by elisabeth geschiere, February 15, 2012
When I arrived at the University of Pennsylvania on Friday February 3, I was thrilled to see Allen Dershowitz’s face front and center on the campus’ newspaper. Dershowitz, a well-known Harvard Law Professor and Zionist figurehead, had spoken at UPenn the night before the conference at the emergency invitation of a number of local Jewish Zionist groups whose panicky reaction to the impending BDS Conference generated the kind of controversy the press loves covering. This time, however, the self-identified pro-Israel community took controversy to a whole new level. Leading up to the conference, one Penn professor, Ruben Gur, went so far as to compare the conference organizers to ‘Nazis’ and Penn President Amy Gutmann issued a statement that fell all over itself to distance the university from the conference with declarations like “We fundamentally disagree with the position taken by PennBDS”. The Chair of the Penn Board of Trustees even introduced Dershowitz plainly stating, “We are unwavering in our support of Israel” (The Daily Pennsylvanian 02/03/12).
Yet, as Palestinian activist Ali Abunimah stated during his compelling keynote speech: “This insane hysteria about the conference tells us something about the moment we are in. In terms of the battle of ideas, we are in the end game.” The conference itself reflected this intellectual concept more emotionally. You felt excitement, solidarity, anticipation, power, and the overwhelming sense that change is inevitable in every room. This came simply from being surrounded by three hundred other active folks in the BDS movement, who were merely representatives of the thousands of people in this movement, as well as from the incredible content of the weekend-long event.
The conference opened with the first screening of a powerful new film called “Roadmap to Apartheid”. Using brilliant cinematography, the film juxtaposes how apartheid looked in South Africa and looks today in Palestine/Israel, as well as the eerily similar repression tactics and strategies of the the apartheid South African government and the Israeli government to liberation movements. It also focused on the effectiveness of the BDS movement in helping to end apartheid in South Africa, and the successes and potential of the current Palestinian-led BDS movement for affecting change in Israeli policy. I was able to meet one of the filmmakers, Eron Davidson, and MN BBC is planning on partnering with other organizations to host a screening of Roadmap to Apartheid in the Fall!
In general, the weekend was full of networking, visioning, and building. If you were not already aware, you should know: people and organizations all over the nation are inspired by MN BBC. Folks from other amazing groups such as Mondoweiss, Existence is Resistence, Adeleh NY, the US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation, Prometheus Project, WhoProfits.org and more were thrilled to be gifted a copy of our “Not Just a Bond; A Bonds with Israeli Oppression” posters as well as campaign pins. In addition, Anna Baltzer, the National Organizer for the US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation, asked MN BBC to put together a toolkit about how to develop an Israel Bonds Divestment campaign. We will be working on that project over the next number of months. Finally, people were really intrigued to hear about the lawsuit we are bringing against the MN State Board of Investment, and were energized by the fact the Bi’lin Popular Committee is one of our co-plaintiffs since that directly connects our work to the grassroots in Palestine.
While its focus was on achieving Palestinian human rights, the BDS conference was about so much more than this one struggle. It was about the rights of all indigenous people; it was about the struggle of all peoples against racism and all other forms of oppression and for equity and justice; and it was about de-colonizing the whole planet, starting with ourselves. Featured speakers Susan Abulhawa and Ali Abunimah both captured this reality eloquently in their respective addresses, and I encourage you to watch them in full. This inclusive, broad vision is what distinguishes the BDS movement from the opposition’s efforts to sustain the status quo, which is about “the few” having power over “the many”. Therefore, as we in MN BBC move our work forward both on divestment and education, I challenge us to position ourselves as one bold, active, and willing partner in a truly global struggle for justice for all.
Photo: pennbds.org