A matter of concern to all linguists
Shalom Lappin
lappin at dcs.kcl.ac.uk
Wed Jul 10 10:44:38 UTC 2002
Dear Colleagues,
Below is a statement which deals with an issue of central
concern to all linguists. We have also submitted it to the Lingist List
and the LFG list. We ask you to consider this matter carefully and
respond according in ways that you feel appropriate. With best regards.
Shalom
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. In this respect academic boycotts are no less racist than the
exclusionary policies that they purport to oppose. 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. 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. 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.
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.
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)
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 Lost 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
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
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 Vallduví
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
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