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People of conscience around the world are rightfully shattered, enraged, and sometimes feeling powerless. Many feel compelled to boycott any and all products and services of companies tied in any way to Israel. The proliferation of extensive โboycott listsโ on social media is an example of this. The question is how to make boycotts effective and actually have an impact in holding corporations accountable for their complicity in the suffering of Palestinians? The BDS movement uses the historically successful method ofย targeted boycottsย inspired by the South African anti-apartheid movement, the US Civil Rights movement, the Indian anti-colonial struggle, among others worldwide. We must strategically focus on a relativelyย smaller numberย of carefully selected companies and products for maximum impact. Companies that play a clear and direct role in Israelโs crimes and where there isย real potential for winning, as was the case with, among others, G4S, Veolia, Orange, Ben & Jerryโs and Pillsbury. Compelling such huge, complicit companies, through strategic and context-sensitive boycott and divestment campaigns, to end their complicity in Israeli apartheid and war crimes against Palestinians sends a very powerful message to hundreds of other complicit companies that โyour time will come, so get out before itโs too late!โ Many of the prohibitively long lists going viral on social media do the exact opposite of this strategic and impactful approach. They include hundreds of companies, many without credible evidence of their connection to Israelโs regime of oppression against Palestinians, making them ineffective. That being said, all peaceful popular efforts, including boycott and divestment, to hold all genuinely complicit corporations (and institutions) accountable for supporting Israelโs grave violations of Palestinian rights are justified and called for. It is perfectly legitimate, for instance, to boycott companies whose Israeli branch or franchise has supported Israelโs unfolding genocide in Gaza, some of which we mention below in the grassroots organic boycott targets section. Also, a company or product may make perfect sense as a boycott target in one context or city but not another. This context-sensitivity is a key principle of our movement. Regardless, we all have limited human capacity, so weโd better use it in the most effective way to achieve meaningful, sustainable results that can truly contribute to Palestinian liberation. We therefore call on our supporters to strengthen our targeted campaigns and boycott the complicit companies named onย our websiteย to maximize our collective impact. The following are the current top priority boycott targets of the global BDS movement.
Source: bdsmovement.net
