Canadian author and activists Naomi Klein visited Palestine this past week for the release of the translation of her book, The Shock Doctrine. Mrs. Klein visited the village of Bil’in, where she held a press conference explaining her position on boycott. The following night, she spoke in front of pack hall in Ramallah about the importance of the global BDS campaign and why the Israeli establishment is so threatened by the movement.
In Bil’in, Mrs. Klein joined the Friday demonstration before holding the press conference. She spoke of the importance of the Bil’in trial in Canada and her decision to launch the Hebrew translation of her book in coordination with the BNC. This second point is important, as it challenges other authors and thinkers to likewise engage concretely with the Palestinian call for a cultural boycott.
Speaking on Saturday at a BNC event at the Friends School in al-Bireh, Mrs. Klein articulated why she felt boycott, as a strategy, was so threatening to the Israeli establishment. The reason, she argued, was that an acceptance of BDS as legitimate also requires the recognition of Israeli apartheid and it’s categorization next to the likes of apartheid South Africa. The fear of being being internationally isolated as a racist state, which was the rationale for attacking the Durban conference, is a terrifying prospect of a successful BDS movement.
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Footage of the Bil’in press conference can we viewedhere.