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Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions: The Global Struggle for Palestinian Rights
International boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) efforts helped topple South Africa's brutal apartheid regime. In this urgent book, Omar Barghouti makes the case for a rights-based BDS campaign to stop Israel's rapacious occupation, colonization, and apartheid against the Palestinian people. This considered, convincing collection contributes to the growing debate on Israel's violation of international law and points the way forward to a united global civil society movement for freedom, justice, self-determination and equality for all.
320 pages, Paperback
First published March 25, 2010
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2337 people want to read
About the author
Omar Barghouti
7 books32 followersOmar Barghouti is an independent Palestinian researcher, commentator and human rights activist committed to upholding international law and universal human rights. He is a founding member of the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI) and the Palestinian Civil Society Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign against Israel. He holds a bachelor’s and master’s degrees in electrical engineering from Columbia University, NY, and a master’s in philosophy from Tel Aviv University. He is the author of, BDS: The Global Struggle for Palestinian Rights, published by Haymarket (2011). His commentaries and interviews have been featured on CNN, BBC, The Guardian, The Nation, AP, Aljazeera, Huffington Post, Russia Today, Al-Ahram, Democracy Now!, among others.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 59 reviews
March 27, 2011
This book is a must read for anyone interested in the BDS movement--its history, its successes, and why one should get involved. Barghouti does an excellent job of laying out the historical context, especially the distorted recent past in which Westerners believe that something called a "peace process" has been under way. More importantly for Western audiences he does this in a way that makes it clear Palestine does not equal the West Bank and Gaza; rather it is the entire historic land of Palestine that was usurped in 1948: "For decades, but especially since the Oslo accords signed by Israel and the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) in 1993, Israel, with varying degrees of collusion from successive US administrations, the European Union, and complacent Arab 'leaders,' has attempted to redefine the Palestinian people to include only those who live in Palestinian territory occupied in 1967. The main objective has been to deceptively reduce the question of Palestine to a mere dispute over some 'contested' territory occupied by Palestine since 1967, thus excluding the UN-sanctioned rights of the majority of the Palestinian people" (7). This is important because so much of the economic boycott activities in the West center on products made in colonies in the West Bank as if colonies in 1948 Palestine are not equally problematic because they are also occupying stolen land. Barghouti also does a terrific job laying out the ways in which one can compare South African apartheid as well as the limitations to that analogy. But, of course, with respect to international law both cases, as he explains, are violations of the crime of apartheid. Clearly influenced by important thinkers like Paolo Freire, Franz Fanon, and Steve Biko, it is essential reading for activists in the West who want to understand how to act in solidarity with Palestinians without imposing their own ideas of how the land should be liberated.
May 25, 2018
[4 stars] A good primer on the Palestinian civil society call for boycotts, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) against the Israeli government. Compiled as a series of essays, so there is a lot of repetition; because of this, it actually reads pretty quickly, when you consider being able to skim through most of the middle. Doesn't provide a ton of in-depth info on the pre-1948 - or even pre-1967 - history of the Israeli settler project so you'll want to read about that elsewhere. Grateful to Haymarket for making this ebook free in the midst of the current violence.
June 4, 2016
Another foul rant by a child-killing terrorist aimed at stamping out a democratic micro-state and it's five million people, through starving out the Jews. Omar Bhargoutti has said himself that the aim of BDS is the 'euthanasia of Israel' in other words a second holocaust.
Nazi Germany also began it's campaign to annihilate the Jews of Europe by economic boycotts of Jewish businesses and today the modern day equivalents of the Nazis wear not brown shirts but keffiyahs and red, white, green and black colours as they try to terrorize shoppers and shop workers in London, Paris, New York, Los Angeles, Sidney and Cape Town not to buy or sell Israeli goods.
Stave out the Jews. Make sure the will of the Jewish people is sapped by seeing their children go hungry.
Ironically the same people who urge boycott, divestment and sanctions against Israel also caterwauled against sanctions on Iraq during the bloody rule of their hero Saddam Hussein. Crying that it caused starvation of children. They were enraged by the hunger of Iraqi children but support the starvation of Israeli children
But we not allowed to call them anti-Semitic.
The enemies of Israel want the physical elimination of the Jewish people from the Land of Israel. This constitutes anti-Semitism. The point is that they want a Judenreihn "Palestine" the same way that Hitler wanted a Judenreihn Europe. The anti-Zionists claim that they are not anti-Semites but that think the only country on the earth that must be annihilated is Israel. The anti-Zionists claim that they are not anti-Semites but that think the only country on the earth that must be annihilated is Israel. The anti-Zionists claim that they are not anti-Semites but that the only children on earth whose being blown up is okay if it serves a good cause are Jewish children. As regards the so-called 1 state solution favoured by so many sophisticated leftwing intellectuals today, we can discuss this all day and all night , but dismembering Israel into a single Arab dominated state means a second holocaust. It means methodical massacre of millions of Jews , of hundreds of thousands of Jewish children. Anyone who pushes for this '1 state solution' is actually pushing for a second holocaust. Denying a nation's right to exist is genocidal racism, akin to Nazism, hence in my opinion ,Aanti-Zionism is Nazism. Only the hard-hearted, hate-filled and cowardly will deny Israel the right to exist and defend herself. One must always continue to ask why the powerful organizations, unions, church groups, academics ,governments etc advocate a boycott of Israel and only Israel, while not advocating any boycott or censure of States that do enage in genocide or severe repression and persecution like China, North Korea, Zimbabwe,Syria Iran or Sudan. THEY NEVER have an answer!
