The Decolonizer, March 2016

THEDECO LO NIZER March 2016

Appropration Of History/ Histories

F* * * You And The Horse You Came In On The Collective "We"

Eid Is Across The River

TABLEO FCO NTENTS 1

What is THE DECOLONIZER?

2

F*** You And The Horse You Road In On

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The News Feed

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Eid Is Across The River

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Brief Histories

12

The Collective "We"

14

Decolonizing Culture

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How To's

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Straight, No Chaser

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Appropriation Of History/ Histories

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Who Will Survive America

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Track The Movement

F*** YouandtheHorseyouRoadinO n

By The Decolonizer Hillary, Bernie, or Trump?

Everywhere Americans are asking the question. Especially white liberal Americans who feel it is a pressing point of conversation. You know, the ones who flaunt the "Vote for Bernie" buttons pinned to their shirts. Their eyes glistening, waiting for a chance to bring up the election in conversation. Just waiting, even when the election has no relevance to the conversation.

The Decolonizer says F* * * you and the horse you road in on Ah, election season. A time of excitement, presidential debates, and jokes about how small Donald Trump's hands are. It seems like everyone has election fever. Arguments break out on Facebook over who should have won last nights debate. White tears over Bernie Sanders' declining campaign are enough to send to Flint, Michigan.

Hillary has somehow gotten people to accept the fact that she is a snake in the grass: "at least you know what you what you are going to get with her." Which is oxymoronic since she has yet to produce a consistent political platform. Trump can belch the entire English alphabet and is therefore a shoe- in for the republican nomination.

The presidential election of 2016 made into a season of America's Got Talent.

In the midst of all this excitement one thing remains glaringly obvious: The United States is an illegitimate settler- colonial state who never had a democratic process to speak of.

Your election is trash, illegitimate, and settler- colonial The Decolonizer throws- up a little in their mouth every time someone mentions the 2016 election. It is regrettable that they even have to talk about it here in this form.

Every election is a ritual in which the colonizing empire validates its continual existence. Everyone who votes is affirming that fact, that the empire is indeed legitimate and worthy of our input in selecting the next sovereign.

No, you do not actually vote for the president, stupid Your voting power, if any, amounts to the ability to vote an "elector" in the Electoral College. There are 538 electors total in the Electoral College. Your state gets a number of electors based on the general number of seats your state has in the Senate and House of Representatives. It takes a majority 270 elector votes to elect the president.

You don't elect the president, you elect electors who vote for the president. What little significance your vote might of had is smashed by the lobbyists and special interest groups, who intercept and influence electors at both state and federal levels. It is the illusion of representative government.

Your vote doesn't mean sh* t.

Sit the F* * * down Bernie Sanders you are no revolutionary Bernie Sanders, the Left's democratic- socialist heroine, has been using the language of revolution to sell his presidential campaign. He talks of taking on Wall Street and big business and saving the vanishing middle class. What if anything is revolutionary about this? What about his spiel is different from The "Trust- Buster" Theodore Roosevelt, whose entire campaign was about taking on big corporations in the early 1900s.

Theodore Roosevelt, by the way, was probably one of the most racist colonial white supremacist this empire has ever seen.

White liberals say: "But Bernie, he marched on Washington during the Civil Rights Movement!

And he got arrested! "

To which, the Decolonizer says "get the f* * * out of here" Bernie Sanders was a one- time student activist who coincidentally wound up at the March on Washington in 1963. Even if he did play a significant role (which he didn't) what would a 1963 photo of him getting arrested have anything to do with his commitment to Black liberation in 2016? Is the 1963 March on Washington the only thing Bernie Sanders has done for Black people?

Its okay white liberals, we'll wait.

revolutionary. The notion that you could elect a revolutionary in a settler- colonial state is a contradiction. The very act of running means you have to omit the land and the people upon which this empire rests.

As long as this is occupied land, no presidential election is legitimate The first peoples of this land have and continue to be raped, killed, and displaced for the sake of this colonial government. Why, as we speak the destruction and exploitation of indigenous people continues. Every conversation about the 2016 elections means to hide, distort, or otherwise ignore this fact.

Everyone, even supposedly "radical" activist are guilty of this omission. The "anything but Trump" argument has no weight when indigenous women are being killed and sold into sexual slavery. Anything but Trump, anything but America.

Non- Indigenous people of color in particular, who also benefit from being settlers on occupied land need to check themselves.

