Boycott, Divest, and Sanction: How to Effect Global Change
If our institutions will not support Palestinian liberation, how can individuals? Learn how the BDS movement can empower you.
Even though NEA Leadership let down its Representatives, educators are not powerless to advocate for Palestine. The BDS Movement: Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions, offers a framework to align our spending with our values.
What is BDS?
Started in 2005 by Palestinian civil society, BDS is a nonviolent global movement calling on people, institutions, and governments to pressure Israel to follow international law and respect Palestinian rights.
Boycott: Don’t buy products or support companies that enable or profit from Israel’s oppression of Palestinians.
Divest: Urge schools, pensions, and institutions to pull investments from those same companies.
Sanction: Demand governments apply economic and political pressure, just as they did against apartheid South Africa.
BDS is a peaceful, powerful way to advocate for freedom, justice, and equality.
Why does this matter to educators?
Public education is under attack through book bans, defunding, DEI rollbacks, and dismantling of public systems. These attacks are connected to the same structures of oppression that uphold genocide abroad and injustice at home.
Our classrooms serve and reflect students from over 100 countries, speaking nearly 100 languages. We have a responsibility to stand in solidarity, not just in word, but in action.
At the 2025 NEA Representative Assembly held July 8th in Portland, OR, the majority of our 7,000 member delegates voted to divest from the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), citing the ADL’s role in silencing pro-Palestinian voices and undermining anti-racist education. This reflects a growing movement among educators to reject partnerships with institutions misaligned with justice.
Tech giants are constantly seeking to infiltrate education for a reason: public dollars are up for grabs, and empty promises can move school boards. It is incumbent upon us to push our districts to spend public funds responsibly for students and the global community alike.
Reimagine BDS for Educators:
Boycott companies that harm public education, DEI, or Palestinian rights.
Divest school funds and pensions from corporations upholding injustice.
Sanction institutions that profit from systemic harm, locally and globally.
Perhaps most importantly, we can educate our students and our school communities about the efficacy of concerted action. In the context of globalized neoliberal capitalism, profits are everything: we can only make an impact if we organize our resistance together to hit where it hurts. The BDS movement offers a proven framework to join the global fight for Palestinian liberation, and we can use these methods for our own local and national struggles, too.
Share these ideas to spread the love, and the resistance.
**Note: Criticizing Israel or supporting Palestinian rights is not antisemitic or anti-jewish. Antisemitism is hatred toward Jewish people; BDS is a call to hold the Israeli state accountable for human rights violations. We stand in solidarity with Jewish communities and against all forms of hatred and genocide. Learn more about the Jewish Voice for Peace