| Critics on campuses Subject: Fwd: Havard Divestment Campaign, Charges of Anti-Semitism against activists
> From Today's Boston Globe (This was on their website early today, now it is >gone). > >On campuses, critics of Israel fend off a label > > >By Marcella Bombardieri, Globe Staff, 9/21/2002 > >When Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor Nancy Kanwisher helped >launch a spring petition calling on Harvard and MIT to cut their financial >ties to Israel, she saw it as a political protest against Israel's alleged >violation of Palestinians' human rights. > > >But in the months since she helped gather signatures on the two campuses, >her effort has become the target of a much larger counterpetition - and, >this week, a high-profile denunciation by Harvard president Lawrence H. >Summers, who declared her group's actions ''anti-Semitic in effect, if not >intent.'' > >After his stinging speech, divestment was once again in the spotlight, as >students and faculty debated yesterday whether it is possible to protest >Israel without evoking the grim legacy of anti-Semitism. > >''Harvard prides itself on academic freedom, but the question of punishment >against Israel is tricky and divisive for people,'' said Rohit Chopra, a >junior who chairs the student affairs committee of the Undergraduate >Council. ''It's so super-sensitive because Israel is a home or a second home >spiritually to so many people. So it's hard to criticize Israel delicately >and avoid a tough label like anti-Semitism.'' > >Kanwisher was direct in her reaction. Summers ''should be ashamed of >himself,'' she said, ''casting these McCarthy-esque insinuations about our >motives.'' > >Summers declined to comment yesterday. But some Harvard professors who have >asked him about his speech said Summers assured them he was not personally >labeling the signers of the petition as anti-Semitic. > >The Israeli divestment idea was born two years ago in a speech by University >of Illinois professor Francis A. Boyle, who says he hoped to influence >Israeli policy in the same way the 1980s South African divestment campaign >helped end apartheid. > >Boyle had studied human rights law at Harvard. At the time, he also joined >calls for Harvard to withdraw its investments in South Africa - which the >university eventually did. > >To Boyle, the divestment issue is exactly the same in both instances, >legally and morally. > >''Israel clearly practices apartheid against Palestinians,'' he said. ''This >isn't reinventing the wheel.'' > >But a protest against Israel, a close ally of the United States whose modern >roots are entwined with World War II atrocities against Jews, has proved a >far more loaded issue on American campuses. > >''Why don't they say anything about Cuba's chilling of dissent or China's >occupation of Tibet? Why don't they feel a personal stake in getting Jordan, >Egypt, and the Philippines to stop torturing people?'' asked Harvard law >professor Alan Dershowitz, who said he would resign if Harvard divested from >Israel. ''The only reason they feel so strongly about Israel is because it >is the Jewish nation.'' > >But the divestment proponents point out that the US government sends more >money to Israel than those other countries - about $3 billion a year. And >their petitions assert that Harvard has some $600 million invested in US >companies that do business in Israel. > >Mary C. Potter, a professor of cognitive sciences who started the MIT >petition with Kanwisher, doesn't regret sparking debate. But she's aghast at >the anti-Semitism charges. Although she still believes in the goals of >divestment, she has begun to wonder what role non-Jews can play in the >debate. > >''Change will have to come from Jewish groups, because they cannot be >accused of anti-Semitism,'' Potter said. > >At Princeton University, where a divestment petition began circulating last >spring, a student leader of the campaign renounced the cause publicly. > >''I came to the realization not only that it was impractical but that it is >divisive in that the tactic isolates one group - Jews and Israeli people,'' >said Taufiq Rahim, who is Muslim and hails from Vancouver. ''Many Jewish, >Israeli, and Palestinian people are interested in the same things.'' > >Rahim, who had gathered signatures for the campaign, wrote a letter to >faculty members explaining his switch. He still opposes Israeli occupation >of the West Bank and Gaza. > >The Princeton petition inspired the Cambridge activists. Potter and >Kanwisher and some friends at Harvard were looking for a way to put into >action their opposition to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. Kanwisher >was ''desperately casting around on the Web one night to see what other >people were doing,'' when she found a Web page for the Princeton divestment >campaign. > >The petition said signers are ''appalled by the human rights abuses against >Palestinians at the hands of the Israeli government.'' It also called >attacks on Israeli citizens ''abhorrent.'' > >Circulated by e-mail, it garnered 69 signatures from Harvard faculty and 55 >from MIT faculty. But it also sparked a much larger countersalvo - a new >petition calling the divestment campaign ''a one-sided attempt to >delegitimize Israel,'' and saying it ''revives rhetoric long discredited by >its use among extremists as code for the destruction of the Jewish state.'' > >That counterpetition was signed by 439 Harvard faculty and 143 MIT faculty. > >The local divestment activists' next plan is to try to book some speakers on >the topic. On a national level, a conference at the University of Michigan >in October will discuss how to bring the issue to new campuses. Boyle, the >Illinois professor, said he believes that minds can be changed. > >''I would hope there could be a dialogue between us and President Summers,'' >he said. > >Patrick Healy of the Globe Staff contributed to this report. > >This story ran on page A1 of the Boston Globe on 9/21/2002. > > > >_________________________________________________________________
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