Especially those Black folk who are pulling for Hillary Clinton because "Clinton" is a vestige of something familiar. Do not continue to support the occupation of this land by casting your consent into the electoral process of this empire. Instead, be willing to move the conversation towards the decolonization of the United States.

So F* * * you and the horse you road in on The lesser of three evils is not a choice.

Empire will never elect to eliminate itself, and will never present to its people the choice to eliminate it. The people themselves have to choose to eliminate it.

One will never be able to vote revolution, regardless of how nice the Bernie Sanders slogan sounds. The revolution will not occur at the ballot box, nor will it be counted by the Electoral College. The revolution will require you to get off your ass and battle the empire.

It will require you to challenge the colonizing hypocrisy of this so- called country.

It will require you to say , the next time someone asks you who you are voting for: "F* * * you and the horse you road in on."

There is another reason why Bernie isnt a

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TheNewsfeed Rest InPower BertaCaceres Prominent Honduran organizer and indigenous rights activist Berta Caceres was assassinated on March 3, 2016 inside her home in La Esperanza. Caceres was the co-founder of the Council of Indigenous Peoples of Honduras (COPIHN). Caceres was instrumental in efforts to stop the construction of the Agua Zarca Dam in Rio Blanco. She worked with the indigenous communities of the Lenca people to fight against environmental degradation brought about by trans-national corporations. She was awarded the prestigious Goldman Environmental Prize in 2015 for her work.

Caceres was also a key leader of the popular resistance movement against the 2009 coup in Honduras, a coup which was supported by the United States government. Death threats and the criminalization of her activities forced Caceres to go into hiding after the democratically-elected President Mel Zelaya was over-thrown.

Caceres and COPIHN had received numerous death threats connected to Agua Zarca and other corporations. Her family is demanding a thorough, independent and international investigation of her death that is free form the influence of the U.S backed Honduran government.

JusticeFor CoreyKanosh The Kanosh family is still calling for justice for 35-year-old Corey Kanosh, an unarmed Paiute man who was shot and killed by police in Utah in 2012. The case of Corey Kanosh has received very little media attention despite the hyper visibility of Black men who have also been killed by police. A Department of Justice report confirms that percentage-wise Natives are more likely than any other race to be shot by police.

Kanosh, who was the passenger in a car driven by a white man, was pursued during a high-speed car chase by Millard County police. Kanosh was wrongfully accused of car theft by the Deputy sheriff. The car spilled off road and Kanosh fled from the vehicle.

Seconds after arriving on the scene, Millard County Deputy Dale Josse shot Kanosh.

The police refused to provide medical treatment to Kanosh and EMT that arrived onto the scene were prohibited from treating Kanosh. Corey Kanosh was left where he fell until early the next morning when he was pronounced dead.

An investigation by the sheriff department determined that Dale Josse was justified in the shooting and dismissed prosecution.

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EidIsAcrossTheRiver

By Jie Wu

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The river of time flows to Friday, July 17th 2015:

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Here I am in Lisbon, writing and reviewing my experience in India. Through the process of writing, I am trying to answer the questions that I have neglected ever since my first trip to India in 2014.

What it is that separates me from the students and teachers at Talimi Haq School? Is it language, culture, class, caste, gender, privilege or religion that pushes us away from each other? As I journey back to my memories and field- notes of India, I am meeting long- lost friends, all introduced to me by Ramaswamy. S.D. Burman, the Bengali singer and composer, softly sings: "O re majhi, o re majhi, o mere majhi, mere saajan hain us paar? ? These lines roughly translate to, ?Oh boatman, oh boatman, oh my boatman, my beloved is on the other side ...?

Paulo Freire, the Brazilian philosopher and educator, joyfully instructs: "Delve beyond the oppressor- oppressed dichotomy.? Frantz Fanon, the Martinique- born psychiatrist, philosopher and revolutionary, assertively prescribes: "Most of your existential doubts, confusions and delusions are sourced from the neo- colonial, racist upbringing and education which you have been imparted.? And I finally meet Milarepa, a Tibetan Buddhist yogi, also introduced by Ramaswamy, compassionately expounding, "When you lose all differentiation between yourself and others, then you will be fit to serve others.?

Through this process of writing, it finally clicked within my consciousness that the multi- dimensional Hooghly river which separates Kolkata and Howrah (the river that I used to research) mirrors the separation between my conception of ?I?and that of my beloved ones on the Other side ? the teachers and students at Talimi Haq School.

