic South Africa (CODESA) Cradock Residents Association (CRADORA) European-American Banking Corporation (EABC) European Coordinating Committee for Palestine (ECCP) Equal Opportunity Fund (EOF) European Social Forum (ESF) European Union (EU) Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) – International Federation of Association Football) Football Association of South Africa (FASA) Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) Free Trade Agreement (FTA) Frente de Libertação de Moçambique (FRELIMO) – Front for the Liberation of Mozambique Greek Cinematography Centre (GCC) Gross Domestic Product (GDP) Global Palestine Solidarity (GPS) Irish Distributive and Administrative Trade Union (IDATU) Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) International Cricket Council (ICC) International Monetary Fund (IMF) International Olympic Committee (IOC) Investor Responsibility Research Centre (IRRC) Israel Defense Forces (IDF) Israeli Lands Administration (ILA) Israel Lands Council (ILC) International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF) vi Janes Defence Weekly (JDW) Jewish National Fund (JNF) Joint Business Ventures (JVs) Mass Democratic Movement (MDM) Mercosur – Mercado Común del Sur – Southern Common Market Movimento dos Trabalhadores Rurais Sem Terra (MST) – Landless Workers Movement Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) National Association of Teachers in Further and Higher Education (NATFHE) National Democratic Revolution (NDR) National Forum (NF) National Union of Metalworkers (NUMSA) National Union of Students (NUS) Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) Palestinian National Authority (PNA) Public Interest Lawyers (PIL) Qualifying Industrial Zones (QIZ) Research and Development (R&D) Structural Adjustment Programmes (SAPs) Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) South Africa Communist Party (SACP) South African Congress of Sports (SACOS) South African Indian Congress (SAIC) Stop US tax-funded aid to Israel now! (SUSTAIN) The Association of University of Wisconsin Professionals (TAUWP) Umkhonto We Sizwe (MK) – Spear of the Nation University and College Lecturers’ Union (UCU). Unilateral Declaration of Independence (UDI) Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) United Democratic Front (UDF) United Nations (UN) United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) União Nacional para a Independência total de Angola (UNITA) – National Union for the Total Independence of Angola United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) United Nations Security Council (UNSC) West Bank and Gaza Strip (WBGS) World Council of Churches (WCC) World Social Forum (WSF) World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) World Trade Organization (WTO) Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU) Zimbabwe African People’s Union (ZAPU) vii Preface “This is the major danger I see facing the black community at the present moment – to be so conditioned by the system as to make even our most well- considered resistance to fit within the system [of Bantustans] both in terms of the means and the goals.” Steve Biko, Fragmentation of the Black Resistance in: I Write What I Like, p.36, Bowerdean press 1978 Sprawling to the north of Johannesburg, South Africa lies the township of Alexandria. Surrounding the dusty asphalt roads are thousands of shacks squeezed together, home to communities struggling to access basic services and resources. During my visit to South Africa in 2002, as part of the Palestinian delegation to the World Summit on Sustainable Development, I walked the streets of Alexandria. Out of the stark poverty I felt the warmth and collective dignity of struggle of those communities, a feeling I retained as our delegation embarked on the road to Sandton, the neighbouring elite suburb. In the glinting glass facades of business centers and shopping malls, just a few miles from the township, was another world. The disparity heightened the sense of injustice and that the wealth and luxury enjoyed by the few had been stolen from the millions living in the disadvantaged communities of South Africa. It is the legacy of South Africa’s supremacist regime that helps you in comprehending what oppression and racism means. It gave me a word to describe what’s going on in Palestine. Apartheid. Did you ever try to match the skyline of Tel Aviv with life in the refugee camps of Tulkarem, just some 15 km away? The close solidarity between the Palestinian Liberation Organization and the South African liberation struggle, as well as on the other hand the continuous ties between Israel and the South African apartheid regime, underscore the links between experiences of oppression. All but 13% of the land of the indigenous peoples was taken over on the basis of God’s “promises” (ironically the same percentage of land the Israeli Occupation wants to reduce our people to). In South Africa apartheid was overcome by decades of internal struggle and sacrifice, supported by the isolation imposed on the apartheid regime from other parts of the world. Yet in Palestine, we still face some of the worst excesses of such racist logic while the international community maintains support for Israel: militarily, economically and politically. Coming back from Johannesburg to Jerusalem, I faced the first stages in the building of the Wall, the 8-meter high cement construction designed to mark the outer limits of our Bantustans. Together with its gates and terminals – and interlinked with an apartheid road system – the Wall gave visible shape to the Israeli policy that has killed during this intifada alone almost 4000 Palestinians, injured tens of thousands and destroyed some 7000 homes. It has culminated in hundreds of thousands of trees
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