Linguists against boycotts

[Arnold D J]

Dear Colleagues,

Some days ago a message appeared on this and other lists signed by a
number of linguists, including friends and colleagues of mine,
opposing the academic boycott on cooperation with Israeli universities
and other research institutions. So far I have seen only one voice
raised against this: a mail from Dick Hudson. I want to add my voice to
his.

I am sending this to the mailing lists where I saw the original message
(the HPSG and LFG lists). Please accept the usual apologies for
cross-posting.

The original message gives two reasons for opposing the boycott: (i) the
boycott is indiscriminate at the individual level (directed against
people without reference to their view or actions), and (ii) the boycott
is discriminatory at a higher level (directed only at Israel, when other
countries also abuse human rights and commit brutal military
interventions).

I think these reasons should be rejected.

The second reason is an argument taking action against any injustice: it
implies that one should not act against any injustice unless one can act
against all.

The first reason is an argument against all `national' or broadly based
boycotts, because it is in the nature of boycotts of this kind to be
indiscriminate.  Boycotts of South African produce during the apartheid
era undoubtedly harmed opponents of apartheid (black farm workers, for
example) and boycotts on sporting contacts affected South African
sportsmen and women regardless of their political views. Imposing and
observing this kind of `national' boycott  strengthens the hand
of opposition groups within the country under boycott, because it
manifests the extent of the opposition from outside public opinion.

I do not see why academic or cultural institutions should be exempt from
boycott any more than, say, sporting links should be.

(The anti-boycott message makes several other points, which I think are
regrettable, and which I hope will be dropped in future discussion ---
in particular, the astonishing suggestion that the boycott is "no less
racist than the exclusionary policies that they [the supporters of the
boycott] purport to oppose", and the unsupported speculation that those
who support the boycott might not do so if it put at risk lucrative
sabbaticals and research opportunities).

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Doug Arnold,                       doug at essex.ac.uk
Dept. of Language & Linguistics,   http://privatewww.essex.ac.uk/~doug
University of Essex,
Wivenhoe Park,                     Tel: +44 1206 872084 (direct)
Colchester, CO4 3SQ, UK.           Fax: +44 1206 872198
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