BDS@20
Europe Regional Conference

Arrival & Registration

Session 1.1: Sanction Israel Now!

This session will highlight the necessity of putting into effect the international legal obligations of All States to avoid contributing to, and to take steps to bring to an end, international crimes and jus cogens violations, particularly through imposing lawful and proportional sanctions against Israel. The sanctions advocated by the movement for justice and accountability for Palestine are neither policy choices nor measures that may be resorted to further geo-strategic interests either. Rather, they are legally required measures that All States must undertake to fulfil their obligations under international law, towards ending complicity in Israel’s grave crimes and violations of jus cogens, imposing meaningful accountability measures to end such practices, and eventually dismantling Israel’s regime of settler-colonialism and apartheid against the Indigenous Palestinian people. How does international law require All States to sanction Israel? What sanctions are required and in what order? What are some good practices, historically and today?

Session 1.2: Maximising on inseparability of Palestinian solidarity and the struggle against austerity measures, (re)militarisation, and tech and AI as weapons

This session will delve into the interlinkages and codependence of militarisation, weaponised dual-use technology and austerity as state budgets are shifting further toward rising military expenditure and AI, 'combat-tested' on Palestinians while public investment in social sectors continues to erode. It will look at current and potential approaches to resistance, such as policy change, grassroots movements and workers’ power.

Session 1.3: The Art of Refusal: The role of artists & culture workers in ending complicity

This session will explore complicity in the arts and different models, tools, and strategies for impactful cultural campaigns. We’ll take a look ahead — how do we leverage recent wins to mainstream the cultural boycott and strategically raise the ceiling?

Session 1.4: Fair Play: Kicking apartheid out of sports

This session aims to highlight the direct complicity of Israeli sporting bodies in Israel’s crimes against Palestinians and its attacks on Palestinian sports, including sporticide in Gaza. Participants will learn how to engage in and expand the growing calls to exclude genocidal Israel from international sporting bodies, just as apartheid South Africa once was.

Session 2.1: Israel: A #ShutDownNation despite appearances

This session aims to present Israel as a #ShutDownNation -- an increasingly vulnerable economy that is in serious decline due to several factors, including BDS and Israel's growing isolation worldwide. This should help organizers add to their usual ethical, legal and political arguments in BDS campaigning another crucial dimension: the very substantial and rising economic/financial and security risks associated with business with or investments in Israel. Mainstreaming this analysis of Israel's economy helps boost our campaigns of pressure on corporations to end their illegal business with Israel. It also helps enhance our campaigns of divestment and/or exclusion from contracts targeting pension funds, city councils, trade unions, churches, and other institutions."

Session 2.2: Israeli Universities: Where the colonial project is designed.

This session examines Israeli academic complicity in apartheid and genocide, focusing on scholasticide. It explores how European university ties (incl. Horizon programme) help perpetuate Israel’s grave crimes against Palestinians and its impunity. Participants will hear from Palestinian scholars as well as campus organisers and learn about effective campus organizing to end ties with complicit Israeli academic institutions and for divestment from complicit companies. .

Session 2.3: #BlockTheBoat: Disrupting the Genocide Supply Chain.

This session will explain the key role of maritime supply lines in sustaining Israel’s genocide, illegal occupation, and apartheid against Palestinians. It will present the successes and impact of the #Block the Boat campaign, where participants will hear from speakers on the tactics used and the alliances which have been built. It will look at the way forward, discussing tools, tactics and organising as we keep working to bring an end to genocidal supply chains.

Session 2.4: Genocide, apartheid and illegal occupation: the potential and limits of international law for Palestine.

This session will explore the potential and limits of international law for the global movement for accountability and justice for Palestine. It will highlight the incremental process whereby the movement’s actions and strategies can become more effective and impactful, drawing on the legitimacy international law can provide, as a universal authoritative normative framework. In particular, this session will focus on the decisions issued in 2024 by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and the International Criminal Court (ICC), along with other international institutions, offering an overview of their content and consequences beyond the premises of both international courts in The Hague. How can the movement harness the opportunities international law offers, while recognizing its limits as a tool for emancipation, towards building effective and sustainable action and strategies?

Arrival & Registration

Session 3.1: The UN: Prospects of decolonization for Palestine & humanity

This session examines the UN’s historical complicity in legitimizing Zionist settler-colonialism through the 1947 Partition Plan and its subsequent failure to protect Palestinians from ongoing Nakba and genocide.   It will also highlight examples of Palestinian resistance and look at landmark decisions including recent ICJ rulings. We will discuss what can be done in this might-makes-right era to mobilize global pressure to decolonize the UN and further its role in delivering justice for Palestinians and all oppressed communities worldwide.

Session 3.2: Trade Union Solidarity with the Palestinian liberation struggle

This session will focus specifically on trade union representatives and members organising in solidarity with the Palestinian liberation struggle and ending complicity. It will discuss what meaningful solidarity from trade unions looks like and talk through education and organising.

Session 3.3: Palestine Will Free Us All: Intersectionality is at the center of our struggle for liberation.

This session examines how Israel’s genocide in Gaza has unmasked some of the colonial, oppressive, and authoritarian systems in Europe that were less visible to the mainstream beforehand – even within justice movements. Palestine resonates and connects with other justice struggles. We will analyse how the BDS movement understands and integrates intersectionality, a concept developed by Black feminists, in its campaigning and share good practices from across various justice movements.

Session 3.4: Building Power From the Bottom Up: steps for public bodies to end their complicity in grave human rights violations

This session explores ethical procurement policies (EPP) as an intersectional tool for public authorities to exclude companies complicit in human rights violations. It discusses implementation strategies for city councils, unions, and civil servants to ensure public funds do not support grave abuses, including those in Palestine.  Participants will learn how EPP advances justice for Palestinians alongside climate, labour, and anti-corruption struggles, a concrete example of BDS strategic radicalism approach.

Free time

Cultural Event & Networking