Protesters stroll through Brooklyn’s Prospect Park singing for boycott of Motorola
MEDIA CONTACT: info@boycottisraelnyc.org
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Brooklyn, NY, July 25 – Fifteen New York human rights advocates strolled through Prospect Park in Brooklyn on Saturday for two and a half hours, singing songs calling on park-goers to boycott communications giant Motorola until it stops providing technology that aids Israel’s army and settlement movement in committing human rights abuses. The protesters carried a 13-foot-wide banner that was seen by thousands of park-goers saying “Boycott Motorola”, “Free Palestine,” “Goodbye Motorola, Goodbye Apartheid.” The protest is part of a growing worldwide movement to boycott Israel that has gained momentum since Israel’s recent attack on Gaza killing 1400 Palestinians.
With Prospect Park crowded on a sunny Saturday afternoon, the group walked through grassy fields packed with thousands of barbequers and frisbee-players. Many park-goers paused to read the banner and signs and listen to the songs. Hundreds took flyers calling for a boycott of Motorola, many asking questions. Some said they knew of the Motorola boycott, while others sang along with the groups’ catchy boycott tunes.
WHY BOYCOTT, DIVESTMENT, AND SANCTIONS (BDS)
Inspired by the struggle of South Africans against apartheid and the solidarity of the international community in the form of boycott, divestment, and sanctions campaigns, Palestinian civil society organizations have called on the world to say no to Israeli apartheid.
WHY ISRAEL, WHY APARTHEID
The word “apartheid” is the Afrikaans word for “apartness” or “separate.” In 1948, apartheid became the official policy of the white South African government, referring to the laws, policies, and practices established by the South African government to maintain the supremacy of the white minority over the non-white majority.
In 1973, the United Nations General Assembly adopted the International Convention on the Suppression and Punishment of the Crime of Apartheid, defining apartheid as a crime against humanity, not specific to South Africa. The crime of apartheid is defined by “inhuman acts” committed with the purpose of imposing racial segregation and discrimination on a targeted group, and establishing domination of one group over another. The Convention specifically prohibits acts “designed to divide the population...by the creation of separate reserves and ghettos for the members of a racial group or groups, the prohibition of mixed marriages...the expropriation of landed property.” The Convention also prohibits measures that deprive people and organizations of their basic human rights including “the right to work, …the right to education, the right to leave and to return to their country, the right to a nationality, the right to freedom of movement and residence.