Nazi Germany also began it's campaign to annihilate the Jews of Europe by economic boycotts of Jewish businesses and today the modern day equivalents of the Nazis wear not brown shirts but keffiyahs and red, white, green and black colours as they try to terrorize shoppers and shop workers in London, Paris, New York, Los Angeles, Sidney and Cape Town not to buy or sell Israeli goods.
Stave out the Jews. Make sure the will of the Jewish people is sapped by seeing their children go hungry.
Ironically the same people who urge boycott, divestment and sanctions against Israel also caterwauled against sanctions on Iraq during the bloody rule of their hero Saddam Hussein. Crying that it caused starvation of children. They were enraged by the hunger of Iraqi children but support the starvation of Israeli children
But we not allowed to call them anti-Semitic.
The enemies of Israel want the physical elimination of the Jewish people from the Land of Israel. This constitutes anti-Semitism. The point is that they want a Judenreihn "Palestine" the same way that Hitler wanted a Judenreihn Europe. The anti-Zionists claim that they are not anti-Semites but that think the only country on the earth that must be annihilated is Israel. The anti-Zionists claim that they are not anti-Semites but that think the only country on the earth that must be annihilated is Israel. The anti-Zionists claim that they are not anti-Semites but that the only children on earth whose being blown up is okay if it serves a good cause are Jewish children. As regards the so-called 1 state solution favoured by so many sophisticated leftwing intellectuals today, we can discuss this all day and all night , but dismembering Israel into a single Arab dominated state means a second holocaust. It means methodical massacre of millions of Jews , of hundreds of thousands of Jewish children. Anyone who pushes for this '1 state solution' is actually pushing for a second holocaust. Denying a nation's right to exist is genocidal racism, akin to Nazism, hence in my opinion ,Aanti-Zionism is Nazism. Only the hard-hearted, hate-filled and cowardly will deny Israel the right to exist and defend herself. One must always continue to ask why the powerful organizations, unions, church groups, academics ,governments etc advocate a boycott of Israel and only Israel, while not advocating any boycott or censure of States that do enage in genocide or severe repression and persecution like China, North Korea, Zimbabwe,Syria Iran or Sudan. THEY NEVER have an answer!
August 11, 2014
I think people who already have a basic understanding of the history of Israel and the occupied territories will benefit most from reading this book. I was in favor of BDS before I picked up this book. I already knew some of the injustices committed by Israel, but from this book I learned specifically how Israel has violated and continues to violate international law. Barghouti really tackles the issue of apartheid thoroughly. One of the most important take aways for me was how so-called "peace projects" that seek to establish dialogue between Israeli Jews and Palestinians with no reflection on the occupation can be really damaging through their normalization of the occupation, and through the implicit suggestion that "the conflict" consists of two "sides" who are on equal footing and have equal blame.
I was hoping this book might also be a good resource to recommend to people who otherwise are only acquainted with the topic through news reports of recent bombings. With that kind of reader in mind I think Barghouti could have laid out the circumstances of the Palestinians living more comprehensively. He does lay out several examples of injustices in the first chapter, and throughout the book there are many examples, but in my opinion some of the most damning and concrete examples were not mentioned until near the end of the book (The existence of Jewish nationality, accessible only to ethnic Jews, with no comparable status for non-Jews, and the disproportionate distribution of land that goes along with that).
I wish he would have described the institutionalized racism and exclusionary practices of the occupation exhaustively, and in the first chapter. I imagine a reader with no previous exposure to the pro-palestinian/pro-BDS argument might lose the motivation to continue reading this book before getting to some of the later points. Then again, each chapter is written to stand alone, so I may just recommend particular chapters.
I was hoping this book might also be a good resource to recommend to people who otherwise are only acquainted with the topic through news reports of recent bombings. With that kind of reader in mind I think Barghouti could have laid out the circumstances of the Palestinians living more comprehensively. He does lay out several examples of injustices in the first chapter, and throughout the book there are many examples, but in my opinion some of the most damning and concrete examples were not mentioned until near the end of the book (The existence of Jewish nationality, accessible only to ethnic Jews, with no comparable status for non-Jews, and the disproportionate distribution of land that goes along with that).
