Linguists against boycotts

[Dick Hudson]

Dear Colleague,
I too was asked to sign this statement, but refused. My reasons are given
below after ##.
Dick Hudson

At 12:53 11/07/2002 -0700, you wrote:
>The statement below deals with an issue that is of importance to all
>linguists. Please respond as you feel is appropriate. Thanks.
>
>
>                 Academic Boycotts in Linguistics
>
>
>
>     Several months ago a number of European academics initiated a
>campaign to boycott cooperation with Israeli universities and other
>research institutions as an expression of oppostion to Israel's military
>response to the Palestinian intafada. A counter-boycott protest soon
>followed, and the controversy over this issue has become intense.
>Until recently we would not have considered writing to the Linguist
>List on this matter, as it was a general problem of the relation
>between politics and academic life. However, it has now become a
>matter which concerns linguists directly. Several weeks ago Dr.
>Mona Baker, Director of the Centre for Translation and Intercultural
>Studies at the University of Manchester Institute for Science and
>Technology (UMIST) dismissed two Israeli scholars from the editorial
>boards of translation journals which she edits. She removed Professor
>Gideon Toury of the Dept. of General and Comparative Literature at
>Tel Aviv University from the board of Translator: Studies in
>Intercultural Communication, and Dr. Miriam Shlesinger of the Unit
>of Translation and Interpreting Studies at Bar-Ilan Universtiy from
>the board of Translation Studies Abstracts. Her stated reason for
>doing this is that she thought that it was an appropriate way of
>implementing the boycott.
>
>     In our view, academic boycotts in general and Dr. Baker's mode of
>observing this one in particular are entirely unacceptable for at least
>two obvious reasons. First, they are directed at scientific
>researchers who have no direct connection to government policy.
>These actions target people without reference to their views or actions,
>but solely on the basis of the fact that they live and work in a
>particular country whose government the supporters of the boycott
>object to.
## It's true that any boycott is a blunt instrument, but so is any
political action. It's also true that scientific researchers have no direct
connection to government policy, but exactly the same is true of those
affected by any other kind of boycott. For arguments for other kinds of
boycott against Israel, see the powerful statement by Tanya Reinhart at
http://www.nilemedia.com/Contributers/Tanya_Reinhart/2002/May/The_case.html.

In this respect academic boycotts are no less racist than the
>exclusionary policies that they purport to oppose.
## Israel is not a race. This is not a boycott of Jewish academics.

It is interesting
>to note in the present instance that Dr. Shlesinger is a past chair
>of the Israeli branch of Amnesty International and a long time critic
>of Israel's policies in the occupied territories.
## It would be preferable to hear Dr Shlesinger's own reactions. Since she
shares the aims of the boycott she may reluctantly accept the methods too.

>Second, this boycott
>is acutely discriminatory in that it focuses exculsively on Israel, and
>takes no account of the severe human rights abuses and brutal military
>interventions committed by other countries, often on a larger scale.
>So, for example, no academic boycott has, to the best of our
>knowledge, been applied to Russia in response to its war in Chechnya,
>to Serbia when Milosevic pursued his campaign througout the former
>Yugoslavia, or to China in reaction to its long standing occupation of
>Tibet and its problematic human rights record at home. Most tellingly,
>we do not recall anyone seriously attempting to launch a boycott of
>American academic institutions despite the many controversial military
>adventures that the United States has engaged in over the past several
>decades.
## This is an argument for no action against any injustice unless you
tackle them all at the same time. If others want to take on these other
issues, let them. Those who support the present boycott believe Israel is
different.

>It is difficult to avoid the suspicion that the current group
>of boycott enthusiasts would be less than anxious to give up lucrative
>sabbaticals and research opportunities at American institutions.
## This is an ad hominem argument based on pure surmise. I'm astonished
that so many of my respected colleagues signed up to it.

>
>     Most of us strongly oppose Israel's continued occupation of the West
>Bank, Gaza, and East Jerusalem. However, we do not regard an academic
>boycott of Israeli universities or researchers as an acceptable means
>for expressing one's objections to the policies and actions of the
>Israeli government. We agree with Noam Chomsky's view that one does
>not boycott people or their cultural institutions as an expression
>of political protest, particularly when the actions of other governments,
>often one's own, are no less worthy of opposition. We call on our
>colleagues to oppose this and all other academic boycotts. We urge
>them not to engage in discriminatory behaviour of this kind.
## Yes, an academic boycott is unpleasant; but the injustices targeted are
far far worse.

