Speech given last night 21 June by Vivienne Porzsolt, Spokesperson, Jews against the Occupation Sydney @ Politics in the Pub Sydney RACHEL CORRIE ICON OF INTERNATIONAL SOLIDARITY WITH PALESTINE In her terrible death crushed under the blades of an israeli bulldozer, rachel corrie has become an icon of international solidarity with palestine. Her martyrdom highlights the ongoing martyrdom of the people of palestine in their daily struggle with the state of israel. In palestine, rachel corrie’s image is everywhere and she is venerated like a saint. In her youthful idealism, she embodied innocence and integrity. She embodied non-violence and international solidarity. She epitomised the remarkable growth of international support for the struggle for justice and peace in palestine. The range of international initiatives is prodigious. Largely unreported in our media, the palestinian popular resistance has been developed as a counter to both the nihilistic strategy of suicide bombings and the failure of the collaborationist palestinian authority to defend palestinian national interests in the so-called ‘peace process’. Cultural resistance is an increasingly important form of this popular struggle. The infamous occupation wall is gloriously illustrated with paintings and messages from all over the world signifying the international cultural resistance to the israeli occupation. Last year i joined the freedom theatre bus ride. The jenin freedom theatre was founded by an israeli activist arna mer to nourish and strengthen the spirits of the children in the jenin refugee camp to survive the negation of their lives in the occupation.. The freedom theatre invited internationals to join them in a solidarity freedom bus ride of villages in the west bank to highlight the various aspects and impacts of the israeli occupation. Youssef, the leader of the group, gave a passionate affirmation of non-violent cultural resistance. “we want to live, we don’t want to die! If we live and tell our stories and preserve and develop our culture, we will live for generations!” There are the numerous efforts to break the draconian blockade of gaza. We remember that this blockade was imposed by the quartet, the us, the european community, the un and russia, in support of israel, in an effort to crush the democratically-elected government of the people of palestine. I had the privilege of participating in the gaza freedom march in 2009. While most of us 1400 participants were prevented by the mubarak government from entering gaza, we certainly created quite a stir in cairo, to the delight of the egyptians. There have been a number of freedom flotillas to gaza’ culminating in the terrible slaughter of the 9 activists on the turkish boat, the mavi marmara, in 2010. I was one of four australians who joined the 2011 freedom flotilla – stay human, but we were blocked in greece through the complicity of the greek government with israel. When this happened, ex-greens party mp, sylvia hale and i tried to join the welcome to palestine campaign, a cultural festival in bethlehem, but we were locked up in israel until released by order of an israeli court. Just because we said we wanted to visit palestine! We owed our release 36 hours later to the valiant efforts of two committed israeli human rights lawyers. Our own michael coleman joined another flotilla that year and was heavily manhandled by idf forces when they boarded the tahrir in international waters. He was then detained for several days. The latest effort to break the blockade of gaza is the gaza’s ark project. This is a great project involving an international campaign to buy and refurbish a boat in gaza and, with palestinians, take it with products from gaza in an attempt to break the blockade from within gaza. It is a true partnership with the people of gaza providing them with much needed employment and economic resources. It has been endorsed by the general union of palestine workers who have written to australian unions asking for their support. What a great opportunity for solidarity action! Other international solidarity efforts are focussed on demonstrating alongside the palestinians in the west bank. These are non-violent people’s demonstrations on a weekly basis against the encroachments of the occupation wall and the jewish colonists. It is a deliberate strategy in the face of the failure of the nihilistic suicuide bombings to dent the overwhelming strength of israel. Many placards are in english, demonstrating that these non-violent demonstrations are a call to the peoples of the world to join them in their struggle. The international solidarity movement, founded in 2001, has brought together hundreds of international activists to stand by the palestinians in their non-violent struggle. They come to expose to the world the injustice and violence of the israeli occupation. Rachel corrie was one of these. Then there are the various organisations who provide protective accompanyment: olive-picking, taking children to school. The international presence helps to mitigate the violence of the army and colonists. There are numerous organisations doing this work, including the christian peacemakers, rabbis for human rights and the ecumenical accompaniers. But not completely, as the deaths of international activists like rachel show. Last year i worked with the international women’s peace service, the iwps. Like the ism, we demonstrate alongside the palestinians and pick olives with them. But we work in a rather different way from ism. We live in the village of deir istiya and stay for longer periods, building strong relationships with the activists and local people. We dine in their homes, play with their children and are invited by them to their meetings and events. This creates an intimacy and bond not possible with the usual fifo type of international support. For me, having connected in this way with the people, it was truly shocking to have to witness the destruction of two homes in hares. This was for building without a permit, which, of course, palestinians rarely get in area c, the nearly 2/3 of the west bank fully controlled by the idf. Israelis too stand side by side with the palestinians. Increasingly under attack with fascist-style repression of democracy, nevertheless, a brave few keep the flame of justice and solidarity alive. Machsom