I wish he would have described the institutionalized racism and exclusionary practices of the occupation exhaustively, and in the first chapter. I imagine a reader with no previous exposure to the pro-palestinian/pro-BDS argument might lose the motivation to continue reading this book before getting to some of the later points. Then again, each chapter is written to stand alone, so I may just recommend particular chapters.
November 5, 2011
Explains the conflict as well as the BDS movement. I would say all the questions one could have about the movement are answered and a compelling case is made for BDS. Apartheid and genocide as well as the asymmetry issue are discussed as well as objections to the terms and why they actually do apply.
I frequently see people calling on both sides and calling for both sides to make concessions and negotiate. I myself have always felt something was wrong with that, but haven't always been able to explain clearly why. This book (certain chapters) does exactly that.
Another issue that was helpful for me was the discussion on "dialogue." I have always felt that any time the two are talking and participating in events together, that it was always a positive. He brings up the point that unless the sides acknowledge the injustice and oppose occupation and agree that full equality and repatriation/return/compensation of Palestinians is the goal (as these for Israeli Jews are a given), the event whitewashes the crimes.
Chapter 3 explains a lot about the conflict and 3 main groups Israel is committing crimes against - refugees, Israeli citizens, occupied Palestinians. It contains specific examples, which could be eye opening for some.
Chapter 12 is an interview and it contains answers to very commonly asked questions and criticisms leveled of/at the movement. It also discussed apartheid and injustices of Israeli Palestinians (Jewish nationality excludes some citizens, etc).
Definitely a book to add to your "Understanding the Middle East Conflict" shelf, list, etc.
I frequently see people calling on both sides and calling for both sides to make concessions and negotiate. I myself have always felt something was wrong with that, but haven't always been able to explain clearly why. This book (certain chapters) does exactly that.
Another issue that was helpful for me was the discussion on "dialogue." I have always felt that any time the two are talking and participating in events together, that it was always a positive. He brings up the point that unless the sides acknowledge the injustice and oppose occupation and agree that full equality and repatriation/return/compensation of Palestinians is the goal (as these for Israeli Jews are a given), the event whitewashes the crimes.
Chapter 3 explains a lot about the conflict and 3 main groups Israel is committing crimes against - refugees, Israeli citizens, occupied Palestinians. It contains specific examples, which could be eye opening for some.
Chapter 12 is an interview and it contains answers to very commonly asked questions and criticisms leveled of/at the movement. It also discussed apartheid and injustices of Israeli Palestinians (Jewish nationality excludes some citizens, etc).
Definitely a book to add to your "Understanding the Middle East Conflict" shelf, list, etc.
March 12, 2019
Very informative and accessible read on the history and reasoning of the BDS Movement. Barghouti makes clear why heeding the BDS Call is a litmus test for all who would claim to champion equality, justice, and dignity for all peoples. He also narrates the various successes of the BDS Movement in helping to turn the tide on the question of Palestine and explains the coalitionary potential that, together with its ethical integrity, lies at the root of Israel's aggressive (yet wonderfully futile) efforts to quash it.
https://bdsmovement.net/what-is-bds
https://bdsmovement.net/what-is-bds
August 7, 2024
i went in to this book hoping to learn more about the BDS campaign and what kind of impact academic, cultural and consumer boycott has on israel but i was quite let down by the way the book was written.
barghouti LOVES being repetitive. this book is filled with 'we should', '___ is important' and other such monologic phrases. although it is accessible to read, this gets tedious to read after the first three chapters because by then, you get all the information you need. the rest of the book does not particularly offer anything new. i also found the book to be very surface-level. sure, you need to have some level of understanding of israel-palestine's history but even then, not much was explained in detail. if you're going to pitch your book as "a book about the political actions necesssary to hinder the israeli state machine", then you've got to offer something more than "the ultimate objective of the boycott is to bring about israel's compliance with international law and its respect for palestinian human and political rights." i don't know. maybe i am wrong in my critique because i was expecting to learn more about companies and brands whose products benefit from the israeli occupation that we should be boycotting like starbucks and mcdonald's but ig i had other expectations.
i will say that barghouti's main thesis of how israel's occupation of palestine and south africa's apartheid, although separate from each other, have a lot in common because they both adhere to the UN's definition of an apartheid was interesting to read about (a new learning for me).
and also, it's important to remember that:
a) "[h]olocaust guilt cannot morally justify european complicity in prolonging the suffering, bloodshed, and decades-old injustice that israel has visited upon palestinians and arabs in general, using the nazi genocide as pretext."
