If the action is in the reaction, as Saul Alinsky famously taught, the Palestine-led Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) campaign for freedom, justice, and equality, clearly is being perceived as a powerful and daunting, even threatening, initiative for social change. The adverse reaction, over these close to 20 years since the campaign’s launch in 2005, has been fierce. Israeli leaders and supporters consistently described BDS as an “existential threat.” They condemn it for trying to “delegitimize” the state of Israel. Their reaction? A vigorous attempt to delegitimize the right to boycott.

That reaction has mobilized 37 states in the U.S., either by legislation or executive order, to criminalize any and all boycotts specific to Israel. The absurdity and hypocrisy of this measure -- to use what is in effect a boycott to squash a boycott – point to the efficacy of the BDS strategy. Just like earlier boycott movements, challenging apartheid in South Africa or Jim Crow laws in the U.S., the BDS movement actually is a threat. It seeks to upend injustice: in this instance, the state of Israel’s apartheid practices and their flaunting of international law.

The United Church of Christ has a long history of supporting boycott campaigns. Why? Because as a strategy of nonviolent resistance to injustice, boycotts are effective. They work. BDS is working. For one recent example, read in Breaking the Stories about the “pro-Palestine boycott fallout” that has led McDonalds to buy back over 200 restaurants from the Israeli franchise. For another example, after BDS launched their “No dough for occupation” campaign, General Mills sold their Pillsbury factory and pulled out of the West Bank.

Now the American Friends Service Committee is calling our attention to and promoting a new BDS campaign: 
boycotting Chevron. Why Chevron? Because, as the AFSC website explains, “Chevron runs natural gas extraction and pipelines off the shore of Palestine/Israel, making it a major partner in Israeli energy apartheid, the military blockade of Gaza, and the illegal exploitation of Palestinian land and resources.”

To learn more about how Chevron, a California-based U.S. corporation, is engaged in fueling Israeli apartheid, go here. 

A first step for taking action? Don’t buy gas from Chevron. But then do more. Write Chevron’s CEO Mike Wirth to let him know why you are boycotting and demand that Chevron divest from its projects in Israel. To do that, go here.