Frequently Asked Questions:
1. What is BDS?
BDS stands for Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions - it is a set of tools that can be used to pressure corporations to cease involvement in bad business ventures, i.e. funding the military occupation in Palestinian territory. BDS is a nonviolent tactic to place international pressure on Israel to stop denying Palestinians freedom and equality. The key word here is "tool," meaning that supporters of Palestinian rights use these tools selectively and when appropriate and effective, not as a blunt instrument applied to all things all the time. Boycott means not purchasing goods made by companies engaged in oppressive behavior, while divestment means removing our funds from investments in companies engaged in oppressive behavior. Sanctions are government actions taken to pressure other governments into changing their behavior. Palestinian civil society (composed of over 170 organizations) has called for BDS as a tactic to put international pressure on the state of Israel, which has continued its military occupation and denied Palestinians of human rights.
2. Does BDS target individuals?
No. It is aimed at corporations and institutions tied to the occupation, not individuals. Also, contrary to popular belief, BDS does not call for the destruction of the state of Israel nor does it advocate for any specific state solution. BDS is simply a nonviolent tactic Palestinians and those in solidarity use to end the occupation as well as the human rights violations.
3. Do I have to boycott everything?
No. Campaigns focus on specific companies and products in order to highlight their role in oppression. SJP UCLA is particularly focused on American companies that have a direct and conscious role in aiding the military occupation. The companies we focus on for divestment are actively tied to the occupation.
4. How does SJP at UCLA engage with the BDS tool?
We are focused on boycott and divestment. We want the university to stop selling products made by companies that are profiting from and enabling the occupation (boycott), and we want the university to stop investing our tuition and other funds into those companies (divestment). The companies we have selected are American or international companies that are specifically involved in supporting the occupation, such as:
5. Do I have to support everything about BDS in order to support the divestment campaign?
No. You can simply agree that UCLA funds should not be invested in the companies listed above. You don't need to endorse everything about the Palestinian cause or BDS in order to support the idea of divesting funds from the corporations listed above. In fact, you don't have to agree with everything SJP stands for in order to support this campaign.
6. What is our position on dialogue?
We think there are two types of dialogue: one type that can easily become oppressive and tokenizing, and one that can be liberating and empowering.
Dialogue with no ground rules or set of values, that tokenizes people, and that fails to acknowledge power differences between groups is oppressive.
We prefer dialogue that is centered on values and goals (in our case, opposing occupation, supporting equality and human rights), that recognizes power and privilege differences between occupier and occupied, and that sets ground rules against racist, sexist, homophobic, anti-semitic, and other bigoted speech. essentially, dialogue that follows the guidelines of InterGroup Relations' programming on our campus. To see what we mean, click this link to a summary of the IGR approach.
From our constitution:
In addition to calling for economic and state pressureon Israel, the BDS guidelines also define and clearly oppose normalization. As the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel describes it,
"...international supporters of BDS are asked to refrain from participating in any event that morally or politically equates the oppressor and oppressed, and presents the relationship betweenPalestinians and Israelis as symmetrical. Such an event should be boycotted because it normalizesIsrael’s colonial domination over Palestinians and ignores the power structures and relations embedded in the oppression."
To that end, we as students in solidarity with Palestinians refrain from participating in projects that normalize the occupation. Specifically, we will not participate in collaborative or dialogue projects unless they are "based on unambiguous recognition of Palestinian rights and framed within the explicit context of opposition to occupation and other forms of Israeli oppression of the Palestinians."
(1) http://pacbi.org/etemplate.php?id=1749
(2) http://www.pacbi.org/etemplate.php?id=1107
7. What is our position on one-state or two-state?
We don't take a position on the political outcome in Palestine. That is neither predictable nor something that we in the west have a place in determining. Until Palestinians achieve liberation, any political solution cannot not be feasible.
8. Does two-state contradict BDS?
No. Although many people no longer believe that a two-state solution is viable or just, boycott and divestment are nevertheless useful tools to pressure Israel into moving towards a two state solution. Think of it this way: there is no two-state solution in which Caterpillar will continue to be bulldozing Palestinian homes in the West Bank.
9. Do you acknowledge the right of Israel to exist?
No state has a right to exist. Sometimes this question is used to make it seem like we hate Israelis or want to destroy Israel, but in reality, the main goals that we support are the same goals outlined by Palestinian society: the right not to live under occupation, the right to equality inside Israel, and the right of refugees to return to the country they were removed from.
10. Do you agree with Israel being a "Jewish State?"
Language around the ethnic or religious character of a state is very dangerous. Imagine how uncomfortable you would feel if the US was declared a Christian state?
Today, Israel already gives incredible legal and social privileges to Jewish citizens in Israel, making Palestinians into second class citizens unable to have equal rights to marriage, property ownership education, access to credit, etc. To declare that Israel would be a Jewish state would only reinforce and endorse these significant legal inequalities.
