{"id":211306,"date":"2022-05-16T12:00:38","date_gmt":"2022-05-16T11:00:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=211306"},"modified":"2022-05-10T10:02:57","modified_gmt":"2022-05-10T09:02:57","slug":"boycott-is-a-powerful-film-that-needs-to-be-seen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2022\/05\/boycott-is-a-powerful-film-that-needs-to-be-seen\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Boycott\u2019 Is a Powerful Film That Needs to Be Seen"},"content":{"rendered":"

An important new documentary tells the story of anti-BDS laws and the people who have stood up to them.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Bahia Amawi speaking to journalists at a press conference outside of a Texas courthouse as seen in Just Vision\u2019s documentary Boycott.
(Photo: Jonah Candelario)<\/p><\/div>\n

BOYCOTT<\/em>
\ndirected by Julia Bacha<\/em>
\n70 min. Just Vision Films 2021<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

22 Apr 2022 – <\/em>Boycott<\/a> begins at the state capitol in Arkansas, where evangelical State Senator Bart Hester explains why he introduced legislation outlawing boycotts of Israel.<\/p>\n

\u201cI sponsored the anti-boycott bill because I felt like it\u2019s the right thing to do,\u201d says Hester. \u201cI feel like Jewish people are God\u2019s chosen people and I felt an obligation to do anything within my control or power to support them or protect them.\u201d Later in the film Rabbi Barry Block, leader of the the largest synagogue in Little Rock,\u00a0tells documentarian Julia Bacha that he strongly opposes any boycott of Israeli products but is appalled that the state is forcing people to sign loyalty oaths to the country. When asked about Block\u2019s opposition to the bill, Hester says he didn\u2019t bothering consulting with any local Jewish leaders because he doesn\u2019t agree with them.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

This disconnect hangs over Julia Bacha\u2019s powerful new film, where she follows three legal efforts to challenge state anti-Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) laws. Bahia Amawi is a Palestinian speech pathologist in Texas who gets fired after refusing to sign a contract with an Israel loyalty oath. Mik Jordahl is a lawyer in\u00a0Arizona asked to sign a similar pledge. Alan Leveritt is the publisher of the Arkansas Times<\/em> and his paper is told they will be prohibited from receiving advertising payments\u00a0from the state university unless they promise not to boycott.<\/p>\n

In 2005, 170 Palestinian civil society organizations called on the international community to boycott, divest, and sanction Israel over its human rights abuses. The movement\u2019s demands have always been clear: an end to the illegal occupation, dismantling of the \u201cApartheid Wall<\/a>\u201c, equality for Palestinian citizens of Israel, and honoring the rights of Palestinian refugees to return to their homes. According to Palestine Legal, 233 bills targeting Palestinian advocacy have been introduced across the United States in recent years and 32 states have passed laws targeting the BDS movement. These free speech restrictions generally receive overwhelming bipartisan support from lawmakers and little local resistance, as communities are often unaware of them.<\/p>\n

The motivation for these bills can\u2019t be reduced to a single source. There\u2019s the United States longstanding \u201cspecial relationship\u201d with Israel, the influence of the evangelical movement (broken down in another compelling film, 2020\u2019s \u2018Til Kingdom Come<\/a><\/em>), and the impact of pro-Israel lobbying groups. Bacha doesn\u2019t cover these components in much depth, but chooses to focus on how anti-BDS bills have been folded into our preexisting right-wing machinery. American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), the conservative nonprofit where lobbyists develop model legislation for politicians like Hester. It doesn\u2019t matter if a state has no discernible connection to Israel, or whether its population actually wants its legislators developing bills on behalf of a foreign country, now that there\u2019s a blueprint. Lawmakers simply push the same text across the country. Rinse and repeat. The anti-BDS template is already being used to target other nonviolent movements, like the effort to boycott and divest from fossil fuels.<\/p>\n

\n

The details of legislative efforts can be pretty dry stuff to read about, but the triumph of Boycott is that it puts human faces to the struggle.<\/strong><\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/figure>\n

The details of legislative efforts can be pretty dry stuff to read about, but the triumph of Boycott<\/em> is that it puts human faces to the struggle. Each person is motivated to sue their state for different reasons and their stories are interesting in their own specific ways, but you also get watch each one go through their daily lives. These aren\u2019t seasoned activists or powerful political players, they\u2019re everyday people with the courage of their convictions. \u201cI have a lot of family members that still reside in the occupied territory,\u201d says Bahia Amawi. \u201cI know what I\u2019ve seen firsthand, the injustice and inequality that goes on there..I could not stay quiet and just go on with my life while I know that this law is going to make it okay to continue this kind of oppression against the Palestinians.\u201d<\/p>\n

In another scene Greg Leding, an Arkansas Democratic State Senator, admits that he knows very little about BDS despite voting in favor of legislation. \u201cI regret not knowing more about the issue when I voted and now,\u201d he tells the filmmaker. \u201cAfter hearing from my constituents, I probably would have voted against it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Leding\u2019s admission drives home the enduring message of the movie: people can have impact on the world around them. It\u2019s no surprise that Israel\u2019s fiercest defenders are committed to making such a thing more difficult.<\/p>\n

Learn more about the film and upcoming screenings at theboycottfilm.org<\/a><\/em>.<\/p>\n

Go to Original – mondoweiss.net<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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