Writing and Advocacy

Michael Bueckert is Interim President at Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East (CJPME).

He has a PhD in Sociology with a specialization in Political Economy from Carleton University in Ottawa. His dissertation explored the Canadian opposition to boycott movements, and this research involved travel to Palestine and South Africa.

He is co-editor of Advocating for Palestine in Canada (Fernwood Publishing, 2022), has published in Radical History Review and Studies in Political Economy, and has written for publications including Africa Is A Country, Jacobin, and Briarpatch. His research has been cited by the Washington Post, Buzzfeed News, CBC Ottawa, the South African Broadcast Corporation, the Electronic Intifada, +972 Magazine, and Mondoweiss.

Co-edited by Emily Emily Regan Wills, Jeremy Wildeman, Michael Bueckert and Nadia Abu-Zahra. Published by Fernwood Publishing in 2022.

Available in the US from Columbia University Press

On November 5, 2024, I spoke to Parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee on behalf of Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East (CJPME), as part of the study on “Canada's Advancement of a Two-State Solution.” You can read the remarks here or watch the video here.

You can listen to my interview on CBC Front Burner's episode about the McGill encampment from May 2024. I spoke about the movement for boycott, divestment, and sanctions against Israel (BDS) and the parallels with the South African anti-apartheid movement. You can find the transcript here.

Doctor of Philosophy, Sociology with a Specialization in Political Economy (2020), Carleton University, Ottawa ON

Boycotts and Backlash: The Canadian Opposition to Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) Movements from South Africa to Israel

“This dissertation explores the struggle in Canada over international boycott campaigns, providing a comparative analysis of Canadian solidarity movements which deploy economic practices of boycott, divestment, and sanctions (known collectively as “BDS”) to target the policies of foreign country, specifically focusing on campaigns against apartheid South Africa and contemporary Israel. In particular, this study looks closely at the organized backlash to these campaigns, including the role of domestic lobbies and state-led propaganda campaigns, in an attempt to explain why the boycott campaign against South Africa appeared to be so successful, while the campaign against Israel has struggled to become popular...”
— Abstract

Academic book chapters and journal articles

  • Bueckert, M. (2022). Singled Out: South Africa, Israel and Accusations of Unfair Criticism. In E. Wills, J. Wildeman, M. Bueckert & N. Abu-Zahra (Eds.),  Advocating for Palestine in Canada: Histories, Movements, Action. Winnipeg, MB: Fernwood Publishing.

  • Bueckert, M. (2019). Boycotts and Revolution: Debating the Legitimacy of the African National Congress in the Canadian Anti-Apartheid Movement, 1969-1994. Radical History Review, 134, 96-115. Special issue: "The Politics of Boycotts."  

    https://doi.org/10.1215/01636545-7323420

  • Bueckert, M. (2016). Solidarity With Whom? Occupy Wall Street and Responsibility to the Other(s). In W. Carroll & K. Sarker (Eds.), A World to Win: Contemporary Social Movements and Counter-Hegemony (pp. 327-341). Winnipeg, MB: ARP Books.

  • Bueckert, M. (2015). CIDA and the Capitalist State: Shifting Structures of Representation under the Harper Government. Studies in Political Economy, 96, 3-22. 

    https://doi.org/10.1080/19187033.2015.11674935

Select writing and interviews