>
>Emmon Bach
>Dept. of Linguistics, University of Massachusetts at Amherst
>
>Mark Baltin
>Dept. of Linguistics, New York University
>
>Ted Briscoe
>Computer Laboratory, University of Cambridge
>
>Denis Bouchard
>Dept. of Linguistics, Universite du Quebec a Montreal
>
>John Carroll
>Cognitive and Computing Sciences, University of Sussex
>
>Robin Cooper
>Dept. of Linguistics, Goeteborg University
>
>Ann Copestake
>Computer Laboratory, University of Cambridge
>
>Elan Dresher
>Dept. of Linguistics, University of Toronto
>
>Joseph Emonds
>Graduate School, Kobe Shoin University,
>(emeritus, Dept. of Linguistics, University of Durham)
>
>Elisabet Engdahl
>Dept. of Linguistics, Goeteborg University
>
>Gregor Erbach
>DFKI, University of Saarland
>
>Chris Fox
>Dept. of Computer Science, University of Essex
>
>Jonathan Ginzburg
>NLP Group, Dept. of Computer Science, King's College, London
>
>Jane Grimshaw
>Department of Linguistics and Center for Cognitive Science,
>Rutgers University
>
>Philip Hauptman
>Dept. of Linguistics, University of Ottawa
>
>Mark Hepple
>NLP Group, Dept. of Computer Science, University of Sheffield
>
>Caroline Heycock
>Dept. of Linguistcs, University of Edinburgh
>
>Erhard Hinrichs
>Laboratory for Computational Linguistics,
>University of Tuebingen
>
>Paul Hirschbueler
>Dept. of Linguistics, University of Ottawa
>
>Norbert Hornstein
>Dept. of Linguistics, University of Maryland, College Park
>
>Ray Jackendoff
>Dept. of Psychology, Brandeis University
>
>Ed Keenan
>Dept. of Linguistics, University of California at Los Angeles
>
>Andrew Kehler
>Dept. of Lingistics, University of California at San Diego
>
>Ruth Kempson
>Program in Formal Grammar and Computational Lingistics,
>Dept. of Philosophy, King's College, London
>
>Tibor Kiss
>Dept. of Linguistics, University of Bochum
>
>Dimitra Kolliakou
>Dept. of Linguistics, University of Newcastle
>
>William A. Ladusaw
>Dept. of Linguistics,
>University of California, Santa Cruz
>
>Shalom Lappin
>NLP Group, Dept. of Computer Science, King's College, London
>
>Jacqueline Lecarme
>CNRS, France
>
>Robert Levine
>Dept. of Linguistics, Ohio State University
>
>Jean Lowenstamm
>Dept. of Linguistics, Universite de Paris 7
>
>Robert May
>Dept. of Logic and Philosophy of Science,
>University of California at Irvine
>
>Wilfried Meyer-Viol
>Program in Formal Grammar and Computational Lingistics,
>Dept. of Philosophy, King's College, London
>
>Anna Morpurgo Davies
>Somerville College, Oxford
>
>Glyn Morrill
>Departament de Llenguatges i Sistemes Inform`atics,
>Universitat Polit`ecnica de Catalunya, Barcelona
>
>Barbara Partee
>Dept. of Linguistics, University of Massaschusetts at Amherst
>
>David Pesetsky
>Dept. of Linguistics and Philosophy, MIT
>
>Massimo Poesio
>Dept. of Computer Science, University of Essex
>
>Anne Rochette
>Dept. of Linguistics, Universite du Quebec a Montreal
>
>Patricia Shaw
>Department of Linguistics, University of British Columbia
>
>Stuart Shieber
>Division of Engineering and Applied Sciences,
>Harvard University
>
>Ed Stabler
>Dept. of Linguistics, University of California at Los Angeles
>
>Mark Steedman
>Division of Informatics, University of Edinburgh
>
>Martin Stokhof
>Dept. of Philosophy, University of Amsterdam
>
>Tim Stowell
>Dept. of Linguistics, Univesity of California at Los Angeles
>
>Enric Vallduvm
>Dept. of Translation and Interpreting,
>Universitat Pompeu Fabra
>
>Nigel Vincent
>Dept. of Linguistics, University of Manchester
>
>Bonnie Webber
>Division of Informatics, University of Edinburgh
>
>Moira Yip
>Dept. of Linguistics, University College, London
>--
>-----------------------------
>Hana Filip
>Department of Linguistics
>Margaret Jacks Hall, Building 460
>Stanford University
>Stanford, CA 94305-2150
>
>Office:	Margaret Jacks Hall 117
>Phone:	(650) 723-4284
>E-mail: hfilip at stanford.edu
>
>

Richard (= Dick) Hudson

Phonetics and Linguistics, University College London,
Gower Street, London WC1E  6BT.
+44(0)20 7679 3152; fax +44(0)20 7383 4108;
http://www.phon.ucl.ac.uk/home/dick/home.htm