Boycott stuff again

Here's my last list of links this week:

News:

• The Populus poll that puts 84% of the British intellegentsia against the boycott (JP)
  
• UCU's Sally Hunt disown the poll

• PEN American Center urges rejection of academic boycotts to protect freedom of expression as UK body debates boycott of Israel

Commentary:

• A Jew bears witness to abject hate at an NUJ meeting

• Don't assume academic elite view is shared at the grassroots

Campaign:

• Useful quotes[pdf] from the Stop the Boycott campaign. Some examples:
  

“It is through cooperation based on mutual respect, rather than boycotts or discrimination, that our common goals can be achieved. Our disaffection with, and condemnation of, acts of academic boycotts is predicated on the principles of academic freedom, human rights and equality between nations and among individuals.
The reason I don’t believe the boycott is the way to go is that I believe peace must be built on the bridge between two civil societies.”
Sari Nusseibeh President Al-Quds University (Jerusalem)

“To target academics in this way is not only anti-academic; it also targets the very people who are most likely to help in a liberal answer to the peace process in the Middle East.”
Professor Lord Winston

“Instead of proposing unwieldy and blunt instruments such as boycotts, all interested parties in the UK should work to support talks between the democratically elected governments of Israel and Palestine, and support efforts to ensure that international law is followed and applied on all sides.
While these debates have certainly been coming to the fore in several unions, I do not believe that the Trade Union movement as a whole is favourable to boycotts of this kind. I think that the overwhelming majority of Trade Unions are approaching these debates with a clear intention of trying to aid their Israeli and Palestinian sisters and brothers.”
Mr Jon Cruddas MP Labour Party Deputy Leader Candidate

Opinion:

• Judith A. Klinghoffer: More robust response to the boycott needed - Political Mavens/HNN


• Former Labour MP Jane Griffiths: Get out of jail free (Paris Hilton and the Israel boycott
  

Money quote: "If jobs are lost in the UK because of this then I hope the academics on the Brighton campus can sit on their fat arses and read the Guardian with a clear conscience."

Soundtrack to this post: Antibalas Afrobeat Orchestra -- Indictment (mp3 via the wonderful Tuwa's Shanty. On the list: Condoleeza Rice, Noam Chomksy)

Previous boycott round-up here