Boycott Israel?

Recently Jon Pike, chair of Engage (a group set up to defeat a boycott of Israeli academia), posted a critique of the University and Colleges Union (UCU) to its activist list. Jon is also a member of the UCU NEC. In this critique he assesses the union’s democratic credentials, its ability to stand up for academic freedom, and its willingness to fight all discrimination. Conclusion one: the union does not fair well. Conclusion two: a number of its Jewish members are resigning. What, of course, is missing is a third conclusion: members who oppose the boycott should instead stay and fight. In...

In June both the RMT and Unison conferences passed motions in solidarity with Palestinian and Israeli unions and supporting dialogue rather than boycotts. A motion at RMT conference denouncing the Israeli oppression of the Palestinians, calling for solidarity efforts and a two-state resolution to the conflict passed by a more than four-to-one margin. While Bob Crow gave a speech in favour of a boycott of Israel, our comrades argued for positive solidarity efforts instead of such divisive tactics. Meanwhile, the motion Unison conference passed called for the union to work with Israeli trade...

The 2008 Annual General Meeting of the RMT transport union voted by a more than two-thirds majority for a two-states, pro-solidarity, anti-boycott, anti-Hamas position on Israel/Palestine, overturning existing pro-boycott policy. More than forty of the 60 or so delegates to conference voted for the motion with 7 votes against and 9 abstentions. The conference accepted the parts of the motion calling for a democratic national settlement for both Israelis and Palestinians (two states for two peoples) and supported the criticisms of Hamas - neither of these positions are common currency on the...

LEFT WING ANTI-SEMITE Why do you misconstrue my view? Believe me, I don't hate no Jew; And seeing what pure love will do, What need have I for hatred too?

The boycott issue in the lecturer’s union, UCU can be seen are composed of two dominant sides, both of which are highly problematic: on the one, the UCU Left and its SWP core that implicitly pushes forth a boycott agenda; on the other, the anti-boycott lobby Engage that has been vigorously pursuing a legal campaign to clampdown on any political discussion on the matter. Our intervention and contribution was and remains critical. We are democrats who condemn the reliance on a bourgeois agency to stop discussion about pertinent international issues in the union. We are democrats who believe in a...

The boycott issue in UCU can be seen are composed of two dominant sides, both of which are highly problematic: on the one, the UCU Left and its SWP core that implicitly pushes forth a boycott agenda; on the other, the anti-boycott lobby Engage that has been vigorously pursuing a legal campaign to clampdown on any political discussion on the matter. Our intervention and contribution was and remains critical. We are democrats that condemn the reliance on a bourgeois agency to stop discussion about pertinent international issues in the union. We are democrats who believe in a just and fair two...

That this AGM condemns the continuing Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories and denials of Palestinians' human and national rights. This AGM condemns the indiscriminate targeting of civilians, including Israeli military air strikes and the economic blockade of Gaza, as well as the arbitrary murders of Israeli citizens by suicide bombers and rocket attacks. We note both the Israeli and Palestinian victims of the conflict are usually working-class people, targeted by political and military forces that seek to de-humanise Arab and Jewish workers using anti-semitism, Jew-hatred and anti...