PRESS ALERT: Palestinian author & co-founder of boycott against Israel movement in S. Africa

Omar Barghouti is in the country as a guest of the upcoming War Resisters International Conference (4-8 July, Cape Town). On 04 July, Barghouti will open the War Resisters International conference titled "Small Actions, Big Movements: The Continuum of Nonviolence". The complete schedule of Omar Barghouti's South African speaking events will be released in due course.

Omar Barghouti, based in Ramallah (Occupied West Bank, Palestine) is a well known Palestinian commentator and human rights activist who was actively involved in the international anti-apartheid movement during the 1980s. He is a founding member of the Palestinian Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign against Israel. In 2005, with Israel's increasing occupation and human rights abuses, Palestinians (inspired by the successful boycott and isolation of Apartheid South Africa) called on the international community to support a non-violent campaign of boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) against Israel until it complies with international law and respects human rights. Since 2005 several artists have openly boycotted Israel, various Churches and pension funds have divested from Israel and there is an increasing sanctions campaign, mainly in Europe, against Israeli banks and other finance bodies all due to the growing pressure exerted by the global Palestinian BDS movement. Click here for a Guardian Newspaper (UK) video interview with Omar Barghouti: www.youtube.com/watch?v=eAwPRjWUKd0

Barghouti holds a bachelor’s and master’s degrees in electrical engineering from Columbia University, NY, and a master's degree in Philosophy (ethics) from Tel Aviv University.

Book By Author:"Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions - The Global Struggle for Palestinian Rights"
Omar Barghouti has contributed chapters to several books including "The Case for Sanctions Against Israel" (with Naomi Klein, Slavoj Zizek, Ilan Pappe & others); "The New Intifada: Resisting Israel's Apartheid" (with Noam Chomsky, Robert Fisk, Edward W. Said & others) and "Generation Palestine: Voices from the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions Movement" (with Archbishop Attallah Hannah, Ken Loach, Iain Banks, Ronnie Kasrils, Professor Richard Falk & others).

Omar Barghout's own book, "Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions: The Global Struggle for Palestinian Rights" was published in 2011 by Haymarket Books. Archbishop Desmond Tutu has said of the book: “Omar Barghouti’s lucid and morally compelling book is perfectly timed to make a major contribution to this urgently needed global campaign for justice, freedom and peace...I have been to Palestine where I’ve witnessed the racially segregated housing and the humiliation of Palestinians at military roadblocks. I can’t help but remember the conditions we experienced in South Africa under apartheid. We could not have achieved our freedom without the help of people around the world using the nonviolent means of boycotts and divestment to compel governments and institutions to withdraw their support for the apartheid regime. ”

BOYCOTT, DIVESTMENT AND SANCTIONS AGAINST ISRAEL in SOUTH AFRICA (BDS SOUTH AFRICA)
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