The BDS protest on Sunday, 27 February at the ugly ExCeL centre in the East End was a boost to our morale, even though an icy blast whipped up the Thames and an angry sky was threatening rain.
While at our regular picket of the Ahava shop in Covent Garden’s Monmouth Street, we are preaching to a random sample of passing shoppers, valuable as that is, – at the ExCeL, which was hosting a “Beauty“ exhibition, we were able to be much more effective because the trade was concentrated there. We are confident the word is getting around.
Even though there was a very talkative local constable assigned to stay with us throughout the time we were there, he didn’t prevent (or notice) anybody delivering regular supplies of flyers to those inside the exhibition.
Outside we had our usual presence with flags, flyers, banners and hopefully erudite information and this did attract a steady flow of enquiries, but the really effective work was taking place within the exhibition hall itself where we were able to contact all the exhibitors, as well as engange in a bit of subversive advertising.
Outside we had the time to explain our case to some of those whose curiosity had been raised inside; entrepreneurs and others in the industry and at least one building contractor who was engaged on another project inside the building. Three young men from Palestine stopped by suprised to come across a reminder of their homeland.
The eyes of an African woman who runs a Fair-trade cosmetics company in Ghana lit up with understanding when we explained – Ahava, it is the opposite – an Unfair Trade company!
What it says under the tape is: "Funds Israeli Apartheid." However, no matter how hard Zionists try, they can't cover up the truth. Photo by Tanmhiz.
Saturday, 26 February
About twenty people including Palestine solidarity campaigners and members of West London and Richmond & Kingston PSC branches braved the intermittent rain to distribute flyers and talk to visitors at London’s Natural History Museum where Veolia, a company complicit in Israeli War Crimes and violations of international law are sponsoring a photo exhibition.
This action was enhanced by the display arranged by an outdoor display produced by Richmond & Kingston PSC about Veolia and its activities in Occupied Jerusalem and the West Bank which drew much attention from visitors and admiration from other campaigners.
As soon as we hoisted the Palestinian flag on a seven-metre long pole and started to distribute flyers, people approached us to ask for the leaflets and postcards as well as offered their support. One visitor commented: “I don’t live there, but I know someone who does”. Over two hours were spent leafleting and talking to hundreds of people on the queue waiting to enter the museum, as well as those leaving.
This follows the recent Russell Tribunal on Palestine findings that Veolia is liable for serious violations of international and humanitarian law. For more information about Veolia and why it is a key international BDS target, visit the Boycott Israeli Goods Campaign site.
Veolia is already feeling the pressure of the BDS campaign – late last year it announced it was trying to divest from one of its activities in East Jerusalem and the West Bank.
We need to keep up the pressure on Veolia to cease all its illegal activities in occupied Palestine and to send a clear message to other corporations that if you conduct business with a government that violates international and humanitarian laws, you will be exposed.
Unlike previous occasions, there was no police presence. Two members of the museum staff came out for a few minutes to have a look and then left.
We, the undersigned, are aware that Ahava have a stand at Professional Beauty 2011 ExCel 27-28 February. We urge Professional Beauty to reconsider granting Ahava a stand for the following reasons:
• Ahava’s products are made with natural resources from areas in the Dead Sea which are within the West Bank, an internationally-recognised part of the Palestinian Territories
• These natural resources are taken against the will of their owners and are thus stolen
• Ahava’s products are produced in a settlement in the West Bank called Mitzpe Shalem
• All settlements in the West Bank, including Mitzpe Shalem, are illegal under international law
• Palestinians, the internationally-recognised owners of the resources and the land, do not benefit in any way from the resources and lands Ahava uses against their will
• It would be compliant to international law and decent to the true owners of the resources and land to send a strong message of condemnation to Ahava, which is an illegitimate company
The perseverance of Mulhouse activists has paid off. The manager of Sephora’s store in Mulhouse was convinced by the information given to her about Ahava’s products, which are made in the illegal settlement/colony of Mitzpe Shalem in the Palestinian West Bank and labeled “Products of Israel.”
Not wanting to encourage colonization, and not wanting to lie to her customers, she obtained permission from the regional management of Sephora to pull Ahava products from her store’s shelves.
No matter what the weather, there are always more human-rights campaigners than supporters of the Apartheid state.
Video courtesy of Seymour A.
By Bruce Levy, Jews for Boycotting Israeli Goods (J-BIG)
Despite the rain, about twenty human rights campaigners turned up outside the illegal settlement company Ahava to protest the presence of this illegal business, to publicise the plunder of Palestinian natural resources in a factory located in an illegal settlement that was constructed in defiance of international law, to call attention to the appalling treatment of Palestinians within Israel and the occupied territories, as well as raise awareness that Ahava fraudulently benefits from customs duty exemptions under the EU-Israeli Trade Agreement by labelling its illegal settlement products as from Israel.
