Summary
The BDS National Committee (BNC), formed in 2008, which Barghouti presents as the Palestinian leadership, reference and guiding force of the global BDS movement (Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions: The Global Struggle for Palestinian Rights, PDF p.17, p.70-71).
Details
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“Since 2008, the BDS movement has been led by the largest coalition of Palestinian civil society organizations inside historic Palestine and in exile, the BDS National Committee (BNC).” (PDF p.17)
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“With the formation of the Palestinian BDS National Committee, BNC, in 2008, it became the reference and guiding force for the global BDS movement, which was all along based on the Palestinian-initiated and -anchored BDS Call.” (PDF p.70)
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“The BNC is a broad coalition of the leading Palestinian political parties, unions, coalitions, and networks representing the three integral parts of the people of Palestine: Palestinian refugees; Palestinians in the occupied West Bank (including Jerusalem) and Gaza Strip; and Palestinian citizens of Israel.” (PDF p.70)
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“The BNC adopts a rights-based approach and calls for the international BDS campaign to be sustained until the entire Palestinian people can exercise its inalienable right to freedom and self-determination and Israel fully complies with its obligations under international law.” (PDF p.70-71)
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“While the BDS movement is not an ideological or centralized political party, it does have a Palestinian leadership, the BNC, and a well-thought-out and clearly articulated set of objectives” (PDF p.43).
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“Incidentally, most networks, unions, and political parties in the BNC still advocate a two-state solution outside the realm of the BDS movement.” (PDF p.61)
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The BNC joined all Palestinian trade unions in the unified appeal to dockworkers’ unions after the flotilla attack, and “has warmly welcomed and endorsed the TIAA-CREF campaign” (PDF p.37, p.38).
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The BNC’s October 2008 Bilbao conference and the Bilbao Initiative made the Derail Veolia and Alstom campaign a top priority (PDF p.155-156); the Introduction dates the campaign’s Bilbao launch to November 2008 (PDF p.38), a conflict recorded under Open questions on the source page. The BNC sent the letter urging Iran’s leadership to exclude Veolia and Alstom from Iranian public works (PDF p.163). Its June 1, 2010 statement holds that “Israel’s impunity is the direct result of the international community’s failure to hold it accountable”, and with the Palestinian trade union movement it called on dockworkers to “block Israeli maritime trade” after the flotilla attack (PDF p.202).
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In Chapter 16 the BNC is “the largest coalition of Palestinian civil society unions, NGOs, political parties, and networks, representing Palestinians in the OPT, inside Israel, and, crucially, Palestinians in exile, who are the majority of the Palestinian people”, and the 2005 Call “is the reference for the global BDS movement”; allies active in specific campaigns without fully endorsing the Call are “allies in the movement but not yet full strategic partners” (Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions: The Global Struggle for Palestinian Rights, PDF p.210-211).
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The Conclusion repeats the formulation: solidarity tactics “are guided by the principles and overall strategy defined by the BDS National Committee, the BNC, which is the largest alliance of Palestinian civil society political parties, unions, mass organizations, NGOs, refugee-rights networks, and professional associations” (PDF p.217-218).
Related pages
Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions: The Global Struggle for Palestinian Rights, BDS movement, PACBI, Omar Barghouti