From the UCU Activist List
On the UCU Activists List, 2009 began with a polite request:
Can I make a personal plea, notwithstanding what is going on in the world, that 2009 sees this list more focussed on supporting activists in their activities representing members? We have challenging economic circumstances inside and outside of HE/FE. In HE we have just had the RAE results, which may just be the excuse some institutions have been waiting for to close departments and we also need to sort out pay negotiation and pay claims.
Some chance!
Up pipes Keith Hammond, a professional trot from Glasgow who “tutors in European philosophy and the postcolonialist writings of Edward Said in adult education”
Thanks Matt,
Can I ask how members of the list are seeing the horrendous work of Israel right now? How does this fit with the debate on the list about Zionism? Can the boycott work not now go much further? I think real ‘events on the ground’ have made the case clear enough …
Where are all these right thinking Israeli academics? I know … they are in the army as reservists doing God knows what because there are no international observers or members of the free international press in Gaza to watch what they are doing …
If ever there were a case for stepping up our boycott campaign it is now. Various trade union groups are now looking at how they can put some muscle behind the campaign … Surely we should be in there arguing with the other unions for a broadening of boycott action …
There is no holding back Israel. It will only be in a complete rejection of their whole Zionist state in a boycott - that is argued right across the trade union movement - that there will be real peace.
All the best,
Keith
… followed by a postalanche of similar I/P emails from Mike Cushman of the LSE, Sue Blackwell of Brum, Shirley Franklin the Vice-Chair of London Region UCU, Terry Brotherstone the UCU Scotland President, Ruth Aylett of Heriot-Watt University, Gavin Reid of Leeds, and of course our old friend Haim Bresheeth, Professor of Watching TV at the University of 6th Form College.
Comments
| 8 January 2009, 12:45 pm |
I should try to avoid sounding like the Daily Mail, but it does annoy me that my taxes pay for twats like him.
| 8 January 2009, 12:50 pm |
Yet Another Pro-Boycott UCU Activist.
http://modernityblog.wordpress.com/2008/09/01/yet-another-pro-boycott-ucu-activist/
| 8 January 2009, 1:02 pm |
“There is no holding back Israel. It will only be in a complete rejection of their whole Zionist state in a boycott……. that there will be real peace.”
So its not about ‘the occupation’ then.
What a filthy little man. On the plus side I bet he wakes up every morning hating the fact that Israel still exists.
MattG
| 8 January 2009, 1:19 pm |
When the Islamic University in Gaza has been bombed it does put the bleating about the academic boycott of Israeli institutions into perpective
| 8 January 2009, 1:33 pm |
A Palestinian source has said that the Iranian general nabbed in Gaza by Palestinian security officers supervised the manufacturing weapons and explosives for Hamas. The source told Ynet on Friday that the expert was in charge of several labs in the university, mainly chemistry labs in which he trained Hamas activists, most of them women, manufacturing the explosives.
Islamic University came under attack earlier this month, at the peak of the Fatah and Hamas clashes, which ended with nearly three dozen people dead and scores more wounded. Forces loyal to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas stormed the university after claiming that Hamas was using its 25-acre campus as a launching pad for mortar attacks. Virtually every building, save the campus mosque, was set ablaze. Thousands of books in the central library were destroyed. The student union hall was ransacked. Offices across campus were torched. […] The assault on Islamic University was followed by an attack on a smaller university affiliated with Fatah. Masked gunmen believed to be with Hamas attacked Al Quds Open University with rocket-propelled grenades, stormed the three-story building, doused classrooms with gasoline and set them on fire. Dozens of computers were stolen, and scores more were destroyed, said university spokesman Assad Keita.
| 8 January 2009, 1:34 pm |
When schools are used for millitant activity, and universities perpetuate hatred that needlessly fuels a conflict - it puts talk of academic boycotts into perspective.
| 8 January 2009, 1:42 pm |
Perhaps the UCU might like to hold a demonstration against Hamas’ and Islamic Jihad’s use of educational institutions as bomb launching sites.
