As if enemies of Israel were not busy enough generating propaganda and mayhem on campuses, they have now decided to infiltrate the Modern Language Association to take an official pro-Palestinian position and an implicitly anti-Israeli one. The first shot was fired in December 2007 when the Radical Caucas sponsored a resolution condemning Zionists for oppressing Palestinian scholars and denying them opportunities to speak freely. For several hours we listened to a small group of Israel bashers shamelessly couch their hatred of Israelis and Jews as pro-Palestinian. Fortunately several of us were able to remind the majority of delegates that Israeli scholars had been repeatedly subject to international boycotts, that pro-Israel speakers have been subject to abuse, Jewish students victimized. We were joined in 2007 by Carrie Nelson, head of the
AAUP, who helped us pass an alternative, innocuous resolution which indicated that all scholars of the Middle East should be free to pursue their work without any outside interference.
Fast forward to MLA December 2008 in San Francisco, when the Radical Caucas returned with another resolution, worded somewhat differently but indicating that “education at all levels in the occupied territories is being stifled by the occupation; Resolved that the MLA endorses teaching and scholarship about Palestinian culture, supports members who come under attack for pursuing such work, and expresses solidarity with Palestinian scholars of culture.
Unfortunately I was not able to attend the 2008 MLA and several of my colleagues were involved in a Jewish literature session when the Palestinian Resolution was debated. It didn’t help that outside, I learned, were people waving anti-Israel signs because of the Gaza incursion. Shockingly, the Delgate Assembly which had voted down the political, biased resolution last year voted for it this year. However, the MLA Executive Council must send Resolution 2008-1 to the total membership for a vote before December and allow MLA members to first offer comments after Oct 1 on the MLA website. I urge all who are members to offer comments and vote against the resolution..
If you read the following Resolution 2008-1, non-sequitors, and absence of evidence make it difficult to support: Whereas Palestinian literature and culture are legitimate subjects of study;
Whereas the conditions in the occupied territories have been critical in shaping modern Arabic literature generally;
Whereas those teaching and writing about the occupation and about the Middle East culture have regularly come under fire from anti-Palestinian groups on extra-academic grounds;
Whereas education at all levels in the occupied territories is being stifled by the occupation;
Resolved that the MLA endorses teaching and scholarship about Palestinian culture, supports members who come under attack for pursuing such work, and expresses solidarity with scholars of Palestinian culture.
Who wouldn’t suport Palestinian literature or culture or Israeli literature or culture? That is what the 2007 Resolution was trying to accomplish and this second RC resolution is an end run to try officially position the MLA against Israel. Please vote against 2008-1. Please e-mail me since several of us are working on an alternative resolution for next year and would like to communicate before then.
Professor Evelyn Avery
English Department Towson University
Towson, MD 21252
eavery@towson. edu
