BADIL

In Brazil, the first motion in favor of the Palestinian Civil Society Call for Boycotts, Divestment and Sanctions against the State of Israel until it complies with international law (BDS) came a week after the Call itself. On 18 July 2005, at the 50th Congress of the National University Teachers' Union (50o CONAD, ANDES), the members of the union voted in favor of an institutional boycott of Israel. A year later, the Central Trade Union (CUT) youth national congress passed a BDS motion in February 2006. These initiatives did not develop into systematic campaigns, but remained as isolated actions which hardly had the chance to develop into a debate or grow into a movement before being overcome by a more urgent need: to act against the Mercosur-Israel Free Trade Agreement (FTA). Since 2006, the aim of nullifyng the Mercusor-Israeli FTA has been the main goal of the BDS campaign in Brazil.