The Ahava manager, as well as the shop assistant whose surprising anti-Semitic comments to a Jewish human-rights campaigner were caught on video in December appear to be no longer working there. As one campaigner suggested, “maybe they got bored with nothing to do and left.” Besides being mostly empty of customers, the shop frontage was looking quite run down with a missing leaflet holder and bits of paint and chipped wood observed on the door and below the windows. The shop also sported a bent hanging sign which was just as bent as the government of the Zionist state, which made ‘the little shop of horrors’ look even more appropriate.
The majority of the public were highly supportive of the Ahava boycott campaign whose fortnightly demonstrations started on 13 March 2010. “keep up the good work“, “well done” and ”we’re with you” were heard more than once. Many of the supportive comments came from people who identified themselves as Jewish, which explodes the stereotype that the majority of Jews blindly support the Zionist agenda of the Israeli government.
One campaigner reported that a couple who declined to accept a flyer from a human-rights campaigner said: “no thanks, we’re from Israel”. The campaigner replied: “OK, but I’m glad to say that there are Israelis who would agree with us!”
And there are.
Only a few Zionists (as well as a lost Welshman) that turned up didn’t accomplish very much except to help the boycott campaign, which they failed to realise.The defenders of the Apartheid state reverted to interrupting conversations that human-rights campaigners were having with members of the public and chasing after those who accepted our flyers, without realising by their actions they were guaranteeing overwhelming support for those who support liberty, justice and freedom for Palestinians.
Police were continuously warning Zionist Federation Co Vice-Chair, Jonathan Hoffman about his behaviour. Jonathan, his usual camera-shy self, ran around the corner when I tried to film him on one occasion, but made up for it later by running toward me as if to attack, which is when I took the photo. Most of the time, Hoffman was surrounded by a few of the eight police constables who were also in attendance while shouting personal insults at anyone who disagreed with him. Jonathan is highly valued by the Palestinian solidarity movement for his hard work and success in singlehandedly discrediting the Zionist movement in the UK and will be nominated for a special activist award later this year.
The next protest is scheduled for Saturday 5 March at 12 noon.
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Not Subversive Enough?
By Sue S.
What is the best way to subvert an unjust system? One day I hope to go into this in more detail, but for now I’m simply going to tell a little ‘love’ story.
A few months ago I was outside the Ahava shop in Covent Garden. At previous demonstrations, I was able to explain why I was there even before I’d arrived on Monmouth Street. That day, I’d got out my flagpole and was putting my Palestinian flag on it when someone stopped and asked me what it was all about. We had a good conversation and I spoke to a couple of other people as well.
It’s always nice to engage people and have constructive conversations than continuously chant. Many times we have to counter the Zionist “Nazi” and “they love terrorists “slurs, but I also relish our rhythmic response.
But on that day a few months ago it was a different story. I saw a young woman who’d stopped across the road looking confused at what was going on, along with her companion, so I crossed the road to speak to her. First of all, she asked why we were there. Before I’d hardly begun to explain, she criticised me for not being in Gaza. During this, a ‘male member’ (geddit?) counter-protester came up and shouted, “You’re a Nazi,” while looking directly at me.
When I explained to the woman that I was a mother and had domestic responsibilities, but plan to visit Palestine in the future, she replied “closing one little shop wouldn’t help.” Didn’t she realise that this is the only Ahava shop in the country? Not that I had a chance to mention this. But I do get her point.
So there I was, telling this woman that we have to tell all people regardless of where they live of the grave injustices suffered by Palestinians while at the same time being called a Nazi! But this didn’t appease her. She repeated herself and said I should go to Gaza. I said: “Yes, people have to go to Gaza, but don’t forget the West Bank and Palestinians in refugee camps and those overseas, not to mention those living in Israel itself.”
She then became very heated and told me I should go and ask a Palestinian, to which I replied, “Ok, there’s one over there, I’ll go and ask him” and at that point I gave up on her and did indeed ask my Palestinian friend. Of course, this Palestinian thought it well worth picketing the Ahava shop.
While one person was telling me that my actions were futile, not radical enough, another was branding me a Nazi.
The moral of the tale? Do what you can. Most of us should do more but as far as I’m concerned, if a person simply joins PSC and pays a subscription, or donates to a Palestine charity, or just signs petitions, or writes letters: every little bit helps. It has cumulative effect.
The Zionists refer to BDS campaigners as ‘fringe groups’ yet acknowledge that boycott actions have taken place in nearly all EU countries. It seems that ‘the fringe’ is spreading far and wide and becoming mainstream in Europe (and internationally) and this can only be for the good.
London BDS is non-hierarchical and has no formal membership structure – anyone who supports the BDS campaign is part of our coalition.
