[Boycott - Academic]

India chapter formed to campaign against Israel

Special Correspondent, The Hindu
12 July 2010

NEW DELHI: The India chapter of the international movement to campaign for academic and cultural boycott of Israel has been formed by a group of intellectuals.

“Just as it was in the case of the international call against South Africa in the apartheid years, we are confident that this boycott will be effective in contributing to international pressure on Israel to abandon its oppression and expulsion of the indigenous population based on military aggression, legal discrimination and persecution and economic stranglehold,” said an appeal made by the ‘Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel.'

“In a reality in which the Israeli state daily tramples on the academic freedom and cultural life of Palestinian people, a continued association with the instruments of such a state is unconscionable. When Palestinian students and teachers are not allowed to reach their universities, universities and schools are levelled by bombs and tanks, textbooks are prohibited from entering the Gaza, and artistic events closed down in Jerusalem, none of the foundational principles on which academic and cultural contact are based can ever be fulfilled. … We have come together to form the India Chapter of this international movement,” the intellectuals said. They appealed to academics and artists to join the cause “which has become even more urgent today, when our nation's foreign policy has abandoned the ideals of self-determination and anti-colonialism.”

Patrons of The India chapter of the international movement to campaign for academic and cultural boycott of Israel : Upendra Baxi(right) and Vina Mazumdar(left>

Source: http://www.hindu.com/2010/07/12/stories/2010071255601100.htm

Related Articles

Oglala Lakota traveler sees 'deep parallels' in Palestine It was while I was there that I really understood emotionally and in my heart the deep parallels between the American Indian experience of Western expansion and the experience of becoming an alien in your own homeland, which basically has happened to the Palestinians.

Also Of Interest

No room for Arab students at Israeli universities Measures designed to benefit Jewish school-leavers applying for places in Israeli higher education at the cost of their Arab counterparts have been criticised by lawyers and human rights groups.

Israeli academics hit back over bid to pass law that would criminalise them A protest petition has been signed by 500 Israeli academics, including two former education ministers, following a proposed Knesset bill which would outlaw boycotts and penalise their supporters - making them pay damages to the companies affected.

Woodcraft Folk youth movement joins Israel Boycott The Woodcraft Folk movement. with its 500 youth groups in the UK, has voted at its annual gathering for a 'complete boycott' of Israel until the blockade of Gaza is lifted.

The fight against Israeli apartheid BDS is about building an international movement to isolate Israel economically, culturally and academically. It is about persuading artists, writers, and performers not to work in Israel. It is about identifying Israeli products and pressing importers and outlets not to stock them..