Academic boycott, divestment, sanctions : implications for Australia-Israel relations

This chapter looks at Australian-Israeli relations from the perspective of the academic- cultural arm of the Boycott Divestment Sanctions (BDS) movement. It is co-written from alternate positions: a supporter of BDS, and a supporter of the right to BDS who chooses not to join the movement. The academic and cultural BDS is a specific branch of the campaign. Some supporters are comfortable with an economic boycott, yet troubled by potential limits on the exchange of ideas involved in an academic boycott; if we cannot talk out a conflict, violence remains the obvious alternative. To eschew violence yet not stay silent, however, demands nonviolent options. These options fall into two broad categories. One is diplomatic effort, undertaken on behalf of governments by appointed representatives, including formal, back-channel and megaphone diplomacy. The other is activism or people power, including petitions and protests. BDS is one of the most prominent among the latter. Its aim is peace by peaceful means. We question here whether boycotting important voices who share this goal poses too great a risk to scholarly pursuits such as effective problem solving, collaborative research, and academic freedom.