There is much anger today among our friends in the blogosphere today, and justifiably so. Never has it been more clear that those behind the academic boycott of Israelis are a motley crew of villains and rogues.
Yesterday, I applauded David Hirsh, who has fought the boycott with remarkable courage and tenacity, for calling for the resignation of UCU President Linda Newman - on the grounds that Newman, who stood on an anti-boycott platform, is now co-sponsoring the boycott motion with Tom Hickey, a leading light in the totalitarian Socialist Workers Party (SWP). Today, I applaud David for turning the screws on UCU General Secretary Sally Hunt, one of several actors who have appeared in this farcical boycott drama from the very beginning:
“In September the legal advice clearly stated that it would violate the law for the union to continue hosting a debate on an unlawful policy. Today, Sally Hunt claims in the Guardian that it is the right of Congress (the annual conference of the UCU - BC) to debate such a policy. What has changed?
Why is Sally Hunt speaking up for the boycott campaign in this way in public? Why does she not answer the Guardian reporter by making the case against the boycott proposals?
Why is Sally Hunt helping the boycotters to transform the question of the legality of the boycott into a question of free speech?
Now is the time to make all the legal advice which has been given to the UCU on the issue of the boycott public.”
Over on Harry’s Place, David T. rightly points to the insidious role of the SWP in promoting the boycott. The SWP is one of those creatures which denies antisemitism while actively promoting it. They’ve tried to make life as hellish as possible for generations of students, especially Jewish ones, in the UK. The SWP’s favorite pet artist is the ex-Jewish, ex-Israeli musician Gilad Atzmon (for more on him, read the second installment of Anthony Julius’s essay on Jewish anti-Zionism on Z Word).
Says David T:
The simple fact of the matter is this. That this pro-boycott motion has been proposed by the UCU Leadership is proof that the SWP hijack of the union has succeeded. It is now to late to talk about defending UCU from a lunatic fringe of extremists. The lunatic fringe of extremists are now running the union…it is imperative that we shift the debate, to focus on the utterly malign influence of members and supporters of the racist and totalitarian Socialist Workers’ Party, and of other marginal extremist political parties, on British academia. The likes of Tom Hickey, Phil Marfleet, John Rose and the rest of them, are not quirky eccentrics or idealists whose hearts are basically in the right place. They’re nasty, vicious, demagogues whose political values are utterly opposed to everything that liberal progressives stand for.
Exactly.
Inner workings of the UCU aside, how do we make sure that radical American anti-zionists do not follow suit in further promoting an academic boycott on this side of the Atlantic? What can be done to prevent the boycott movement from gaining traction/legitimacy in the US?
One of the major reasons that “radical American anti-zionists” try to follow suit — they already are — in further promoting an academic boycott on this side of the Atlantic is that they are operating in an environment in which there are som many relatively apolitical aademics. Or, to put it differently, where so many academics are relatively unskilled in responding to such threats.
Onre approach to the challenge of the boycott movement from gaining traction/legitimacy in the US has been the formation of the Jewish Academic Network for Israeli-Palestinian Peace. See its website here: http://www.janip.net
To some degree, JANIP has take its inspiration from our colelagues in the UK, i.e., Engage, with whom we are in frequent contact.
“JANIP supports a negotiated two-state solution between Israel and Palestine, based on an end to occupation and the right of both peoples to self-determination within recognized, secure borders. As scholars and teachers who are committed to Israel, we seek to inject a voice of realism and moderation into the on-campus debate, which too often has been reduced to a choice between uncompromisingly pro-Israel vs. pro-Palestinian positions.”
I wish that this query apepared a few weeks back, and then I could have recommend participating in JANIP’s first conference, taking place THIS WEEKEND.
“The Jewish Academic Network for Israeli-Palestinian Peace (JANIP) is co-sponsoring the first international academic conference dealing with the Israel-Palestine peace process. Entitled “Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: Pathways to Peace”, the conference will take place March 28-29, 2008 at Central Connecticut State University in New Britain, CT.”
Nevertheless, I recommend
a) taking a peek here:
http://www.psychology.ccsu.edu/salinas/PeaceConference.html
b) writing to JANIP to get on its mailing list.
c) sharing this message with others.
What else can be done to prevent the boycott movement from gaining traction/legitimacy in the US? I’d recommend that concerned academics - and their allies - work with such groups as the Jewish Labor Committee { http://www.jewishlabor.org } which are in turn working with our colleagues within the academic union movement on such matters. And, of course, I’d recommend that concerned academics - and their allies - work WITHIN their unions and associations to
a) be alert about such challenges, which are often `under the radar,’ and
b) not be afraid to speak out - and stay late - at conferences, conventions, cacuses where such resolutions get discussed and voted on.
I have been in favour of a comprehensive boycott of the State of Israel for a long time.
The developments on the ground following the Anapolis conference, with Israel continuing to build and expand it’s colonies on occupied Palestinian land, refusing to implement even a minimum of ‘confidence building measures’ like dismantling some of the hundreds of roadblocks, which make daily life in occupied Palestine a misery, are confirmation in my eyes that only a comprehensive boycot (economic, cultural and social) will make Israel realize that there is a heavy price to pay for continued violations of international law and its criminal behaviour in the Occupied Territories.
I am writing to you because I feel people like me- of third world origin desperately seeking ‘acceptance’ or at least the mirage of ’social mobility’ through Education- are the real victims of this mischevous resurrection of old fashioned Anti-semitism, within the Academic community- under the guise of Anti-Zionism.
I understand that, for purely tactical reasons, certain Israeli academics have endorsed this illegal notion of a boycott. This is very selfish and short-sighted of them. The real victims here will be people like me who will feel obliged- simply as a species of ‘apple-polishing’ to go along with this crap. The result? Our own youth- not yours- will be seduced by the madness of terrorism which abetts the political instrumentalization of disorder in our countries of origin and leaves us trapped at the lowest rung of the ladder.
Be it understood, I don’t think Israel, or Jews are in any need of my support or sympathy in any intellectual or legal matter. Certainly, if I see Jews being physically attacked I would intervene because in a street fight sheer force of numbers, mere brawn, can turn the balance. I appeal to the intelligent, well off, people who read this to show a like concern for the poor, the struggling. Spare us your tactical hate bombs and faddish moral panics. We deserve better from you- if that is you really are teachers, really are scholars- not voluptuaries of your own sensibilites, fashion victim bulimics of your own vomit.