In an important show of solidarity, 500 individuals participated in pro-Palestine activities on Friday 19 March in Melbourne, Australia, protesting against both the brutality of Israel’s actions in recent weeks and the ongoing support of the Australian government for Israeli apartheid. Omar Hassan writes from Australia. Read more about In Australia, a day of solidarity with Palestine
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon described the blockade of Gaza “unacceptable” on 27 December 2009. Palestinian civil society organizations in Gaza assert that this “constitutes a gross understatement of the actual situation which amounts to slow genocide. Such an understatement suggests that you are trimming your language to accommodate US pro-Israeli policy.” Read more about Gaza civil society to UN chief: siege more than "unacceptable"
Effectively canceling a planned speaking tour, the US consulate in the Netherlands has put an extended hold on the visa application of award-winning Palestinian journalist and photographer Mohammed Omer, scheduled to speak on conditions in Palestine, on 5 April in Chicago. Read more about Protest the US' silencing of Palestinian journalist Mohammed Omer
Early yesterday morning, the University of California Berkeley Student Senate (ASUC) passed a bill to divest from companies that provide military support for the Israeli occupation of Palestine. Debate began the night before at 9:00pm and ended and six hours later when the vote was held at 3:00am. Read more about UC Berkeley student senate votes in favor of divestment
Abdelnasser A. Rashid, Johnny F. Bowman and Maryam Monalisa Gharavi12 March 2010
We students at Harvard University are disturbed by the racist and inhumane comments of Martin Kramer, Visiting Scholar at the National Security Studies Program at the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs. We have become even more alarmed that rather than taking a dissociating or even strictly neutral stance against such extremist and hateful statements, the Weatherhead Center issued a defensive response. Read more about Harvard students condemn center's defense of fellow's racist statements
The BDS National Committee (BNC) is calling on you to unite in your different capacities and struggles for a Global BDS Day of Action on 30 March 2010 in solidarity with the Palestinian people and for boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) against Israel. The BNC calls on people of conscience and their organizations around the globe to mobilize in creative, concrete and visible BDS actions to make this day a historic step in the movement against Israel’s apartheid, colonialism and occupation, for accountability of the oppressor and for the fulfillment of the rights and dignity of the Palestinian people. Read more about Land Day to be marked with Global BDS Day of Action
The Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions National Committee is deeply disturbed by the inaccurate and inflammatory insinuations made by French Prime Minister Francois Fillon during his speech at the annual dinner of the Representative Council of French Jewish Institutions, 3 February 2010. Fillon’s remarks came in the context of expressing commitment to fighting anti-Semitism, implying that the boycott against Israeli products may somehow be anti-Semitic. Read more about Boycott committee rejects French PM's smearing of movement
As geographers, faculty, students and people of conscience, we are profoundly dismayed by the International Geographical Union’s decision to hold its July 2010 regional conference in Tel Aviv, in violation of the widely endorsed Palestinian civil society call for Boycott, Divestments, and Sanctions against Israel. Read more about Geographers and academics protest union's Tel Aviv conference
Despite Israel’s oppressive tactics against it, the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement has marked additional victories with many institutional investors divesting from or blacklisting Israeli military contractor Elbit Systems. Adri Nieuwhof reports for The Electronic Intifada. Read more about Scandinavian financial institutions drop Elbit due to BDS pressure