The Temporality of the Emergence of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions Movement

How did the conjuncture of several interlocking “eventful events” contribute to the emergence of the Palestinian Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) Movement in 2005? How do certain events introduce a change to the ordinary political structure and become transformative? This comparative paper seeks to analyze the conjuncture of events that lead to the emergence of BDS in 2005, after six decades of colonization. By analyzing the interdependence of event and political structure, I argue that the 2001 parallel summit to the United Nationals conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and related Intolerance in Durban was a non-transformative event that did not alter the political structure, despite its success in expanding the transnational network of activists. Contrarily, the 2004 decision of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) constitutes a turning point event with structural and political implications, becoming a catalyst for the emergence of the BDS movement. This paper contributes to the burgeoning studies of events in social movement research.