Bit of a heavy thread, but wondered what people’s thoughts are on the BDS movement - supporting them seems to be standard practice for anyone who considers themselves leftist, but it seems like such a natural position that I’ve never really had explained the philosophy of it, except to isolate and ostracise Israel. The actions of the Israeli government as regards Palestine are obviously abhorrent, but does BDS target that government or the people of Israel, many of whom may not support how their country treats Gaza etc? The idea of building international solidarity seems at odds with using economic means to damage a country… and obviously there are lots of countries with terrible records out there which don’t have the same sanctions applied (maybe none are common trading partners like Israel is).
Lots of people talk about how sanctions helped end apartheid in South Africa, but is that true? Or does it just misattribute the hard work of people in SA who were directly involved in fighting it?