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Boycott Israel (part 2)
January 29, 2009 - 7:30pm
Looks like Herr Ryan went too far:
Union representative apologizes for ‘Nazi’ referenceToronto -- CUPE Ontario's president yesterday said a Nazi reference he used to justify criticism of Israel was "a poor choice of analogy," after a trustee with the Toronto District School Board condemned such references in calling on his board to disavow the union's proposal to ban Israeli academics from the province's post-secondary schools.
"The example I gave was inappropriate and left people with the impression I was trying to compare the people of Israel with the Nazis," said Sid Ryan yesterday.
On Monday Mr. Ryan likened Israel's attack on the Islamic University in Gaza to Nazis targeting educational institutions and burning books in the Second World War. These comments, and similar statements in subsequent media interviews, were met with widespread scrutiny.
However, in an interview with the National Post yesterday evening, Mr. Ryan said he would apologize to "any member of the Jewish community or Israelis who I've offended ... and I know I've offended some people."
Good. Now we can get back to the discussion about sanctioning Israel.
Yes, he can apologize as he killed no one. So, back to the sanctions against Israel ....
You know, it occured to me that last year the Canadian government of Stephen Harper, the one cheering on Israel's murderous rampage through the Palestinian ghetto it created, introduced what it described as the world's "toughest" sanctions against Burma. And you know what? Not a single troll or other poster came on babble to denounce those sanctions nor to complain that Burma was being singled out. Oddly, the same trolls and usual suspects also never criticize sanctions against Cuba by the US as being unfair, racist, and singling out a single state and when was the last time there was an academic exchange between a US university and a Cuban university? Sven? Any idea?
As I said, I think some of those opposed to sanctions are principled in their opposition. I think those that cry "racism" are themselves racist as they are really only interested in defended the racist and cruel occupation and on-going rampage of murder.
Yeah, it's much worse to make a Nazi analogy (something I understand is quite common in Israeli political rhetoric) than it is to support mass slaughter. I mean, heck, the JDL does both (supports mass slaughter of Palestinians AND makes Nazi analogies) but that's okay, right OO?
Can't do anything about the politicians. Have to work up through the professional organizations, unions and such to build momentum.
Uhm, they're already doing that without any sanctions. I remember the same argument being made about South Africa but it was the oppressed of South Africa, themselves, who supported sanctions. When people have suffered so, so much, a little more at the hands of friends isn't such a bad thing if it can open the light at the end of the tunnel.
"Can't do anything about the politicians. Have to work up through the professional organizations, unions and such to build momentum."
You could be right with respect to our politicians, they get seasick when their boat rocks a bit in the swell. But I am not sure if one gets far with your suggestions. But you know Israel better then I do. How would it hurt them?
It would be nice if we could get China involved in forcing a solution. They are looking for world recognition and they could make the whole house of cards come tumbling down by getting rid of their American currency. And with the current downward trend in the American economy and the probably huge inflation that could result from the extreme spending increase why hang on to the US dollar when they could demand to be payed in their own currency.
And with the US in the dump Israel will follow in short order. China might not feel quiet ready for that, but it will not be that much longer in my opinion. Their gun boats are practicing on the Somali coast already. How history repeats itself.
Cueball, you brought up the example of South Africa repeatedly by stating that during Apatheid, all SA sports players, whether playing individualy or as representatives of SA, were banned.
However the wiki link in the following seems to differ with that view. According to this link, South African individual players (such as Golfers, tennis players etc) continued participating in international competitions. They were banned only where they participated as South African national team:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sporting_boycott_of_South_Africa
The worsening of their situation, if that can be imagined, both in Gaza and the West Bank. If Israeli's suffer as a result of economic sanctions, they have already proven time and time again they are capable and quite willing to bring down devastating catastrophy upon the defenceless for far less provocation. If products become scarce in Israeli markets, they will see to it that Palestinian markets are barren. They care nothing about malnourished Gazans unless the act of allowing a few token truckloads of food can help the propaganda effort. If they are forced into a corner through international economic sanctions, the Palestinians would suffer even more than they are now as a result.
Of course you are correct, Sanizadeh, and I can recall that every effort to bar professional SA athletes was met with the same howls of outrage by the same sectors that opposed any sanctions and who now oppose any sanctions against Israel. But, again, these are people who can turn a blind eye to any suffering in the interests of dollars, race, or even an hour of entertainment. It's too bad we can send them and their families to live as Palestinians for a while. It would be interesting to see if their views would change. I read today an entire family of 60 people was wiped out by the Israelis ... in self-defence I'm sure.
Sorry, I thought this wa sthe continuation of the other thread that was closed for length.
The statement you posted was short on details of the call for boycott. What form of boycott or diversification they are calling for?
My pleasure.
Please look at the highlighted or italicized sections below. I'm sure you will see that ALL OF PALESTINE is asking for these economic and other sanctions. You and I should respect their plea.
Here's an interesting POV from a Palestinian academic, making a case for the boycott:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2007/may/24/highereducation.uk
However, ATU's resolve to move foreward with an academic boycott was thwarted by a legal opinion.
http://www.metimes.com/International/2007/09/30/israel_hails_end_of_uk_a...
I don't understand how a boycott would be considered unlawful. I remember CUPE following ATU's lead without concern about it being an unlawful action.
Anyway, it seems to me that our politicians and media are not going to advance any meaningful protest against Israel's occupation of Palestine or their brutalization of Palestinians. It will be up to NGOs and unions to keep up the fight much like it was in the fight to liberate East Timor from occupation. I support any move that furthers that agenda.
