Hamid Dabashi’s new book on Edward Said shows how the Palestinian intellectual became “integral to the very alphabet of our moral and political imagination.”
Omar Barghouti, co-founder of the BDS movement for Palestinian rights, writes “I rely on Mondoweiss and similar movement media to enlighten me about the extremely important U.S. context of our struggle and beyond. I have donated personally to Mondoweiss for many years, and I’m asking you now to do the same. At a time when the U.S. is joining Israel to clamp down on the rights of those who speak out for Palestine, Mondoweiss is a rare source of free speech and insightful analysis–a sign of hope for those seeking to create real change. Knowledge is power, and without power we cannot defeat oppression. I urge you to support Mondoweiss as an indispensable source of knowledge for our struggle.
Omar Barghouti addressed the European Union last week: “By trading with Israel’s illegal settlements and supporting companies that are involved in the settlement enterprise, as defined by the OHCHR, the EU is violating both obligations of non-recognition and non-assistance. The EU maintains a web of military relations, weapons research, banking transactions and settlement trade with Israeli companies, banks and institutions that are deeply implicated in human rights violations.”
Omar Barghouti’s mother Wafieh, 75, is undergoing surgery for cancer in Amman, Jordan, later this month, but Israel is preventing Barghouti, a leader of the international boycott movement, from traveling to be with her. He says the travel ban is a punishment for his activism. “Mother, forgive me,” he writes.
BDS movement co-founder Omar Barghouti writes a letter to supporters after being arrested by Israeli authorities on charges of tax evasion. Barghouti says the arrest is part of a government-led attack on the BDS movement: “Many of you have asked how best you can support me to face this latest persecution. My answer is, without hesitation … more BDS! We need to expand, mainstream and build on our many inspiring BDS campaigns, academic, cultural and economic, as the most effective way to respond to the new McCarthyism designed by Israel’s regime of occupation, settler-colonialism and apartheid and exported to states where its lobby groups enjoy massive influence. Further growing our movement for freedom, justice and equality is the answer.”
Finally, after lying through their teeth that they have “defeated” or “buried” the BDS movement, Israel’s far-right government and its lobby groups in the west are now admitting that they have failed to stop the impressive growth of the BDS movement.
Omar Barghouti writes, “Though Human Rights Watch does not endorse BDS or call for a boycott against Israel or companies profiting from its violations of international law, it actually calls for something quite radical: sanctions against Israel.”
Recent Israeli efforts to fight BDS smell of deep despair, which is giving rise to hopeless aggression, even worse bullying and patently irrational measures that can only help BDS to grow in the coming few years. Particularly noteworthy are reports on the Knesset’s anti-BDS caucus meeting which convey the universal sense in Israel of failure to stem the BDS movement’s growth and the admission that the impact of BDS may be growing beyond control.
The argument by two lifelong Zionists for the boycott of Israel to save the state is courageous, Omar Barghouti says, but suffers from the same two ills that afflict all Zionist arguments: selective amnesia and deep-seated racism.
Omar Barghouti writes the latest message in our series What Mondoweiss Means To Me: “Every year, I contribute to Mondoweiss, and I’m writing now to urge you to do the same. Here’s why: Mondoweiss is a rare beacon of free speech and insightful analysis. But more than that, the site is a vital tool for raising awareness in the US about the struggle for Palestinian rights. And given the central role that the US establishment plays in enabling Israel’s regime of oppression against the Palestinian people, shifting US public opinion towards freedom, justice and equal rights for Palestinians, as well as for all oppressed communities around the world, becomes absolutely necessary.” We are asking Mondoweiss readers to help to raise $60,000 by December 31. Please donate and tell us what Mondoweiss means to you.