(Updated) ACTION ALERT: WRITE TO YOUR MP AND DEMAND THEY OPPOSE ANTI-PALESTINE BDS BILL
Sunday January 07 2024
The government’s controversial Economic Activity of Public Bodies (Overseas Matters) Bill, informally known as the anti-Boycott Divestment & Sanctions Bill (BDS) is set to return to Parliament on January 10th for its third and final reading. This is the last opportunity that MPs will have to debate this human rights-violating bill before it passes into law.
The anti-BDS bill essentially aims to prevent Councils and other public bodies from boycotting the products and services of Israel. The purpose behind the anti-BDS bill is to undermine the Palestinian-led global BDS movement. It is the height of immorality that the government is pushing this through parliament at a time when roughly 23,000 Palestinians in Gaza have been massacred by indiscriminate Israeli bombardment. We must support our Palestinian brothers and sisters and oppose this bill.
ACT NOW by following this step-by-step guide on how to write to your MP:
Step 1: Scroll below to the box for inputting your postcode
Step 2: Enter your postcode and click “find”
Step 3: Click the ‘send a message’ option found next to your local MP’s photograph
Step 4: Copy and paste the body of the template email below in to your email. (IMPORTANT: EDIT THE EMAIL INTO YOUR OWN WORDS, MPS EMAIL SYSTEMS TEND TO DELETE IDENTICAL COPIES)
Dear [enter MP’s name]
On January 10th, The Economic Activity of Public Bodies (Overseas Matters) Bill, is set to return to Parliament for its third reading. The bill, which was met with much controversy over the summer, will prevent local authorities, universities, and other public bodies from participating in Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) campaigns against foreign states for human rights abuses. It singles out Israel, the Occupied Palestinian Territories, and the Golan Heights from exemption by any current or future Secretary of State, which is deeply alarming considering Israel’s ongoing perpetration of war crimes and genocide of the Palestinian people in Gaza. As such, the bill will heavily undermine our democratic rights, especially the freedom of speech and expression, and ability to engage in legitimate protest in relation to international human rights abuses.
I am writing to ask you to vote against this piece of legislation, which, if passed, would have truly detrimental consequences for freedom of speech and human rights, both at home in the UK and abroad.
Yours sincerely
[Enter your name]
Step 5: Fill in the remaining information in the ‘About You’ section
Step 6: Hit “Preview and send”
“Dear [enter MP’s name]
On January 10th, The Economic Activity of Public Bodies (Overseas Matters) Bill, is set to return to Parliament for its third reading. The bill, which was met with much controversy over the summer, will prevent local authorities, universities, and other public bodies from participating in Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) campaigns against foreign states for human rights abuses. It singles out Israel, the Occupied Palestinian Territories, and the Golan Heights from exemption by any current or future Secretary of State, which is deeply alarming considering Israel’s ongoing perpetration of war crimes and genocide of the Palestinian people in Gaza. As such, the bill will heavily undermine our democratic rights, especially the freedom of speech and expression, and ability to engage in legitimate protest in relation to international human rights abuses.
I am writing to ask you to vote against this piece of legislation, which, if passed, would have truly detrimental consequences for freedom of speech and human rights, both at home in the UK and abroad.
Yours sincerely
[Enter your name]”