Most people date the global boycott campaign to end South African apartheid to the 1980s. What is frequently omitted is that, while it picked up most in the 1980s, the call for boycotts was not issued in the 1980s, but in 1959.
Today, we are witnessing a similar grassroots phenomenon in Palestine, as throughout the country, acts of resistance are bubbling up to the surface. However, we must note that one of the more encouraging aspects of these breakthroughs is that most were accomplished by local individuals, groups, and coalitions with no direct involvement from the “leaders” of the BDS movement, the steering collectives of various groups focused on BDS.
This is extremely significant on its own terms, but also illustrates that the many years of political discussion that were catalyzed by the 2005 Palestinian call for BDS against Israel are bearing fruit.