September 22, 2014
"The absence of meaningful action from governments to hold Israel accountable to international law leaves upon one path for citizens of conscience: to take this responsibility upon themselves, as done against apartheid South Africa … I believe that the BDS [boycott, divestment and sanctions] initiative is a moral strategy which has the demonstrated its potential for success."
- Stephane Hessel, French resistance hero, Nazi concentration camp survivor and co-author of the 1948 International Declaration of Human Rights
Late last month an assembly was held in the city of Cagliari to strategize in opposition to military drills and weapons testing in Sardinia — which has badly damaged the environment — and to establish concrete and long-lasting pathways to implement and develop boycott, divestment and sanctions campaigns in Sardinia in support of Palestinian rights.
I was asked to participate in the meeting via Skype. However, I am in Gaza and cannot guarantee that I would have power at the appointed time — households here only receive approximately six hours of electricity per day. So I recorded the above video to ensure that a message from Gaza would be presented at the meeting. In addition, a group of photos were sent from Gaza which show Palestinians calling for an immediate and comprehensive military embargo on Israel.
In the video, recorded immediately after the 51 days of bombing came to an end, I describe the final days of this summer’s Israeli aggression in the Gaza Strip and encouraged Italians and Sardinians to pressure their elected government to stop Italian military cooperation with Israel.
Building and strengthening cohesion, support and coordination across local and international boundaries through conferences like this is crucial for solidarity movements to be effective.
I am tremendously grateful to our Italian comrades who organized this conference for their steady and painstaking efforts as well as to all solidarity activists around the world.
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