Friday, April 29, 2005
That statement may, possibly, be true in the extreme abstract. The trouble is, we do not live in an abstract world. In the real world, where the rubber hits the road, the evidence for gas chambers and the genocide against the Jews is so overwhelming that is always indicative of an underlying pathology when people who should know better propagate doubt about them.
One could imagine even the most naive student of World War 2 history who embarks on an exploration of the facts behind the Holocaust and comes out something of a doubter getting themselves a quick reality check when they take a second look at the character and quality of the sources they will have been relying on, the stages they will be sharing and with whom they will be sharing them, the use their efforts are put to, the vision of a Google search of their name suddenly representing a hop-scotch game of anti-Semites and outright neo-Nazis...somewhere along the line, somewhere they may have occasion to reexamine, to ask themselves, "How did I get here? It wasn't what I intended..." That intended purely academic pursuit, built on what is on closer examination a worm-ridden foundation, cannot stand.
The stark sunlit world of reality has the ability to utterly melt away the false construct of the purely abstract.
That's how it is with denial of the gas chambers. It might, on some level, sound reasonable that there's nothing absolutely and inherently anti-Semitic in denying their existence, but out here in the real world, there's something about it that makes it most certainly so.
And that's what I've been thinking while reading about the AUT's boycott motion, and so much of the anti-Semitism masquerading as "anti-Zionism" these days. Is it possible to boycott Israeli institutions and not be anti-Semitic?
That said, I commend to you this piece in full which Melanie Phillips excerpted from (I linked it below). Although I have my quibbles with the group Engage, this is a very good essay:
Howard Jacobson on anti-Zionism
I say after all because until now I have always resisted the conflation of anti-Zionism and anti-Semitism. I have suffered very little anti-Semitism personally, and don’t find it under every stone. I don’t think Jews, by virtue of their victimization in the past, have any right to expect exemption from the usual rough and tumble of opinion. And I don’t consider it a mark of ill will towards Israel - indeed it might well denote the very opposite - to oppose its policies when they are inhumane.
It is important to hammer in this nail. No, no, and no again, I do not accuse all those who censure Israel of hating Jews. Which nail hammered, it is equally important to drive in another. In the boycott by the Association of University Teachers what has been expressed is not criticism or censure but vilification. Criticism, the more particularly as university teachers should be expected to understand it, implies the free exchange of judgement and idea, the give and take - however harsh - of argument and counter-argument. Anything less is merely the closing of minds. And a boycott - especially a boycott of thinkers, scientists, philosophers, etc, those for whom open-mindedness should be paramount - is an expression of the closing of minds en masse.
There is some fancy abroad that where large numbers of people agree to close their minds together you have democracy in action. You don’t. What you have is mobilized prejudice...
As I advised, read in full.
In the extended entry, I have provided some links to AUT members resignations (all linked at Norm's place).
Why I resigned from the AUT (by Shalom Lappin)
Norm himself goes into detail on why he believes Jewish members of the AUT should resign here, and then clarifies here.
Frequent guest poster at Norm's, Eve Garrard, posts her resignation here:
Last Friday the AUT adopted a policy of boycotting academics at two (perhaps three) Israeli universities, unless they are prepared to denounce the Israeli government. In spite of repeated requests I've been unable to get details about how this decision was arrived at from the Keele AUT reps who attended the Council meeting, or even information about how they voted, though I understand that in due course a report will be circulated.
However, information from AUT reps at other universities makes it clear that before the boycott motion was passed, only speeches in favour of it were allowed a hearing. The AUT's decision to boycott Israel, rather than those countries whose human rights failures outrank Israel's by orders of magnitude, such as China, Sudan, North Korea, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Libya, Russia, Zimbabwe, Congo and many others, clearly demonstrates that what's driving the boycott policy isn't a concern for human rights but a concern to punish and delegitimize the Jewish state. There has been absolutely no suggestion by anyone at the AUT that any of the states mentioned above should be subject to boycott, and the spectacle of (some) British academics rushing to punish the lesser offender while being afflicted with a distressing case of blindness to the greater offenders is quite literally a sickening one...
Another here:
AUT resignation letter (by Hamish Rae):
Dear Christiane
I'm writing to resign my membership of the AUT.
I've been a member for more years than I care to remember, joining shortly after I became a member of the Mathematics Department of what was then Bedford College. I can't say I've been a very active member, although I usually vote in AUT elections and, since Mike Laird retired, have been the AUT rep in the Mathematics Department at KCL.
Over the years I have become increasingly disillusioned with AUT policies, not least with the AUT's obsession with political correctness; often, my personal copy of the AUT magazine (which I distribute in the department) goes straight into my re-cycling box - and I expect this is true of many of my colleagues. However, until now, I never felt sufficiently annoyed by AUT actions to consider tendering my resignation...
That's all...for now.
The Catholic Church condemned anti-Zionism as a cover for anti-Semitism by means of a joint statement issued by a forum of Catholic-Jewish intellectuals. The announcement was made at a gathering of religious, academic and other leading Jewish and Catholic figures in Buenos Aires.
"We oppose anti-Semitism in any way and form, including anti-Zionism that has become of late a manifestation of anti-Semitism," the statement said.
For those that are interested, we've put together a collection of source material related to the AUT boycott. This is not in the form of a blog with opinions, but rather official statements, legal letters, documents etc that have been refered to in the media and via e-mails.
I hope people find it of use!
AUT Boycott Resources