Hence, similar to my past frequent journeys across the river Hooghly from Kolkata (where I used to live) to visit the school in Howrah, I have to set out on an internal journey beyond my sense of "self?,across the powerful currents of class, caste, culture, religion, gender and privilege, in order to finally reach the Other shore ? where Amina baji, Binod bhai and all the other teachers and students of Talimi Haq School wait for me to come and celebrate Eid festival with them as true brothers and sisters.

I look inside myself. I am afraid of this journey. I am afraid to see reality as it is. I am afraid of starting this self- stabbing process that would cut through layers and layers of my sense of "I" and finally expose all the contradictions of my experiences in India as a foreign scholar and English teacher in India, who shifts between two worlds: the world of the Hindu upper- middle classes and the world of the Muslim basti- dwellers.

It?s almost Eid. I need to go across the river and visit the teachers and students at Talimi Haq School. Outside, the monsoon rain falls gently.

I?m at Ramaswamy?s upper- middle- class family house in Kolkata.

The city of Kolkata, historically known as Calcutta, was set up as an English trading post in 1690 on the eastern bank of the river Hooghly.

It grew and expanded from a cluster of three villages named Sutanuti, Gobindopur and Kalikata to become one of the most important colonial capitals of the British Raj in India. Raj is a Hindi word that means rule.

During and after British colonial rule of India, Calcutta has experienced major migration influxes, which contributed to the cosmopolitan character of this city. Ramaswamy?s family house was built after his grandparents decided to move to Calcutta from South India, via Bombay. His grandfather had purchased a plot of land and built this two- storied house on it.

Ramaswamy had showed me a few photos of when his family had first moved into the house.

The neighbourhood comprised mostly of empty plots of land but now it is full of houses. I look around the room I?m staying: a wide square room with three windows, a large mattress on the floor in the middle, a computer desk, two wardrobes, a dressing table with a big mirror, and two doors. One door faces west and it leads to a small corridor that connects to the living room.

The living room has a couch and three chairs encircling a small table, shelves full of Ramaswamy?s varied collection of books, an old photo of Mahatma Gandhi sitting among a massive crowd, a statue of the Buddhist deity Manjushri, and his family?s collection of statues of various Hindu gods and goddesses and antique ritual objects. The other door in my room faces south, which leads to Ramaswamy?s comfortable and relaxing wide- view veranda.

In this special space, I have had many important conversations with Ramaswamy and his friend Nilanjan, about life in Kolkata and other existential topics. This veranda is painted in a mild, relaxing green and is supported by a structural column. One of the three windows in my room faces south towards the veranda, the other two face east, towards the neighbor?s house. Opposite the south facing window, there is a dressing table with a big mirror that is half- covered with a thin white sheet. On top of the dresser stand most of my books, and the books lent to me by Ramaswamy. There are books on the Ganges river, the Hooghly river,

on the history of Calcutta, the Portuguese and the Bandel Church, post- colonialism, Buddhism, Christianity and now as I take a close look at my collection, I notice that there are no books about Islam or Muslim cultures. This is quite perplexing since I used to work with the teachers and students at Talimi Haq School who are all Muslims.

Although there are about 23.3 million Muslims in China, according to the 2010 Pew Research Center data, my ethnic Han Chinese family upbringing did not really educate me about the existence of Muslims in China and around the world. My family was more into Chinese folk Buddhism (from my father?s side) and Evangelical Christianity (from my mother?s side).

After my parents migrated to Portugal, I was admitted into a Portuguese public school. It was during Portuguese history classes that I was taught how Muslim "invaders" from North Africa had conquered almost the whole of the Iberian Peninsula until the Catholic kingdoms united and expelled them. I was taught how "we? (although I was considered to be an "oriental?), expelled the "Others,? the Muslim invaders from North Africa. I was confused during this section of History class.

On the slightly brighter side, there was a small section in the History book that taught about the rich cultural, linguistic and scientific contributions made by these Muslim "invaders? to Portugal. For instance, I learned how Muslims introduced new architectural styles, efficient water irrigation techniques, promoted the planting of orange, lemon and olive trees in the southern region of Portugal and popularized the use of Arabic numerals as a substitute to Roman numerals. Who were these "invaders? actually? Let?s say a person is born in Portugal into a Muslim family, would they still be considered Muslim "invaders??

