Speaking of Rhodesia:
http://www.ynetnews.com/
articles...3452955,00.html
"The aging Mugabe is set to amend the constitution, so that it would permit him to rule for many more years. Based on the number of afflicted people, what is happening in Zimbabwe is the most severe humanitarian tragedy in Africa, perhaps even greater than the one in Darfur, the Horn of Africa and East Congo.
"And yet the world continues to turn on its axis: Slowly. Zimbabwe is boycotted and isolated; however, Mugabe's regime can only be ousted by brute force. And since no superpower wishes to get its forces involved in what's going on there, we can surmise that millions more will die until this beautiful country goes back to normal.
"What do we have to do with the tragedy of a far-off and distant people? An Israeli journalist born in Zimbabwe called me and directed my attention to an article that appeared in an opposition newspaper published in London. It said that Israelis are assisting Mugabe's regime with intelligence and policing services.
"I was unable to obtain confirmation of this article, and sources at the Defense Ministry informed me that although water hoses for dispersing crowds were sold to Zimbabwe a few years ago, export licenses to this country have not been issued since. This doesn't rule out the possibility that Israelis are doing business with the Mugabe government, selling it equipment purchased here and there, and providing consultation on security related issues."
"Rhodesia no longer exists." Yes, it was "wiped off the map." That might, hopefully, be Israel's fate, too.
A name change?
I'm entirely unsure why this legal ruling would not apply to any campaign of cultural or any other kind of boycott involving institutions anywhere in the world. If one goes through the text of these motions
http://www.pacbi.org/boycott_new...?
id=506_0_1_0_M
and substituted Burma or Zimbabwe or any other regime it would appear quite unexceptional. Surely the argument was about whether the occupation of the territories merited such a campaign and/or whether the extension of such a campaign was appropriate in the case of academic institutions.
I can't see how this ruling will not present great difficulties for trade unionists and their relations with human rights groups and solidarity movements, many of which call for boycotts or sanctions of one kind or another. Its all very well to call for a discussion with the leader of a Palestinian university union, but as things stand (correct me if I'm wrong), if he disagree's with your opinion the union could face legal action if he expressed his in one of our union meetings.
Not much of a discussion. I would very much like a reply to this despite the fact that, perhaps understandably, responses from those who disagree with the aims of this blog like myself don't usually pass moderation. Not complaining about this but would genuinely like to know what Engages position is with respect to allowing Palestinians to speak in our union meetings advocating some form of boycott of the state they feel oppresses them (given that something like this is advocated by almost any group which suffers comparable treatment by a state).
If this is not to be permitted I don't see how one can in good faith call prospective interactions between the UCU and Palestinian academic unions a dialogue
One of the rules of political discourse that we had until quite recently -- enforced most vigorously by groups such as the Anti-Defamation League and The Simon Wiesenthal Center, among others -- was that nobody was allowed to invoke Hitler and Nazis as a political insult. To do so, we heard constantly, was to trivialize Nazisim and the Holocaust and exploit that imagery for cheap political gain.
...
Now, however, "Nazi" and "Hitler" comparisons have become, by far, the most common political insult on the Right, and these same Jewish advocacy groups are defeaningly silent.
http://salon.com/opinion/greenwa...sult/
index.html
That was never the case in Israel. When I lived there in 1993-94 everywhere you went in Jerusalem there were fly-posters of Rabin's head on a Nazi uniform, and nobody seemed bothered very much.
Look for the Star of David,
Where'eer people are hurt or oppressed,
Yes, look for the Star of David,
where the mighty are killing the rest...
(Sung to the tune of, maybe, "Look for the Silver Lining?)
And those Reshef missile boats they sold us kept the ANC's navy at bay, all right!
Beware Israel Aircraft Industries, especially when they bring gifts . . .
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