An expression of conscience
An academic boycott can help Palestine, say some at the University of Otago.
Boycotting academic ties with Israel is among the measures included in a declaration to be launched by University of Otago staff, students and alumni next week.
"The Otago Declaration on the Situation In Palestine" commits its signatories to an academic boycott as part of the wider Boycott, Disinvestment and Sanction (BDS) campaign "until such time as Palestinians enjoy freedom from genocide, apartheid and scholasticide", they have national self-determination and full and complete enjoyment of human rights, as codified in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
The declaration is the work of the group Otago Staff for Palestine (OSP), and by earlier this week had attracted almost 300 signatures from staff, students and alumni.
Professor of peace studies Richard Jackson was involved in its drafting and is among the signatories.
OSP couldn't sit idly by and watch a genocide happen in real time, he says.
"And not just a genocide but also what some call the scholasticide, in terms of the deliberate destruction of the educational system, including all the universities in Gaza."
The declaration says that given the International Court of Justice has ruled there is a plausible case that Israel has been committing genocide, and that all states that are signatory to the Genocide Convention must take all necessary measures to prevent acts of genocide, the signatories commit themselves to an academic boycott.
BDS is a campaign, begun in 2005, to promote economic, social and cultural boycotts of the Israeli government, Israeli companies and companies that support Israel, in an effort to end the occupation of Palestinian territories and win equal rights for Palestinian citizens within Israel. It draws inspiration from South African anti-apartheid campaigns and the United States civil rights movement.
The Israeli government has banned people who support BDS from entering the country.
OSP has lobbied the University of Otago senate and council to adopt policies consistent with the BDS campaign, but while it waits for the university administration to act the declaration was something they could do themselves now, Prof Jackson says.
It addresses the responsibility they have as academics and scholars to act as critic and conscience of society, a responsibility set out in the Education Act, he says.
"It's an expression of our ethical position and our commitment to try to prevent the genocide and support Palestinian national self-determination, to uphold international law.
"We just owe, I think, a responsibility to fellow educators who are being victimised, fellow scholars."
The declaration will be launched at the Museum Reserve on Thursday, the 77th anniversary of the Nakba, "the catastrophe", when in 1948 about 750,000 Palestinians were driven from their homes.
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