Do you think they might do that?
| 8 January 2009, 1:52 pm |
I doubt very much that they would do that.
I’m waiting for someone on the list to blame Mossad for the ISP going down on the same day that Israel launched its Gaza offensive.
| 8 January 2009, 2:19 pm |
Did anyone notice how the ISP went down on exactly the same day that Israel launched its Gaza offensive.
Of course, anyone that makse such a correlation will immediately be denounced as an anti-semite but….
etcetcetcetcetc
| 8 January 2009, 2:20 pm |
I agree that the UCU should devote its energies to pay/conditions rather than boycotting Israel. Though in fact I also think their pay claim (quoted as “RPI +5 per cent or 8 per cent whichever is the greater”) in an article in the latest Times Higher) seems a bit excessive.
| 8 January 2009, 2:24 pm |
I don’t think it’s fair to mock Further Education establishments. Film Studies, on the other hand, is a load of codswallop.
| 8 January 2009, 2:52 pm |
I notice there is a lot of juvenile, sometimes scatalogical humour on this site. Is it specifically intended for early teenagers? If the answer is “Yes”, I suppose it must all be worthwhile - but then grown ups can go elsewhere. If not, what is the purpose - for instance - of describing Professor Brasheeth as “Professor of Watching TV?”
| 8 January 2009, 2:57 pm |
Just when you thought things could not get worse:
| 8 January 2009, 3:17 pm |
Johng
Ever heard of the massacre in Jenin -like this it never happened!
| 8 January 2009, 3:19 pm |
Just noticed the byline - Tim Butcher now I really know it never happened.
| 8 January 2009, 3:21 pm |
“Just when you thought things could not get worse”
That story is back up? They took it down last night. Before you use porn to change the subject, wait until its reported by at least one other reputable news source
| 8 January 2009, 3:22 pm |
“tutors in European philosophy and the postcolonialist writings of Edward Said in adult education”
Blimey, most (if not all) of my Adult students have difficulty reading Animal Farm. Just how did these university-level courses for adults spring-up? I remember whilst teaching A-Levels on a night course in Dartford that there was another bloke teaching “the novels of Virginia Woolf” to a class of about three people (Admin always used to cancel my class when he went sick once a fortnight.) I realise the WEA had a remit to provide such courses but it now seems every crap university also has an “outreach” programme designed to reach out to angst-ridden suburbanites suffering Derrida withdrawal symptoms!
Seriously, there are two types of adult education (just as it seems sometimes from reading this site there are two kinds of socialism.) One reaches out to people who attended crap schools and are looking for qualifications in order to better themselves and the other (rather like the RCP and SPGB) exists primarily so that middle-class twits can continue to live in a dream world of their own creation.
| 8 January 2009, 3:33 pm |
Yes I noticed that and was also struck by Hammond’s research interests: “The way modern progress comes with human separations, fractures, displacements and conflicts that are met by a number of responses in education - especially in the European concept of Lifelong Learning. Palestine and its representations in European thought. Hermeneutics and European research methodologies.”
It’s either very profound or a load of twaddle. I feel too thick to make a judgement.
| 8 January 2009, 3:46 pm |
Oh that’s just the usual concept of lifelong learning as a response by western governments to the change from a manufacturing to a service economy (or even more simply put: “there’s no fucking jobs why not read Proust”.) I think you need some rather bloated phrase like that to get one of these Prof of Watching TV jobs, so far I have only come up with:
The rates of self-motivated metacognition amongst study circles in Southern Upsalla.
Needs some work but I’m hopeful of a job with the University of East London
| 8 January 2009, 4:05 pm |
I’m a Professor in a Department of English, Communication, Film and Media.
