Palestinians Call for Boycott of Israeli Academia

[Englander]

http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article3434.shtml
Victor Kattan, The Electronic Intifada, 15 December 2004

The Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel has called upon their colleagues in the international community to "comprehensively and consistently boycott all Israeli academic and cultural institutions" as exemplified in the struggle to abolish apartheid in South Africa through diverse forms of boycott. The call was made at an international conference on "Resisting Israeli Apartheid Strategies and Principles" at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London on Sunday 5 December.

The campaign urges the international community to refrain from participating in any form of academic and cultural cooperation, collaboration or joint projects with Israeli institutions; to suspend all forms of funding and subsidies to these institutions; to promote divestment from Israel by academic institutions; and to condemn Israeli policies by pressing for resolutions to be adopted by academic, professional and cultural associations and organizations - as a contribution to the struggle to end Israel's occupation, colonization and system of apartheid.

Giving the welcoming remarks at the conference, the author, journalist and playwright Victoria Brittain said "many of you may not know how very, very sharp was the struggle for South Africa's freedom. Ten years after majority rule it is easy to forget that just a very few years before that we in the anti-apartheid movement were deeply absorbed in battles over perception, over media bias, over western government indifference and downright lying, which mirror exactly what the solidarity movement is doing for Palestine today."

Tom Paulin, Fellow in English at Hertford College, Oxford University, said in the keynote address that "a struggle against embedded prejudices and institutions which aim to equate people into tribes and enforce apartheid is an imaginative struggle, a struggle which does not demand that a work of art should be constrained to, and interpreted by, a single ideological struggle." He mentioned the work of the late Edward Said who in his book "The End of the Peace Process" wrote that only the force of unyielding principle, held on to from a position of moral strength, was capable of delegitimising apartheid all over the world.

[Annus Horribilis]

1. "Israeli Apartheid"?

LOL.

[Englander]

4. "Against Israeli Apartheid" by Desmond Tutu

"Divestment from apartheid South Africa was fought by ordinary people at the grassroots. Faith-based leaders informed their followers, union members pressured their companies' stockholders and consumers questioned their store owners. Students played an especially important role by compelling universities to change their portfolios. Eventually, institutions pulled the financial plug, and the South African government thought twice about its policies.

Similar moral and financial pressures on Israel are being mustered one person at a time. Students on more than forty US campuses are demanding a review of university investments in Israeli companies as well as in firms doing major business in Israel. From Berkeley to Ann Arbor, city councils have debated municipal divestment measures.

These tactics are not the only parallels to the struggle against apartheid. Yesterday's South African township dwellers can tell you about today's life in the occupied territories. To travel only blocks in his own homeland, a grandfather waits on the whim of a teenage soldier. More than an emergency is needed to get to a hospital; less than a crime earns a trip to jail. The lucky ones have a permit to leave their squalor to work in Israel's cities, but their luck runs out when security closes all checkpoints, paralyzing an entire people. The indignities, dependence and anger are all too familiar.

Many South Africans are beginning to recognize the parallels to what we went through. Ronnie Kasrils and Max Ozinsky, two Jewish heroes of the antiapartheid struggle, recently published a letter titled "Not in My Name." Signed by several hundred other prominent Jewish South Africans, the letter drew an explicit analogy between apartheid and current Israeli policies. Mark Mathabane and Nelson Mandela have also pointed out the relevance of the South African experience. "

http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml%3Fi=20020715&s=tutu

[Annus Horribilis]

6. Desmond Tutu?

Here are some nice quotes from Mr. Tutu about The (Evil) Jews:

"People are scared in this country (the US), to say wrong is wrong because the Jewish lobby is powerful - very powerful. Well, so what?"

Tutu accused Jews of exhibiting "an arrogance--the arrogance of power because Jews are a powerful lobby in this land and all kinds of people woo their support."

During his 1989 visit to Israel, Tutu "urged Israelis to forgive the Nazis for the Holocaust," a statement which the Simon Wiesenthal Center called "a gratuitous insult to Jews and victims of Nazism everywhere." During the visit, Tutu remarked "If I'm accused of being antisemitic, tough luck," and in response to questions about his anti-Jewish bias, Tutu replied, "My dentist's name is Dr. Cohen."

Tutu has claimed that Zionism has "very many parallels with racism."

