The BDS Interlude

03/11/24 • 103 min

Been awhile, besties! Hello again! This is an episode that was ostensibly about Bechtel Corp (the construction company, not the lesbian cartoonist), but it got away from me and became an exploration into the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions movement. An organized, peaceful method of resistance focused on boycotting business - what could go wrong? A LOT!

Join myself and Amy Do+Blender Bluid to continue in the military-contracting deep dive season (remember that?) and let's get some ice cream on the way! Anybody want to stop at Ben&Jerry'sIsreal? Perhaps a SodaStream to tide you over?

NOTE: The episode starts after bitching that took precisely 5 minutes. Ep begins at 5:00

Follow @blenderbluid and @helloamydo - both of whom have released new music on Spotify!!!! We out here!

Thanks to Casey Synesael for your genius audio engineering!!! SAVIOR!

SOURCES (sorry there are 23):

-Illinois bars state pensions from owning Unilever over Israel, Ross Kerber, Reuters 2021

Ben&Jerry's 2015 statement found at this link: https://web.archive.org/web/20210109062433/https://www.benjerry.com/whats-new/2015/ben-and-jerrys-business-in-israel

Ben&Jerry's 2021 statement found at this link: https://www.benjerry.com/about-us/media-center/opt-statement

40 ILCS 5/ Illinois Pension Code thingy quoted found here: https://www.ilga.gov/legislation/ilcs/ilcs4.asp?ActID=638&ChapterID=9&SeqStart=100000&SeqEnd=6300000

Illinois General Assembly, this Israel amendment to our investment codes passed 49-0 in the Senate and 102-0 in the House: https://www.illinois.gov/news/press-release.13202.html#:~:text=The%20legislation%2C%20which%20was%20modeled,held%20indirectly%20inside%20larger%20portfolios.

University of Texas email quoted found here: https://www.statesman.com/story/news/politics/2019/03/26/ut-wont-reimburse-for-airbnb-lodging-after-texas-decision-on-companys-israeli-settlement-stance/5610142007/

-AIRBNB statement from 2017: https://news.airbnb.com/listings-in-disputed-regions/

-Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton's statement found here: https://www.texasattorneygeneral.gov/sites/default/files/images/executive-management/OAG%20advisory%20on%20SB%2013%20and%2019%2010.18.23.pdf

-Texas City Tells People No Hurricane Harvey Aid Unless They Promise Not to Boycott Israel, ACLU Press release re: case Koontz v. Watson — Challenge to Kansas Law Targeting Boycotts of Israel found here: https://www.aclu.org/press-releases/texas-city-tells-people-no-hurricane-harvey-aid-unless-they-promise-not-boycott#:~:text=Free%20Speech-,Texas%20City%20Tells%20People%20No%20Hurricane%20Harvey%20Aid,Promise%20Not%20to%20Boycott%20Israel&text=HOUSTON%20%E2%80%94%20The%20city%20of%20Dickinson,in%20a%20boycott%20of%20Israel.

-Need Hurricane Aid? In One Texas City, If You Boycott Israel, You May Be Out Of Luck - Merrit Kennedy, NPR 2017

-Bechtel Settles Suit With Pledge to Stop Arab Boycott Role, William H Jones, Washington Post 1977

-The Anti-Boycott Provisions of ...

NOTE: The episode starts after bitching that took precisely 5 minutes. Ep begins at 5:00

Follow @blenderbluid and @helloamydo - both of whom have released new music on Spotify!!!! We out here!

Thanks to Casey Synesael for your genius audio engineering!!! SAVIOR!

SOURCES (sorry there are 23):

-Illinois bars state pensions from owning Unilever over Israel, Ross Kerber, Reuters 2021

Ben&Jerry's 2015 statement found at this link: https://web.archive.org/web/20210109062433/https://www.benjerry.com/whats-new/2015/ben-and-jerrys-business-in-israel

Ben&Jerry's 2021 statement found at this link: https://www.benjerry.com/about-us/media-center/opt-statement

40 ILCS 5/ Illinois Pension Code thingy quoted found here: https://www.ilga.gov/legislation/ilcs/ilcs4.asp?ActID=638&ChapterID=9&SeqStart=100000&SeqEnd=6300000

-AIRBNB statement from 2017: https://news.airbnb.com/listings-in-disputed-regions/

-Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton's statement found here: https://www.texasattorneygeneral.gov/sites/default/files/images/executive-management/OAG%20advisory%20on%20SB%2013%20and%2019%2010.18.23.pdf

-Need Hurricane Aid? In One Texas City, If You Boycott Israel, You May Be Out Of Luck - Merrit Kennedy, NPR 2017

-Bechtel Settles Suit With Pledge to Stop Arab Boycott Role, William H Jones, Washington Post 1977

-The Anti-Boycott Provisions of ...

Previous Episode

Update Episode Surprise!

Hi y'all!!

Wanted to get behind the mic to tell you where I've been at! Thankyouthankyouthankyou for your patience. Getting back on the horse is going to be epic...

Next Episode

Blackwater

Do you ever have a years-long hyperfixation with a company no one's heard about?

Blender Bluid and Amy Do continue our millions-years-long season about private military contractors. This time, I'm telling them about the worst of the worst: Betsy DeVos' brother Erik Prince's rich kid lodge! Blackwater! Clean off your guns and meet me at the lodge - we're in for a real effing doozy.

Fair warning, this episode does brush over some truly horrific stuff. As mentioned mid-episode, my podcast isn't really the appropriate place to regale those stories in full detail, so only some of the key informational facts are mentioned out of respect for those who suffered cruel, pointless deaths during this war. Jeremy Scahill's book is a fantastic read to get the full picture on the politics, events, and horrors of Iraq, linked below.

Jeremy, if you're listening, I'm so sorry sweetie please look away - this is a comedy podcast by a clown. But THIS clown loved your book!

Follow @blenderbluid and @helloamydo. Thanks to the WONDERFUL Casey Synesael for fully editing this episode! Audio engineer and tastemaker, methinks.

SOURCES:

Blackwater: The Rise of the World’s Most Powerful Mercenary Army - Jeremy Scahill, March 2007 (I read the revised 2008 version tho)
Firearms training centers on schools under assault - Jon Frank, The Virginian-Pilot, Oct 1999
Tycoon, Contractor, Soldier, Spy - Adam Ciralsky, Vanity Fair, January 2010
Erik Prince: An American Commando in Exile - Robert Young Pelton, Dangerous Magazine (originally published in Men’s Journal), November 2010
Blackwater founder takes aim at his critics in memoir - Bill Sizemore, The Virginian-Pilot, Nov 2013 (the “Field of Dreams” quote is in this)
Falluja lawsuit: Blackwater families settle case - BBC News, 2012
The Dark Truth about Blackwater - Peter Singer, Brookings Institution, October 2007
I scraped the Nisour Square legal timeline just from the Nisour Square Massacre wikipedia page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nisour_Square_massacre