Opinion: An Introduction to Simon’s Rock Communists and Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions

We are Simon’s Rock Communists, a club on campus that analyzes oppression and our society at large through a Marxist lens in an attempt to place it in the greater context of capitalism. Our foundational belief is that capitalism is the root cause of many (if not most) of the problems that affect our world. At our meetings, we read Marxist literature and organize student activism against any and all oppressive forces. 
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Our first campaign concerns Palestinian human rights. As Communists, we believe in the self-determination of all oppressed groups and nationalities. If you’re unaware, Palestinians are denied basic human rights and live as second class citizens under the extreme surveillance of the Israeli government. Seizing the natural resources of the occupied territories, requiring all Palestinians to register their fingerprints with the government, and regularly using lethal forces unnecessarily are but a few examples of the ongoing injustice. The United States government gives about $3.8 billion per year in military aid to Israel, and has consistently supported or otherwise condoned the most aggressive acts of imperialism carried out by the Israeli government throughout their political alliance. In addition to governmental aid, various US corporations contract with the Israeli military and provide the key technologies that maintain the Israeli occupation of Palestine. 
Because of this state of affairs, the Palestinian people have called upon the international community to boycott all companies that work with the Israeli government. This request is part of the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement founded in 2005 by various Palestinian groups. What these groups ask is that individuals around the world boycott Israeli companies or companies that contract with the Israeli government, pressure institutions to divest from those companies, and demand that their governments sanction Israel. The company that we intend to focus on in our own BDS campaign is HP Enterprises. 
HP and its subsidiaries are “providing the Israeli regime with technologies of surveillance and control used in the occupied Palestinian territory” (whoprofits.org). These technologies include the servers on which the fingerprints and profiles of each Palestinian is stored. We’re asking for members of the Simon’s Rock community to personally refuse to buy HP products in the future and to help us pressure Simon’s Rock to stop buying HP printers and computers.
If you’re interested in learning more about BDS, check out: https://bdsmovement.net/what-is-bds
If you want to get involved, we currently hold meetings on Mondays at 7 PM in Classroom #1 (prone to change). You can also contact Patrick Madaus (pmadaus18@simons-rock.edu) or Oliver Wolf (owolf18@simons-rock.edu) to be added to our email list.

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Author

​Patrick Madaus and Oliver Wolf on behalf of Simon’s Rock Communists