The United States, a country where freedom of speech is supposedly guaranteed by the constitution, has banned Omar Barghouti from entering to fulfil a speaking tour. Omar Barghouti is the….
The United States, a country where freedom of speech is supposedly guaranteed by the constitution, has banned Omar Barghouti from entering to fulfil a speaking tour.
Omar Barghouti is the highly-respected co-founder of the Palestinian-led, global Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) Movement for Palestinian rights. The BDS movement itself grew out of the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI) initiative that Omar Barghouti had co-founded in 2004 with prominent Palestinian academics and cultural figures.
Our BDS organisations offer a means for the world to engage with Palestinians in a global non-violent resistance movement against Israeli settler colonialism, apartheid and occupation. Israel’s apartheid regime is fighting unscrupulously against BDS and its most effective spokesperson.
In Trump’s America Israel has a truly fitting partner. We call on supporters of the rights of Palestinians everywhere to protest this outrageous and unjustified attack on freedom of speech and of pro-Palestinian advocacy. The most effective way to do so is through intensified BDS campaigns to hold Israel to account.
Signed
Academics for Palestine (AfP, Ireland)
Association des Universitaires pour le Respect du Droit International en Palestine (AURDIP)
BDS Académico en Argentina
Belgian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (BACBI)
British Committee for the Universities of Palestine (BRICUP)
Faculty for Palestine (F4P, Canada)
Indian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (InCACBI)
Moroccan Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (MACBI)
Norwegian Committee for Academic and Cultural Boycott of the state of Israel (AKULBI)
Sydney University Staff for BDS
Tunisian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (TACBI)
US Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (USACBI)