On March 2nd, the second Rosa Luxemburg Conference was held in Vienna. A famous quote from the Polish-German philosopher — “If you don’t move, you won’t feel your chains!” — was the theme of the event.

BDS Austria (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions) registered on time as a participant and co-sponsor of the conference. But without plausible explanation, the registration for an information table was refused and the fee refunded. As the following video shows, BDS activists intervened at the start of the final panel discussion to object to the participant selection policy of the organizers and their refusal to allow a public discuss of the BDS campaign. The speaker is Ruth Orli Moshkovitz.

She said in part:

It appears that the organizers of the Rosa Luxemburg Conference – like the majority of the Austrian “Left” – do not want to move when it comes to the systematic oppression of Palestinians. They prefer not to express their views – above all not in public – on the BDS movement, which is a non-violent, international human rights campaign launched by a broad alliance of Palestinian civil society in 2005… We ask them: What are you afraid of?… Are you afraid that the Community College (VHS) will banish you from their facilities if you allow BDS to be openly discussed? Are you afraid that you will be slandered as anti-Semites?

Numerous participants applauded the BDS statement, and the moderator, Michael Woegerer, asked the BDS activists to stay because it would make for a “fair” discussion. This belated invitation however was somewhat disingenuous. In discussions with the moderator, who was also the chief organizer, during the run-up to the conference, there had been many opportunities to discuss BDS participation. But as indicated earlier, the participation of BDS Austria was rejected.

Nevertheless, out of respect for the event, BDS had deliberately designed its intervention to avoid disruption and to allow the meeting to proceed unhindered.

Subsequently, BDS Austria stated again that it was always ready to participate, but on the same basis as all other sponsors or participants, and not in response to a belated invitation.

Here is the text of the intervention at the Rosa Luxemburg Conference (Vienna, 2019)