Nobels Oblige

Jon Haber
Divest This!
12 November '10

Continuing to catch up on some of the issues that arose while I was finishing up the Divest This Guide (thanks to everyone who has downloaded and distributed hundreds of copies to date, and special thanks to those who have donated to get the darned thing printed).

Getting back to BDS news, one of the big stories in November was the signing of a statement by 38 Nobel Laureates condemning attempts to impose an academic boycott on Israel. To a certain extent, this is an extension of the “Boycott Us Too” vow signed by hundreds of American academics who declared that, for purposes of any boycott directed against Israel that they too should be considered Israeli academics and boycotted.

Because the notion of academic boycott has gained so little traction here in the US, these petitions and statements are really directed towards Europe, a continent known for originating bad ideas (especially vis-à-vis dealing with members of my particular tribe). The “Boycott Us Too” statement was directed at the UCU, the British educator’s union which at the time was going through one of its annual rituals whereby radical leaders try to pass some kind of boycott motion without tripping over the fact that union members hate these measures (and must thus be cut out of the decision-making process) and boycotts stand the chance of running afoul of European Union anti-racism law (which could expose union leaders themselves, not just their organization, to personal liability).

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