b) "israel's decades-old oppression takes three basic forms, which were at the core of the palestinian BDS call:
1. the prolonged occupation and colonisation of gaza and the west bank, including east jerusalem, and other arab territories
2. the legalised and institutionalised system of racial discrimination against palestinian citizens of israel
3. the persistent denial of the UN-sanctioned rights of palestinian refugees, paramount among which is their right to reparations and to return to their homes of origin, in accordance with UNGA resolution 194"
barghouti LOVES being repetitive. this book is filled with 'we should', '___ is important' and other such monologic phrases. although it is accessible to read, this gets tedious to read after the first three chapters because by then, you get all the information you need. the rest of the book does not particularly offer anything new. i also found the book to be very surface-level. sure, you need to have some level of understanding of israel-palestine's history but even then, not much was explained in detail. if you're going to pitch your book as "a book about the political actions necesssary to hinder the israeli state machine", then you've got to offer something more than "the ultimate objective of the boycott is to bring about israel's compliance with international law and its respect for palestinian human and political rights." i don't know. maybe i am wrong in my critique because i was expecting to learn more about companies and brands whose products benefit from the israeli occupation that we should be boycotting like starbucks and mcdonald's but ig i had other expectations.
i will say that barghouti's main thesis of how israel's occupation of palestine and south africa's apartheid, although separate from each other, have a lot in common because they both adhere to the UN's definition of an apartheid was interesting to read about (a new learning for me).
and also, it's important to remember that:
a) "[h]olocaust guilt cannot morally justify european complicity in prolonging the suffering, bloodshed, and decades-old injustice that israel has visited upon palestinians and arabs in general, using the nazi genocide as pretext."
b) "israel's decades-old oppression takes three basic forms, which were at the core of the palestinian BDS call:
1. the prolonged occupation and colonisation of gaza and the west bank, including east jerusalem, and other arab territories
2. the legalised and institutionalised system of racial discrimination against palestinian citizens of israel
3. the persistent denial of the UN-sanctioned rights of palestinian refugees, paramount among which is their right to reparations and to return to their homes of origin, in accordance with UNGA resolution 194"
July 19, 2018
The book is fairly good. It steers away of antisemitism, which is something most Arabs fall into. However, it recognizes Israel as the state that has "a right" to existence and ultimately occupy, but has no right to discriminate against the indigenous people of Palestine. Honestly, I think that was just a silly concept to appeal to white people. When the British or the French were occupying Egypt, I don't think I can imagine Saad Zaghloul saying that those white people has a right to colonize us but has no write to kill us!!! It's very ridiculous. But this isn't the only contradiction in the book, the book suggests a one state solution, or to be honest, stating that it doesn't matter if it's one state or two states just as long as the killing stops, however, he favors the one state solution, and I'm not sure I understand how he favors a one state solution while initiating a BDS movement. (I think I'll understand that more when I read about the BDS movement from conscious and rational Israelis.)
I think the book also doesn't go into the concept of colonization at all, as just said, he recognizes Israel's right to exist, he only accounts the Israeli violationS to the international law and the International Court of Justice ICJ, which is almost staggering and upsetting.
The book is wonderful, and probably will upset any white person with white-supremacy disguised into pseudo-intellectualism. Because the books is about calling for justice and a right to exist. It speaks to the head just as much as to the heart. It accounts opinions of Jewish, American, LGBTQ+ activists and as well as academia all over the world, even including rational and conscious minds and hearts in Israel. For rejecting this and calling antisemitic simply means you're white supremacist and racist.
The best thing I liked about the book is when he spoke of the many violations in the occupied territory of Palestine and not Gaza; I didn't know this before. Israel always used Hamas for the killings of hundreds of children (but since they're brown children, who really gives a fuck!), but Barghouti goes on to the describe the horrors in AlDefa Algarbia and the awful situation there, even though how obedient and collaborator Mahmoud Abbas is to the Israeli government. It's not according to the author's research, it's - again - according to the Amnesty reports, The World Physicians Organization and many western and American organizations and researchers. So I finally learned It's not about Hamas.
I think the book also doesn't go into the concept of colonization at all, as just said, he recognizes Israel's right to exist, he only accounts the Israeli violationS to the international law and the International Court of Justice ICJ, which is almost staggering and upsetting.
The book is wonderful, and probably will upset any white person with white-supremacy disguised into pseudo-intellectualism. Because the books is about calling for justice and a right to exist. It speaks to the head just as much as to the heart. It accounts opinions of Jewish, American, LGBTQ+ activists and as well as academia all over the world, even including rational and conscious minds and hearts in Israel. For rejecting this and calling antisemitic simply means you're white supremacist and racist.
The best thing I liked about the book is when he spoke of the many violations in the occupied territory of Palestine and not Gaza; I didn't know this before. Israel always used Hamas for the killings of hundreds of children (but since they're brown children, who really gives a fuck!), but Barghouti goes on to the describe the horrors in AlDefa Algarbia and the awful situation there, even though how obedient and collaborator Mahmoud Abbas is to the Israeli government. It's not according to the author's research, it's - again - according to the Amnesty reports, The World Physicians Organization and many western and American organizations and researchers. So I finally learned It's not about Hamas.
