Chicago publisher Haymarket Books announced Thursday that human rights activist Omar Barghouti’s book tour is going to happen: after four months of unexplained delays, the U.S. consulate in Jerusalem finally has given him a visa to enter the U.S. Barghouti, the founding member of the Palestinian Civil Society Boycott, Divestment, Sanction Campaign, is a critic of Israel and the author of Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions: The Global Struggle for Palestinian Rights. The book was released earlier this month with a March 7 book launch party at the London Review Bookshop in London, U.K. It was made available in this country earlier this week.
Haymarket editor Anthony Arnove attributed the granting of Barghouti’s visa to an effective international public campaign the press led, with supporters from all over the world lobbying U.S. government officials, including the State Department and members of Congress, as well as the U.S. consulate in Jerusualem. “It is proof that protest works and solidarity matters,” Arnove stated in a written statement. “We are thrilled he is coming.”
Barghouti will arrive in the U.S. on April 9. His eight-city tour will kick off that evening, with an appearance at New York University. The first leg of the tour will conclude April 15 at Busboys & Poets in Washington, DC. Busboys & Poets is the only bookstore included in this segment of Barghouti’s tour; the other stops are at universities.
