COALITION AGAINST ISRAELI APARTHEID
From October 6 to 9, an important conference, The Struggle Continues: Boycotting Israeli Apartheid, was held in Toronto. Organized by the Coalition Against Israeli Apartheid (CAIA), the conference drew about 600 over the course of the weekend. The goal of the conference organizers is to win as broad support as possible for a national boycott, divestment and sanctions campaign capable of challenging Israeli apartheid and the support for it by the Canadian state.
CAIA was initially formed by a group of activists that had come together to protest a visit in November 2005 by then-Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. Organizers drew 200 to a public event and over 250 to a lively demonstration against Sharon. In the wake of this successful model of public education and action, the organizing groups decided to work together in support of the Palestinian struggle. There was agreement to focus on the apartheid nature of the Israeli state and CAIA was launched, adopting the Palestine call for a Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign against Israel as its basis of unity.
The timeliness and resonance of this initiative was confirmed by the success of the conference. Participants included activists from unions, university campuses, various Palestine support groups and other community organizations. A few activists from across Canada and the US were at the conference as well as a number of guests from Palestine support groups in Palestine, South Africa and the Britain. A significant number of unions were represented, although, with the exception of the Canadian Union of Public Employees Local 3903, few unions sent local activists.
One recurrent theme was the parallel between the current initiative and the historic movement to end apartheid in South Africa. The discussion pointed to one problem in the anti-South African apartheid movement, its failure to make links to other Left-wing social movements.
Another issue stressed was the importance of politically isolating the Israeli state. The fact that Israel is vulnerable to an academic boycott provides an excellent opportunity for campus activists to do political work around this issue.
Overall the meeting was a big success but not without some issues for future discussion and education. There was a reluctance to offer political criticism of organizations like Hezbollah and Hamas.
And an important challenge facing the struggle against Israeli apartheid will be to make it clear that anti-Semitism must not be tolerated. We oppose the Israeli state, not the Jewish people.
Clearly, there is much work to be done in building a strong divestment campaign and in sharpening our political understanding of the issues raised in the process.
To get involved with CAIA, e-mail endapartheid@riseup.net or go to the website by clicking here