Speaking in a Connecticut church in 1984, Tutu said that "the Jews thought they had a monopoly on God; Jesus was angry that they could shut out other human beings." In the same speech, he compared the features of the ancient Holy Temple in Jerusalem to the features of the apartheid system in South Africa.

Where have I heard this kind of stuff before?

[Englander]

7. So,what are you actually saying?

Don't be vague,dude. Are you saying that the Archbishop is comparing Israeli apartheid with South African apartheid because he's a anti-Semite? Or not?

Also,what's your source for those "quotes"?

[Annus Horribilis]

10. Yes, Mr. Tutu is an anti-Semite

He just doesn't go after Israel, but entire the Jewish peolpe. Here are my sources:

Jewish Telegraphic Agency Daily News Bulletin, Nov. 29, 1984; Jerusalem Post, Dec. 31, 1989; Simon Wiesenthal Center's Response magazine, January 1990; American Jewish Year Book 1988, p.50, Hartford Courant, Oct. 29, 1984.

[Englander]

11. Who are the ZOA?

Whoever they are,they've got exactly the same "sources" as you;

Found via Google;

http://www.zoa.org/pressrel2003/20030401b.htm

http://www.zoa.org/oped/oped20030428a.htm

[Annus Horribilis]

12. ZOA

Zionist Organization of America, I believe.

[Igel]

18. This link provides some sources.

http://www.jewishpress.com/news_article_print.asp?article=2285

[TheKingfish]

13. You think Jews are evil?

[Englander]

14. That question is likely to remain unanswered;

Here's the reason;

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=user_profiles&u_id=161957

[Coastie for Truth]

9. Major American Companies Heavily Invested in Israel and Muslim Countries .

Actually, there are major American companies that are heavily invested in BOTH Israel and in Muslim countries (such as Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, Pakistan, India (yes, very large number of Muslims), Indonesia, Malaysia, etc.)

Many of these companies have plans to establish operations in the Palestinian nation when financially safe to do so.

Moreover, ALL of these companies regularly build project teams of Israelis and Muslims.

All of these companies that I am familiar with have female senior executives, Islamic senior executives, Jewish senior executives, African-American senior executives, gay senior executives. They also have domestic partner benefits. They also have Israeli citizens working in Muslim countries and non-Israeli Muslims working in Israel under some kind of an Israeli equivalent to an "L-1" visa.

Now, let's look at the companies that specifically and explicitly do not have Israeli operations (I am a FORMER CHEMICAL ENGINEER - graduated before biotech and pharma and semiconductor processing, when chemical engineering pretty much meant "petroleum refining engineering and ancillary activities" ) - they still brag about their absence of domestic partner benefits, females in senior management are few and far between, African-Americans and Jews are even rarer, Latinos- forget it. They still brag about being in contempt of court in hiring and benefits cases. Major contributors to the GOP -- Swiftie lawyer John O'Neill is one of their mouth pieces as is James Addison Baker III.

You want results - do what the Ivy League is doing with the military to force the military to change its policy on gays/lesbians -- CLOSE THE UNIVERSITY PLACEMENT OFFICE --- WITHHOLD YOUR SERVICES --- DON'T WORK FOR THEM

Sorry, this is a hot button issue for me.

[QueerJustice]

25. Wonder how easy it would be to get Jewish medical academics to...

...participate in this boycott because in the medical academic world without Jewish participation I can not see it working.....

.......:toast:

[Coastie for Truth]

2. Must be "Liberal" Arts students - not techies or MD's

I work with a number of Islamic techies (Egyptians, Saudis, Iranians, Pakistanis, Indians) and my endocrinologist is an Egyptian Sunni. They think that this is beyond silly - counterproductive.

I put this suggestion in the same category with the University of California and Cal State San Francisco "Liberal" Arts student campaign to "dis-invest" in companies that do business in Israel. Yeah. Those are the companies that are African-American friendly, female friendly, Arab-American friendly, Latino friendly, and have domestic partner benefits. Dis-invest in the (which has no impact on them) and invest in companies that are anti-African-American, anti-female, anti-Arab-American, anti-Latino friendly, have no domestic partner benefits, and have lost discrimination lawsuit after discrimination lawsuit.

