Israel is being revealed to American Jews. Adrienne Rich, the poet, has endorsed the academic and cultural boycott of Israel in the wake of the Gaza slaughter. Speak, poet:
Until now, as a believer in boundary-crossings, I would not have
endorsed a cultural and academic boycott. But Israel's continuing,
annihilative assaults in Gaza, and the one-sided rationalizations for
them have driven me to re-examine my thoughts about cultural exchanges.
Israel's blockading of information, compassionate aid, international
witness and free cultural and scholarly expression has become extreme
and morally stone-blind. Israeli Arab parties have been banned from the
elections [policy overturned by Israeli supreme court], Israeli Jewish dissidents arrested, Israeli youth imprisoned
for conscientious refusal of military service. Academic institutions
are surely only relative sites of power. But they are, in their funding
and governance, implicated with state economic and military power. And
US media, institutions and official policy have gone along with all
this.
endorsed a cultural and academic boycott. But Israel's continuing,
annihilative assaults in Gaza, and the one-sided rationalizations for
them have driven me to re-examine my thoughts about cultural exchanges.
Israel's blockading of information, compassionate aid, international
witness and free cultural and scholarly expression has become extreme
and morally stone-blind. Israeli Arab parties have been banned from the
elections [policy overturned by Israeli supreme court], Israeli Jewish dissidents arrested, Israeli youth imprisoned
for conscientious refusal of military service. Academic institutions
are surely only relative sites of power. But they are, in their funding
and governance, implicated with state economic and military power. And
US media, institutions and official policy have gone along with all
this.
To boycott a repressive military state should not mean
backing away from individuals struggling against the policies of that
state. So, in continued solidarity with the Palestinian people's long
resistance, and also with those Israeli activists, teachers, students,
artists, writers, intellectuals, journalists, refuseniks, feminists and
others who oppose the means and ends of the Occupation, I have signed
my name to this call.
