Five major trade unions in the Galicia region of the Spanish state have announced their support for boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) against Israel. Below is an English translation of the statement they released on January 9.
Manifesto of the Galician trade unions supporting the global movement for a campaign of Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) against Israel
In the words of Nelson Mandela, the Palestinian struggle for justice became “the greatest moral issue of our time”. The brutal Israeli siege on Gaza represents nowadays the most critical and urgent of all Israeli injustices against the Palestinian people in the form of endless violations of human rights and international humanitarian law.
Palestinian civil society, through the Palestinian BDS National Committee (BNC), issued a call for a campaign of boycotts, divestment and sanctions against Israel addressed to people of conscience and all organizations of civil society around the world. Inspired by the campaign of boycott against South African apartheid, this initiative is considered as the most effective means of ending the colonial occupation and apartheid in Palestine and holding Israel accountable to international law in order to restore peace.
The BDS campaign is a peaceful initiative led since 2005 by civil society organizations, political parties and trade unions which represent the Palestinian population, and supported by a worldwide network of entities that make up the solidarity movement with the Palestinian people.
The BDS campaign launches a worldwide call to establish pressure measurements against Israel and prevent any economic, political and business relations with a state that violates international law and breaches UN resolutions. This civil initiative is even more necessary, given that the attitude of the European Union and its Member States, which remain indifferent to the repeated violation of human, civil and political rights of the Arab population of Palestine.
That’s why the BDS campaign calls for boycott against Israel, its institutions and companies, and for divestment from companies that profit from the Israeli occupation and/or the denial of the refugees’ rights.
Given that all forms of international intervention have until now failed to convince Israel to comply with international law or to end repression of Palestinians (sieges, indiscriminate and brutal killings, wilful destruction, the racist colonial wall, etc).
The undersigning trade unions announce our support to the BDS campaign against Israel, and we commit not to cooperate with the policy of apartheid in Palestine and the illegal occupation in their territories.
Furthermore, we commit to publicly denounce all those Galician institutions and companies that cooperate or legitimize the colonial occupation of Palestine and/or place their economic, political or other kind of interests before the Palestinians’ rights.
Finally, the signatories of this manifesto decided to commit to this campaign because it is based on the defence of Human Rights as universal, indivisible and interdependent (article 30 of his statement), and it’s a civil way to change situations of injustice and institutional violence and to move towards justice and peace. We consider that boosting the BDS campaign against Israel, according to our ability, is a legitimate tool until it complies with international law by:
Ending the military occupation of Palestine.
Dismantling the West Bank wall.
Ending the racial discrimination system.
Lifting the blockade on Gaza, totally and definitively.
Recognizing the rights of Palestinian refugees to return to their homes and properties.
Galiza, 8 January 2013.
ENDORSED AND SIGNED BY
UGT – Unión General de Trabajadores
CCOO – Comisións Obreiras de Galicia
CIG – Confederación Intersindical Galega
CNT – Central Nacional de Traballadores
CUT – Confederación Unitaria de Traballadores
