Polarized words: discourse on the boycott of Israel, social justice and conflict resolution

Abstract

Purpose The study aimed to investigate how Israelis and Palestinians, Jews and others from around the world present their views on boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) and the Palestinian Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI). The quality of discourse was examined along with the implications of the rhetoric for social-justice and conflict resolution frameworks. Design/methodology/approach This qualitative study analyzed 257 texts (newspaper articles, opinion pieces, YouTube videos, emails. Facebook posts, Twitter tweets, campaigns and websites) for content and quality of discourse and for their implications for social-justice and conflict resolution work. Findings Most texts divided into those in favor of the boycott and those opposed. The content was also polarized − most pro-BDS texts saw Israel as a settler-colonial enterprise, and emphasized issues of social-justice, whereas opponents perceived Israel as a legitimate nation and were skeptical of the human rights angle. The main types of discourse discerned included: ethnocentric talk, attack and intellectual discussion, regardless of national/ethnic origin of the writer or stance toward the boycott. Research limitations/implications Different types of texts were analyzed, which did not always fit easily into the discourse categories. Because this was the first study of its kind and looked at limited years, results should be approached with this in mind. Practical implications The rhetoric leaves little place for dialogue between those in favor and those opposed. Specific suggestions for combining social-justice work and conflict resolution work are offered. Social implications BDS discourse in its present form hampers finding a solution to the conflict and abuse of Palestinian rights. A new approach is needed to try to resolve these issues. Originality/value Because there are few systematic studies on BDS, this article provides insight into how people discuss the strategy and how it connects to frameworks for resolving conflicts.

3 Travel Boycotts, Ethical Consumption and Destination Communities: Expanding the Morality of Neighbourliness

“…Boycotts have long been heralded as exemplary nonviolent movements working for social justice and have been used as a "tried-and-true tactic of social justice movements" to respond to injustice or wrongdoing, and as a means of dismantling systems of injustice (Chaitin et al, 2017;Maira, 2018;Radzik, 2017). Boycott has become a widespread and established part of social and environmental justice activism in tourism in recent years (Mkono, 2018;Seyfi et al, 2021).…”

Resentment against the rich

“…Although RAR is recognized as an increasingly common mentality that has the potential to trigger social conflict, its effects within an organizational context remain unexplored terrain. Prior research on social conflict mainly focuses on those caused by war, politics, disasters and interethnic tensions (Chaitin et al , 2017; Uluğ and Cohrs, 2017). Most organizational and group conflict research focuses on conflict styles, for example, relationship or task conflict (Avgar et al , 2014) and conflict intervention strategies such as those related to cooperation or competition (Guo and Cionea, 2017; Nguyen and Yang, 2012).…”

Doing activism like a state: Progressive municipal government, Israel/Palestine and BDS

“…More generally, in this article, we use BDS as an umbrella term for the different strategic acts of withdrawal undertaken in support of Palestine (rather than as invoking municipal sign-up to a single Middle East agenda). While much, internationally, has been written about BDS and its solidarity politics (e.g., see Allen, 2018;Bakan and Abu-Laban, 2009;Chaitin and Steinberg, 2017), almost no scholarship on local state participation exists. We focus on it here for two reasons: first, to tease out a lesser known aspect of BDS activism; and second to explore the meanings, forms and challenges state activism faces, particularly subnational state activism.…”