January 16, 2014
Clear explanation of the need for the conscientious international community to heed the Palestinian Call of BDS. I believe, and the book points out, that the BDS movement (and international solidarity with Palestinian people in general) has the potential to re-energize the international left in their goal of liberation for all.
October 29, 2024
obviously have seen many short resources/infographics about BDS, but really wanted to gain a deeper understanding of the history and scholarship around it. if y’all are also looking for that, would highly recommend this book, as it was very informative, clear, and well-written!
December 19, 2023
I think this is such an important read if you are wanting to know more about the BDS and how we, as the international community, can help Palestinian’s fight for liberation.
November 4, 2013
Arguing for the other side, I'm curious how people who want a one state solution can support BDS, (which calls for a one state solution) If you want everyone to live together, won't it cause a lot of resentment if much of the population has been reduced to poverty? Making it impossible for people to live together in peace, and have good jobs? And making it impossible for business partnerships, academic collaboration and joint projects to happen, further dividing societies? Destroying all the good jobs that Palestinians would want to take, in the high tech sector? In fact, if you were actually in favor of a one state solution, wouldn't you want Israelis and Palestinians working together, studying together, working on joint projects together so they give up nationalist ideas? One cannot have it both ways, to want peace in the region, want to have a one state and start by reducing the economic engine of the state to penury.
January 2, 2015
Pure propaganda..I would star it in minus if that was possible..Israel is here to stay and that's the fact..There's no moral equivalent of Israel in this conflict..Such propaganda aginst Israel only makes me buy more from Israel or 729..Am Israel Chai..
October 23, 2023
A phenomenal and thoughtful explanation of what's been going on for years. Free Palestine.
November 5, 2023
Informative, cited and insightful. Confusing at times, but outlined the BDS movement well. Some of the information is outdated at this point, but still a succinct and interesting summary!
November 28, 2023
So much valuable education !!
June 24, 2024
This is a great intro into why boycotting Israel is needed, what BDS is & how it works, and how it played a key role in dismantling apartheid in South Africa. I really appreciated exploring concepts like the cost of oppression, self determination, institutional vrs individual boycott, the hypocrisy of many who supported boycotting South Africa but not Israel, and more. Barghouti also does a great job of separating his personal beliefs from the stated goals/purpose of the BDS movement.
The first few chapters are the best, as they lay the foundation for the need and the what and the why. After that is a collection of essays, open letters, and brief interviews. I found all of these to be interesting, but they often share the exact same sentiments (and even phrasing.) It does make for some redundant reading, but at the same time it's also effective in driving home the key points.
I don't think this is at all the purpose of the book, but all the same I would have appreciated adding a 101 guide to companies to pay attention to at different levels of economic engagement, like civil government vs. an average consumer. This book is quite old, so it probably would be outdated by now anyway, but it still would have been nice to have as a starting point. I know there are other sites/groups doing that work and compiling those lists, so we're not totally left to our devices, which is helpful.
All in all, this is a worthwhile read if you are trying to be conscientious about your spending and want to know more about what many Palestinian groups have identified as a primary way to help them. I don't think that last part can be overstated, either. While this book is quite old and maybe warrants an updated list of organizations endorsing BDS, at the time the book was written BDS was the civil resistance of choice of the Palestinian people - which should mean we are eager to learn more and participate, and this book is a great way to education yourself on how to do so.
The first few chapters are the best, as they lay the foundation for the need and the what and the why. After that is a collection of essays, open letters, and brief interviews. I found all of these to be interesting, but they often share the exact same sentiments (and even phrasing.) It does make for some redundant reading, but at the same time it's also effective in driving home the key points.
I don't think this is at all the purpose of the book, but all the same I would have appreciated adding a 101 guide to companies to pay attention to at different levels of economic engagement, like civil government vs. an average consumer. This book is quite old, so it probably would be outdated by now anyway, but it still would have been nice to have as a starting point. I know there are other sites/groups doing that work and compiling those lists, so we're not totally left to our devices, which is helpful.
All in all, this is a worthwhile read if you are trying to be conscientious about your spending and want to know more about what many Palestinian groups have identified as a primary way to help them. I don't think that last part can be overstated, either. While this book is quite old and maybe warrants an updated list of organizations endorsing BDS, at the time the book was written BDS was the civil resistance of choice of the Palestinian people - which should mean we are eager to learn more and participate, and this book is a great way to education yourself on how to do so.
October 17, 2018
On ne s'y attend pas en lisant simplement le titre, mais ce livre regroupe en fait différents articles sur le mouvement BDS et ses composantes principales. Il résume de manière succincte les violations des droits humains et de droit international de la part d'Israel vis-à-vis de la Palestine. Certes, étant écrits par le même auteur, le contenu des articles se chevauchent plusieurs fois, c'est donc un peu répétitif, mais cela aura au moins comme avantage de bien ancrer le contenu dans notre mémoire! Il m'aura beaucoup appris sur le boycott académique, et de quelle manière les universités Israéliennes sont complices plus qu'on ne pourrait le croire avec l'occupation et le maintien des inégalités entre juifs et non-juifs.