I guess what you are not getting here is that Israel has actively pursued a program of eliminating Palestinians from the core of the Israeli economy. Previous to 2000, Palestinians played a fundamental role in the Israeli economy, much the same as Black South Africans did. They did the manual labour, the cleaning, and other kinds of semi-skilled labour.
However, the program since 2000 has been to elminate the Palestinian from the economy and isolate them in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Enter the seperation wall, and hieghtened restrictions for Palestinians entering Jerusalem, where they could be part of the labour market.
This cheap labour force has systematically been replaced by foreign "guest workers" from around the world, and the explicit intention is to make the Israeli economy "Palestinian Free". This means a few things. For one thing it means that labour strikes and other kinds of peaceful actions are not actually effective, since of course non-Isreali Arabs no longer work in Israel.
Another thing it has done is cast the Palestinian society into deep poverty, where they are increasingly dependent on international aid. The situation in the West Bank is better, but in fact the Gaza Strip has basically been under economic embargo for the last two years, even from the international aid,
Sanctions and boycotts against Israel, would do little to the Palestinian economy, as Israel has already sanctioned it by boycotting Palestinian labour. The Palestinians have nothing to lose, and almost everything to gain from a boycott, which is why the measure is supported by almost every Palestinian activist group on the planet.
Migration news
Gotta like that. The Israeli government spins depriving Palestinians of the right to work in their own lands as reducing the "dependence of Palestinians on the Israeli labor market".
Beautiful.
More on that here: The Effects of Foreign Guest Workers in Israel on the Labor Market Outcomes of Palestinians from the West Bank and Gaza Strip
I do not recall Sid Ryan and other members of CUPE's Ontario University Workers Co-ordinating Committee proposing bans on:
-Palestinian academics from the Islamic University in Gaza who have not publicly disassociated themselves from their elected Hamascontrolled government's policy of firing over 10,000 rockets into Israel (specifically targeting civilian population);
-Lebanese academics who have not publicly disassociated themselves from the Hezbollah (who were members of the elected Lebanese government until 2006) policy of repeatedly firing rockets into northern Israel.
-Iranian academics who have not publicly disassociated themselves from their elected government's policy of denying Israel's right to exist, questioning the Holocaust and subsidizing terrorist organizations around the world.
Somehow, Mr. Ryan and his CUPE colleagues manage to selectively pick on the members of a single ethnic group in their proposed boycotts. There is a name for people practising such selective treatments, and there are regulations in Canada designed to deal with them. I do not think Sid Ryan should be allowed to speak at any publicly funded university in Ontario.
There you go again! One day, Israel is not racialist state, and then the next recomending a boycott against Israeli academics is targetting Jews in general. Can't you at least get your story straight?
Did I miss something? Is it the case that there are no Arab-Israeli academics?
I'd like to address one particular defence put forward by supporters of the proposed academic boycott of Israel who I think are ducking the question of why Israel is being singled out and why not apply the same standards toa cademics from otehr countries that engage in human rights violations (including my country of citizenship and the country that employs me).
The argument that the fact that we're not boycotting EVERY country doesn't mean we shouldn't fight injustice perpetrated by ONE of them. I fully recognize the folly of the logic that "if you can't solve EVERY problem, don't bother trying to solve ANY." However, that simply doesn't apply to this situation and is a complete red herring.
There are things that we can do to affect change that are difficult and costly and there are things that we do which are easy and don't cost a thing. The absurdity of the "if not ALL, then why any?" would apply in SOME situations, but not this one. The fact that I can't afford to give a generous donation to support cancer research AND AIDS research AND heart disease research AND diabetes research shouldn't stop me from making a donation to support cancer research. The fact that I don't ahve time to volunteer at the food bank AND the homeless shelter AND the soup kitchen AND the senior's residence isn't an excuse not to volunteer at the food bank.
But the action proposed by CUPE takes no effort and costs nothing. It literally costs nothing because everyone, CIPE included, knows it will never actually be implemented. It is purely symbolic. So if you're going to take a purely symbolic action - and an easy and cost-free one - why not add other countries to the boycott list? What does it really take for CUPE to do this? 2 extra minutes of typing and an extra sheet of paper (sadly the list of human rights violators is a lengthy one). THIS is the reason that people think israel is being treated unfairly and ahve come to question teh motivations of those behind the proposal.
We wouldn't stand for this in other areas. I imagine, for example, that some people of Italian descent steal cars. People of Italian descent are certainly far from the ONLY group that steals cars. An Italian guy stealing a car isn't inherently morally worse than a Swedish guy or Mexican guy or Japanese guy or Dutch guy stealing a car. It doesn't take any extra effort on my part to condemn ALL car thiefs than it does to condemn ITALIAN ones. So, if I were to put out a public statement specifically condemning "Italian car thiefs", would it maybe be reasonable to suggest that I was treating italians unfairly? Could one plausibly suggest that I may harbour some sort of bigotry towards italians?
Isn't it ironic though, apart from individual divestment, that this can only be effectively achieved through the one of the primary vehicles for international white supremacy, the UN security council. I believe you've mentioned something about the white man's burden on occasion. But then, who are we to second guess a process that has been called for by the emancipated themselves.
Well of course. And it is precisely this institution, which is primarily responsible for this situation, so I see no reason why they should not take responsibility for it.
Intel's most recent microprocessor achievement, the Core i7 architecture, is produced at the factory in Israel. The product is called "Nehalem". I doubt that boycotting that product line will make an impact, but it is an idea.
As far as alternatives - AMD has recently introduced their second-generation quad core, and it keeps up with the Intel products.
http://www.anandtech.com/
has a good review of the AMD alternative to the Israeli-made Intel product, though the website is down part of Thursday.
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