DEMOCRATIC PARTY CONDEMNS ISRAELI DIVESTMENT MOVMENT
NATIONAL JEWISH DEMOCRATIC COUNCIL - At the Democratic National
Committee Winter Meeting in Phoenix, Arizona, the Democratic Party voted
unanimously to formally condemn any efforts to boycott or divest from
companies doing business in Israel. The resolution [declares] the
Democratic Party's opposition to divestment from companies doing
business in Israel and the Palestinian Authority, and commending those
of all faiths who work towards peace.
DESMOND TUTU, NEW INTERNATIONALIST MAGAZINE, 2003 - The end of apartheid
stands as one of the crowning accomplishments of the past century, but
we would not have succeeded without the help of international pressure -
in particular the divestment movement of the 1980s. Over the past eight
months a similar movement has taken shape, this time aiming at an end to
the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories captured during the
1967 military campaign. Divestment from apartheid South Africa was
fought by ordinary people at the grassroots. Faith-based leaders
informed their followers, union members pressured their companies'
stockholders and consumers questioned their store owners. Students
played an especially important role by compelling universities to change
their investment portfolios.
Eventually, institutions pulled the financial plug and the South African
Government thought twice about its policies. Similar moral and financial
pressures on Israel are being mustered one person at a time. Students on
more than 40 US campuses are demanding a review of university
investments in Israeli companies as well as in firms doing major
business in Israel. From Berkeley to Ann Arbor, city councils have
debated municipal divestment measures. These tactics are not the only
parallels to the struggle against apartheid. Yesterday's South African
township dwellers can tell you about today's life in the Occupied
Territories. To travel only blocks in his own homeland, a grandfather
waits on the whim of a teenage soldier. More than an emergency is needed
to get to a hospital; less than a crime earns a trip to jail. The lucky
ones have a permit to leave their squalor to work in Israel's cities,
but their luck runs out when security closes all checkpoints, paralyzing
an entire people.
The indignities, dependence and anger are all too familiar. Many South
Africans are beginning to recognize the parallels to what we went
through. Ronnie Kasrils and Max Ozinsky, two Jewish heroes of the
anti-apartheid struggle, recently published a letter titled 'Not in My
Name'. Signed by several hundred other prominent Jewish South Africans,
the letter drew an explicit analogy between apartheid and current
Israeli policies.
Mark Mathabane and Nelson Mandela have also pointed out the relevance of
the South African experience. To criticize the occupation is not to
overlook Israel's unique strengths, just as protesting the Vietnam War
did not imply ignoring the distinct freedoms and humanitarian
accomplishments of the United States. In a region where repressive
governments and unjust policies are the norm, Israel is certainly more
democratic than its neighbours. This does not make dismantling the
settlements any less a priority.
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