PRESS STATEMENT: Over 25 Spanish and Basque municipalities endorse BDS boycott of Israel
21 December 2015
One year ago Spanish based Palestine solidarity organisations, human rights NGOs and BDS organisations jointly launched the Apartheid Israel Free Municipalities campaign.
Other recent BDS related victories in Spain, including in the Basque country and Catalunya, are:
1.
In 2014 more than 1400 academic professors and researchers in Spain, including in the Basque Country and Catalunya, endorsed the academic boycott of Israel. This list has grown since then.
2.
In May this year, after being called on by BDS supporters in Catalunya, Spanish singer Marinah Abad, cancelled her Israeli gigs in support of the BDS cultural boycott of Israel.
4.
In October 2015 the football club Sevilla FC rejected a €5 million Israel bid to publicize Israel on players’ T-shirts.
BDS South Africa has just completed a two week speaking and work tour of Spain, including the Basque Country. The trip was initiated by the NGO, Mundubat and included a
conference in Donotsia titled "The global movement for a campaign of boycott, divestment and sanctions. Against colonization, apartheid and the Israeli occupation”. The conference was attended by Palestinians, Israelis and BDS representatives from the UK, Brazil and elsewhere.
While in the Spanish State, BDS South Africa also held several meetings with various organisations, municipalities, government officials and diplomats including the South African and Palestinian Ambassadors in Spain.
The non-violent boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) against Israel campaign is indeed an international one. Being in the Basque country and Spain and learning of their campaigns, victories and achievements in the boycott of Israel as well as sharing our BDS successes from South Africa has motivated, energised and inspired all parties. We will indeed be entering 2016 more confident knowing that our movement spans various continents and includes peoples of all faiths and ethnicities from across the globe.
For more information:
Spain, Sete Ruiz: seteruiz@gmail.com / +34622280237
Muhammed Desai (currently in Madrid): +27 (0) 84 211 9988
South Africa, Kwara Kekana: +27 (0) 74 054 3826
ISSUED BY KWARA KEKANA ON BEHALF OF BDS SOUTH AFRICA
BOYCOTT, DIVESTMENT AND SANCTIONS AGAINST ISRAEL IN SOUTH AFRICA (BDS SOUTH AFRICA)
10th Floor | 23 Jorisson Street | Braamfontein Centre | Braamfontein | Johannesburg
PO Box 2318 | Houghton | 2041 | Johannesburg
T: +27 (0) 11 403 2097 | M: +27 (0) 74 054 3826 | F: +27 (0) 86 650 4836
BDS South Africa is a registered Non-Profit Organization. NPO NUMBER: 084 306 NPO
BDS South Africa is a registered Public Benefit Organisation with Section 18A status. PBO NUMBER: 930 037 446
