The Day of Action to Boycott Israeli Wines, Don’t Drink with Apartheid on Feb. 5 featured pickets in two major BC cities as well as solidarity selfies from other parts of Canada. This was just the latest round of protests in a campaign that has been ongoing since 2008, and has been “punching above its weight” since its inception.
Since Israeli wines first came on the shelves in BC’s publicly-owned liquor stores, dedicated local activists have carried the Boycott Israeli Wines, Don’t Drink with Apartheid theme forward. A theme that reflects an organic link with the struggle against South African apartheid, as their supporters stood outside some of the exact same stores many years ago calling for a boycott of S. African wines.
The campaign has faced relentless attacks from the Zionist lobby since 2008, with smear attacks and trolling on social media to the infamous Buycott calls, and even outright intimidation and threats especially in 2016. Through all of this, the campaign has never wavered, and re-emerges with new determination to keep protesting until the BC (and Canadian) government stop profiteering off Israeli war crimes and apartheid.
Report from Samidoun, one of the groups who cosponsored and participated in the Day of Action: Boycott Israeli Wines! Spirited Vancouver protest calls on public stores to stop selling apartheid products | Samidoun: Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network