{"id":43632,"date":"2014-06-09T12:00:59","date_gmt":"2014-06-09T11:00:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=43632"},"modified":"2015-05-05T21:33:45","modified_gmt":"2015-05-05T20:33:45","slug":"whats-really-at-stake-in-the-sydney-university-bds-affair","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2014\/06\/whats-really-at-stake-in-the-sydney-university-bds-affair\/","title":{"rendered":"What’s Really at Stake in the Sydney University BDS Affair?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"BDS-635x357\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Later today [3 Jun 2014], the Australian National Tertiary Education Union will vote on a call to delay a decision on support for BDS [Boycott, Divestment & Sanctions against Israel].<\/p>\n

\u201cThe reason why academic politics are so bitter is because so little is at stake.\u201d The remark is attributed to Henry Kissinger, once he had exchanged the US State Department for the hallowed corridors of Harvard; and it haunts debates among university folk, who can often seem wary of candid disagreement among themselves, as potentially \u201cdivisive\u201d.<\/p>\n

That word has been much in evidence at the University of Sydney, as members of the National Tertiary Education Union have been asked to consider whether their branch should endorse the Palestinian call for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions on Israel.<\/p>\n

But it is misplaced. Those of us \u2014\u00a0in the newly formed Sydney Staff for BDS group \u2014\u00a0who wish to promote this discussion are committed trade unionists. If the vote, at a meeting called for this week, goes against us, we will not feel \u2018divided\u2019 from our colleagues. There will be no tearing-up of membership cards.<\/p>\n

We are asking for a modest amount of time and resources to be given over to a discussion, allowing members to think carefully about the issues involved, over a number of months, and hear from people with a range of views. That process need not be \u201cdivisive\u201d. We can talk about this without descending into bitterness.<\/p>\n

Then, is there really so little at stake? The union has circulated an anti-BDS motion from its General Secretary, Grahame McCulloch, in which he reminds members of a policy the NTEU adopted in 2011. It \u201crecognis[es],\u201d among other things, that \u201cany solution must involve direct negotiations between Israel and Palestinian authorities to create a viable Palestinian state\u201d.<\/p>\n

But the recent failed talks, brokered by Kissinger\u2019s successor, John Kerry, prove that any such negotiations are doomed for as long as Israel enjoys virtual impunity for its policies of militarism and lawlessness.<\/p>\n

As the statement by chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat declared:<\/p>\n

\u201cIsrael refuses to negotiate sincerely because, as long as the status quo is so beneficial to it, Israel has no interest in a solution. Without firm signals from the international community, Netanyahu\u2019s occupation and colonization policies are incentivized\u201d.<\/p>\n

Those signals are unlikely to come from governments, at least without pressure from below. That makes BDS a central plank in a strategy to achieve peace with justice, enabling Palestinians to enjoy essential rights and freedoms.<\/p>\n

That is why support for BDS has been growing worldwide since 2011, when the NTEU policy was adopted \u2014\u00a0a time frame that spans the efforts of the Obama Administration to revive the \u201cpeace process\u201d, under Hillary Clinton, then Kerry.<\/p>\n

The facts have changed, and we should now \u2014\u00a0three years on \u2014\u00a0have the chance to change our minds.<\/p>\n

Nahum Barnea in Y-Net News<\/em> presents an interview with US officials, who spoke on the record but on condition of anonymity about the reasons for the talks\u2019 failure and the prospects for peace.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople in Israel shouldn\u2019t ignore the bitter truth,\u201d he was told. \u201cThe primary sabotage came from the settlements.\u201d<\/p>\n

And they should \u201cbe smart\u201d and realise that \u201cin the 21st century, the world will not keep tolerating the Israeli occupation\u201d.<\/p>\n

This is realised, of course, by many in Israel, and the responses include \u201clawfare\u201d: using the courts of other countries to close down political action intended to signal a refusal to tolerate the occupation, such as BDS.<\/p>\n

Ronald Lauder, President of the World Jewish Congress, told the Jerusalem Post<\/em>:\u00a0 \u201cThe way to defeat boycotts is legally, and we looked at this and we realised that many countries have laws against boycotts, and these lawyers came up with very interesting solutions, and this is a way to defeat them.\u201d<\/p>\n

