[The following infographics were originally published by Visualizing Palestine.]
Several major corporations, such as Veolia, Orange, G4S, and CRH, have fully or partially ended their operations in Israel following high profile campaigns of collective action highlighting how these companies contribute to Israel’s human rights abuses. Today’s visual illustrates the financial impact and evolution of one campaign, the campaign to boycott Veolia.
Until 2015, Veolia had a stake in the Jerusalem Light Rail. Built on occupied Palestinian territory, the Jerusalem Light Rail provides service to Israeli settlements in East Jerusalem, which are illegal under the Fourth Geneva Convention. Such infrastructure projects entrench the presence of illegal settlements and facilitate their ongoing expansion.
It took at least eight years of slow-but-steady organizing and action to get Veolia to stop profiting off of Israel’s human rights abuses. By laying out this timeline, we wanted to emphasize the cumulative impact of collective action, where today’s small steps are tomorrow’s significant milestones.
More major wins are not only possible, but they are also unfolding right now, small step after small step. Just last week, Brown University students passed a divestment motion, becoming the first Ivy League university to back divestment, and joining over fifty other North American universities that have passed such motions in the last decade.
[This is the sixth release in a collection. View all the visuals in Growth of a Movement: Stories of Collective Action.]