Thousands of people are expected to take part in protests at supermarkets as part of a National Day of Action on Saturday 5 April in support of a new boycott campaign launched by Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC): ‘Don’t Buy Apartheid’.
Don’t Buy Apartheid
The Don’t Buy Apartheid campaign asks individual consumers as well as shops, restaurants, and venues, to take two actions in solidarity with Palestinians: boycott Israeli produce, and boycott Coca-Cola.
Israeli fruits and vegetables such as avocados, peppers, herbs and dates are stocked widely in the UK. But Israeli agricultural export companies, like Hadiklaim, Mehadrin and Edom, operate farms and packing houses in illegal settlements built on stolen Palestinian land in the occupied West Bank.
Operating in these settlements is illegal, and the appropriation of Palestinian resources like water is a war crime according to international law.
Coca-Cola’s franchisee in Israel, the Central Bottling Company, also known as Coca-Cola Israel, owns a regional distribution centre and cooling houses in the illegal Atarot Settlement Industrial Zone in occupied Jerusalem.
The settlement is part of Israel’s strategy to isolate, fragment and force out Palestinians from the city. The Don’t Buy Apartheid campaign targets all of Coca-Cola’s brands including Schweppes, Fanta, Sprite, Innocent and Costa Coffee.
In July 2024 the International Court of Justice (ICJ) issued an advisory opinion which found that Israel’s decades-long military occupation of the Palestinian territory was unlawful, and that its “near-complete separation” of people in the occupied West Bank breached international laws concerning racial segregation and apartheid.
The ICJ affirmed that Israel must make reparations to Palestinians for damages caused by its occupation, adding that the UN Security Council, the General Assembly and all states have an obligation to not recognise Israel’s occupation as legal. Corporations enabling these international crimes must also be held accountable.
Meaningful solidarity is urgently needed
Israel’s genocidal attacks on the Gaza Strip have given rise to a mass movement in solidarity with Palestinians. Millions in Britain have taken to the streets to oppose Israel’s genocide and the UK government’s complicity in it through military, diplomatic and financial support.
In an echo of the South African anti-apartheid campaign, Don’t Buy Apartheid seeks to channel the deep anger felt by so many into a mass campaign to economically isolate Israel’s regime of oppression.
This Saturday is the first day of national Don’t Buy Apartheid actions, with PSC branches across the country picketing supermarkets, holding rallies to draw attention to the campaign, and calling for the targeted goods to be removed from the shelves. As part of the campaign, PSC branches will engage with local shops, restaurants and venues to ask them to take the boycott actions and ensure their shop is an apartheid-free zone.
Lewis Backon, PSC Campaigns Officer, said:
Meaningful solidarity actions could not be more urgent as Palestinians continue to face Israel’s genocide in the Gaza Strip, and its military attacks, land grabs and ethnic cleansing in the West Bank.
Don’t Buy Apartheid is a way for people to show their commitment to the cause of justice and freedom for Palestine in their everyday lives, by refusing to support Israel’s apartheid economy. Companies profiting from Israel’s colonisation and military occupation of Palestinian land need to realise they’re not welcome in UK shops, restaurants, venues and homes.
Together we can support the Palestinian struggle to bring down Israel’s pernicious system of apartheid, just as people of conscience globally helped end apartheid in South Africa.
Featured image supplied
