Support UJ Petition urging severance of ties with Ben Gurion University!
Dear academics, writers and artists,
Dear academics, writers and artists,
PACBI urges you to consider supporting the academic petition at www.ujpetition.com which was initiated late last year by South African academics and students calling on the University of Johannesburg (UJ) to sever its links with Ben Gurion University (BGU), due to the latter‘s active support and collaboration with the Israeli military and occupation. The South African authors of the petition have now asked for international support.
The Palestinian academy stands united today in support of the boycott of Israel. This UJ Petition is strongly supported by PACBI as well as the Palestinian Federation of Unions of University Professors and Employees (PFUUPE).
To date over 300 prominent South African academics have signed the Petition including some of the country‘s leading voices: Professors Neville Alexander, Kader Asmal, Alan Boesak, Breyten Breytenbach, John Dugard, Antjie Krog and Wilhelm Verwoerd. The campaign has received the full support and backing from Vice-Chancellors of three SA universities: Professors Barney Pityana (University of South Africa), Derrick Swartz (Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University) and Saleem Badat (Rhodes University). Furthermore, Nobel Laureate, Archbishop Desmond Tutu wrote this open letter to UJ: www.ujpetition.com/2010/
On the 23rd of March 2011, UJ‘s Senate will meet to finalize this matter. The UJ Petition has become an important statement on the issue - and in the run up to the final decision, the voice of international academics will assist enormously. International academics can lend their support by sending their name, title, designation and institutional affiliation to ujpetition@gmail.com. As members of the international academic community, their names will be added in a "support" category next to the list of SA signatories.
The standard disclaimer, "Institutional names are for identification purposes only," will of course be added.
PACBI