I'm calling it as 80/20, but obviously it was a heavy defeat. There was no proper serious debate, and lots of people will be distressed and angry (including me).

Over the years of the boycott debate, from 2003, we have contributed nothing to solidarity with Palestine. I was at a meeting discussing books for Palestine, a trade union fund and so on, nearly 18 moths ago. Action? None. I was talking to a serious and senior member of the union, who told me this: he had got quite a few people in his union branch to support an educational exchange with Bethlehem University. He was organising a tripling arrangement with an Israeli University back in 2003. It was difficult, both practically and politically to set this up, but a lot of people at his place put work into it. Then the boycott debate blew up, for the first time. Almost unanimously, his people opposed the boycott, and withdrew from the tripling arrangement. Now, 'Palestinian solidarity' means going to meetings and arguing about a boycott.

Guess what. The PGFTU have noticed. They *oppose* proposals to attack and boycott Israeli universities, because this is a distraction from the struggle against the occupation. There are (just one or two) other reasons for opposing the boycott proposals, but it's a weird kind of orientalist logic that is being played out when the British UCU and the cheerleaders for the boycott know better than the PGFTU how to make solidarity.

Depending on some rule changes tomorrow, which I'm worried about, it may still be able to turn the union over the next couple of years. But it is already obviously compromised in the eyes of many of its members. I'm not sure how much of a union there will be left. The SWP would rather control an empty husk than argue their corner in a vibrant and pluralist union that respected the views of its members.

There will be some resignations, and the whole resolution will be discussed at the NEC in a couple of weeks time. We know that there's a doubt over the legality of implementing it, so we shall see. But the union is in a state. Stupid, stupid.

Oh, and of course, the idea of asking the members what they think was roundly voted down. I'm sure that the 117,000 members will be grateful to delegates for taking on that onerous responsibility. They clearly have a great understanding of academic freedom, non-discrimination, and the world.

Jon Pike, UCU NEC-elect