Guild to support BDS
Category: Campaign
Voting closed
MOTION PUT FORWARD:
The Liverpool Guild of Students to support the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions Movement.
BACKGROUND TO MOTION:
BDS was started in 2005 by 170 Palestinian civil bodies as a form of non-violent pressure on Israel inspired by the South African anti-apartheid movement. BDS aims to end international support for Israeli violations of international law by forcing companies, institutions, and governments to change their policies. The global nature of today’s economy means that there are thousands of companies that have links to Israel and are complicit to various degrees in Israel’s violations of international law. However, for our movement to have a real impact we need our consumer boycotts to be easy to explain, have wide appeal and have the potential for success. we focus our boycott campaigns on a select few strategic targets.
GUILD ACTION:
An achievable and effective way for the Guild to support the BDS campaign is to honour the boycott list. This is due to BDS focusing on fewer companies and products for efficacy and targeting companies that play a clear and direct role in Israel’s crimes.
Release a public statement of support for the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement as a tool of support and solidarity to Palestinians facing ongoing displacement, repression, oppression, discrimination, and violence.
Comments
Is Israel really an apartheid? Please think and research before treating it as one: Much of the evidence submitted on this topic that supports a BDS motion on the assumption that Israel has an apartheid regime similar to South Africa. It is important to clarify that Israel is not thought to be an apartheid state in any way by many people, including the diverse Arab and Druze population within Israel, who have equal rights in terms of marriage, voting and any other aspects. In addition it provides equal rights for women and homosexuals and prides itself upon fairness and morals. When many people label Israel as an Apartheid, they are referring to the wall/fence which was intended to and has seen a reduction in terrorist attacks
BDS is aggressive and damages harmony and coexistence between students: The BDS motion focuses upon a boycott of Israeli goods and services. Undoubtedly this will affect: -the workers in Israeli businesses who are NOT involved in Israeli politics including Jews, Arabs and Palestinians and thereby, harming all of their families -it targets Jews who rely on Israeli sourced Kosher food -Israeli students- they will feel threatened to attend a university that supports a boycott of their nationality (is it the Guild’s place to place an umbrella boycott over the campus rather than let individuals do it themselves?) As you can also read from document 1, quotes from Nelson Mandela encourage negotiation and coexistence
1) http://static.bicom.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/BICOM_ApartheidSmear_FINAL.pdf
http://bdsguide.com/
This idea will go to our next Guild Summit, for student consideration, at 5:00pm on 8th February 2022. The student who submitted the idea will speak in favour of their idea and explain why they think students should support it. We invite students to get in touch with us if they are interested in speaking against the idea at Guild Summit. Please contact Abigail Morris, Guild Democracy Coordinator for more details about this at abigail.morris@liverpool.ac.uk. For more information on Guild Summit, please see the following link: https://www.liverpoolguild.org/main-menu/change-it/guild-summit
Reposting a comment from Miles above, with one link removed that was no longer working: "A full BDS campaign is expensive: Israeli products include computers, software, phones, Starbucks (all of which are frequently used by students and Guild members). If it is not financially viable to give them up in the Guild (selective boycott), and the adoption of a BDS campaign is going to offend some students, then who is this motion actually helping? 3) link removed 4) https://boycottisraeltoday.wordpress.com/boycott-israel/ "
Well, Not to even consider the perspective of the people from that land. Let's listen to this Irish TD (equivalent to MP) as a first step. Every word he says is important. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PPdhLqyFhG0
Real life reports from what is happening there https://www.instagram.com/p/CcN2vV8FQ5k/?igshid=NDA1YzNhOGU=
Emma Watson solidarity with the Palestinians being killed https://www.instagram.com/p/CYPyQZcvfLN/?igshid=NDA1YzNhOGU=
Jewish people supporting Palestine advocating for peace, Bernie Sanders speaking out against Israeli extremists https://www.instagram.com/p/COqoTXTg8dG/?igshid=NDA1YzNhOGU=
Bella and Gigi hadid raising awareness https://www.instagram.com/p/CO5xUKDtSeO/?igshid=NDA1YzNhOGU=
Mark Ruffalo standing up against Israeli crimes: https://twitter.com/markruffalo/status/1392103671282864136?s=21&t=gnFrMtPw0UeEhlFcg3UPGQ Selena Gomez supporting Palestine https://www.instagram.com/p/qnOKwBujA9/?igshid=NDA1YzNhOGU= Natalie Portman, who is Jewish, standing against what Israel is doing https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/general-news/natalie-portman-sounds-israel-netanyahu-793425/ Zany Malik raising awareness of the Palestinians being killed in Israel https://www.instagram.com/p/COx8REZLQxx/?igshid=NDA1YzNhOGU= Dua Lipa https://twitter.com/dualipa/status/1396224254761488388?s=21&t=tTazRplTXZccNB3JX46OtA Viola Davis: https://www.instagram.com/p/COtDkdaBtRa/?igshid=NDA1YzNhOGU=
Is Israel and Apartheid State? To answer that question, I prefer to listen to someone on the receiving end of Apartheid... and in the interest of fairness, I'm posting an article from the Jerusalem Post. https://www.jpost.com/diplomacy-and-politics/desmond-tutu-israel-guilty-of-apartheid-in-treatment-of-palestinians-344874
At Guild Summit on 8th February, Summit attendees did not reach consensus on this matter, and so it therefore went to a cross-campus ballot, to give all students the opportunity to express their views on this topic. From 25th – 27th April, a referendum was held in order for students to have their say on whether the Guild should support the BDS movement. Students voted ‘No – the Guild should not support the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions Movement”. You can read the announcement in full, and see the breakdown of results here: https://www.liverpoolguild.org/articles/results-boycott-divestment-and-sanctions-movement-referendum