The Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) is an activist organisation in
England and Wales
England and Wales () is one of the three legal jurisdictions of the United Kingdom. It covers the constituent countries England and Wales and was formed by the Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542. The substantive law of the jurisdiction is Eng ...
. It was incorporated in the UK in 2004 as Palestine Solidarity Campaign Ltd.
They officially support the
Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions
Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) is a Palestinian-led movement promoting boycotts, divestments, and economic sanctions against Israel. Its objective is to pressure Israel to meet what the BDS movement describes as Israel's obligations ...
(BDS) movement.
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Structure
The Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) is an activist organisation in England and Wales
England and Wales () is one of the three legal jurisdictions of the United Kingdom. It covers the constituent countries England and Wales and was formed by the Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542. The substantive law of the jurisdiction is Eng ...
, based in London. It is politically unaligned. There are also the Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign and the Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign. The latter is a separate organisation set up in late 2001 by established Irish human rights and community activists. Hugh Lanning
Hugh Lanning is a UK, British pro-Palestinians, Palestinian activist and former trade union official. He was the Deputy General Secretary of the Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS), one of Britain's largest trade unions, until May 2013. He h ...
and Tony Greenstein
Tony Greenstein is a British left-wing activist and writer. An anti-fascist and former squatter, he was a founder member of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign and stood for parliament as a representative of the Alliance for Green Socialism. In 2 ...
have both been involved with the group. In 2017, ''Jewish News
The ''Jewish News'' is a free weekly newspaper, established in 1997, that serves the Jewish communities of Greater London – specifically Middlesex, Hertfordshire and Essex. In 2002, it won the ''Press Gazette'' free newspaper of the year.
In F ...
'' reported that Lanning (then chair of PSC) was barred from entering Israel; the Israeli embassy in the UK said this was in part due to his connections with Hamas
Hamas (, ; , ; an acronym of , "Islamic Resistance Movement") is a Palestinian Sunni-Islamic fundamentalist, militant, and nationalist organization. It has a social service wing, Dawah, and a military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Bri ...
, which the EU had declared a terrorist organization.
Boycott Israeli goods campaign
PSC has officially supported the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions
Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) is a Palestinian-led movement promoting boycotts, divestments, and economic sanctions against Israel. Its objective is to pressure Israel to meet what the BDS movement describes as Israel's obligations ...
(BDS) movement since 2001. A study published in ''The Jewish Chronicle
''The'' () is a grammatical Article (grammar), article in English language, English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite ...
'' has been reported as recognising the PSC as one of the main proponents of the BDS movement in Britain. In 2010, the Trade Union Congress
The Trades Union Congress (TUC) is a national trade union centre, a federation of trade unions in England and Wales, representing the majority of trade unions. There are 48 affiliated unions, with a total of about 5.5 million members. Frances O' ...
(TUC) agreed to boycott produce grown on Israeli settlements
Israeli settlements, or Israeli colonies, are civilian communities inhabited by Israeli citizens, overwhelmingly of Jewish ethnicity, built on lands occupied by Israel in the 1967 Six-Day War. The international community considers Israeli se ...
. The PSC organised disruptions of a performance by the Israel Philharmonic
The Israel Philharmonic Orchestra (abbreviation IPO; Hebrew: התזמורת הפילהרמונית הישראלית, ''ha-Tizmoret ha-Filharmonit ha-Yisra'elit'') is an Israeli symphony orchestra based in Tel Aviv. Its principal concert venue ...
at the Royal Albert Hall
The Royal Albert Hall is a concert hall on the northern edge of South Kensington, London. One of the UK's most treasured and distinctive buildings, it is held in trust for the nation and managed by a registered charity which receives no govern ...
in February 2011. BBC Radio 3
BBC Radio 3 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It replaced the BBC Third Programme in 1967 and broadcasts classical music and opera, with jazz, world music, Radio drama, drama, High culture, culture and the arts ...
, which was broadcasting the concert live, was forced to suspend the broadcast several times due to the protesters' shouting and heckling.
