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About BDS Italia
BDS Italia is a movement supporting boycott, divestment and sanctions against Israel's occupation and system of apartheid until Israel respects international law and human rights, comprised of associations and groups throughout Italy that endorse the 2005 call from Palestinian civil society. The BDS movement supports equal rights for all and is therefore opposed to all forms of racism, fascism, sexism, anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, ethnic and religious discrimination.
Although most of the content of our web site is in Italian, this section contains articles, press releases and action items in English.
Contact information
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Sign the petition calling on Italian water utility ACEA to terminate the agreement with Israel's national water company Mekorot, responsible for serious violations of international law and human rights. Mekorot illegally extracts water from Palestinians sources, provides that pillaged water to illegal Israeli settlements and implements policies of water Apartheid against the Palestinian population.
Each signature sends an email to ACEA and the Rome City council, majority shareholder in ACEA. Nearly 6800 have already signed!
Below the text of the petition (organizational endorsements may be sent to: Questo indirizzo email è protetto dagli spambots. È necessario abilitare JavaScript per vederlo.)
On December 2, 2013, during the Italy-Israel summit, ACEA, Italy’s leading water utility, and Israel's national water company Mekorot signed a Memorandum of Understanding. The agreement provides for cooperation through the exchange of experiences and expertise in the water sector.
The experience that Mekorot has matured, however, is based on serious violations of international law and human rights. As documented in the report by the Palestinian human rights organization Al Haq, Mekorot illegally extracts water from Palestinian aquifers, causing Palestinian water sources to dry up, and then supplies the pillaged water to Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem.
Leggi: Petition: No to the theft of water in Palestine. No to ACEA-Mekorot cooperation.
BDS Italy launches "Fields of Tomorrow? Fields of Apartheid," a video spoof contest to expose the true face of Israel at Expo 2015
In the video presentation of its pavilion at Expo 2015 in Milan, Israel has outdone itself in terms of propaganda, creating an image that could not be further from the truth. The beautiful Moran Atias talks of "120 years (!) of agricultural research" as well as "inventions that have helped put food on the table of millions of people around the world."
The 2,370-square-meter Israeli pavilion, entitled Fields of Tomorrow, will be next to the Italian pavilion (could it be anywhere else?) and will include a wall (how could it not?) with plants grown vertically, presenting Israel as an innovator in agriculture and water management.
But there is nothing innovative about Israel’s occupation, colonialism and apartheid. The reality is uprooted olive trees, shots fired at farmers in Gaza, land confiscation, water theft, appropriation of Palestinian brands such as Jaffa and the "diet" imposed on the people of Gaza complete with minimal calories calculations.
The use of irony has proven to be an effective means for revealing Israel’s true face, such as the brilliant Gaza Split, the video response to The Truth About the West Bank, Apartheid Adventures’ videos, Sodastream presents... and the Scarlett Johansson culture jamming.
Put your creativity to use to expose the true face of Israel. Whether you like making videos or just watching them, there will be something for everyone.
Petition signed by over 4000 people and endorsed by trade unions, public water movements and the mayor of Naples. Palestinian civil society groups call for respect of obligations under of international law.
In a matter of days, the No ACEA-Mekorot campaign has collected more than 4,000 signatures on a petition (http://chn.ge/1jmWN8X) against the memorandum of understanding signed December 2, 2013 between ACEA, the multi-utility controlled by City of Rome, and Mekorot, Israel's national water company. The campaign has been endorsed by more than 50 organizations including the FIOM-CGIL trade union, ARCI, the Italian Forum of Water Movements and the Rome Public Water Committee. Among the individual endorsers, the Mayor of Naples Luigi De Magistris, Luisa Morgantini, former Vice President of the European Parliament, Haidi Gaggio Giuliani, mother of Carlo Giuliani, and former senators Giovanni Russo Spena and Vincenzo Vita.
The promoters of campaign underscore Mekorot’s role as the executive arm of Israeli policies appropriating Palestinian water sources and denying the right to water in the occupied Palestinian territories, as documented by international, Palestinian and Israeli organizations.[1] In 1982, the Israeli military authorities "transferred" all Palestinian water infrastructure to Mekorot, which practices a systematic discrimination in the distribution of water, reducing and limiting water supplied to Palestinians in favor of Israel’s illegal settlements and intensive agriculture, creating a system of "water apartheid" in the region. The daily per capita consumption of Israeli settlers is day 369 liters [2] while that of their Palestinian neighbors is 73 liters, below the minimum amount recommended by the World Health Organization (100 liters).
Leggi: Italy: Growing protest against the agreement between Rome’s water utility and Israeli Mekorot
Dear Oxfam Italy,
As Stop Sodastream Italy, we are writing regarding a matter concerning your organization at the international level.
American actress Scarlett Johansson, Oxfam Ambassador since 2007, has recently signed a contract to become the new "global ambassador" for the Israeli company Sodastream. As you are fully aware, this company is at the center of an international boycott campaign due to the fact that it profits from the occupation and apartheid regime imposed by Israel. Its main factory is in Ma'aleh Adumim, one of the Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories that are illegal under international law.
In 2012, we wrote to you regarding another "ambassador" for Sodastream, Paola Maugeri, due to her involvement in one of your campaigns. At that time, you demonstrated great consistency with Oxfam policy condemning the Israeli settlements by removing a promotional video made with Maugeri and informing her of the reasons for this decision.
