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2016-06-09 -Signs, Portents, and the Weather-

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Posted by trailing wife 2016-06-09 00:00|| || Front Page|| [15 views ] Top

#1 I came across this in The Times of Israel, written shortly before the American Anthropological Association vote, which I find heartening:

Despite important differences in outlook and methods, these organizations â the Academic Engagement Network and the Academic Council for Israel, as examples â have made important progress mobilizing faculty against BDS. The evidence is in successful faculty letter writing and mobilization campaigns on several campuses in response to BDS campaigns in 2015-16, including Minnesota, Columbia, and University of Michigan-Dearborn, a large petition drive opposed to BDS with 1,100 signatures and growing, and hopefully a close victory or close contest in the current vote on boycott in the American Anthropological Association.

BDS gives off the impression that it is everywhere on the rise and winning. But it is not. During the past two years, according to statistics developed by the Israel on Campus Coalition, BDS has mounted 77 campaigns on American campuses, 44 in 2014-15 after the Gaza War, and 33, down 25%, in 2015-16. The fact is that BDS loses as much as or more than it wins. Of 33 campaigns during 2015-2016, 17 failed outright, or the resolutions were tabled or not put up to a vote. The year before, of 44 campaigns, 32 failed outright, or were tabled or did not come to fruition.

In the past two years, with 77 total tries, that is, BDS won only 22 outright successes. This is not an stellar batting average. And these successes resulted in no tangible changes in respective institutional policies. None whatsoever. No boycott, no divestment. BDS is primarily about symbolic politics and radical gestures, and about skillful manipulation of the media. BDSâs real purpose is to cumulatively infiltrate a politically loaded teaching onto campuses about Israel and the Middle East, and to make of Israel a pariah state in the minds of members of the current student generation and future leaders; it is not to impact institutional policies.

BDS is also being confronted in the faculty associations, where the tide may perhaps be turning. After successes in the American Studies Association, Womenâs Studies Association, and several smaller ethnic studies associations, BDS initiatives have encountered significant opposition this year in the Modern Language Association, American Historical Association, International Studies Association, the Association of American Geographers, and others. Even in the American Anthropological Association, where BDS views are particularly strong, we expect a close membership vote on the matter of boycott.

Posted by trailing wife 2016-06-09 14:44|| 2016-06-09 14:44|| Front Page Top

Posted by Besoeker 2016-06-09 15:07|| 2016-06-09 15:07|| Front Page Top

#3 Sensei!

Posted by g(r)omgoru 2016-06-09 15:10|| 2016-06-09 15:10|| Front Page Top

#4 Perfect, #2 B.

Only thing I would add is a bag of fertilizer nearby.

Posted by Barbara 2016-06-09 16:35|| 2016-06-09 16:35|| Front Page Top

23:26 anon1
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22:27 Besoeker
22:20 Whiskey Mike
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19:21 swksvolFF
18:36 PBMcL
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16:47 trailing wife
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16:33 Vast Right Wing Conspiracy
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