I’m still trying to establish whether that means I can play Fallout 3 on my ‘research day’.
| 8 January 2009, 5:00 pm |
John Palmer, are you the John Palmer who’s the former political director of the European Policy Centre? If so, could possibly answer a question for me - who’s the best one out of McFly? I say it’s obviously got to be Tom, but Timothy Garton Ash prefers Dougie.
| 8 January 2009, 5:29 pm |
Seriously, there are two types of adult education (just as it seems sometimes from reading this site there are two kinds of socialism.) One reaches out to people who attended crap schools and are looking for qualifications in order to better themselves and the other (rather like the RCP and SPGB) exists primarily so that middle-class twits can continue to live in a dream world of their own creation
Well the adult education classes I have attended have been filled with people who wanted to learn something they were interested in; or people who were at a loose end, and were looking for something to fill an evening.
| 8 January 2009, 5:42 pm |
Good point. Adult education often used to provide such classes (pottery, bhangra-dancing etc) which were often attended by people who merely had an interest in the subject. However since the increased fees were brought in around 2 years ago many of those classes have simply vanished .
Which makes it even more weird how University “outreach departments” can get funding for courses on “European philosophy and the postcolonialist writings of Edward Said” and suchlike.
| 8 January 2009, 5:43 pm |
Virtually every building, save the campus mosque, was set ablaze. Thousands of books in the central library were destroyed. The student union hall was ransacked. Offices across campus were torched. […] The assault on Islamic University was followed by an attack on a smaller university affiliated with Fatah. Masked gunmen believed to be with Hamas attacked Al Quds Open University with rocket-propelled grenades, stormed the three-story building, doused classrooms with gasoline and set them on fire.
Ever the pranksters!
Must have been frosh week.
When I studied poli-sci at university, I always had grenades and rocket launchers handy.
Just in case I felt like pulling a practical joke on someone.
| 8 January 2009, 5:44 pm |
I mean if you could spend 26 weeks studying “Orientalism” or alternatively make your own chamber pot you would surely have to be crazy to take the first option.
| 8 January 2009, 7:22 pm |
DaveT.,
On the subject of academics, and purely in the interests of keeping the pot boiling, ‘cos I do enjoy watching types like you get all worked up, you might want to read this piece. Trust me, Dave, you will want to read this piece. . .
The concept of what constitutes an academic is stretched to breaking point with this comment. I really should have written “polywallahs who have family who can get them jobs,” but I wanted to be concise.
Happy New Year, saucers.
| 8 January 2009, 7:26 pm |
I am sure they were calling for the boycott of Palestinian academics after Hebrew University was bombed in 2002. An action which Hamas took gleeful responsibility for.
| 8 January 2009, 7:29 pm |
Haha Good old Exile Ken - his daddy was an artist you know!
| 8 January 2009, 7:49 pm |
On the subject of boycotts
according to The Times, Giancarlo Desiderati, leader of the Flaica-Uniti-Cub union, which represents 8000 shop assistants in Rome said that he and his supporters were drawing up a list of Jewish shops [to boycott], “though it might be better to publish a list of streets in which a majority of the shops are Jewish and ask people to avoid those streets when shopping”.
He said his union had already urged its members to boycott Israeli products, and boycotting Jewish-owned or Jewish-run stores was a logical next step.
Note to members of the Flaica-Uniti-Cub union: Elect a new leader ASAP.
| 8 January 2009, 7:51 pm |
Can HP ban John Palmer from commenting please?
He’s worse than Benji and almost certainly not an early teenager.
| 8 January 2009, 8:18 pm |
Yes, it is the same John Palmer.
His silence about McFly speaks volumes; clearly the man knows next to nothing about them. No wonder he’s the former political director of the European Policy Centre.
| 8 January 2009, 8:47 pm |
Sarah:
a) You rock.
b) I am reliably informed the answer is yes if you get a single minute’s lecture/ paragraph in an article about it.
Wardytron:
Death to the infidels McFly they are occupying the musical homeland vacated by the messianic Busted and you know it. Shouldn’t Timothy Garton prefer Ash? (Who are like John the Baptist or something)..
| 8 January 2009, 8:50 pm |
Sarah
c) Pleased to see that as “a Professor in a Department of English, Communication, Film and Media” you are someone “who give’s a fuck about an Oxford comma”.
