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>> Social Justice, Research and the University
Thursday, August 20, 2009 - 06:43 PM by Ashley Fortier and Indu Vashist The recent column by Gazette University Life reporter Peggy Curran – Activist group stirs up storm (August 14, 2009) – conveys some troubling ideas about academic freedom and free speech by both a Concordia administration official and a pro-Israel advocate, in reference to a project that is part of the Community University Research Exchange (CURE). CURE was initiated by the Quebec Public Interest Research Groups (QPIRG) at Concordia and McGill in response to demands by students who wanted to integrate their classroom learning with social justice movements and activist organizations. Ollivier Dyens, Vice-Provost for Teaching and Learning at Concordia University states that serious research requires objectivity and open-mindedness. We agree, and CURE operates within that framework. However to further speculate, as Dyens does, that professors would not “sanction a project where issues were so volatile and the starting point was so politically-motivated,” presents a troubling understanding of academic freedom. Universities are supposed to be places where open debates flourish, and scholarship is free from censorship as well as government and corporate interference. To place arbitrary limits on what is termed political research is contrary to these basic principles. Importantly, social justice centers like the QPIRGs, and related projects like CURE, serve as an important counter-balance to the majority of research funded by the universities. CURE -- a modest project run on a budget of a few thousand dollars -- attempts to provide an independent research voice on campus, uniquely geared towards undergraduates and grassroots community organizations. The “Mapping Israeli Apartheid” project – one of more than 30 diverse projects currently in our database -- is the subject of the recent controversy addressed by Curran’s column. The project proposal clearly states that the research involves looking at “Israeli academic, corporate, military, or government institutions” complicit in human rights abuses in Israel/Palestine. To imply that this is akin to Nazi research on Jewish ancestry in the 1930s, as expressed by Abraham Cooper, and uncritically repeated in Curran’s column, is absurd. The mandates of the QPIRGs and CURE are in clear opposition to all forms of racism and oppression, including anti-Semitism. We fear, however, that the term “anti-Semitism” loses all meaning when it used so casually against any critique or inquiry into Israel. The attack on critical research about Israel as “anti-Semitic” is an attempt to stifle free speech and discussion on the issue. In the words of the Campaign for Free Expression on Palestine, formed in response to similar attacks at other universities by pro-Israel supporters: “Criticizing Israeli policies toward the Palestinians does not target Jewish people just as criticizing Sudan's policies in Darfur does not target Sudanese people, criticizing Saddam Hussein's past treatment of the Kurds did not target Iraqi or Arab people, criticizing China's policies in Tibet does not target Chinese people, and criticizing the U.S. occupation of Iraq does not target American people.” Interestingly, the CURE database includes projects that are critical of other governments, such as Sri Lanka and Colombia, as well as the Canadian government and its treatment of indigenous peoples. There’s certainly nothing exceptional about social justice groups like the QPIRGs supporting research critical of different governments. What is exceptional is that the only time CURE is accused of racism is when we look critically at Israel. The call for Boycotts, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) against Israeli apartheid was issued by over 170 Palestinian civil society organizations. It is a campaign that is directed at the systems that support apartheid conditions in Israel/Palestine, and not against individual Israelis. It is certainly not aimed at individual Jewish persons, and it’s telling that the BDS campaign is supported by many outspoken Jewish voices, including the pan-Canadian Independent Jewish Voices and Not In Our Name, a Montreal student-based Jewish group. Their voices deserve as much space as those who uncritically defend Israel. CURE is an innovative and unique program for undergraduates and the community encompassing many causes and groups. It’s tedious, however, that social justice organizing and research is only seen through the lens of Israel/Palestine, when that is one important issue among the many addressed by social justice activists in Montreal. Characterizing Israel as an 'apartheid state' or campaigning for a BDS campaign against Israel does not constitute anti-Semitism just as various critiques and opposition to the policies of the Canadian governments does not make one “anti-Canadian.” While not everyone will agree with the term apartheid or the BDS campaign, they are legitimate grounds for research and discussion, and should be protected as such at a university, and in society in general. [Ashley Fortier and Indu Vashist are co-coordinators of the Quebec Public Interest Research Groups (QPIRG) at Concordia and McGill respectively.] ----- [The comment piece above was submitted to the Montreal Gazette this past Monday by the QPIRGs at Concordia and McGill. The article is in response to the column “Activists group stirs up storm” (August 14, 2009) published last Friday. As of today (Thursday), the article has not yet been published. We include more background links below.] ------ BACKGROUND LINKS: The original Gazette article “Activists group stirs up storm” (August 14, 2009) is linked online HERE Tadamon, a working group of both QPIRG Concordia and McGill, submitted a letter in response to the Gazette article HERE The Community University Research Exchange (CURE) website is accessible HERE The Concordia University website published the following article about CURE: “Research exchange puts knowledge into the community’s hands” HOUR: “Research in motion” |
