Why a Cultural Boycott of Israel Is Necessary

Remi Kanazi
June 4, 2008

A cultural boycott does not hinder the prospects for peace; rather, it serves to empower conscientious Israelis and Palestinians, and it provides the international community with a viable nonviolent solution to the current impasse.

At what point does rhetoric stop and effective action begin? For Palestinians, decades of dialogue and supposed peace overtures have proved fruitless, only serving to protect the status quo: 60 years of continual dispossession, 40 years of occupation, and a systematic repudiation of international and humanitarian law. The situation for Palestinians will not improve without constructive movement forward—which rejects collusion with the Israeli government by exercising boycott, divestment, and sanctions (known as B.D.S.).

During the 1980's, B.D.S. of South Africa included a cultural boycott whereby musicians and artists from around the world were prohibited from performing in the apartheid state.

In addition to internationally supporting the subjugated Black population, this policy was instituted to express that no real dialogue—economic, academic, or cultural—could take place in concert with the atrocities of apartheid. With regard to Israel, the implementation of international B.D.S. is but one necessary measure to shift the balance away from the oppressor and help place it in the hands of the oppressed.

http://www.worldpress.org/Mideast/3165.cfm