US anti-boycott laws and their implications for free speech - Part 2 | Boycott | Documentary
Oct 3, 2023 #Israel #Documentary #FirstAmendment
In the past nine years, 36 states in the United States have passed laws that require in
Oct 3, 2023 #Israel #Documentary #FirstAmendment
In the past nine years, 36 states in the United States have passed laws that require individuals and companies to agree to not boycott Israel as part of their work contracts. These laws prohibit public entities from contracting with and investing in companies that boycott Israel.
Under their First Amendment rights to freedom of speech, an Arkansas news publisher, an Arizona lawyer and a speech therapist in Texas take on their respective states over the anti-boycott legislation. For Alan Leveritt, it’s not about the growing Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement – he does not want to boycott - but about his constitutional right to do so if he does want to. For the others, their challenge is personal as well as principled.
What’s at stake is the right to express their own political views through boycotting anything they want, as well as the deeper right to freedom of expression enshrined in the US constitution.
In part two of a three-part series, we explore the support for these laws inside the US and beyond and look back at the history of boycott-as-protest in the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s.
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