1. What is BDS?
BDS stands for Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions - it is a set of tools that can be used to pressure corporations to cease involvement in bad business ventures, i.e. funding the military occupation in Palestinian territory. BDS is a nonviolent tactic to place international pressure on Israel to stop denying Palestinians freedom and equality. The key word here is "tool," meaning that supporters of Palestinian rights use these tools selectively and when appropriate and effective, not as a blunt instrument applied to all things all the time. Boycott means not purchasing goods made by companies engaged in oppressive behavior, while divestment means removing our funds from investments in companies engaged in oppressive behavior. Sanctions are government actions taken to pressure other governments into changing their behavior. Palestinian civil society (composed of over 170 organizations) has called for BDS as a tactic to put international pressure on the state of Israel, which has continued its military occupation and denied Palestinians of human rights.
2. Does BDS target individuals?
No. It is aimed at corporations and institutions tied to the occupation, not individuals. Also, contrary to popular belief, BDS does not call for the destruction of the state of Israel nor does it advocate for any specific state solution. BDS is simply a nonviolent tactic Palestinians and those in solidarity use to end the occupation as well as the human rights violations.
3. Do I have to boycott everything?
No. Campaigns focus on specific companies and products in order to highlight their role in oppression. SJP UCLA is particularly focused on American companies that have a direct and conscious role in aiding the military occupation. The companies we focus on for divestment are actively tied to the occupation.
4. How does SJP at UCLA engage with the BDS tool?
We are focused on boycott and divestment. We want the university to stop selling products made by companies that are profiting from and enabling the occupation (boycott), and we want the university to stop investing our tuition and other funds into those companies (divestment). The companies we have selected are American or international companies that are specifically involved in supporting the occupation, such as:
- Caterpillar - sells bulldozers used to demolish Palestinian homes
- Cemex - sells cement used to build illegal settlements in the West Bank and the apartheid wall.
- Cement Roadstones Holdings - also sells cement and building materials for the settlements.
- Hewlett Packard - provides electronic technology and services for the checkpoint system in the West Bank
- General Electric - provides military equipment used in attacks on Palestinian civilians
5. Do I have to support everything about BDS in order to support the divestment campaign?
No. You can simply agree that UCLA funds should not be invested in the companies listed above. You don't need to endorse everything about the Palestinian cause or BDS in order to support the idea of divesting funds from the corporations listed above. In fact, you don't have to agree with everything SJP stands for in order to support this campaign.
6. What is our position on dialogue?
We think there are two types of dialogue: one type that can easily become oppressive and tokenizing, and one that can be liberating and empowering.
Dialogue with no ground rules or set of values, that tokenizes people, and that fails to acknowledge power differences between groups is oppressive.
We prefer dialogue that is centered on values and goals (in our case, opposing occupation, supporting equality and human rights), that recognizes power and privilege differences between occupier and occupied, and that sets ground rules against racist, sexist, homophobic, anti-semitic, and other bigoted speech. essentially, dialogue that follows the guidelines of InterGroup Relations' programming on our campus. To see what we mean, click this link to a summary of the IGR approach.
From our constitution:
In addition to calling for economic and state pressureon Israel, the BDS guidelines also define and clearly oppose normalization. As the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel describes it,
"...international supporters of BDS are asked to refrain from participating in any event that morally or politically equates the oppressor and oppressed, and presents the relationship betweenPalestinians and Israelis as symmetrical. Such an event should be boycotted because it normalizesIsrael’s colonial domination over Palestinians and ignores the power structures and relations embedded in the oppression."
To that end, we as students in solidarity with Palestinians refrain from participating in projects that normalize the occupation. Specifically, we will not participate in collaborative or dialogue projects unless they are "based on unambiguous recognition of Palestinian rights and framed within the explicit context of opposition to occupation and other forms of Israeli oppression of the Palestinians."
(1) http://pacbi.org/etemplate.php?id=1749
(2) http://www.pacbi.org/etemplate.php?id=1107
7. What is our position on one-state or two-state?
We don't take a position on the political outcome in Palestine. That is neither predictable nor something that we in the west have a place in determining. Until Palestinians achieve liberation, any political solution cannot not be feasible.
8. Does two-state contradict BDS?
No. Although many people no longer believe that a two-state solution is viable or just, boycott and divestment are nevertheless useful tools to pressure Israel into moving towards a two state solution. Think of it this way: there is no two-state solution in which Caterpillar will continue to be bulldozing Palestinian homes in the West Bank.
9. Do you acknowledge the right of Israel to exist?
No state has a right to exist. Sometimes this question is used to make it seem like we hate Israelis or want to destroy Israel, but in reality, the main goals that we support are the same goals outlined by Palestinian society: the right not to live under occupation, the right to equality inside Israel, and the right of refugees to return to the country they were removed from.
10. Do you agree with Israel being a "Jewish State?"
Language around the ethnic or religious character of a state is very dangerous. Imagine how uncomfortable you would feel if the US was declared a Christian state?
Today, Israel already gives incredible legal and social privileges to Jewish citizens in Israel, making Palestinians into second class citizens unable to have equal rights to marriage, property ownership education, access to credit, etc. To declare that Israel would be a Jewish state would only reinforce and endorse these significant legal inequalities.
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