{"id":7983,"date":"2014-02-23T16:18:12","date_gmt":"2014-02-23T16:18:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wilayah.info\/en\/?p=7983"},"modified":"2014-02-23T16:18:12","modified_gmt":"2014-02-23T16:18:12","slug":"140-irish-academics-pledge-to-boycott-israeli-institutions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wilayah.info\/en\/140-irish-academics-pledge-to-boycott-israeli-institutions\/","title":{"rendered":"140 Irish academics pledge to boycott Israeli institutions"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

More than\u00a0140 academics in Ireland<\/a>\u00a0have signed this pledge:<\/p>\n

In response to the call from Palestinian civil society for an institutional academic boycott of Israel, we pledge not to engage in any professional association with Israeli academic, research and state institutions and with those representing these institutions, until such time as Israel complies with international law and universal principles of human rights.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The signatories, from higher education institutions all over the island of Ireland, come from a wide range of disciplines and include many well-known figures, such as Seamus Deane, Ailbhe Smyth, Luke Gibbons, Ronit Lentin, Joe Cleary, Kieran Allen, Kathleen Lynch, Tadhg Foley, Terrence McDonough and Helena Sheehan.<\/p>\n

The pledge was announced at the\u00a020 February launch in Dublin<\/a>\u00a0of Academics for Palestine (see video above).<\/p>\n

International and mainstream<\/h2>\n

Conor McCarthy, lecturer in English at the National University of Ireland Maynooth said that \u201cthe recent endorsement of the boycott campaign by the 5,000-member\u00a0American Studies Association<\/a>\u00a0in the US, along with\u00a0positive moves<\/a>\u00a0by the\u00a0Modern Language Association<\/a>and the controversy over\u00a0Scarlett Johansson<\/a>, showed that\u00a0BDS [boycott, divestment and sanctions]<\/a>\u00a0is now very much part of a mainstream international debate.\u201d<\/p>\n

Speaking at the launch, Dr.\u00a0Ghada Karmi<\/a>, of Exeter University in the UK, said \u201cIsrael\u2019s well-documented repression of Palestinian academic life and victimization of Palestinian teachers and students is a scandal to be denounced by all those who claim to care about academic freedom.\u201d<\/p>\n

Also speaking at the launch, Israeli professor and film-maker\u00a0Haim Bresheeth<\/a>\u00a0welcomed the initiative, saying it represents \u201ccivic action of citizens and academics who take up their responsibility.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBoycott does work,\u201d Bresheeth added.<\/p>\n

Irish academic complicity<\/h2>\n

Academics for Palestine today drew attention to the\u00a0complicity of some Irish researchers<\/a>\u201cwith Israeli counterparts who make drones, develop high-tech weapons and engage in \u2018counter-terror\u2019 activities with the Mossad\u201d \u2013 an Israeli state-sponsored clandestine group that engages in extrajudicial murder.<\/p>\n

According to Academics for Palestine, \u201cIrish universities have collaborated with Israel in 257 projects to date, seven of them listed as \u2018security\u2019 and 13 as \u2018aerospace.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

The group\u2019s chair, Jim Roche, said the daily discrimination inflicted on Palestinian academics was enough to justify support for the academic boycott, but added: \u201cThe revelations of Irish academia\u2019s collaboration with companies closely linked to Israel\u2019s military-industrial complex are truly shocking.\u201d<\/p>\n

Roche noted that \u201ca non-European country, Israel, actually receives more research and development funding from the EU than many European countries do.\u201d<\/p>\n

It is not just \u201cIsraeli universities that avail of this funding,\u201d Roche observed, \u201cbut Israeli security and military companies \u2013 and they are often the lead partner in a research consortium.\u201d<\/p>\n

The formation of Academics for Palestine will be seen as a major boost to the Palestine solidarity movement in Ireland, which has often been a pioneer.<\/p>\n

In a\u00a0unanimous vote last year<\/a>, the\u00a0Teachers\u2019 Union of Ireland<\/a>\u00a0called on its members to respect the academic boycott called for by Palestinians.<\/p>\n

Since 2010, more than 250 Irish artists and cultural workers have\u00a0publicly pledged<\/a>\u00a0to boycott cultural activities and performances linked to the Israeli state.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

More than\u00a0140 academics in Ireland\u00a0have signed this pledge: In response to the call from Palestinian civil society for an institutional academic boycott of Israel, we pledge not to engage in any professional association with Israeli academic, research and state institutions and with those representing these institutions, until such time as Israel complies with international law …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7984,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"iawp_total_views":4,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[193,192,196,198,194,197,195,1425],"class_list":["post-7983","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","","category-lectures","tag-academic-boycott","tag-bds","tag-bresheeth","tag-cultural-boycott","tag-ireland-academics","tag-irish-universities","tag-jim-rocheghada","tag-palestine"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wilayah.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7983","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wilayah.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wilayah.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wilayah.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wilayah.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7983"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/wilayah.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7983\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7985,"href":"https:\/\/wilayah.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7983\/revisions\/7985"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wilayah.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7984"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wilayah.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7983"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wilayah.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7983"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wilayah.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7983"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}