British ban would target the good guy too... (moral, punishment)

[Jaiket]

Prof. Miriam Shlesinger, the translation scholar from Bar-Ilan University who was fired from the board of a British journal for being Israeli, sees herself as one of the lucky ones. "At least I had the luxury of knowing why I was being boycotted," she says, recalling the e-mail she received in May 2002 from erstwhile friend Prof. Mona Baker, asking her to resign from the editorial board of a journal Baker publishes.

"With me, it was clear, direct and specific, but it can be very difficult to see the effects of the boycott. Very often it's an undercurrent, a hidden dynamic that is difficult to point to. If certain academics become less friendly, less interested or stop engaging with you, it takes a while to realize that the other kids on the block aren't playing with you. For younger academics who want to enter the world of academic discourse and have yet to establish themselves, a boycott can be truly damaging."

Indeed, the "silent" boycott phenomenon concerns a growing number of Israeli academics who are sometimes unable to distinguish, for example, whether an article has been rejected for publication on political grounds or for purely academic reasons. This week Shlesinger, who was interviewed before boarding a plane to London, was off to the U.K. to fight efforts to instate what has been described as the most broad-reaching academic boycott to date.

On May 29, over 120,000 members of the University and College Union will be asked to vote on a proposed boycott of Israeli universities at its annual congress in Bournemouth. The new union is a merger of the Association of University Teachers and the National Association of Teachers in Further and Higher Education; both have voted to boycott Israelis in the past.

Full story here.


I don't know about any other Brits or Europeans here on RF, but this puts a whole different spin on the boycotting concept for me. At my own university the union elections this term placed a degree of importance upon boycotting Israeli goods and institutions. The only reason I didn't turn up to vote in favour of a boycott was that I had a paper due the next day. I feel like a prat...

Prof. Shlesinger highlighted something important in her sacking, and the proposed boycott of Israeli universities;

"Ever since third grade, I thought collective punishment was immoral and this is essentially that."

I couldn't count the number of times I've heard the situation in Palestine being described as "collective punishment". It's rightfully thought to be a disgrace by liberal minded academics here in the UK, yet here it is revised and applied to the allies of the Solidarity Movement in Israel.

I dunno if many people here will be concerned about this, but I'm bloody annoyed right now. Ten years ago journals would have killed to have an Iraqi on the editorial board. Sacking someone for being Israeli, whether politically motivated or not, can't be anything else but racist, can it?

[Sunstone]

Seems immoral to me.

[Comprehend]

I think any judgment based upon race is unfortunate in this day and age. I thought we were past that as a society.

Even if it is based upon nationality, it is still just as unfortunate. I have yet to meet a nation or race of people who are identical copies and who are collectively guilty of anything...

[Scarlett Wampus]

I've just been reading about this here, here, here and here.

What a mess.

[Jaiket]

Originally Posted by Scarlett Wampus

What a mess.

Aye. I'm a little ashamed actually, just can't see this helping anyone.

[Terrywoodenpic]

to put things in perspective and to help non UK readers understand the position here a little better you need to understand a few points.

1) the academic unions in the UK are very organised, very strong ( nearly 100%) and mostly very left wing.
2) they have a very democratic system (in the labour Mould) when a vote is taken on any subject it becomes obligatory on their executive to carry it out, what ever their personal view... they are delegates not representatives.
3) I was unfortunate enough to have the college union representative in my department. She had the authority of the college, to take what ever time she needed for "case" or union work. Her time was paid for out of my budget for which I received no allowance. Planning her output was imposable. ( I was not well pleased)
4) they have a history of organising boycotts... Rhodesia ... south Africa to name but two. they have never yet backed down.

What surprises me is that they seem to have the backing of Jewish members and expat- Israelis in this boycott.

Unlike the USA the Palestinians have great sympathy in the UK, and Israel is seen as the main cause of their problems.

In the light of the above I am not surprised at the boycott.