I saw on the news today that the AUT has voted to boycott several Israeli universities. Does anyone else think this innappopiate? Isnt a union there to stick up for the members in the workplace, and not play politics?

I do think it's inappropriate, but it's nothing new.

I remember being in Labour Party meetings in the 1980s when very earnest middle class lecturers passed resolutions basically telling the Nicaraguans how to run their revolution. Ridiculous.

It was the 'politics of posture' that put me off 'big' politics in the long term.

Joe

As a member of the AUT, I think the boycott of Israeli Universities is utterly pointless. Why boycott Universities? One simply cannot assume that all academics in all Israeli institutions fully support the Israeli government's policies. The boycott also smacks of cowardice. Why not boycott all Chinese Universities because of Tibet and Taiwan?

I am no admirer of the Israeli government or the state of Israel. I have always thought that the Balfour Declaration, which brought about the creation of this cuckoo in the nest of the Middle East, was one of the worst things ever done in the name of 'democracy'. I remember too, how well-supported terrorists like the Stern Gang and the Irgun murdered and massacred British soldiers in Palestine. The same soldiers who had liberated the Death Camps.

However, I think a better solution would be to boycott all goods that originate within the post 1967 'occupied territories'. Shunning a few of my colleagues in Tel Aviv will not achieve justice for the Palestinian people.

Originally posted by timo
However, I think a better solution would be to boycott all goods that originate within the post 1967 'occupied territories'. Shunning a few of my colleagues in Tel Aviv will not achieve justice for the Palestinian people.

Absolutely. I think academia can often be very introspective, and this is a prime example whereby an empty (and, ironically, intellectually unsound) gesture gets mistaken for real, positive action that will benefit the people of Palestine.

BIG Campaign (http://www.bigcampaign.org)

Greeny,
Glad you agree here. I am rather ashamed of their action, to be blunt. There is nothing worse than petulant gestures like this one. What will the result be? A number of research projects will crumble, trips and conferences will be cancelled, PhD proposals will have to be rethought and rewritten. Meanwhile, the wretched suffering of the Palestinian people will go on and on, regardless.

I am not a member of the AUT. However, this boycott is, in my opinion, simply gesture politics which serves no practical purpose. I see that one of the leading Palestinians who supports this boycott gesture was educated at an Israeli university. Strange logic.