History got even more confusing after 9/ 11 happened. My child- like mind, exposed to the terrifying images of the destruction of the Twin Towers on the media, was immediately held captive by the post- 9/ 11 global wave of fear, ignorance and anti- Muslim propaganda about how Muslim equals Terrorist. I remember becoming very afraid of Muslims and all that was related to Islam. Then I went on to college in the U.S. when I was eighteen- years- old.

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TheCollective"W e"

By Benjamin Gray The biggest internal conflict I?ve been having isn?t with the texts I?ve been reading but with my allegiance to "we."

Often times in class I hear the term "we" when referring to people born and, or living in the United States but this is extremely unsettling to me. Classmates both white and of color collectively and repeatedly say "we?" but I highly disagree with this loose usage of "we" when talking about subjects such as genocide, systematic structures, and other politics. I believe that the problems of white liberals and people of color come from completely different angles; not to say that there aren?t shared problems but the experience and history of those issues are different. I want to focus on the difference between these angles because it bothers me when a white person says "we" in reference to the United States?citizen both being recipients of a capitalist, colonial structure.

It is absolutely true that people of color who live in the United States reap some the benefits of a nation that was founded on genocide and colonialism, but I urge people to see deeper than that in understanding that people of color are still fighting an internal battle within the United States to find a place.

For this very reason, I find it extremely difficult to find all people in the United States as a collective "we" when white liberals have never faced the centuries of systematic and racial oppression that people of color had to deal with.

Those centuries of oppression have certainly had an effect on the way people of color not only view themselves but also how we view our relationships to people from other countries who?ve more than likely had ancestral connections through a diaspora or slave trade. The histories of many peoples of color have been so significantly distorted that you couldn?t possibly put all people in the United States under the banner of "we" because of the capitalist system.

I wanted to address this collective ?we?and dissect it not because I?m a segregationist and have this contempt for white liberals, but because we are not "we." I think it?s important to understand our own ancestral and historical role in the birth of the United States.

Regardless if you?re white and feel personally responsible for your racist ancestors, you hold an entirely different sociopolitical power than people of color do. It is apparent to myself that our government is predominantly white and I don?t believe it would be to rash to say that there are numerous racist governmental figures still in power; not overtly saying the Nword on national television or waving a confederate flag (although some have shown support for the keeping of the confederate flag), but through policy.

I firmly believe these same closet racists are fully aware of their power as white males in society and have no inclination to change that structure, simply because fighting that structure, would mean the disempowerment of white men in the United States. These are the same men and women that shrugged off Lemkin?s appeal to the term "Genocide." This wasn?t because the United States just wanted to mind its own business and stay out of foreign affairs, but in actuality because the powers and figures that run this country don?t want to bring to light the shameful history of white America.

To truly address and acknowledge the United States?bloody past, there would have to be significant efforts to undo the trauma inflicted upon indigenous people since more people would be informed, aware and more than likely furious. For example, to acknowledge the term genocide would also mean to acknowledge that the United States itself is built on genocide and colonialism.

For many people, this history of genocide and colonialism isn?t all that obvious. A whitewashed history still keeps many people of color disconnected from their own rich history before slavery and the diaspora.

I?ve been having intellectual conversations with college educated liberals and conservatives on a daily basis but that in itself excludes the voice of those who don?t get that college education. It?s no secret that college gives a wider array of exclusive information to those who enroll. I can go back to my neighborhood in the Bronx and speak to some of my boys about how for instance, them selling drugs within the community is a product of systematic racism.

This isn?t me letting drug dealers off the hook from having agency but there have been

generations of black men and women taught to hate themselves because of their culture or their color.

Respect for community goes out the window when the value of life is diminished down to the point of survival.

How can I consider myself part of this ?we?when I myself am trying to liberate my own brothers and sisters from self- destruction? I don?t think most white people have that problem so it?s easy to say that us college educated liberals or otherwise are a part of this collective ?we?simply because we understand how the structure in works.

That collective ?we?sweeps under the rug countless other obstacles that people of color face within our own communities on the path to liberation.

I do not feel helpless or that people?s problems in other countries are any less important than mine, but many people of color in the United States are yet to liberate themselves and their own families from a colonial mindset, so to say that "we" are also responsible for taking down an imperialist, capitalist structure "we" didn?t create is unfair and problematic.

I feel as if asserting these differences and making light of these different angles can be a positive force in bringing together white liberals with people of color in a way that?s less dismissive to people of color?s intercommunal conflicts.

