(You can also read this piece here.)
Academic Boycotts and Professional Responsibility

Delivered at the Annual Convention of the

American Philosophical Association,

San Francisco, March 31, 2016
Russell A. Berman

I was invited to speak on this panel, having been reassured that it would be devoted to academic boycotts, in general, but I cannot…[Read more]

 
The Ten Worst Things About the BDS Movement
                                                                                                  Cary Nelson

1. BDS demonizes, antagonizes, and delegitimizes one of the two parties who have to negotiate a solution to the conflict by working together and uncritically idealizes the other.

…[Read more]

Proponents of BDS (currently) argue that they are (only) proposing a boycott of institutions (only Israeli universities) and that this will not harm individuals. In Inside Higher Education, David Hirsh dismantles this myth.  Boycotts of institutions harm the individuals in those institutions.

Attacking Israeli universities is an attack on un…[Read more]

BDS proponents claim only an “institutional boycott” is at stake that will not be directed against individuals. That distinction between institution and individual is untenable, as has been argued elsewhere.

But let’s assume–just for the sake of argument in this post–that one could  have an exclusively “institutional boycott” that somehow s…[Read more]

BDS proponents downplay the likely practical consequences of the boycott. They claim it will only prohibit the institution (e.g. the MLA) from collaborating with Israeli universities and will not impinge on the scholarly life of individuals. Let us leave aside here the ambiguity of individual vs. institution (would the chair of a literature…[Read more]

Check this out.

Those advocating that the MLA boycott Israeli academic institutions are rallying under the banner of “Justice for Palestine.” Everyone in fact should support justice, and not only in Palestine. Agreed? Unfortunately the slogan “Justice for Palestine” is just that, a slogan; it is a vehicle to attack Israel and is only concerned with “justice” when…[Read more]

Do BDS  supporters have anything to say about the burning of pilot Kasabeh? Or will they blame it on Israel?

Bassem Eid is the founder of the Palestinian Human Rights Monitoring Group. He has also become a strident critic of the Palestinian Authority–given the threat that the PA poses to human rights. Hence his dismissal of the boycott.

The question in our discussion is whether those who call for “justice in Palestine” are able to see any injustice…[Read more]

The series of votes at the Delegate Assembly at the MLA convention in Vancouver showed some significant weaknesses to BDS and limits to its support. It’s important to look at the results closely and draw some conclusions.

Five votes deserve scrutiny: the initial vote to adopt the Delegate Assembly Organizing Committee (DAOC) two-year moratorium…[Read more]

The recent Delegate Assembly meeting in Vancouver included a robust discussion on a set of issues, prompted by the clash of two different proposed resolutions–one supporting academic boycotts, one opposing them. The Delegate Assembly Organizing Committee has wisely created space for discussion of these matters (an agreement that included a w…[Read more]

The recent Delegate Assembly meeting in Vancouver included a robust discussion on a set of issues, prompted by the clash of two different proposed resolutions–one supporting academic boycotts, one opposing them. The Delegate Assembly Organizing  Committee has wisely created space for discussion of these matters (an agreement that included a…[Read more]

The DAOC program involves an extended, two-year  discussion of topics relevant to the boycott–in order to explore their complexity and in order to inform the membership. These would seem to be desirable goals.

A disheartening outcome of the DA was that, in the initial vote as to whether to accept the DAOC proposal, about one third of the DA…[Read more]

The Delegate Assembly Organizing Committee has initiated a series of venues (including this commons group) to discuss issues around BDS. In particular, it dedicated much of the open discussion section of the DA meeting to this: these are opportunities to get insight into the various opinions at stake.

One key take-away for me from the DA…[Read more]

“[…] the ethical responsibility of every free person and every association of free persons, academic institutions included, to resist injust supersedes other considerations about whether such acts of resistance may directly or indirectly injure academic freedom.”

–Omar Barghouti, “Boycott, Academic Freedom, and the Moral Responsibility to U…[Read more]

A revealing feature of BDS discourse is an intentional ambiguity about its target.  Claims for respect for individual freedom go hand in hand with a threat that–nonetheless!– anyone can be  subjected to a “common sense boycott.” Consider the passage from the definitive PACBI guidelines (emphasis added):

“While an individual’s freedom of exp…[Read more]