This site strives to document local BDS actions in both visual and written form, as well as serve as both a source of information and inspire others who want to take similar action. Though our remit is to publicise BDS events and actions taking place in and around London, we also include coverage of Palestine solidarity events taking place elsewhere, both in the UK and abroad that involve London BDS activists.
When we were “Free Palestine Fortnightly Demo”, we limited coverage to our fortnightly Ahava demonstrations in London’s Monmouth Street near Covent Garden, but eventually realised that we could best support the BDS movement by documenting all local BDS actions in the “hub of hubs” which is the title Israel’s Reut Institute gave to London in a 2010 report entitled Building a Political Firewall against the Assault on Israel’s Legitimacy – London as a Case Study.
A wide range of groups and individuals are involved in London BDS, including student, campaign and solidarity groups, environmental, political and progressive organisations, actors, singers, musicians, activists, educators, pensioners, trade union members, unemployed workers, students, professionals, people of faith, legal workers, academics, as well as others.
We enjoy strong links with similar organisations both in the UK and abroad.
If you have an action, event, article, report, website, video, image(s) or idea(s) that you would like to share with others, please do get in touch.
And finally, if you’re an organisation that would like to endorse us, we’d also love to hear from you!
On Saturday 12 February, boycott campaigners staged a Valentine’s Day picket outside Ahava. Shop staff quickly called the police and displayed a closed sign thus even further discouraging custom during the time we were there.
Many people were attracted to our brightly coloured broken heart-shaped signs that read “Ahava: Stop Breaking Palestinian Hearts”, “Settlements are Heartless”, “Apartheid is Heartless” and ”Occupation is Heartless”.
The picket not just attracted attention to the boycott of plundered goods that Ahava sells and the crimes that are being perpetrated continuously upon Palestinians by the Israeli government, but also our presence recalled the murder of Jawaher Abu Rahmah of the Palestinian village of Bil’in by the Israeli army of occupation who died on 31 December after succumbing to fatal injuries after inhaling tear gas, fired by the Israeli military during one of the village’s weekly protests against the apartheid wall and Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestine.
Jawaher was the sister of Bassem Abu Rahmah, also killed in Bil’in in 2009 when an American-made, high velocity tear gas projectile was fired directly at his chest by an Israeli soldier.
The Israeli army is notorious for attacking non-violent protestors with weapons such as different types of tear gas, sound grenades and skunk water, as well as using rubber bullets and live ammunition. Many of these deadly weapons of oppression are manufactured by American companies such as Combined Systems Incorporated (CSI), who made the tear gas that killed Jawaher and Defense Technology, which is owned by BAE Systems here in the UK. Both are major providers of tear gas to the Israeli government.
CODEPINK, an American peace organisation has created a petition with so far around 4,500 signatures that will be forwarded to CSI and our colleagues at Adalah-NY in America have generated over 1,000 e-mail messages to CSI senior executives and the US State Department. You can become part of this campaign by taking a few minutes of your time by adding your name to the petition. You can find the petition here.
As someone who has been to Bil’in on several occasions, I can myself testify to the criminally wanton use of tear gas by the Israeli military. Once after a weekly demonstration as we were peacefully walking back to the village, Israeli soldiers, who could clearly see us, fired volleys of tear gas both in front and behind our small group, forcing us to either stay where we were or run through the toxic cloud. Either way, we were exposed to the compound that causes excessive tearing, disorientation, breathing difficulties and pain.
A makeshift memorial was created directly in front of the Ahava shop that included Palestinian flags, signs, hearts and information about what happened to Jawaher. This attracted interest and many people stopped to read what was written and expressed sympathy. The public were overwhelmingly supportive, said that would tell others about the boycott campaign and expressed disgust at Israel’s actions.
The police presence on Monmouth Street consisted of one constable who arrived on a pedal bike. Another turned up, but left only after a few minutes.
The only negative feedback came from a driver of one of London’s black cabs who was carrying passengers. The cabbie stopped his vehicle, rolled down the window and asked one campaigner where exactly Palestine is. When the campaigner replied “Palestine was where the state of Israel is now”, the cabbie called the campaigner a “f***ing anti-Semite”. However, when the campaigner said that he himself was Jewish, the cabbie said that he was “f***ing doing Hitler’s work” and sped off just as the police constable approached to see what was going on. What Zionists would call those who question the illegality of Israel’s actions if either Hitler or the Nazis didn’t exist is beyond me.
It was a day not only where we raised awareness of the international boycott campaign against Ahava, but brought attention to the criminal acts carried out by the Israeli government by honouring one of its many victims.
After the picket was over we headed to the Egypt solidarity rally in nearby Trafalgar Square to celebrate the recent ouster of the Egyptian dictator Mubarak brought upon by a mass uprising. More coverage here.
