Manchester University, England. 7th December 2009. A public meeting takes place organised by the British Committee for Universities in Palestine (BRICUP). These clips feature remarks by Tom Hickey, national executive member of the Universities and Colleges Union (UCU) and BRICUP, Ronnie Kastrils, and British NGO War on Want Spokesperson Yasmin Khan responding to questions.
The aims of BRICUP are stated in a press release announcing a national tour by South African ANC leaders in support of boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) against the Zionist state in Israel.
PRESS RELEASE
“A Boycott of Israeli Goods and Institutions the British Launch of an International Campaign
LEADING FIGURES FROM THE SOUTH AFRICAN POLITICAL AND TRADE UNION LEADERSHIP WHO WORK FOR BOYCOTT AND SANCTIONS AGAINST ISRAEL WILL JOIN PALESTINIAN BOYCOTT ACTIVIST, OMAR BARGOUTI.
The debate on sanctions against Israel is about to heat up again. This week and next, there is a major initiative in the launch of a trade union boycott movement (boycott, disinvestment and sanctions or BDS) with public meetings in London, Manchester, Leeds, Glasgow and Edinburgh.
The meetings will be addressed by one of the leading Palestinian figures in the boycott campaign, Omar Barghouti, from the Palestinian Boycott National Committee (BNC). Key figures from South Africa with their own experience of the sanctions campaign against Apartheid will also speak at the meetings.
Ronnie Kasrils, who was Minister of Water and of Minister of Intelligence Services in Nelson Mandelas ANC Government, has been a life-long fighter against Apartheid, and was a leading member of the ANC in exile. He will speak about the political and economic importance of the sanctions movement in bringing the white minority Government of Apartheid South Africa to the realization that it could not preserve white privilege forever.
Joining Kasrils will be Bongani Masuku, International Officer, and George Mahlangu, Campaign Officer, of the South African trade union federation, COSATU, speaking about the campaign against Israeli goods and cooperation in Africa, and about the role of the trade union movement internationally.
The meetings are organized jointly by the British Committee for the Universities of Palestine (BRICUP), War on Want, the Scottish Trade Union Congress (STUC), and the Palestine Society at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), and supported by the Palestine Solidarity Campaign. Also speaking at various of the meetings will be Dave Moxham (Deputy General Secretary of the STUC), Terry Brotherstone (General Council of the STUC), Yasmin Khan (War on Want), and Tom Hickey (National Executive Committee member of the University and Colleges Union (UCU), and a member of BRICUP).
