BDS and Palestinian Liberation

By Ariana Haghighi. Photo courtesy of Aman Kapoor.

Every January, the Sydney art scene explodes with the bang of the Sydney Festival, a cornucopia of theatre performances and visual art installations. It is renowned for its progressive image and support of marginalised communities. This year, however, this image was questioned as it came to light that the Sydney Festival accepted $20,000 in funding from the Israeli embassy. Israel is an apartheid state that was founded on the genocide and dispossession of Palestinian people. As such, artists and consumers alike denounced the Festival’s acceptance of funding as hypocritical, particularly considering their purported ‘anti-colonialist stance’.

The Australian branch of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement wrote an open letter calling for the Board to “seriously reconsider” their association with the Israeli embassy. From a few performers signing on and refusing to perform, now more than 100 individuals and organisations have withdrawn, disrupting more than 40% of the scheduled events. This is one of the most successful BDS campaigns seen in Australia but the campaign itself has a long history.

Palestinian-led BDS is a global effort encompassing unions, academic associations and other groups. It aims to compel the Israeli government to recognise the rights of Palestinian people and censure Israel’s regime of settler colonialism, apartheid and occupation. The method of BDS is three-fold. Boycotts involve the withdrawal of support from the Israeli government and complicit institutions such as the Sydney Festival. Given that many of these institutions operate on profit incentives and positive press, boycotts disrupt business as usual in a way that forces them to reckon with their association.

Campaigns for divestment aim to encourage institutions such as banks and universities to withdraw investments from the State of Israel. The movement also pressures governments and international bodies such as the United Nations to censure and sanction Israel. The withdrawal of aid and abetment of Israel is significant; it seeks to isolate Israel economically and on the international political stage.

The movement is now a juggernaut, but first found its footing in 2005 with a coalition of 170 grassroots Palestinian groups, such as unions, refugee networks and women’s organisations. These groups drafted an open letter one year after the International Court of Justice opined that Israel’s barrier-building was illegal, detailing the envisioned use of “non-violent punitive measures” to restrain Israel’s activity.

The letter mentioned the groups’ inspiration from effective initiatives used to abolish South African apartheid. In the 1980s, boycotts and divestment campaigns against the South African government were at their zenith, placing increasing pressure on the Cabinet until it successfully crumbled and justice was had. South Africa was banned from participation in international cricket for 22 years, which eventually extended to all international sporting competitions

These sanctions worked due to the cultural isolation it enforced — rugby was one of the strongest passions of members of the ruling Nationalist party. The economic pressure also proved significantly effective as banks divested and withdrew loans critical to the survival of the state. By the mid 1980s, a quarter of people in the UK testified to personally boycotting South African goods — it was this widespread reach of calls for economic and cultural boycotts, coupled with sustained mobilisation and activism, that toppled the racist regime.

A key difference between the Palestinian and South African anti-apartheid movement is that Palestinian BDS is led by grassroots social movements, rather than political leaders. Though this poses perceived weaknesses in a lack of financial resources, the young and grassroots leadership holds an important strength in ensuring the voice of the movement aligns with goals of racial justice and is divorced from compromised and corrupt authority. In its 17 years it has attained economic victories, as well as governmental support, international recognition and widespread awareness.

The success of the boycott of the Sydney Festival is an encouraging development and reflects the greater awareness around the atrocities of the Israel state and the need for Palestinian liberation.