Engage is in favour of people joining AUT. If people want to join AUT to rid it of a particular racist policy then I see nothing wrong with that. All academics have an interest in an anti-racist union. And I hope that once we rid AUT of its racist policy then poeople will remain as members. And we have not opened comments boxes at all. The reason for this is because we were advised that they would fill up with all sorts of racist nonsense. And we didn't have time to moderat them while running this campaign.
David Hirsh | Homepage | 05.21.05 - 10:06 am | #

In some of your posts you have a button that says "post comments", in others it says "comments off". I was misled by that. I get anti-semitic and other racist comments here sometimes and it takes a second to delete them. You are against counter-argument that's all. The boycott of Israeli academia isn't a racist policy and asking people to join a union for a fortnight in order to support an apartheid state is as cynical a ploy as any I can think of right now. But thanks for giving me a working definition of chutzpah, posting a comment on my blog when you can't tolerate any comments on your own.
Mark Elf | Homepage | 05.21.05 - 10:47 am | #

The people at Engage are busy running a campaign, they don't have all day to moderate possible racist comments. Also, it might technically be a blog, but it's above all a tool that provides resources and information for people to fight against the boycott. It would lose its sharpness if, cholilleh, it became a platform for anyone to vent their opinion on this or that.
Also, you might think it a cycical ploy or whatever to encourage people to join their union to defeat the boycott, but if they don't fight it, they might end up with no union to join at all.
Alexandra Simonon | 05.21.05 - 7:35 pm | #

There are enormous resources going into the zionist campaign against the boycott. Moderating comment would be a doddle. You oppose counter-argument.

Anyway, no matter how the vote goes, the genie's out of the bottle with many many people juxtaposing the words "apartheid" and "Israel", though I gather that the zionist side may well win the vote this time around. I don;t think a campaign against apartheid would harm the union and the Palestinian people will always know that principled trade unionists opposed Israel's racist policies.
Mark Elf | Homepage | 05.21.05 - 7:56 pm | #

Oh I see - so you think I should get on the phone to the Israeli embassy and get them to send round an intern?

Its not the Zionists who are going to win the vote on Thursday. Its the left.
http://www.liberoblog.com/wp-adm...n=edit& post=120
David Hirsh | Homepage | 05.21.05 - 8:23 pm | #

whoops. wrong link. Maybe I should sack the Embassy guy who's doing the links. I meant, of course http://liberoblog.com/2005/05/21...posturing-left/
David Hirsh | Homepage | 05.21.05 - 8:25 pm | #

You don't have to be on it all day. You pay haloscan $12 a year for email notifications and read them and delete as appropriate. Your reference to the "real left" is just a tad enigmatic when you consider the array of rightists, including people who have been encouraged to join the union simply to oppose the boycott, supporting your side. If this left of yours is so real, how come so many weren't in the union in the first place? And how come Sharon and his cohorts have the same position as you on the boycott?

I have to say that I stand by what I said about you avoiding debate. The post that you have linked to purports to use pro-boycott arguments as a foil for the anti-boycott case yet you don't cite any individual or group making the points that you are arguing against. In fact I'm grateful to you for drawing my attention to that particular post as I'd like to do a post on it myself.
Mark Elf | Homepage | 05.21.05 - 9:03 pm | #

I am glad you're going to link to it. Your readers ought to read it.
David Hirsh | Homepage | 05.21.05 - 9:09 pm | #

I'd be surprised if they haven't already given that you say that monitoring argument on your blog would be a full time job.
Mark Elf | Homepage | 05.21.05 - 9:33 pm | #