Recently, in La Plata, Argentina, the World Association of Community Radio Broadcasters (AMARC) joined the BDS movement. See below for the AMARC statement and a solidarity statement from Tadamon! Montreal.
AMARC 10 motion to support Palestinian civil society call for BDS (Spanish and French available here)
–Whereas Israel’s oppression of the Palestinian people comprises the following:
-Denial of its responsibility for the Nakba
– in particular the waves of ethnic cleansing and dispossession thatcreated the Palestinian refugee problem
– and therefore refusal to accept the inalienable rights of the refugees anddisplaced stipulated in and protected by international law;
-Military occupation and colonization of the West Bank (including East Jerusalem) and Gaza since 1967, in violation of international law and UN resolutions;
-The entrenched system of racial discrimination and segregation against the Palestinian citizens of Israel, which resembles the defunct apartheid system in South Africa;
Whereas Israeli media institutions and the vast majority of Israeli journalists have either contributed directly to maintaining, defending or otherwise justifying the above forms of oppression, or have been complicit in them through their silence;
Whereas all forms of international intervention have until now failed to force Israel to comply with international law or to end its repression of the Palestinians, which has manifested itself in many forms, including siege, indiscriminate killing, wanton destruction and the racist colonial wall;
Whereas people of conscience in the international community of journalists and media producers have historically shouldered the moral responsibility to fight injustice, as exemplified in their struggle to abolish apartheid in SouthAfrica through diverse forms of boycott; Whereas the growing international boycott movement against Israel has expressed the need for a Palestinian frame of reference outlining guiding principles.
In the spirit of international solidarity, moral consistency, and resistance to injustice and oppression
– Be It Resolved That AMARC 10 supports the call for Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions against Israel;
Be It Further Resolved That AMARC 10 representatives comprehensively and consistently boycott all Israeli media institutions and products as a contribution to the struggle to end Israel’s occupation, colonization and system of apartheid, by applying the following:
1. Refrain from participation in any form of cooperation, collaboration or joint projects with Israeli media institutions;
2. Advocate a comprehensive boycott of Israeli media institutions at the national and international levels, including suspension of all forms of funding and subsidies to these institutions;
3. Promote divestment and disinvestment from Israel by international media institutions;
4. Support Palestinian media institutions directly without requiring them to partner with Israeli counterparts as an explicit or implicit condition for such support;
5. Work toward the condemnation of Israeli policies by pressing for resolutions to be adopted by our respective radio stations, associations, and organizations.
Be It Further Resolved That, unless violating any of the above criteria, in the absence of official Israeli sponsorship, the individual product of an Israeli media worker per se is not boycottable.
Be it further Resolved that we do welcome the creation of community radios in Israel and welcome them to join AMARC.
–
Tadamon! Montreal Statement (Also in French)
As the world remembers the Israeli bombardment of Gaza at the turn of 2009, the Palestine solidarity movement continues to build the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) campaign against Israeli apartheid. Social justice networks globally are moving in unprecedented ways to back the growing BDS campaign, launched in occupied Palestine by civil society organizations in 2005.
Recently in La Plata, Argentina, the World Association of Community Radio Broadcasters (AMARC) held their 10th international conference and voted to join the global BDS movement.
In the first move by a major international media organization to back BDS, the decision is critically important due to the deep implication of AMARC member radio stations within grassroots social movements around the world from Africa, to Asia, to the Americas. As community radio has long been a key element to grassroots social justice movements internationally, the BDS resolution passed by AMARC in Argentina points to the increasing interconnections between the Palestine solidarity movement and liberation movements globally– an injustice to one is an injustice to all.
AMARC facilitates a network of more than 4000 community radio stations in over one-hundred countries. Since its formation over twenty-years ago, AMARC has focused on propelling the community radio sector globally in an effort to democratize the media in the face of increasing corporate media concentration. AMARC “advocates for the right to communicate at the international, national, local and neighbourhood levels and defends and promotes the interests of the community radio movement through solidarity, networking and cooperation.”
AMARC is truly a global social movement on popular access to communications and has been a revolutionary network in representing front-line community radio stations and bringing a voice to the voiceless. AMARC is truly global in its grassroots reach– from the Philippines to communities throughout Africa. In occupied Palestine, projects like the International Middle East Media Center (IMEMC), a member station to AMARC, produce regular community radio reporting on the human reality of Palestinian life under Israeli apartheid, rebroadcast by community radio stations globally.
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