Lire ce livre 10 ans plus tard, et constater avec amertume oh combien tout ce qui y est écrit concernant les violations des droits des Palestiniens est d'autant plus vérace aujourd'hui, si ce n'est en bien pire puisqu'Israel continue toujours en toute impunité le génocide lent mais sûr des Palestiniens. Évidemment, le mouvement BDS gagne en puissance, popularité et efficacité. Mais il faut faire davantage. Ce livre raconte comment le siège sur Gaza, qui avait environ 1 ans à l'époque, étouffait déjà la population Palestinienne. Que dire alors maintenant que cela fait 10 ans que ce siège perdure? C'est un livre à lire et à relire, mais pas garantie sans amertume...
Lire ce livre 10 ans plus tard, et constater avec amertume oh combien tout ce qui y est écrit concernant les violations des droits des Palestiniens est d'autant plus vérace aujourd'hui, si ce n'est en bien pire puisqu'Israel continue toujours en toute impunité le génocide lent mais sûr des Palestiniens. Évidemment, le mouvement BDS gagne en puissance, popularité et efficacité. Mais il faut faire davantage. Ce livre raconte comment le siège sur Gaza, qui avait environ 1 ans à l'époque, étouffait déjà la population Palestinienne. Que dire alors maintenant que cela fait 10 ans que ce siège perdure? C'est un livre à lire et à relire, mais pas garantie sans amertume...
June 7, 2018
While the topic is very interesting I found the book itself a bit repetitive. Arguing the same thing with the same points over and over again. It might have been nice to provide more historic contest for readers less familiar with the problem.
August 30, 2013
A detailed, comprehensive case for the Palestinian Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions campaign.
May 21, 2016
Freedom, Justice, and equality. "Our South Africa moment has finally arrived!"
Read and then do #BDS actions if you haven't yet.
Read and then do #BDS actions if you haven't yet.
January 13, 2024
nie będę wydziwiać z oceną, bo czytałam to tylko w celu poszerzenia swojej wiedzy. Na pewno dobre dla osób, które znają już jakieś podstawy historii Palestyny
November 28, 2020
so badly wanted this to be good. felt more like a compilation of reiterative essays than a solid, cohesive argument for BDS. wouldn't recommend this to anyone who knows minimal info about this movement as it relies an awful lot on vague, idealistic sentiments about international solidarity more than it does on concrete examples of BDS' success.
December 29, 2013
The BDS campaign, launched by 170 Palestinian civil society organisations in 2005 is a non-violent, rights-based campaign that seeks to build global pressure on Israel and is designed to deal with the problems faced by all three sectors of Palestinian society – the refugees expelled by the Zionist forces in 1948, those living under Israeli military occupation in the West Bank and Gaza Strip and those who live as second class citizens of Israel. Omar Barghouti has been a consistent proponent of the BDS campaign, and has here collected a number of previous pieces as well as four new essays that together outline the basis and rationale for the campaign, assess its state and grapples with some of the major issues.
The principal strengths are two-fold; first, he outlines the rationale for the campaign, its underpinning presumptions and rebuttals to the key objections; second, these are fairly bite sized pieces – leaving aside the 35 page introduction, there is nothing here more than about 20 pages. This is, therefore, a good way into the issue. The two major new pieces are the first two substantive essays addressing the key issues of why now and why BDS as an approach; these are timely, clear, accessible and lucid outlining the rationale on both fronts. He is critical both of the tendency of the ‘international community’ (a metaphor for the US, EU and allies), Palestinian Authority, Arab states and others in their tolerance of Israel’s violations of international law. There is also a useful set of papers exploring issues round the academic boycott and the cultural boycott as well as a group exploring tactics and strategies.
The book has several additional positive factors; Barghouti writes well and accessibly and is therefore able to take sceptical (but I suspect not hostile) readers through the arguments that Israel meets the legal definition for apartheid in respect of all three sections of the Palestinian population (more obviously the citizens and those in the Occupied Palestinian Territories). This accessibility also allows him to outline complex issues, including legal, in a clear and lucid manner. He stresses, repeatedly, that the BDS campaign is rights based; it does not propose a necessary solution (although he favours a single democratic secular state) but looks to address the key issues confronting the three population sectors, and also that in being rights based the international campaign can develop in a way that best suited to local conditions, with the precondition that campaign supporters recognise Palestinian leadership. These aspects make the book a valuable contribution to attempts to make sense of the issue.
There are some notable weaknesses. Many of the chapters have been previously published and Barghouti notes that rather than substantially rewrite he opted to maintain the integrity of each (and therefore to maintain the coherence of each, facilitating a bite-sized approach to reading). The downside is that there is a tendency to repetition.
