Dear Colleagues,
My impression is that the discussion has on the whole been helpful.
I understand some of us are concerned that a formal protest by the
ESA to the PCBS sacking might appear as a message of censure from
the international scientific community towards the State of Israel,
and as taking a one-sided stance in a complex and tragic conflict.
In order to avoid this sort of misreading (which would on the top of
it be politically inefficient, since this could be taken as just
"another political condemnation of Israel as a State"), and to stick
to our point as sociologists, I suggest it might be appropriate to
formulate our protest together with Israeli and Palestinian social
scientists (be it those who took part in the debate or others). In
this way, it would clearly be a positive demonstration of solidarity
with our colleagues, and, hopefully, a modest, but concrete
contribution to understanding and peace.
Best regards
Meilleurs voeux pour 2002!
Benoit de L'Estoile
Departement de sciences sociales
Ecole normale superieure
48 Bd Jourdan, 75014 Paris
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