[Air-L] The difficult conversation we don't seem to be having

[Sky Croeser]

I'm not sure if I fully understand the original issues that AoIR was
founded for (or where we draw the boundaries of those issues).

As my original email mentioned, we have a statement (
https://aoir.org/diversity-and-inclusivity/
) that  says the association is "committed to supporting diversity and
inclusivity both within internet research and beyond" and that we are
"committed
to the most fundamental principles of academic freedom, equality of
opportunity, and human dignity".

A situation in which (as I gave citations for in my original email) every
university in Gaza has been destroyed; students and academics within
Palestine have been killed and face displacement and starvation; academics
elsewhere in the world (including within Israel) face doxxing, jail, or
other threats for saying that they disagree with the bombing of
civilians...this does count as at least worth a  mention given the
commitments set out on our website. I do not think it is just some kind of
ridiculous virtue signalling to suggest that we should discuss it.

My original email did also bring up Yemen. It also implied, though I am
happy to say it explicitly, also, that there might be other times when we
also choose to speak up.

Or perhaps we should be choosing to amend our website to note that we are
an "apolitical" and "neutral" association that focuses on polite
conferences and meet-and-greets for networking purposes (for those who can
get the necessary visas and funds). And that the mailing list and other
spaces are purely for job offers and calls for papers and so on, not for
any discussion that some list members find challenging.

I raised this discussion because I know that silence is not neutrality, and
nor is it apolitical. Perhaps it is more comfortable to pretend that is the
case, but I do not think that it is healthy and I do not think that will
make the world better.

On Tue, 23 Jan 2024 at 10:09 am, Carmel Vaisman via Air-L <
air-l at listserv.aoir.org> wrote:

> >
> > I would actually appreciate it if every organization/association would
> > deal with the issues it was founded for, instead of issuing statements on
> > every other thing going on in the world as virtue signaling. Oh sorry,
> it's
> > not like statements are issued on ANY thing going on in the world, it's
> > only when it involves Israel, right? Do you even know of the dire
> > humanitarian crisis in Yemen that western media barely covers for some
> > reason? I'd say this awards a much more urgent statement, and it might
> > actually draw some media outlets to bother covering it.
>
>
>
> >
>
> Everyone loves these academic concepts, "context", decolonialization",
> "apartheid" "genocide". Few, though, care to educate themselves about the
> history of the BDS campaign to connect these trendy concepts with the
> Palestinian narrative and bind it to unrelated struggles in a way that no
> progressive person can even consider supporting anything else.
>
> As an Israeli, I am obviously biased, you shouldn't listen to me and I
> would not attempt to defend anything, certainly not the actions of a
> corrupt government everyone here wants to be rid of. I am just sick and
> tired of the lack of critical thinking in critical theory, so I will
> put up two provocations just to saw a bit of doubt in the use of the above
> categories in this context:
>
> 1. Are you sure colonialism is the framework you want to use for people who
> are native to the middle east according to all monotheist bibles? The Jew
> who used to be the "other" in Europe is now the archetype of the colonial
> European? It would have been funny/ironic, if it weren't a new dangerous
> form of anti-Semitism.
>
> 2. Gaza population has grown from a few hundred thousands to over 2 million
> people since the state of Israel was founded, and is one of the fastest
> growing populations in the world, despite growing rates of immigration.
> Israel seems to be doing a very bad job on the genocide front.
>
> In short, there is a good reason this list was not having this conversation
> until now, and I think it should stay that way.
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