Israel academic boycott

[Louis Proyect <lnp3@xxxxxxxxx>]

Counterpunch, July 31, 2002

The Academic Boycott of Israel
by M. Shahid Alam

In early April 2002, moved by the massacres in Jenin and the wanton
destruction of civilian infrastructure in West Bank cities by invading
Israeli forces, two British academics, Hilary Rose and Steven Rose,
circulated a call-posted at www.pjpo.org-for an academic boycott of Israel.

This campaign was directed mostly at European academics, and so when it
reached me nearly two months later, in the first week of July, there were
only six American academics among the signatories. I carefully read the
boycott statement, which entailed non-cooperation with "official Israeli
institutions, including universities," and decided to sign on to the list.
I also forwarded the call to academics on my mailing list.

Most of the friends on my mailing list just ignored the call. Only two
responded, and both were more than a bit troubled that I should support
such a thing. One described this campaign as "destructive," another
objected that this was an "attack" on academic freedom. And once my name
was on the list of signatories, I promptly received two pieces of hate
mail. One of the two, from India.

A few days later I came across a counter petition initiated by Leonid
Ryzhik, a mathematics lecturer at University of Chicago. In an interview
published in The Guardian, May 27, he said that the boycott campaign was
"immoral, dangerous and misguided, and indirectly encourages the terrorist
murderers in their deadly deeds." And this week, in The Nation, August
5-12, Martha Nussbaum, an eminent ethical philosopher, wrote that she felt
"relaxed" to be in Israel, where she had gone to receive an honorary degree
from the University of Haifa, "determined to affirm the worth of scholarly
cooperation in the face of the ugly campaign."

Having declared my support for the academic boycott of Israel, I believe I
must now explain why I can not view this campaign as "destructive," "ugly"
or supportive of "terrorist murderers." On the contrary, I see this as a
moral gesture, part of a growing campaign by international civil society to
use its moral force to nudge Israelis, to awaken them to the ugly and
destructive reality of their Occupation, which has now lasted for more than
thirty-five years and shows no sign of ending any time soon. At last, the
cumulative weight of Palestinian suffering has begun to break through the
crust of Israeli protestations of innocence. Although tardy, world
conscience is now preparing to engage Israeli intransigence.

full: http://www.counterpunch.org/alam0731.html



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