Added by David Hirsh on April 18, 2008 09:02:48 AM.
Linda Newman stood for President of UCU saying:(1) she opposed the boycott proposal in AUTIn March she seconded and voted for a motion which
(2) she felt a boycott would be ineffective
(3) she did not believe it would be supported by a majority of members
(4) she was a strong supporter of the 'greylisting' policy which stipulated that a university could only be boycotted if the union at that institution called for it
(5) she would seek to promote and gain support from UCU for increased links between Israeli and Palestine academics.
(1) legitimized a boycott by claiming that the Israeli academy is "apparently" complicit in the killing of civilians and in creating a humanitarian catastraphe in Gaza. Such rhetoric puts our academic colleagues in danger of being murdered as legitimate military targets. It is profoundly irresponsible.Today, in the Jewish Chronicle, an unnamed spokesperson for the union (can't Newman speak for herself?) claims that the President has "made it quite clear on a number of occasions that [she is] against an academic boycott."
(2) seeks to promote a "wide discussion by colleagues" of the appropriateness of continued education links with Israeli academic institutions.
Newman stood for election as an anti-boycotter. She then seconded a boycott motion at the NEC. She is now posing again as an anti-boycotter.
After putting her left foot in and then taking her left foot out, Newman has also been shaking it all about.