Among those here for the Modern Language Association's Seattle meeting is noted independent Palestinian commentator, activist, and author Omar Barghouti. Besides the MLA, he'll be making a number of appearances, among them a talk at Elliott Bay on Wednesday evening, as well as an evening at St. Mark's Cathedral, north of Elliott Bay on Capitol Hill, on Thursday – that evening is sponsored by the Mideast Focus Group of St. Mark's. He has a timely book in hand, BDS: Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions: The Global Struggle for Palestinian Rights (Haymarket Books). "No one has done more to build the intellectual, legal, and moral case for BDS than Omar Barghouti. The global Palestinian solidarity movement has been transformed and is on the cusp of major breakthroughs." – Naomi Klein. "I have been to Palestine where I've witnessed the racially segregated housing and the humiliation of Palestinians at military roadblocks. I can't help but remember the conditions we experienced in South Africa under apartheid. We could not have achieved our freedom without the help of people around the world using nonviolent means of boycotts and divestment to compel governments and institutions to withdraw their support for the apartheid regime. Omar Barghouti's lucid and morally compelling book is perfectly timed ..." – Archbishop Desmond Tutu.