A more significant weakness is that while the anti-apartheid campaigns and the South African situation is an important model and Barghouti (and others in the campaign) are clear that this model does not mean the Israeli-South Africa comparison is identical but that circumstances are comparable is well made when it comes to analysing the character of the political states, the same rigour is not applied to the campaigns themselves. In other literature (e.g., Rich Wiles (ed) Generation Palestine) there are useful comparisons to BDS-type campaigns in the Indian independence struggle or US Black Civil Rights and Liberation struggles; there is a risk here that the anti-apartheid campaigns of the 1950s-1980s may be seen as a model rather than comparable. Crucially, the BDS campaign seeks to isolate Israeli institutions, not Israelis, which is quite different to the South African campaigns which sought the total isolation of South Africa; this fundamental difference is referred to repeatedly but is not elaborated yet it is a vital point for activists; what exactly does this mean in practice?
Despite these problems, this remains an essential introduction to this emerging major global campaign. Barghouti is a public intellectual of the highest order, and organic outgrowth of Palestinian politics who steps beyond the limited and ossified structures associated with the ‘peace process’ of the 1990s and early 2000s and demands a focus on colonial relations in all of that area of land we now know as Israel/Palestine. He is a writer to whom we need to pay attention.
The principal strengths are two-fold; first, he outlines the rationale for the campaign, its underpinning presumptions and rebuttals to the key objections; second, these are fairly bite sized pieces – leaving aside the 35 page introduction, there is nothing here more than about 20 pages. This is, therefore, a good way into the issue. The two major new pieces are the first two substantive essays addressing the key issues of why now and why BDS as an approach; these are timely, clear, accessible and lucid outlining the rationale on both fronts. He is critical both of the tendency of the ‘international community’ (a metaphor for the US, EU and allies), Palestinian Authority, Arab states and others in their tolerance of Israel’s violations of international law. There is also a useful set of papers exploring issues round the academic boycott and the cultural boycott as well as a group exploring tactics and strategies.
The book has several additional positive factors; Barghouti writes well and accessibly and is therefore able to take sceptical (but I suspect not hostile) readers through the arguments that Israel meets the legal definition for apartheid in respect of all three sections of the Palestinian population (more obviously the citizens and those in the Occupied Palestinian Territories). This accessibility also allows him to outline complex issues, including legal, in a clear and lucid manner. He stresses, repeatedly, that the BDS campaign is rights based; it does not propose a necessary solution (although he favours a single democratic secular state) but looks to address the key issues confronting the three population sectors, and also that in being rights based the international campaign can develop in a way that best suited to local conditions, with the precondition that campaign supporters recognise Palestinian leadership. These aspects make the book a valuable contribution to attempts to make sense of the issue.
There are some notable weaknesses. Many of the chapters have been previously published and Barghouti notes that rather than substantially rewrite he opted to maintain the integrity of each (and therefore to maintain the coherence of each, facilitating a bite-sized approach to reading). The downside is that there is a tendency to repetition.
A more significant weakness is that while the anti-apartheid campaigns and the South African situation is an important model and Barghouti (and others in the campaign) are clear that this model does not mean the Israeli-South Africa comparison is identical but that circumstances are comparable is well made when it comes to analysing the character of the political states, the same rigour is not applied to the campaigns themselves. In other literature (e.g., Rich Wiles (ed) Generation Palestine) there are useful comparisons to BDS-type campaigns in the Indian independence struggle or US Black Civil Rights and Liberation struggles; there is a risk here that the anti-apartheid campaigns of the 1950s-1980s may be seen as a model rather than comparable. Crucially, the BDS campaign seeks to isolate Israeli institutions, not Israelis, which is quite different to the South African campaigns which sought the total isolation of South Africa; this fundamental difference is referred to repeatedly but is not elaborated yet it is a vital point for activists; what exactly does this mean in practice?
Despite these problems, this remains an essential introduction to this emerging major global campaign. Barghouti is a public intellectual of the highest order, and organic outgrowth of Palestinian politics who steps beyond the limited and ossified structures associated with the ‘peace process’ of the 1990s and early 2000s and demands a focus on colonial relations in all of that area of land we now know as Israel/Palestine. He is a writer to whom we need to pay attention.
Read
June 25, 2024Barghouti, who is a member of the BNC, succinctly lays down the argument for BDS and slashes down common myths about the BDS movement in this surprisingly readable publication from Haymarket Books.
Anyone who is able to read this work and still accuse BDS of antisemitism or even hatred is, in my view, doing so out of bad faith; Barghouti emphasizes time and again how the global call for BDS not only didn't exclude Israelis, but actively invited us to participate as accomplices. I strongly recommend this book for any advocate of Palestine. Personally, my understanding of the necessity & history of the BDS movement had increased substantially by the time I put down the book.
