So far, almost 40 acts (and counting) have pulled out of the Sydney Festival over a controversial sponsorship deal with the Israel Embassy – a move that many are calling an attempt to ‘artwash’ Israel’s reputation in Australia. After the Festival rejected private requests to withdraw the sponsorship, activists and creatives began campaigning for a public boycott in line with the global BDS movement for Palestine. While the campaign has been growing for two decades, for many young people 2022 is the first they’ve heard of BDS movement in Australia.
To help you understand what it stands for and navigate misconceptions about the movement, here are the basics:
What is the BDS Movement?
The Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement is a form of organized protest and opposition to the Israeli government’s treatment of Palestinians. It a Palestinian-led, global campaign started in 2005 to pressure Israel to do three things:
- Withdraw its military presence and occupation of East Jerusalem, Gaza and Golan Heights in Syria (the map in this article gives context);
- Give equal rights to Arab-Palestinians living in Israel. This would require repealing the laws that unfairly target and restrict Palestinians (absentee property laws are one example), and;
- Allow displaced Palestinian refugees to return to the homes and homeland they’ve been forced to leave from 1948 onwards. This is known as the ‘right to return’ and is protected by international human rights law.
Organizers and participants in the BDS movement consider Israel’s actions against Palestinians to be a form of apartheid – in its analysis of international law, Humans Rights Watch agrees Israel has committed crimes of apartheid. The ‘boycott, divest, sanction’ strategy puts pressure on Israel’s collaborators, supporters and directly on the government itself to end the oppression of Palestinians by acting on those three goals.
- Boycotting involves people withdrawing their participation in events or institutions that support or enable the Israel government. It usually applies to cultural, sport or academic events, as well as events or institutions that receive funding from Israel.
The 2022 Sydney Festival boycott is an example of this in action – over 40% of the artists involved, plus an unknown number of staff, have pulled out due to the Festival accepting $20,000 in sponsorship from the Embassy of Israel. Superstar author Sally Rooney is another example. In 2021 she refused to sign a contract with an Israeli publisher for her latest book, as they also publicize work for Israel’s Defense Ministry. - Divesting (or disinvesting) involves removing financial support or selling off investments in companies which play a role in Israel’s human rights abuses against Palestinians. For example, groups that sold their shares in construction company Caterpillar which supplies machinery used to destroy Palestinian villages (therefore money violence against Palestinians).
- Lastly, protestors call for international governments to impose Sanctions on the Israeli government. Trade and economic sanctions are one of the main ways that governments can punish countries for committing human rights abuses, and urge them to do the right thing.
Thread 🧵On Protest
— A 🍉🥄 (@levantinegworll) January 10, 2022
Protest is inherently disruptive and the reality is asking nicely just doesn’t work. Protest must directly respond to acts of oppression which created the need to protest (1/10)
Do BDS strategies work to correct injustice?
The current BDS movement is modeled on the South African Anti-Apartheid Movement. Boycotts in solidarity with South Africa’s non-white population created a huge amount of pressure that ultimately led to the end of the racist and oppresive apartheid regime.
The anti-apartheid movement is considered to be one of the biggest social and solidarity movements ever. The call for a global boycott was made in 1959, with Tanzanian politician Julius Nyere asking people in the UK to “withdraw your support from apartheid by not buying South African goods.” As covered in this comprehensive article in The Guardian, over the next 30 years South Africa was excluded from international sporting competitions and 25% of British adults said they were boycotting South African products.
While the boycott alone did not end the apartheid regime, it played a huge role in:
- Driving global awareness to the injustices facing non-white people in South Africa;
- Uniting people around the world in solidarity, showing the public was willing to take action and expected their governments to do the same; and,
- Creating real, negative economic impact for the South African government – showing white supremacy would not pay.
The sustained effort continued until release of Nelson Mandela from prison, repealing apartheid laws and the first democratic elections in the early 90s.
Misconceptions and criticisms of the BDS movement
There are many people who support Israel’s treatment of Palestinians, and deny that any human rights abuses are taking place. They’re critical of the BDS movement and will often lash out at those who criticize Israel or stand in solidarity with Palestinian people – for example, political figures and officials branding actress Emma Watson an anti-semite.
Detractors often claim the movement is anti-semitic and that it denies Israel’s right to exist (and therefore the existence of Jewish people). However, the three BDS strategies are legitimate forms of protest aimed at the actions of Israel’s government and military, rather than Jewish people. Claims of anti-semitism are often used to deflect criticisms of Israel’s government.
Critics also say that BDS does not propose any solutions to the Israel-Palestine crisis. It does not claim to – the movement is focused on its three stated goals, intended to guarantee equal rights for Palestinians. Author, academic and activist Randa Abdel-Fattah put it succinctly on Q&A in 2021: “One state where everybody’s equal. What’s so radical about that?”
When it comes to the Sydney Festival boycott specifically, detractors have claimed that protestors are targeting the performance of Decadence, a work by Israeli choreographer Ohad Naharin. As has been specified by local organizers , this is not true – they are directly targeting the Sydney Festival organization and its board members for accepting money from a government that commits human rights abuses, thereby endorsing the actions of that government.
Ultimately, the underlying premise of BDS boycotts is very simple: these companies shouldn’t be profiting or benefiting from apartheid or human rights abuses.
I want to make clear to media reporting misinformation that the campaign aimed at @sydney_festival is about Israeli embassy funding + partnering with apartheid Israel – not any of the acts. The embassy could very well have sponsored a local act – it doesn’t make a difference.
— Jennine #SaveSheikhJarrah #SaveSilwan (@jennineak) January 7, 2022
Does this even matter in Australia?
The BDS movement wants to achieve liberation and secure human rights for Palestinians. Ensuring justice and humanity is protected in the international system should be important to all Australians – not just on this issue, but on any crisis that results in human rights abuses and leaves millions of people homeless and vulnerable.
Even if you don’t care what happens elsewhere in the world (you should though!) this is playing out in Australia too. Israel’s right-wing, expansionist government tries to influence the institutions in other countries, including Australia. It successfully lobbied for anti-boycott laws to be passed in more than 30 U.S. states. These laws mean that any organization that accepts government funding is banned from boycotting Israeli products – a huge limitation on free speech and the right to protest. Worryingly, NSW Labor Shadow Arts Minister Walt Secord has called for similar laws.
There is also growing awareness of how lobby groups try to control how Israel is discussed in Australia’s media. Renowned journalist John Lyons detailed the pressure put on Australian editors by lobbyists in his book, Dateline Jerusalem. The same lobby groups complained about an episode of Q&A that discussed the attacks on Gaza in May 2021. And to counter a single pro-boycott opinion piece about the Sydney Festival, the Sydney Morning Herald has run at least three anti-boycott op-eds.
Do all governments try to influence how they are portrayed and analyzed in other countries, to some degree? Definitely. Australia does this too. But in truly democratic countries, we deserve to know who is shaping stories and why. Just as you deserve the opportunity to criticize the actions of any government – US, U.K., Chinese, Swedish, Moroccan, Iranian or NZ – Israel should also be open to that criticism and opposition.
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