watch, (the women who monitor the checkpoints and try to moderate the violence there), combatants for peace, ta’ayush are a few of the various israeli solidarity organisations. Faithfully every week, the young israelis of anarchists against the wall join demonstrators in bil’n, nil’n, nabi saleh and the many villages in the west bank where they non-violently challenge the idf. The international solidarity is working and the israelis are increasingly concerned about it. They are tough on internationals entering israel and the west bank . Last year, the iwps had to close their house in deir istya for several months because the volunteer who was supposed to come and co-ordinate activities was turned away at ben gurion airport. But you don’t need to go to palestine to stand in solidarity with the palestinians. The main form of international solidarity now emerging is the campaign for boycotts, divestment and sanctions of israel. All of us can engage with this rapidly growing campaign. On 9 july 2005, palestinian civil society and political organisations – about 200 in total – issued a call to the people of the world to implement boycotts, divestment and sanctions on israel, in what is now famously known as the bds call. The bds movement was launched on 9 july 2005 by a wide range of palestinian civil society organsations. They called for comprehensive boycott, divestment and sanctions against israel until it abides by international law. Four days later, on 13 july 2005, the call received its first global endorsement when the un international conference of civil society in support of middle east peace, held in paris, endorsed the call in its civil society ‘action plan 2005’. The call has three basic demands on israel: 1. Ending its occupation and colonization of all arab lands and dismantling the wall; 2. Recognizing the fundamental rights of the palestinian citizens of israel to full equality; and 3. Respecting, protecting and promoting the rights of palestinian refugees All three demands are, of course, based on international law and un resolutions. Over the past almost eight years, the palestinian bds campaign has achieved more successes in various parts of the world than south africa’s campaign had in twenty years. The bds campaign focuses on the israeli state, institutions and companies linked to settlement activity and to the state, as well as on academic institutions. In the past eight years, the palestinian campaign has seen victories. At the consumer level, this has resulted, for example, in the israeli company agrexco filing for liquidation in 2011 and ahava closing its main london store and being boycotted by retailers in uk, norway, japan, canada and south africa. At the academic level, – the most recent was the decision by the association for asian american studies to endorse the academic boycott, and, two years ago, the university of johannesburg in south africa decided not to enter into any institutional relations with israeli institutions. An increasing number of artists and writers are refusing to perform in israel and issuing statements or having performances in support of the palestinian people and the bds campaign. Bono, jean luc godard, elvis costello, alice walker, naomi klein, john berger, judith butler, etienne balibar, ken loach, arundhati roy, angela davis, stephen hawking. At the commercial level there have been some successes with companies like g4s (the european parliament decided not renew a contract with g4s because of protests) and veolia and in, south africa, for example, where a company producing dates bowed to pressure and severed its relationship with israeli company hadiklaim. Divestment decisions by churches and other civil society groups as well as, for example, the norwegian finance ministry deciding to exclude israeli company elbit from the investment portfolio of the government pension fund global. Several european banks have also divested from alstom, one of veoilia’s partners in the jerusalem light rail project. At governmental level, in the case of south africa and some european countries are poised to pass legislation to label settlement products. In addition, there has also been an increase in attention given to the jewish national fund in some countries – such as the united states, south africa and scotland. In south africa, for example, a group of south african jews have set up an organisation called stop the jnf to convince jews in south africa not to support the jnf because of the use of its funds steal palestinian land, building of settlements, etc. The role that global society can and should be playing, in working towards a just peace and the liberation of palestinians and israeli jews, is to broaden and deepen the bds campaign. The call places on global civil society groups an immense task and responsibility to push forward the isolation of the israeli state until it abides by international law and un resolutions. In australia, bds has some way to go to catch up with the global campaign. But we are beginning to get going. This needs a focussed, strategic approach. A national meeting last year decided to focus on veolia and accurate labelling. A boycott of veolia has the potential for communities in all their municipalities to campaign to ensure ethical procurement and not employ for either for local transport or waste disposal, a company which has built the illegal light rail on the occupied west bank. The accuracy in labelling enables pressuring of governments to regulate accordingly. I was in the home of the tamimi family of the tiny village of nabi saleh after particpating in a demstration there. With a population of only 550, the brave of nabi saleh go every friday after prayers to demonstrate against the ongoing theft of their land and fresh water spring. In conversation, our host said to me: “you speak with empathy of the plight of the palestinians, but what are you going to do?” I said bds is the main way we can support their struggle. So, in memory of rachel corrie and the thousands of palestinians who have died in the struggle, i will finish with bassam tamimi’s challenge: What are you going to do? Bds is the main way we can give active real support and pressure israel. Let us not fail them or ourselves.
Posted on: Sat, 22 Jun 2013 01:28:41 +0000
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