The current case in the Federal Court<\/a>, in which I am the subject of a claim by five applicants<\/a> led by Israeli law centre Shurat HaDin, represents an attempt to apply such a \u201csolution\u201d. Andrew Hamilton, who until this month was its legal representative (and who is himself another of the applicants) has declared the aim to be outlawing BDS in Australia, and to contribute, by setting a precedent, to a \u201cpermanent fix\u2026 [of] global impact\u201d.<\/p>\n

Another response, besides legal action, is so-called \u201cpublic diplomacy\u201d, the subject of an extensive research report, commissioned by the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs from the Neaman Institute at Technion University, on how to sanitise Israel\u2019s image abroad.<\/p>\n

Among the proposed measures in the Neaman Report is to cosy up to \u201cbeneficial clients\u201d in other countries including \u201ceducational organisations\u201d. This means the institutional links between the University of Sydney and Israeli universities, including Technion and also the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, are tantamount to complicity in the violation of Palestinian rights and freedoms.<\/p>\n

\u201cComplicity\u201d is a big word, and I should immediately add \u2014\u00a0there is no claim of conspiracy. Among the most committed trade unionists in the NTEU branch are many accomplished social scientists, who will be well aware, I\u2019m sure, of some of the most influential ideas in their trade over the last few decades, which account for exertions of political agency by going beyond intentionality.<\/p>\n

Scholarly debates were anticipated, in that sense, by President Eisenhower, who spoke about the power of the military-industrial complex. The combination of a large military and armaments industry was attaining \u201cunwarranted influence\u201d, he declared in a valedictory address as he left office in 1961, \u201cwhether sought or unsought\u201d.<\/p>\n

Among the scholars who\u2019ve elaborated on that theme is French philosopher Michel Foucault, who told us \u201cthere is no form of power that is exercised without a set of aims and objectives,\u201d but cautioned against seeking \u201cthe headquarters that presides over its rationality\u201d. Generative force, which makes things happen, can originate not in individual behaviour but in the systems and structures the individuals inhabit.<\/p>\n

Those structures can be ideological as well as institutional. And power can prevent as well as enable. The word \u201cdivisive\u201d signals a set of assumptions, embedded within the power structures that sustain the occupation, which can shut down debate \u2014\u00a0if we let it.<\/p>\n

Under discussion at the NTEU this week will be a motion to delay making a final decision on whether to support the boycott call, at least until the outcome of my court case is known. We need time to think, and we should take it.<\/p>\n

_____________________________<\/p>\n

Jake Lynch, former BBC newsreader, political correspondent for Sky News and Sydney correspondent for the Independent, is Associate Professor of Peace Journalism and Director of the Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies at the University of Sydney, Australia. He is a member of the TRANSCEND Network for Peace, Development and Environment<\/a> and the advisor for TRANSCEND Media Service-TMS<\/a>. Lynch is the co-author, with Annabel McGoldrick, of <\/em><\/em>Peace Journalism (Hawthorn Press, 2005), and his new book, <\/em>Debates in Peace Journalism, has just been published by Sydney University Press and TUP \u2013 TRANSCEND University Press<\/a>. He also co-authored with Johan Galtung and Annabel McGoldrick \u2018<\/em>Reporting Conflict-An Introduction to Peace Journalism,’\u00a0which <\/em>TMS editor Antonio C. S. Rosa translated to Portuguese.<\/em><\/p>\n

Go to Original \u2013 newmatilda.com<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Join the<\/em><\/strong> BDS-BOYCOTT, DIVESTMENT, SANCTIONS <\/em><\/strong>campaign<\/em><\/strong><\/span> to protest the Israeli barbaric siege of Gaza, illegal occupation of the Palestine nation\u2019s territory, the apartheid wall, its inhuman and degrading treatment of the Palestinian people, and the more than 7,000 Palestinian men, women, elderly and children arbitrarily locked up in Israeli prisons.<\/p>\n

DON’T BUY<\/strong> PRODUCTS WHOSE<\/strong> BARCODE<\/strong> STARTS WITH<\/strong> 729<\/strong>, which indicates that it is produced in Israel.\u00a0\u00a0 DO YOUR PART! MAKE A DIFFERENCE!<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

7 2 9: BOYCOTT FOR JUSTICE!<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

People in Israel should realise that in the 21st century the world will not keep tolerating the Israeli occupation. This is realised by many in Israel and the responses include using the courts of other countries to close down political action intended to signal a refusal to tolerate the occupation, such as BDS.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[54],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-43632","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-palestine-israel-gaza-genocide"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43632","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43632"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43632\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43632"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43632"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43632"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}