Campaign Update 2
19th June 2007
What's new?
- Higher Education Minister Bill Rammell reiterated the Government's opposition to the boycott at a meeting with the Jewish Labour Movement yesterday. Mr Rammell said that there was no justification for singling Israel out for boycotts and that such action was discriminatory and threatened social cohesion.
- During further debate in the House of Lords, Professor Lord Robert Winston (Labour) asked the Government what steps it is taking to support academic cooperation between universities in the United Kingdom, Israel and Occupied Palestinian Territories in support of the Middle East peace process.
- Stop the Boycott has distributed over 12,000 leaflets to 90 communities explaining what individuals can do to support the campaign.
- Members of UNISON (see below), and the UCU General Secretary Sally Hunt, have written letters to the Guardian opposing any boycott.
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What's happening next?
- A campaign toolkit to support individuals campaigning locally against the boycott will be available from Friday. This online resource will include templates for letters to MPs, MEPs, local papers and universities and FE colleges; downloadable fliers and posters; quotes from academics and others opposing the boycott; suggested speakers for campaign meetings; links to speeches, press cuttings and other useful resources.
- Research is being commissioned on the consequences for innovation and discovery that a boycott of Israeli academics would entail. This report will look at current life-enhancing and life-saving projects between UK and Israeli academics, the successes of the last 20 years, and the future opportunity costs of a boycott. It will also highlight the correlation between anti-Israel activity on campus and attacks on Jewish students and lecturers.
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The UCU boycott: help us maintain the momentum
- youtube is hosting a virtual hustings for the Labour Party Deputy Leadership. You can post your own questions - or even a video response.
- ...written to your MP yet?
- ...lobbied them to sign Early Day Motion 1603?
- ...asked your MP to meet local universities and colleges to enlist support and get joint statements condemning the boycott?
- ...got local UCU branch members to propose motions supporting a membership ballot and condemning the motion?
- ...written to the UCU NEC (if you're a UCU member) asking them for a ballot?
- ...got yourself and others signed up for regular updates at www.stoptheboycott.org ?
Please come back to us with any ideas for further action you may have and let us know what activity is out there.
Remember, the boycott is bad for academic freedom, bad for the Palestinians, and bad for Britain.
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Other news: UNISON's academic boy
- On Wednesday 20 June, around 3,000 delegates at the 2007 UNISON national conference will have the chance to vote on two policy motions covering Palestine and Sanctions Against Israel.
Together, the motions call for boycotts, disinvestment and sanctions against Israel (including an academic boycott) as well as a system for monitoring their application and pre-conditioning cooperation with the Histadrut. - UNISON is the UK's largest trade union, representing over 1.3 million members working in the public sector, private contractors and the utilities.
Boycott, divestment and sanctions motions have been commonplace at UNISON conferences for at least the last five years. - The 2005 conference directed the union to support a boycott of Israeli goods and work "with other like-minded organisations to bring this about."
However, implementation of any boycott policy has been scarce to non-existent, suggesting that there is little appetite amongst the vast majority of members for such action.
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UNISON: what you can do
If you're a UNISON member at national conference:
- While yet another threat to academic freedom and the peace process, the UNISON boycott proposals are also a great opportunity to debate the issues and expose the weaknesses in the pro-boycott arguments.
- Motion 53 on Palestine, the more standard but no less damaging of the two motions, has been prioritised for debate and is expected to hit conference floor at around 2.00 pm on Wednesday 20 June.
- The more extreme motion 54 on Sanctions Against Israel may miss out on being debated but could find itself reprioritised as a popular issue and would then come under discussion on the afternoon of Friday, 22 June. Boycott supporters are campaigning hard for this but the union's executive is supporting debate on only 53.
- PLEASE CONTACT US FOR ANY BRIEFINGS.
Visit the Trade Union Friends of Israel stall in the solidarity stand section in the Hewison Hall on the first floor of the conference centre.
Trade Union Friends of Israel will host a fringe meeting today at 5.30 pm in the Albert Room of the Grand Hotel, Brighton, with Nawaf Massalha, the Histadrut's International Secretary and a former Knesset Member.
All UNISON members and other supporters can sign up to support Stop the Boycott at http://www.stoptheboycott.org/