Yes that’s right Vampire Weekend, fuck you!
| 8 January 2009, 8:51 pm |
oh no!!! a rogue apostrophe!!!!
Where’s the fucking preview button dammit!!!!??
Oh yes. Shit.
We demand an “edit post” button!
| 8 January 2009, 9:25 pm |
Pickled Politics provides just such an option for a few minutes, and I prefer it a few minutes and I prefer it.
| 8 January 2009, 10:32 pm |
Well the adult education classes I have attended have been filled with people who wanted to learn something they were interested in; or people who were at a loose end, and were looking for something to fill an evening.
I always assumed they were filled with bored housewives looking for affairs. At least, I treasured that thought so I’d know where to look in case I needed a bored housewife…
| 8 January 2009, 11:22 pm |
Subject: RE: demo on Saturday
From: Sean Wallis
Date: Thu, 08 Jan 2009 12:31:24 +0300
X-Message-Number: 4
Dear XXX
We need to be extremely clear.
The reason why there is a call on Israel to stop the killing is not
merely one of ‘proportionality’. It is one of logic. The Israeli
government has a choice in this matter. Hamas does not - not least
because “Hamas” is a disparate movement, not a cohesive command and control structure. (Consider: suppose one group declared a ceasefire while Israel was continuing to bomb and kill. What would happen? A. Others would start fighting back.) Secondly, Israel has entered Gaza, not the other way around. When Israel called a ceasefire in the Lebanon in 2006, the war stopped immediately.
Therefore it is important to mobilise the maximum numbers of people
against this particular action of the state of Israel, without regard
for their religion. The anti-war movement has brought millions of
people onto the streets against war in Iraq, and many Jews marched
alongside Muslims, Christians as well as those with no religious beliefs.
Jews are under particular pressure around the question of Israel (see
below), but I think we need to be welcoming. I know many people’s
anger is very great - watch News 24 for ten minutes over the last
fortnight and you can’t help but get deeply upset about what’s going
on - but we should avoid inflammatory language.
The latest opinion poll in Israel found only 19% of respondents
supporting the invasion of Gaza (compared to around 80% supported the bombardment of Gaza before the invasion). This does not show a
monolithic Israeli public opinion, and by demonstrating in the UK we
can send a message to the Tel Aviv “street” that it is time to stop.
Of course anti-semitism, i.e. racism directed against Jews, exists in
society - as does racism against Muslims, Arabs, black people, etc.
Opposition to racism, and racist ways of thinking, includes the
(usually implicit) definition of a single standard (of “humanity”) by
which the actions of all people and governments can be judged. (Ted
Honderich has written about this at length.)
The demand that the Israeli government should abide by legal norms,
forbidding, e.g. collective punishment, disproportionate violence,
deliberately targeting non-combatants, etc. is no more “anti-Jewish”
than placing a similar demand on the US government would be
“anti-American”, or on Blair and Brown would be “unpatriotic”.
As someone of Jewish ancestry, I abhor the idea that Jews are above
the rest of humanity and are not required to abide by humanitarian
norms. Logically there is little difference between “pro-semitism”
and “anti-semitism”. Once you accept a distinction between the rights
of Jews and the rights of the rest of humanity (or the people of the
region), then the distinction can go either way.
Unfortunately Israel’s actions and the silence of many Establishment
Jews on this issue (compared to e.g. Americans against the war on
Iraq - or even the Pope on a Christian justification for the war),
creates the idea that Jews go along with whatever Israel does however reprehensible, and thereby give apparent legitimacy to a racist discourse. In my experience, many British Jews are deeply upset about what Israel is doing, but are under pressure to keep quiet because to speak out is to be targeted within the community as ’self-hating’, unpatriotic, etc.
Illogical discourse accusing people of anti-semitism when they oppose
Israel is little more than an attempt to silence dissent
(particularly among Jews).
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