Monday, October 3, 2011

Only 12 Swedish professors sign BDS petition. BDS'ers exault in victory

You'd think it was a major victory, judging by the tweets.

geminiacal Trudi Hodges
Loving Sweden @avinunu: Swedish students & educators call 4 academic boycott of Israeli universities #BDS

MPACUK MPACUK
The BDS movement is growing ever more international & is having an impact. Here is an example from #Sweden . #Palestine

topshottah007 Willy Bounce
RT @norabf: Go Sweden! My new blog post on @intifada: Swedes call for academic boycott of Israel #BDS

norabf Nora BarrowsFriedman
Go Sweden! My new blog post on @intifada: Swedes call for academic boycott of Israel #BDS

sendbee jean
#Sweden : Swedes call for academic boycott of Israel | The Electronic Intifada #Palestine #BDS @hakansunar

jmcest JMCE
RT @antloewenstein Major #Swedish call for severing of academic ties between #Israel and #Sweden #BDS

Whats the real story?
218 signed the call for a Swedish academic boycott of Israel
Twelve of the signato­ries are professors, while 14 are associate professors, 23 senior lecturers or researchers and 70 are students.

Out of a population of nine million, 218 signed a petition, and this is touted as a "major" BDS victory.

Kiss my BDS

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Here's the actual call -out

Call for a Swedish academic boycott of Israel



The state of Israel occupies the Palestinian territories, denies basic human rights to Palestinians and refuses to comply with UN resolutions, including the ones stating that Palestinian refugees have the right to return. Israel subjects the Palestinian population to daily harassment and forces them to abandon more and more areas. The situation has rightly been compared to apartheid South Africa.



Israeli academic institutions are deeply complicit in Israel's occupation of Palestine. They cooperate closely with the security-military establishment. They offer advice to military intelligence and assist in developing weapon technologies for the Occupation forces. So far, none of the Israeli academic institutions have dissociated themselves from the occupation regime, or condemned the entrenched system of discrimination of Palestinians.



Despite Israel’s refusal to comply with international law it is not met with sanctions. It is therefore imperative that ordinary people take up the challenge and put pressure on Israel. Palestinian academics have repeatedly called upon their colleagues abroad to boycott Israeli academic institutions in order to end the occupation and the oppression. We, the signatory of this call, want to respond positively to their call.



We do not want to end dialogue, but we want to show that Israel’s treatment of Palestinians is unacceptable. The future for both Palestinians and Israelis depends on ending the occupation and on securing justice and equality. We believe that this will not happen without external pressure. Moreover, teachers, scientists and students in Israel oppose the occupation. These groups are in need of international support.



The academic boycott is aimed at the isolation of Israeli universities and other teaching and research institutions in order to challenge their complicity in maintaining the Israeli occupation and other violations of international law. An academic boycott targets institutional links between Israeli universities and Swedish partners in the form of university pairing, exchanges, joint programs and research initiatives. It is not a ban on individual Israeli academics, regardless of their opinions.



We ask employees and students at Swedish universities and research institutions to join our call. At the same time, we call for cooperation with and support for organizations and individuals in Israel, including research workers and students who are working to end the occupation and the denial of human rights for the Palestinians.



· Refuse participation in academic cooperation, collaboration or joint projects with Israeli universities;

· Refrain from attending or co-sponsoring conferences and other academic activities held at Israeli universities;

· Suspend all forms of funding, subsidies and scholarships to Israeli universities;

· Promote divestment from Israel by academic institutions;

· The Swedish government must act to stop European Union research collaboration with Israel;

· Foster initiatives that directly support Palestinian educational institutions and ensure opportunities for Palestinian students and faculty.