- David Miller - We must resist Israel’s war on British universities Archived Message
Posted by johnhol
on February 20, 2021, 9:19 pm
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Begins: Britain is in the grip of an assault on its public sphere by the state of Israel and its advocates. Meaningful conversations about anti-Black racism and Islamophobia have been drowned out by a concerted lobbying campaign targeting universities, political parties, the equalities regulator and public institutions all over the country. Earlier this month, the newly elected secretary-general of the Muslim Council of Britain, Zara Mohammed, was set upon by two of the most energetic Zionist campaigners in British public life (Laura Marks and BBC presenter Emma Barnett) within days of taking up her position. This month American commentator Nathan J. Robinson revealed how The Guardian fired him as a columnist for a mere tweet referencing US military aid to Israel. At the same time, the celebrated film director Ken Loach was smeared by Israel lobby groups such as the Board of Deputies of British Jews, who attempted to prevent him speaking to students at the Oxford college where he studied. And this week, Israel’s lobby in Britain has trained its guns on me. In doing so, it is reviving its two-year campaign to have me sacked from the University of Bristol, where I teach political sociology, and in particular about corporate and state power, lobbying tactics and Islamophobia. I established the UK’s lobbying watchdog, Spinwatch, which has spent 15 years tracking the nefarious effects of the fossil fuel lobby, the pharmaceutical lobby, the tobacco lobby, as well as state lobbies that promote Islamophobia, such as those of Israel and the United Arab Emirates. And it is this exposure of Zionist Islamophobia that most terrifies Israel’s fanatical advocates, particularly as the Israel lobby repositions itself from defending against accusations of Israeli war crimes to an offensive designed to rebrand Zionism – absurdly and ahistorically – as a “Jewish liberation movement.” Israel’s lobby is busily stealing the language of Black liberation to justify ethnic cleansing, racism and apartheid. Continues: https://electronicintifada.net/content/we-must-resist-israels-war-british-universities/32391 |
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