Below is our motion to adopt the use of boycott, divestment, and other appropriate non-violent means in response to Israel’s human rights violations, breaches of international humanitarian law, and destruction of the education system in Gaza.
Preamble
This motion is brought forward in the interests of ensuring that the University honours its commitments, as outlined in the Pae Tata/ Strategic Plan to 2030, to make a “positive impact…in our society, grounded in and growing from our legislatively protected role as critic and conscience of society.” An explicit part of this Vision is the university’s commitment to “behaving ethically and with compassion”, within a nation that “is striving to move beyond its colonial past”. The University of Otago can be proud of its commitments to academic freedom, inclusivity, diversity and for its aspiration to be a Te Tiriti-led university.
But to be more than words, such commitments require action.
As of today, 2nd September 2024, fully eleven months into the Israeli government’s relentless and disproportionate military response in Gaza to the Hamas terrorist attacks of October 7th last year – attacks that killed 1,139 people, including 815 civilians – over 40,000 Palestinians have been killed. In addition, Israel has detained thousands of Palestinians during the war and stands accused of numerous cases of torture. The entire population is at risk of flu, Covid, pneumonia, bacterial dysentery, cholera, polio, measles and meningitis in the context of a decimated health system. There are also Israel’s ongoing attacks on Palestinian society and its education system: Over 9,000 school and university students, 397 teachers, 105 professors, and three university presidents. A study published in Lancet reports that the true death toll could reach more than 186,000 people.
Just as the University rightfully took action to divest from the fossil fuel industry, so now must it take a more active and robust role in confronting Israel’s continuing policy of occupation, apartheid style governance, and plausibly genocidal violations of international law with respect to Gaza and the occupied territories of the West Bank and East Jerusalem. In the context of this ongoing degradation of human life, these demands are all the more pressing and our collective failure to honour them all the more egregious. To hide behind a principle of “institutional neutrality” is an evasion of the University’s stated responsibilities, not their fulfillment, especially when the university takes no such neutral position regarding its laudable aspiration to become a Te Tiriti-led institution. Indeed, even the Kalven Report, from which this language of neutrality is largely derived, notes that in “the exceptional instance,” the “corporate activities of the university may appear so incompatible with paramount social values” as to override the presumption. Genocide – the crime of crimes – is surely the “exceptional instance”.
The University cannot embrace its political capacity to make positive change only when it suits, abandoning that capacity with appeals to “neutrality” and “student safety”. To hear “student safety” used as a justification for inaction is offensive both to the students peacefully protesting against the Israeli assault on Gaza and to the tens of thousands of Palestinians who have lost their lives and livelihoods, and been displaced and degraded with such impunity. Crucially, there is nothing in the demands set out below that makes any student less safe.
The motion calls on the University Council to demonstrate its role as critic and conscience of society and endorse and adopt the use of boycott, divestment, and other appropriate non-violent means to pressure Israel to comply with international law and respect Palestinian rights. By doing so, the University of Otago will join a rapidly growing global effort by other universities in New Zealand and worldwide to promote justice and human rights for the Palestinian people. This action aligns with both the International Court of Justice advisory opinion, which calls for the prevention of “trade and investment relations that assist in the maintenance of the illegal situation created by Israel in the Occupied Palestinian Territory”, and our commitment to ethical practices, social responsibility, and Te Tiriti-led values. By contrast, our failure to take such action is a dereliction of our duty.
Motion
We ask the University of Otago Council to:
- Suspend any academic or cultural collaborations with Israeli universities or other institutions that are involved in the development of military technologies or doctrines that contribute to Israel’s violations of Palestinian human rights and breaches of international humanitarian law, until such time as it conforms to international humanitarian law and commits to Palestinians’ collective rights to land and self-determination[1].
- Investigate and Publicly Disclose University ties to any financial investments, research collaborations, or contractual agreements with institutions or corporations that are complicit[2] in Israel’s violations of Palestinian human rights and breaches of international humanitarian law.
- Divest from corporations that are complicit in Israel’s violations of Palestinian human rights and breaches of international humanitarian law. End any existing contracts with these companies and pledge not to enter into new agreements with them. Ensure that university pensions are not investing in complicit institutions and corporations.
If you are University of Otago staff member and wish to sign this motion, please email us at otagostaff4palestine@gmail.com
[1] This boycott will follow the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI) guidelines. The 10 activities that violate the boycott are listed here Academic Boycott | BDS Movement. The PACBI guidelines do not call for a boycott of individual Israeli academics.
[2] Complicity in this instance refers to the provision of technology, equipment, or services that assists Israeli land expansion, justifies genocidal actions, or contributes to the military infrastructure used to oppress Palestinians.
