[Peace-discuss] Fwd: [HumanRights] Boycott Israeli apartheid and action items

[C. G. Estabrook]

[The "boycott" language is admittedly vague, and it's not
clear just what actions are being proposed, but I'm prejudiced
in favor of what I take to be Chomsky's view that one does not
boycott people or their cultural institutions as an expression
of political protest.  Here's a brief piece by Chomsky in
response to a call for an academic boycott a few years ago.
His view seems to be that our object should be the US
government, and perhaps corporations (Caterpillar, e.g.) that
support Israeli repression.  That seems right to me. --CGE]  


   Statement by Noam Chomsky "Regarding a Petition for
   Academic Boycott of Israel"

I understand and sympathize with the feelings behind this
proposal, but am skeptical about it, for a number of reasons.
One is that our prime concern should be ourselves: it's always
easy to blame others; harder, and far more important, to look
into the mirror. That includes Europe too, though the issue is
particularly stark here, in the present instance.

The petition states that "the US seems reluctant to act and
continues to fund Israel." That's quite an understatement.
Israel acts within bounds set by Washington, and the US has
been providing the decisive military, diplomatic, economic and
doctrinal support for the crimes that are condemned. The US
does not accept the basic UN resolutions, these and others,
and has vetoed the most important ones, which, if implemented,
could have largely settled many of the prime issues long ago.
That continues; there has been no break. Furthermore, what is
said about Israeli intellectuals holds in spades for their US
counterparts, who are far more complicit in crimes, even in
this case, not to speak of innumerable others. It seems a bit
odd for us to be on a high horse about that. Breaking contact
with Israeli academics, artists, writers, journalists,...
means breaking contact with many people who have played an
honorable and courageous role well beyond what can be found
here, and are a much more substantial element within their own
society.

I also think the emphasis is misplaced. The immediate goal
should, I think, be to compel the US government to stop
providing the means for enhancing violence and repression, and
to stop preventing diplomatic moves towards the international
consensus on a political settlement that the US has been
blocking, unilaterally, for a quarter-century. That requires a
preliminary struggle: to break the doctrinal stranglehold that
prevents serious discussion of these issues within the
mainstream of opinion, a very broad spectrum, reaching to
left-liberal sectors. A call for suspension of arms transfers
to Israel would be a natural first step, following the course
of Germany, which has already undertaken it. As long as we are
not able to achieve simple goals like that within our own
society -- even to bring them to the arena of general
discussion -- I'm very reluctant to call for breaking
relations with people who, as a category, are considerably
more advanced than we are.