Luisa Morgantini
Former vice President European Parliament
Attention:
Winnie Byanyima
Director, Oxfam International Secretariat
CC:
Raymond Offenheiser
Director, Oxfam
Mark Goldring
Director, Oxfam Great
Subject: Scarlett Johansson and Sodastream
Dear Ms. Byanyima,
I am writing to express my deep concern over the fact that actress Scarlett Johansson, a Global Ambassador for Oxfam, has recently signed on to become Brand Ambassador for Sodastream, an Israeli company with production facilities in a settlement built illegally in the occupied West Bank.
Oxfam’s firm position against trade with Israeli settlements, which are illegal according to the IV Geneva Convention, is squarely at odds with the new position held by Ms. Johansson, one for which she will receive a fee, presumably sizeable, in exchange for a very visible public role in promoting products manufactured in violation of international law.
The Italian Coalition Stop That Train calls on the Italian government to following the example of other European countries and discourage Italian companies from operating in violation of international law
On December 27, the town council of Villar Focchiardo, in the province of Torino, voted unanimously to approve a resolution condemning Pizzarotti & Co SpA of Parma for its involvement in the Israeli high-speed railway crossing the occupied West Bank. The railway, which will connect Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, runs for 6.5 km through the occupied Palestinian territories in blatant violation of international law, resulting in the confiscation of Palestinian land and pillaging of property belonging to the occupied territory for the construction of a railway for the near exclusive use of Israeli citizens.
Villar Focchiardo is the sixth local government to approve a similar resolution.[1] The measure holds special significance given that the municipality is located in the Val Susa, where for over 20 years local communities, together with supporters throughout Italy, have lead the No TAV popular struggle against a high-speed train through the valley. In October 2013, a delegation from the No TAV movement visited the occupied Palestinian territories where they were able to observe firsthand how the continuous loss of Palestinian land is instrumental to "breaking up the territory".[2]
In Rome, on December 7, for the Italian “National Boycott Sodastream Day”, 20 activists from the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) campaign organized an action against the sale of Sodastream products at a retailer of the Expert appliance chain. Sodastream is an Israeli company producing home carbonators in an industrial plant located in an Israeli settlement in the occupied Palestinian territories.
Inside the store, two activists feigned interest in purchasing Sodastream products, while a third, playing the role of an informed consumer, explained to the customers as well as the shop owners that buying Sodastream products mean supporting Israeli Apartheid and occupation imposed on the Palestinian people. The performance concluded as the other activists entered wearing Christmas hats, carrying flyers and stickers and singing an anti-Sodastream version of Jingle Bells, in Roman dialect!
Leggi: ROME: Reseller removes Sodastream products. Another BDS victory!
On Friday, November 29, a group of activists in solidarity with the Palestinian people occupied the headquarters of the Italian News Agency AGI in Rome, in protest of the Italy-Israel summit to be held in the city on December 2nd.
The activists succeeded in their intent to have a press release condemning military and economic cooperation between the two countries published on the AGI website. Thanks to repeated demands from the activists, AGI was forced to publish the statement in full, including the ties between Italian weapons maker Finmeccanica, the Italian academic world and the Israeli war industry.
This action is the first of many that will continue in the coming days throughout Italy against the summit on December 2, standing together with the struggle of the Palestinian people.
Below are the upcoming protests in Rome and the full statement:
- Saturday, November 30, 3pm, Protest at Piazza Venezia, near Trajan's column
- Monday, December 2 , at 1pm, Castle S. Angelo Gardens (Netanyahu will also meet the pope and will pass through this area of the city)
Full Statement:
Italy and Israel: Partners in Oppression
In three days the Italian and Israeli governments will meet to celebrate their continuing military and economic cooperation.
For anyone following the agreements the two governments have been churning out at a rapid pace, the December 2 date is nothing more than a media showcase aimed at normalizing the system of apartheid and oppression, as if the total servility of the press to the plans of the two governments - with devastating effects on our lives - weren’t enough.
On the one hand, a colonial project of ethnic cleansing, confiscation of lands and resources, segregation and incarceration of an entire population destined to servitude, on the other hyper-exploitation that leads to rampant poverty, triggering the need for the state to expand and perfect social control.
In early October, after learning that the City of Trieste was planning to install public dispensers of still and sparkling water, BDS Trieste sent a letter to several city council members, including Umberto Laureni, chair of the environment committee, as well as the press. The letter called on the city council to exclude Sodastream carbonation devices from the dispensers due to the company’s role in violating human rights and international law. Sodastream’s main production facilities are located in an illegal Israeli settlement built on stolen Palestinian land and the company is therefore the target of an international boycott campaign.
On Saturday, November 9, the local newspaper "Il Piccolo" published the letter in full and a few days later three city and district council members from the Federation of the Left Party (Marino Andolina, Iztok Furlanic and Peter Behrens) submitted a written question to Laureni. In his response, published in "Il Piccolo," Laureni confirmed that Sodastream was not among the companies contacted for the dispensers and that the concerns raised would be taken into account for all subsequent acts, including the preparation of the public tender for the water dispensers.
In addition, in a city recycling competition sponsored by AcegasAps, the local water utility, the prize for third place was initially to be a Sodastream home carbonator. However, during the awards ceremony at city hall just days following the statement by Laureni, the prize was replaced with carbonator of another brand.
BDS Trieste congratulates Council member Laureni for taking action to avoid supporting a company profiting from human rights abuses and a brutal military occupation.
BDS Trieste