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I agree with Geoff, it seems to me that British Academics are probably doing the only thing they really can, as a group protest, about the illegal occupation of land taken in 1967. I agreed at the time with the boycott of South Africa (contra Thatcher and the Tory party) and I agree with the boycott of Israel and its produce. This has nothing to do, what so ever, with academic free speech. It is about a group of people collectively deciding to withdraw their collaborations with academic groups who are colluding, by not standing out against, the Israeli state in the occupation of Palestinian lands. Academics have the right to act collectively and have chosen too. It is nothing to do with anti-semitism, it is about trying to do something that may have an effect.

 

From: Discussion list of Archaeologists for Global Justice [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of geoff carver
Sent: 15 June 2007 1:38 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Fw: British Academy restates opposition to academic boycotts

 

interesting; on the one hand, i agree: we shouldn't discriminate on any basis other than the strength of ideas, especially when we're using other academics as a means to criticise their government's policies; on the other, we sometimes (all-too-often) feel the need to do something so as not to be overwhelmed in some sense of powerlessness...

as academics, what else can we do, really? writing letters to the editor is probably every bit as futile-though-noble gesture, in the long run, as academic boycotts, but... what else can we do?

there was an ad on this issue on some website the other day, and it had a link to the ADL, complaining about british hypocrisy, asking why no one was boycotting sudan; the obvious answer (to me, at least) being that there are probably too few sudanese academics to bother boycotting, but...

what else can we do? just give up? or find more effective means to make our opinions known?