I?d rather argue out these differences and come to a greater clarity than blindly assume that everybody who?s aware of capitalism?s inequality has the same role and responsibility in bring about change.

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DeclonizingCulture Bookof themonth:

Artist of themonth:

Conquest: Sexual Violence and Amer ican I ndian Genocide

Staceyann Chin

In this revolutionary text, prominent Native American studies scholar and activist Andrea Smith reveals the connections between different forms of violence? perpetrated by the state and by society at large? and documents their impact on Native women.

Beginning with the impact of the abuses inflicted on Native American children at state-sanctioned boarding schools from the 1880s to the 1980s, Smith adroitly expands our conception of violence to include the widespread appropriation of Indian cultural practices by whites and other non-Natives; environmental racism; and population control. Smith deftly connects these and other examples of historical and contemporary colonialism to the high rates of violence against Native American women? the most likely to suffer from poverty-related illness and to survive rape and partner abuse. Smith also outlines radical and innovative strategies for eliminating gendered violence.

Staceyann Chin is a Jamaican-born lesbian woman, activist, poet, author actress, and performer whose fearless voice comes from her grandmothers care and the pain of her mothers absence. She has performed on Broadway, has appeared on CNN, PBS, and 60 Minutes, and has published her personal memoir The Other Side of Paradise. In her newest solo project "MotherStruck" Ms.Chin tells the story of her journey to motherhood as a queer woman and the many obstacles she has faced. She continues to be outspoken on issues of race and sexuality.

Filmof themonth:

W ordof themonth:

Take This Hammer

I slamophobia

This 1963 documentary follows legendary activist and author James Baldwin as he travels around San Francisco to interview members of the Black community.

Baldwin himself said the purpose of the film was to expose "the real situation of Negros in the city, as opposed to the images San Francisco would like to present." Baldwin has genuine conversations with people on the streets of San Francisco: "there is no moral distance between the facts of life in San Francisco and the facts of life in Birmingham. Someones got to tell it like it is. And that's where its at."

This month's word is Islamophobia Islamophobia (noun): The institutionalized fear, hatred, resentment and hostility towards Muslim people.

Islamophobia has a long history in the West dating back at least to the time Crusades in Europe. Islamophobia was aggressively explicit in the fanatical Christian dogma that shaped the formation of the colonial United States. Today, Islamophobia takes the form of "anti-terrorist" rhetoric and violence. Islamophobia is also very much racialized and is leveled against Arabs, Africans, South Asians, and Sikhs.

Islamophobia in a sentence: The increase in anti-Muslim violence and Islamophobia are in tandem with the rise of Donald Trump.

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Straight,NoChaser ON THE (L)EDGE

By Patrice Lockert Anthony Rage should be an emotion of the moment. When it is sustained, it becomes a paralytic agent. It takes on the power of vampiric energy, and it sucks you dry, so that only the brittle bones of death and destruction are left behind.

Perhaps that is a part of a grand plan. Kill us off through our rage. Readers what do you think make black folk so enraged that we become the agents of our own destruction?

It wouldn?t be the first time, of course. The government introducing drugs into black neighborhoods, murderous/ slanderous campaigns against black leaders, sterilization campaigns, medical testing, unequal schooling, justice run a muck, the genocidal killing of black people in America (where laws are passed that make it easier for white citizens [and police] to kill us, then claim innocence (while simultaneously claiming victory) . . . and all this comes after ripping a people from their homeland, chaining them in the bowels of ships, selling them into slavery, beating them/ killing them for daring to fight against their enslavement, selling off family members, making black women bare their breasts to feed white babies, raping black women and blaming it on their animal natures, white women wanting relations with black men, and when discovered, falsely accusing the black man of rape, sending him to certain death, refusing slaves the right to read because the enslavers understood that therein lay the demise of their cause, decade by decade finding reasons to explain the obscenely heinous treatment of blacks because whites simply couldn?t countenance the guilt of the evil they?d perpetrated.

The levels of rage brought on by the knowledge of the acts perpetrated against a people, our people, my people, is such that to sustain it would require that we be willing to sacrifice our lives to the emotion. Severe stress lowers the bodies ability to heal itself. Immune systems are compromised. Disease and death take over, but before that a host of societal ills run rampant. I don?t believe that black America is willing to make that sacrifice, so while there are incidences of disease, death, and destruction, if white America looks closely, they?ll see something else. Folks coming together. Black culture remaining strong and vibrant. Black Americans fighting the good fight. It is a good fight. It is a righteous fight. A holy war, which is fitting since white America used the Bible falsely against us so they could use our bodies for their labor and profit. A series of distinctly unchristian acts.