On 28 May 2012, when Israel's Habima
The Habima Theatre ( he, תיאטרון הבימה ''Te'atron HaBima'', lit. "The Stage Theatre") is the national theatre of Israel and one of the first Hebrew language theatres. It is located in Habima Square in the center of Tel Aviv.
History ...
theatre company performed at the London Shakespeare's Globe
Shakespeare's Globe is a reconstruction of the Globe Theatre, an Elizabethan playhouse for which William Shakespeare wrote his plays, in the London Borough of Southwark, on the south bank of the River Thames. The original theatre was built in ...
Theatre, the PSC and other BDS groups organised a protest outside the building. On 29 May 2012, BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC' ...
reported that Habima was "being criticised for performing to Jewish audiences in the Occupied Territories." A PSC press release corrected the report, saying that it was criticising Habima "for performing in illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank." After six months of pressure by PSC, the BBC Trust
The BBC Trust was the governing body of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) between 2007 and 2017. It was operationally independent of BBC management and external bodies, and its stated aim was to make decisions in the best interests of ...
upheld the PSC's complaint. The Trust report stated "the complaint was upheld with regard to Accuracy, not upheld with regard to Impartiality and Fairness." The PSC waged a two-year campaign to block an EU trade agreement, the ACAA, that recognised Israeli pharmaceutical standards as equal to those in Europe. The agreement was passed in October 2012.
Other activism
Sarah Colborne (then director of the PSC) was on board the ''Mavi Marmara'' during the 2010 flotilla raid. The PSC arranged a 30 March 2012 "Land Day
Land Day ( ar, يوم الأرض, ''Yawm al-ʾArḍ''; he, יוֹם הַאֲדָמָה, ''Yom HaAdama''), March 30, is a day of commemoration for Arab citizens of Israel and Palestinians of the events of that date in 1976 in Israel.
In 1976 ...
" protest outside the Israeli Embassy in London.
Launching a campaign against what it termed Israeli apartheid in 2019, the PSC announced that universities in the UK were investing almost £450 million in companies which were aiding in Israeli breaches of international law. It produced a database of these investments. Also in 2019 the PSC signed a letter alongside over 200 other groups calling on the International Criminal Court
The International Criminal Court (ICC or ICCt) is an intergovernmental organization and international tribunal seated in The Hague, Netherlands. It is the first and only permanent international court with jurisdiction to prosecute individuals ...
to begin investigating war crimes committed by Israeli in the Palestinian territories
The Palestinian territories are the two regions of the former British Mandate for Palestine that have been militarily occupied by Israel since the Six-Day War of 1967, namely: the West Bank (including East Jerusalem) and the Gaza Strip. The I ...
.
In 2021, the PSC organized a march in support of Palestine in London which was attended by over 180,000 people. Other events took place in Bristol, Nottingham and Peterborough. The group was protesting against an Israeli bombing offensive which had killed over 230 people in eleven days. Black Lives Matter
Black Lives Matter (abbreviated BLM) is a decentralized political and social movement that seeks to highlight racism, discrimination, and racial inequality experienced by black people. Its primary concerns are incidents of police bruta ...
supported the march.
See also
* Economic and political boycotts of Israel
Boycotts of Israel are the refusal and incitement to refusal to have commercial or social dealings with Israel in order to inflict economic hardship upon the state. The objective of boycotts of Israel is to influence Israel's practices and pol ...
* Palestine Action
Palestine Action is a pro-Palestinian protest network that uses civil disobedience tactics to shut down and disrupt multinational arms dealers. In particular, the group targets UK-based operations that provide weapons used in the Israeli–Pa ...
* Students for Justice in Palestine
Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) is a pro-Palestinian college student activism organization in the United States, Canada and New Zealand. It has campaigned for boycott and divestment against corporations that deal with Israel and organize ...
– also known as Palestine Solidarity Committee
References
External links
Palestine Solidarity Campaign
{{Authority control
1982 establishments in the United Kingdom
British companies established in 2004
Non-governmental organizations involved in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict
Organizations established in 1982
Political advocacy groups in the United Kingdom
Palestinian solidarity movement