Commentary from Cécile Sabourin, coordinator, Québec/Canada Committee, Charter of Human Responsibilities

On October 2, College and University Workers United (CU WU) *received Gabi et Haifa Baramki to discuss the initiative of the academic and cultural boycott they are promoting during their visit to Montreal.  It is related to the global campaign Boycott Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) that will be discussed during the Québec Social Forum , Saturday the October 10^th.

During his career M. Baramki has been active in the Palestinian Council on Higher Education, in the Palestinian Council for Justice and Peace in addition to assuming from 1974 to 1993 the function of president of Birzeit University in Ramallah.  His long experience has lead him to become a founding member of the initiative of the Palestinian Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI).  He considers the boycott as part of the non violent strategy he advocated for many years.  In his presentation, he insisted that, in light of the fact that no agrrement has led to any concrete action, the occupation of Palestine and the expulsion of inhabitants that lived in those territories, now occupied, remains a problem without solutions.   In those circumstances, he feels that the only possibility left to Palestinians is to encourage the international community to use boycotts, divestment and sanctions as a means to bring about concrete change to israeli policy and practices.

Exchanges that followed the presentation raised many questions, some of them not receiving final response.  I feel especially concerned by an academic boycott, a proposal hurting the academic freedom tradition of universities and colleges as well as by a cultural that could silence Israeli voices active against occupation.  To this question, M. and Mrs. Baramki respond by a very clear message that they do not propose to attack fundamental liberties of professors, academic staff and artists individually. The boycott appeal is directed towards institutions.

His answer however does not really alter the controversial aspects of this mean of action  It will keep being controversial in the Québec and Canada contexts where  freedom of intellectual and artistic expression are not only a value, but essentially a right to defend.  As ex-President of the Fédération québécoise des professeures et professeurs d’université (FQPPU) from 2005 to 2009, I admit being much more directly concerned by this appeal to academic and cultural boycott than by any economic boycott, for instance of investments in Israel and occupied territories and of commercial activities with enterprises active on the Israeli territory.

I continue to ask myself – under BDS would I have seen Z32 a film by Avi Mograbi if institutions had implemented the boycott?