Black America may have different factions who see the solution differently, but it is no longer divided as to the cause. Nor are other disenfranchised groups in white America unaware of the cause of the perfidy.

"A house divided against itself cannot stand.?

This is why deliberately sown divisiveness has proven such an effective weapon in America.

Here?s the problem with that strategy white America? ? it may take five, ten, a hundred, or maybe even four hundred years, but eventually the downtrodden rise up. The horrors of their generational lives simply become insupportable. And when they rise . . . when these divided peoples rise, they may at first attack each other, but eventually a conversation is going to happen, and when that day comes the divided peoples are going to turn toward the common enemy.

In faith~

Too many in white America are still trying to escape fault for what has been done (is still being done) to black America.

Too many still like to say it was their ancestors. It?s not "me,? white Americans say. Yet the atrocities continue.

White America, black America has grown weary of the disingenuous ignorance to its plight.

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TRACKTHE MO VEMENT March,2016 # Mayuriaga

# NiUnaAsesinadaMรกs

The indigenous community of the Wampis in Mayuriaga, Peru held captive a grounded military helicopter with several Petroperu officials on March 6, 2016. The officials were taken hostage in response to an oil spill that dumped 1000 barrels of oil onto indigenous lands in Mayuriaga early this February. Wampis captors demanded that Mayuriaga be included in the emergency services being provided to affected areas by the government.

Following the oil spill, the Peruvian government released an official emergency decree with a list of groups affected that would receive emergency supplies and attention. Indigenous communities in Mayuriaga were not on that list. The regional government has since corrected this issue and the hostages have been released.

March 8th was International Women's Day and in Mexico women took to the streets for a national day of action. Activist and advocacy groups from all over the country gathered alongside the families of murdered women to protest the widespread femicide in Mexico. The protest occurred in the municipalities of Ecatepec, Nezahualcoyotl, and Chimalhuacan, and involved such organizations as Las Enredadas, Red Cihuame, CECOS, and La Voz de Lilith. After a demonstration in which over 50 women blew their whistles in opposition to the violence, hundreds marched on Chimalhuacan near City Hall chanting "Ni una asesinada mas! " Protesters called for the end of gender violence from Ciudad Jurez to Chiapas. There is very little statistical data for the number of femicides in Mexico, but one study confirmed that at least 1,258 women went missing between the years of 2011 and 2012.

# PalisadesKKK KKK Graffiti discovered at Palisades High School sparked a massive student walk- out in California. On March 14th hundreds of students walked out of their classrooms and participated in a sit- in in response to the racist graffiti, which was sprayed onto the school campus during the weekend. Students have demanded that the administration take the necessary steps to address racial tensions on the campus. One demand was that cultural studies be added to the school curriculum. This is not the first time Ku Klux Klan related vandalism has occurred at California high schools. In December hundreds of Berkeley High School students took part in a similar protest and march to City Hall in response to KKK vandalism.

# HolmanPrison A massive prison uprising was staged by prisoners at William C Holman Correctional Facility in Atmore, Alabama on March 11, 2016. The uprising occurred when an officer attempted to break up a fight with two inmates and was then stabbed. Over 100 inmates seized the hallway outside of the holding cell and started a fire. The riot was quelled but another one was staged that Monday, with over 70 inmates barricading themselves in the dormitory. The inmates then released a detailed list of demands that called for federal assistance, the abolition of the Habitual Felony Offenders Law, and compensation for physical and physiological abuses.

# BDS The global Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement (BDS) against the Israeli occupation of Palestine achieved new ground early this March when G4S announced that it is selling its businesses in Israel and exiting the Israeli market. G4S, the largest transnational security firm in the world, supplies security technologies and equipment to Israeli prisons and check- points in the West Bank. G4S is also responsible for the heavy militarization of the Israeli wall in Gaza. The British- Danish company insists that its withdrawal from Israeli markets is a "purely commercial decision" even though a considerable amount of pressure has been put on the company by BDS activists. The Bill Gates Foundation sold its $170 million dollar stake in G4S after a 2014 protest at its offices in Seattle, Johannesburg, and London. BDS said it would continue to protest G4S operations in Palestine until the sale is finalized.

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