Must be painful. Jonathan Hoffman, Co Vice-Chair of the Zionist Federation.
By Bruce Levy
I was beaten to the starting line today when I arrived at 11:45 by Jonathan Hoffman, Co Vice-Chair of the Zionist Federation who was already shouting and thrusting flyers at anyone who would accept them. Having decided to quit a fortnight ago, I’m sure Hoffman had second thoughts about throwing in the towel and probably reflected on how to best defend Israel while drowning a few pints at his favourite Hendon local. What better way to spend Shabbat than by yelling at and verbally abusing people – all in the name of Zionism?
Welcome back Jonathan!
No doubt that Hoffman’s Zionist Federation cronies, including the willowy, bearded flag-waving fanatic, Martin Sugarman, sleazy propagandist Richard Millett, self-proclaimed ”progressive” Ian Sternberg from Oxford and the rest of the simple-minded, pig-headed, naive, easily-led and politically illiterate Zionist riff-raff who counter-demonstrate outside Ahava were in Luton attending the anti-Islamic, English Defence League ‘love-in’ alongside its ‘Jewish Division’ figurehead Roberta Moore chanting “No more mosques” and “Muslim bombers off our streets.” This time – unusual for an EDL rally – there was hardly any violence, thanks to a massive security operation involving over 1,000 police that cost the taxpayer around £800,000.
Hoffman was later joined, but not helped very much by his mild-mannered occasional sidekick Michael and three Welsh Christian Zionists who haven’t been seen for a while. No doubt of the same ilk as their brethren who were evicted from their council-owned premises for their over-the- top support of Israel. One suspects they were drafted in by Hoffman in a last-minute attempt to boost numbers. The provocative signs displayed by these Welsh Zionists were quite bizarre and bordered on the offensive. Even some members of the public commented negatively on these signs that praised Israel and its illegal settlements. One of them read: GET ISRAEL WRONG AND YOU’LL GET NOTHING RIGHT. A boyfriend of one of the Ahava shop workers also stopped to chat and admitted that despite her employer, neither he nor his girlfriend agrees with the illegal Israeli occupation of the West Bank and its ruthless oppression of Palestinian men, women and children.
Hoffman spent his time literally chasing after people who accepted flyers from boycott activists. One passer-by quickly took one look at the Zionist Federation flyer that was aggressively thrust into her hand by ‘Hoff’ and handed it to one of the boycott activists who promptly divided it into two. Later, Hoffman attempted to tear some flyers out of a campaigner’s hands, but was stopped from doing so by the police. The “honourable” Co Vice-Chair of the Zionist Federation also let loose with a unending stream of expletives when asked how much was he being paid by the Israeli government. Jonathan is a valuable asset to the Palestinian solidarity movement and is worth every shekel that his puppetmasters in Tel Aviv overtly or covertly must pay him.
Later that afternoon there was an emergency demonstration and march from the American Embassy to the Egyptian Embassy in solidarity with the people of Egypt that we attended.
Several people saw our pink fluorescent placards that we were carrying and approached us to tell us that they heard about and supported the Ahava boycott campaign. At the rally outside of the Egyptian Embassy, about a thousand people discussed the latest events over yummy vegan food generously provided by the Hare Krishnas.
Video of Ahava demo courtesy of Seymour A.
Video of Egyptian Embassy march & rally courtesy of Seymour A.
Looking shabbier all the time. Note the missing leaflet holder (to the right of the door) and the wooden areas around the bottom of the window. Looks like paint to me.
Welsh Christian Zionists. The sign reads: THE SETTLEMENTS ARE NOT THE PROBLEM IN THE MIDDLE EAST. THE SETTLEMENTS ARE THE BEST THING THAT EVER HAPPENED TO THE MIDDLE EAST. Try telling that to the displaced Palestinians.
HAPPY TO OFFEND. A passer-by voices his disagreement while a police constable tries to discourage trouble by his presence.
Some of the Ahava boycott campaigners
BEAUTY IS UGLY IF STOLEN. Note who draws the attention of Ahava's Israeli security guard (who incidentally told us he comes from the Golan).
Some people will do anything to get attention. The sign reads: THE PEOPLE ON THE STREETS AREN'T ENRAGED BY ISRAEL, BUT BECAUSE THEIR COUNTRIES ARE SO UNLIKE ISRAEL. Are you kidding?!
Across town, the solidarity with Egypt rally in Grosvenor Square was in full swing when we arrived. Bernard Regan from the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) was one of the speakers.
The march to the Egyptian Embassy. The building in the foreground is the American Embassy.
On the way to the Egyptian Embassy.
On New Bond Street: Passing the department store FENWICK, who sell Ahava products.
Outside the Egyptian Embassy: Solidarity.
Jews for Boycotting Israeli Goods (J-BIG) was there too. This is their banner.