If these University of California and Cal State San Francisco "Liberal" Arts students were serious - they would hit these companies where it hurts - DENY THESE COMPANIES ACCESS TO THE UNIVERSITY PLACEMENT OFFICE - DON'T INTERVIEW THEIR RECRUITERS - DON'T WORK FOR THEM - TAKE JOBS IN LOWER PAYING COMPANIES WITH LESS OPPORTUNITIES AND LESS DIVERSITY - YOU SHOW THEM - HIT THEM WHERE IT HURTS - DENY YOUR SERVICES

[QueerJustice]

3. Just went on a 2 week....

...cutting edge medical conference to Israel....conference academically was fantastic...got my credits CME hours...learnt a lotttttt , saw lots of Jerusalem our in-divisible capital city, Tel Aviv...our fantastic nightlife city, saw all my cousins uncles aunts and friends who had made aliyah,.and also managed to spend 2 glorious weeks exploring gay life in Israel....The IDF is packed with gay guys....cute too...And lots of (gay and str8)doctors .....

Also met some Israeli Nobel prize winners at Haifa Technion...


Well 2 things you can not find in the middle east except in Israel......

...Academia...at its finest....recognized for CME credits in ANY North American/South African/Australian/UK/Irish/French/Italian/Swedish(just a sampling of the academic doctors I met) .. etc etc .....medical schools.....

,,,AND a fantastic gay life.....


....BRAVO.....

[Englander]

5. "Julian?"

n/t

[QueerJustice]

8. huh?

[bluesoul]

15. WTF?

Even if all you said was true, that makes Israel the good guy? Even if they killed 100 times more Palestinian civilians then Palestinian suicide bombers ever could (they actually surpass them by 3, so much for the Israeli "higher moral ground") you would still be talking about Israel's "virtues" while they wipe out an entire nation? Amazing....

And you blabber about gay rights, considering all of this? Palestinians don't even have a hint of daily normal life like most Israelis do (thanks to Sharon, and the several decade long policy) how can they have everything else "liberalized"? Geez....

[drdon326]

16. BLUESOUL ???...is that you ????

DUDE...HOWS IT GOING??

[Paleocon]

17. Beat me to it...

How in the hell can you have "great medical and scholastic achievments" when you're occupied by a foreign army???

I'll bet there are plenty of cute Arabs too...

:loveya:

[QueerJustice]

20. my post was in reply to the article posted...

``Palestinians Call for Boycott of Israeli Academia``

I was talking about ISRAELI "great medical and scholastic achievments"

AND the middle east in general not ``palestine`` in particular.....

[QueerJustice]

21. Since when..

Is Syria,Saudi,Egypt.etc etc..occupied by a foreign army?

[QueerJustice]

19. All i said was true....

So according to logic.....its ok to discriminate against gays (it happens this topics close to my heart so excuse me) until life would be ``normalized``?....

...to qoute your ```blabber`` ``GEEZ````AMAZING``WTF``


And its not thanks to Israel that theres no normal life its thanks to terrorism....no terrorism would mean no checkpoint, no anti-terrorist wall and normall life....am I still ``blabbering`` still ``amazing``? ``geez``?

[bluesoul]

22. oh my

There would be no "terrorism" if there was no occupation for the last 3 decades. As though that is not important. Who started what? Who is stealing other land? So many questions, so many unanswered...

[Coastie for Truth]

23. There would be no occupation if there was terrorism ... ...

There would be no occupation if there was terrorism. And there would be no terrorism if there was no dhimmi. And there would be no dhimmi if we all went back to the "Golden Age" of the Islamic Caliphate of Andalusia (described in Maria Rosa Menocal's "Ornament of the World" ) - when Maimonides was teaching medicine and writing "Guide for the Perplexed" in Islamic Egypt.

[eyl]

26. That Golden Age description is somewhat overblown

Maimonides himself was rather bitter about the Muslims' treatment of Jews - see his "Epistle to the Jews of Yemen"

[Coastie for Truth]

30. Agreed, and

Things have gone downhill for both since the Expulsion from Spain, and things have gone downhill for the Muslims since the Battle of Vienna, and things have really gone to hades in a hand basket since the Saudis sold their birthright to "Big Oil" (not to the "Zionists" but to "Big Oil" - and have had this massive castration complex ever since) - which massive castration complex was only exacerbated since the establishment of Israel, and their defeats in war after war.

[eyl]

27. You would have a point

if terrorism had started within the last three decades. It didn't.

[leftynyc]

28. Let me get this straight

You're blaming the whole of terrorism (why you're putting it in quotes is beyond me) on Israeli policies. Is that what you're saying?

[Name removed]

29. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[QueerJustice]

31. That post I consider offensive....

[number6]

24. kick

:smoke: