The boycott of settlers: Muhannad Ayyash, ‘The Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions Campaign: Challenging the Unintelligibility of Palestinian Decolonial Resistance in Canada’, Journal of Palestine Studies, 2025 | settler colonial studies blog

The boycott of settlers: Muhannad Ayyash, ‘The Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions Campaign: Challenging the Unintelligibility of Palestinian Decolonial Resistance in Canada’, Journal of Palestine Studies, 2025

11Apr25

Abstract: This article examines the hegemonic and counter-hegemonic moves between the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign and the Canadian state. First, the article conceptualizes the centralized and diffused organizational structure of the campaign as it was developed in Palestine. It highlights how organizers in Palestine sought to challenge Israeli settler colonialism and anticipated the hostile reactions against the campaign in Western institutions. Second, the article analyzes the trope of condemnation in the Canadian state’s response to BDS as a counter-campaign that has sought to weaken BDS through a form of indirect institutional action. It is within this context that the article situates student encampments, which are demanding that Canadian universities adopt BDS, and examines how students are challenging the unintelligibility of Palestinian decolonial resistance in Canada, securing BDS victories in the process.

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