Format & content wise, beware that the second half of the book includes mainly regurgitated content including interviews and essays, both by the author and by outside contributors. The message of each source is cogent, but at times they are repetitive, since different sources often overlap in some of the data and talking points they utilize when talking about the same issue.
Anyone who is able to read this work and still accuse BDS of antisemitism or even hatred is, in my view, doing so out of bad faith; Barghouti emphasizes time and again how the global call for BDS not only didn't exclude Israelis, but actively invited us to participate as accomplices. I strongly recommend this book for any advocate of Palestine. Personally, my understanding of the necessity & history of the BDS movement had increased substantially by the time I put down the book.
Format & content wise, beware that the second half of the book includes mainly regurgitated content including interviews and essays, both by the author and by outside contributors. The message of each source is cogent, but at times they are repetitive, since different sources often overlap in some of the data and talking points they utilize when talking about the same issue.
September 13, 2024
The exploitation of Nelson Mandela’s cause is ramping up in America. Those in power are forced to appropriate him like they did MLK jr and like India did Ghandi. This is because people are figuring out that the war on Palestine is bullshit. There is a vicious apartheid, horrible war crimes, and many other things very much like there was in South Africa. This is again powerful people exploiting religion towards violence, mass incarceration, and surveillance ends.
The same post South African apartheid optics will surely happen in America and Israel after it’s all over, and it is clear which side of history your conscience needs to be on. Universities will award honorary degrees to the leaders of a movement that they did everything during the war to squash.
It’s not about ethics to these people in power, it’s about being on the right side of bottom lines when optics are due. No one remembers who you supported before the turn of political awareness. No one remembers a few years ago, let alone a hundred years ago.
And so folks in power just wait without much of anything to feel about it. The “zionists” in power simply balance budgets for what they can scapegoat to their conscience as the consumer. And for the people beneath them, history repeats itself in reverse from the sublimated denial of generational trauma, reexperienced from a position of emotional power.
I won’t get into the optics of political concerts these day since it will take some grieving time to see that one clearly. Just already sad for me when people actually do put ethics before bottom lines and you don’t get to hear about it. It’s drowned out by the mainstream media. Political talking points, as partisan and dividing as they appear, are still often used to heard the data chess pieces onto the right territories. The he said, she said is becoming a big well funded distraction campaign. Let people think for themselves.
The same post South African apartheid optics will surely happen in America and Israel after it’s all over, and it is clear which side of history your conscience needs to be on. Universities will award honorary degrees to the leaders of a movement that they did everything during the war to squash.
It’s not about ethics to these people in power, it’s about being on the right side of bottom lines when optics are due. No one remembers who you supported before the turn of political awareness. No one remembers a few years ago, let alone a hundred years ago.
And so folks in power just wait without much of anything to feel about it. The “zionists” in power simply balance budgets for what they can scapegoat to their conscience as the consumer. And for the people beneath them, history repeats itself in reverse from the sublimated denial of generational trauma, reexperienced from a position of emotional power.
I won’t get into the optics of political concerts these day since it will take some grieving time to see that one clearly. Just already sad for me when people actually do put ethics before bottom lines and you don’t get to hear about it. It’s drowned out by the mainstream media. Political talking points, as partisan and dividing as they appear, are still often used to heard the data chess pieces onto the right territories. The he said, she said is becoming a big well funded distraction campaign. Let people think for themselves.
July 21, 2025
highlyyyy recommend! great explanation about the importance of boycotting, and also the control colonial powers carry, and HOW IMPORTANT BOYCOTTING ART/ACADEMIA, etc is.
October 24, 2024
Boycott Divestment Sanctions (BDS): The Global Struggle for Palestinian Rights by Oman Barghouti feels far too timely even though it was first published in 2011. With all the work the BDS movement has done and the accomplishments it has made, BDS should feel far more dated than it does. Most of the book is as applicable today as it was the day it was written. Barghouti explains the BDS movement, the goals, the history, the link to South Africa, and some early accomplishments even as he details the pushback and criticism the BDS movement has received ever since its inception. BDS demonstrates why the BDS movement is so important in the fight for Palestinian rights. Barghouti reminds the world that as powerless as we often feel in exacting change, BDS has the power to impact economies and therefore world systems. It is a powerful reminder our choices affect the world. BDS is inspiring for anyone aspiring to get more involved in the BDS movement, whether to embrace boycotts in one's personal life, divest one's portfolio or encourage state and local governments to divest, or to push for sanctions from countries, states, and other entities.
September 12, 2025
Mr.Barghouti articulates so many things that we have known at a gut level, but couldn't put into words. #BDS is the very least people of conscience can do in the face of Israeli apartheid and the slow genocide (particularly) of Gaza. Common sense and common humanity require us to act.
July 7, 2024
A selection of articles about what Boycott, divestment and sanctions are, how they helped topple the apartheid regime in South Africa, and how they are being used to pressure the Israeli government to end its apartheid of the Palestinians.
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