Par calcul les boycotteurs ne prônent pas le boycott des universités américaines

David Hirsh a réagi au soutien apporté au boycott académique d'Israël par l'ASA par l'historienne américaine Claire Potter. Engage a publié un échange de mails entre les deux. Claire Potter a prétendu que c'est en tant qu'Américaine qu'elle y était favorable car  Israël est un rouage important dans la politique étrangère oppressive des Etats-Unis. David Hirsh lui fait remarquer que si l'Amérique est la source du problème, pourquoi donc demande-t-elle que seules des universités israéliennes soient frappées de boycott mais pas les américaines.  Bonne question.  Mais nous connaissons les petits calculs des universitaires boycotteurs... et leur prédilection pour le 2 poids 2 mesures lorsqu'il s'agit d'Israël tout en prenant soin de défendre leurs intérêts propres... Mme Potter ne prône donc pas le boycott des universités américaines.  Une grande conscience!

Lettre ouverte de David Hirsh à Claire Potter (extraits): 

"When people are first told about the proposal to boycott Israel they tend to ask: “Why do you only propose to boycott Israel?”  Your key answer to this relates not to Israel at all, but to your own American-ness.  You say that Israel is an important element in an oppressive US foreign policy.  If America is the key problem, why do you call upon scholars to boycott Israeli universities without first calling on scholars to boycott American universities?

You mention that there are movements against the Chinese occupation of Tibet on US campuses, and many other movements which are critical of human rights abuses around the world.  But there is a slippage here in your argument.  There is only one campaign to boycott universities.  We are not talking about the politics of who one chooses to criticise, we are talking about the politics of who one singles out for boycott.  This is a key distinction which is often obscured by the BDS movement.  Criticism is not the same as boycott and it is not the same as demonization.  You say that you are critical of the US government so why should you not be critical of the Israeli government?  Well sure, you should be.  But a public organisation like the ASA has to be consistent, it can’t just act on whim or personal taste.  If it discovers criteria which make a boycott of universities appropriate, then shouldn’t it boycott universities in all states which fit the criteria?"

My (David Hirsh's) original open letter to Claire Potter is here.

Claire’s response to me is here.

A collection of Engage’s arguments against the campaign to boycott Israeli universities are to be found here.

A set of debates from Engage with South Africans about the boycott movement in South Africa is to be found here.

A set of debates from Engage about antisemitism in the boycott movement are to be found here.