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Scottish TUC commits decisively for Boycott, Divestment & Sanctions

Jeudi, 23 avril 2009 - Jeudi, 23 avril 2009 - 17h45

Thursday 23 April 2009

> *Breaking news....*

> Scotland today joined Ireland and South Africa when the Scottish
> Trade Union Congress, representing every Scottish trade union, voted
> overwhelmingly to commit to boycott, divestment and sanctions against Israel.

>. This is the third example of a national trade union
> federation committing to BDS and is a clear indication that, while
> Israel can kill Palestinians with impunity and Western support, it
> has lost the battle for world public opinion. It is now seen to be a
> state born out of ethnic cleansing and still expanding through the
> violent dispossession of the Palestinian people.
>
> Speaker after speaker expressed intense anger at Israel’s butchery of
> 1,300 Palestinians in Gaza over the New Year, as well as the much
> longer history of Israeli ethnic cleansing of Palestinians. The vote
> followed a visit to Israel/Palestine by an STUC Delegation in March
> which heard from a wide range of trade union and other bodies and
> returned with a unanimous recommendation that the parent body adopt BDS
>
> The STUC move to a position of BDS followed debate on the Delegation
> report with affiliated unions as well as consultations across
> Scotland. There were written and oral submissions from Zionist as
> well as human rights bodies.
>
> The commitment to BDS was made despite aggressive lobbying by Zionist
> groups, including an absurd warning that a commitment to active
> support for Palestinian human rights would lead to attacks on
> Scottish Jews, and the parachuting into Scotland of the Histadrut’s
> Head of Communications from Israel.
>
> The STUC’s new position is a dramatic breakthrough which has the
> potential to greatly accelerate the boycott campaign already underway
> in Scotland against, for example, Israeli companies and sporting or
> cultural visits. The Scottish Government earlier in the year yielded
> to public concerns and cancelled a trade delegation to Israel.
>
> It will also make easier the task of building a mass boycott campaign
> across the land surface of Scotland, in every town and small
> community, in every supermarket and every sporting and cultural event.
>
> Israel’s New Year mountain of corpses in Gaza, together with its
> frequent murder of unarmed civilians across Palestine was only the
> latest in a long series of Israeli massacres. We may be unable to
> stop the next one, but our job of building the sort of mass BDS
> campaign that can confront Israeli violence with a countervailing
> force has just become easier. An aroused world opinion is increasingly
> ready to ensure that all don’t die in vain.
>
> We can only offer hope to the hard-pressed Palestinians that their
> freedom is coming, however long Israel and its allies work to delay
> it.
>
> /Speaking prior to the debate, STUC General Secretary, Grahame Smith, said:
> “The STUC General Council is recommending support for boycott
> and calls for sanctions against Israel because of its attacks on the
> human rights of Palestinian people and its breaches of international
> laws./
> /Mr Smith continued: “On our recent visit to Israel and Palestine we
> witnessed the human rights violations experienced by ordinary
> Palestinians on a daily basis. We saw how restrictions on movement
> and checkpoints prevent people from going to work, to school and to
> visit their families – even when they are sick and dying.” /

> /“We heard powerful arguments from the Palestinian Human Rights
> Organisation, Al-Haq, outlining how Israel is in breach of the Geneva
> Conventions, and the need for other signatories to international laws
> to hold Israel to account.”/

> /“Our delegation also met with the leadership of Israeli trade union
> centre, Histadrut, and the Palestine General Federation of Trade
> Unions. The STUC has carefully considered the complex issues involved, > and we believe that we have a moral obligation to show solidarity to > Palestinian people.” /Read full STUC Press Release
>
> View the STUC General Council Recommendation on BDS passed at
> Congress today in Perth. The significant paragraphs are:
>
> /6.1 The General Council is recommending that Congress should take a
> position of:/ *
>
> /supporting boycotts and disinvestments against lsrael,/ *
> *
>
> /calling for sanctions against lsrael,/ *
>
> /encouraging positive investments in the occupied territories./
> /6.6 The STUC acknowledges its relationship with both PGFTU and
> Histadrut and supports the development of a constructive dialogue
> between them. The STUC will explain its position on BDS to Histadrut,
> and will, over the next 12 months, raise with them Histadrut
> positions in relation to Gaza and the Occupied Palestinian Territories.
> The STUC will review its relationship with Histadrut in this context.
> /
>
> Join the discussion - join the campaign!
>
> Executive Member of the Palestinian General Federation of Trade
> Unions: Manawel Abdelall speaking in Scotland this week.
>
> *Thursday 23 April, 7.30pm: Glasgow*
> *with Keith Hammond, BRICUP*
> *STUC building, 333 Woodlands Road*
>
> *Friday 24 April, 6pm: Edinburgh*
> *Augustine Church Centre, George IV Bridge*
>
> Join Scottish PSC- we are all volunteers with no paid staff - or make
> a financial donation to help us continue campaigning work:
> Send a cheque to:
>
> Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign
> c/o Peace & Justice Centre
> 2 Princes Street
> Edinburgh EH2 4BJ
>
> secretary@scottishpsc.org.uk
> www.scottishpsc.org.uk
> SPSC is affiliated to the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (UK) www.
> palestinecampaign.org
>
> ****************
> "If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the
> side of the oppressor" - Archbishop Desmund Tutu

>
> Personal website: www.monabaker.com
>
> Resources for Translation Studies:
> www.monabaker.com/tsresources/
>
> Click here to visit Birzeit’s Right to Education Site: http://
> right2edu.birzeit.edu/
>
> US Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel
> http://usacbi.wordpress.com/
> www.bdsmovement.net
> www.pacbi.org
> http://boycottzionism.wordpress.com/
> http://stopthewall.org/
> http://www.uridavis.info/
> http://www.bricup.org.uk/
> http://www.scottishpsc.org.uk/Events/events_boycott.html
> http://www.labournet.net/world/0209/pappe1.html
>
> To join the International Association of Translation & Intercultural
> Studies, click here:
> http://www.iatis.org/content/membership.php
>
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