Boo Hoo Blackwell
May 26, 2005 | Aussie Dave | Comments 2
Britains’s Association of University Teachers (AUT) is set to revote on their disgraceful decision to boycott Haifa and Bar-Ilan universities. And someone is not happy about it.
Britain’s Association of University Teachers (AUT) is to hold a special session Thursday for a revote on the decision to boycott two Israeli universities.Jewish organizations and opponents of the boycott were feverishly busy Wednesday in last-minute preparations for the session. No one was prepared Wednesday to vouch for success in turning around the decision but both sides appeared to agree that the massive pressure on the part of the universities and the anti-boycott activists would bear fruit.Dr. John Pike, a philosophy lecturer at the Open University, told Haaretz on Wednesday that is seemed likely the boycott would be overturned but that it was not sure.—-Dr. Sue Blackwell of Birmingham University, one of the driving forces behind the boycott, said the outcome of Thursday’s session seems to be “fixed.” She said all sorts of people who had never participated in the AUT would come with the specific aim of stopping the boycott.“I have never heard of such a thing in the 14 years I have been active in the AUT,” she said, noting that special sessions are convened only when there have been changes. “There is something anti-democratic in this,” she said.
Which is rich, coming from someone who pushed for the boycott of an academic insitution (And you can’t get much more anti-democratic than that).
Filed Under: General
About the Author: An Australian immigrant to Israel, Aussie Dave has been blogging since early 2003.
“Which is rich, coming from someone who pushed for the boycott of an academic insitution”
And twice as rich considering HOW the boycott was voted through- a “sneak attack” on Passover eve to exclude maximum Jewish votes, halting the discussion to prevent the arguments of the boycott opponents from being heard, zero examination of the claims on their merits. And she considers the fact that people formerly indifferent will now exersise their lawful right to vote “anti-democratic”?
Dave, I suggest we enrich the Blogosphere’s vocabulary with a brand new term- “Blackwell democracy”. It just might catch on just as well as “fisking”
I wonder how a special meeting to re-vote on a serious matter could in any way be interpreted ,“anti-democratic”. The notion is just sickeningly stupid. I’m sure the members will go about their business and cast their votes in an extremely democratic way, with no help needed from the imbecile Blackwell.It’s a disgrace in the first place that a handful of loud-mouthed ratbags succeeded to get this far with their agenda for everyone else.