An agreement between the University of Johannesburg and the Ben Gurion University of the Negev to collaborate on biotechnology and water purification projects was announced last year; several Johannesburg faculty members had protested the collaboration. The university appointed a committee to report on the possibility of a boycott and get back to the Senate. The report will be heard tomorrow, after which a vote is expected to be taken.
BGU stated that "The joint research project is designed to solve real problems of water contamination in a reservoir near Johannesburg and as such is for the direct benefit of the residents of the region. BGU sees this joint project as an opportunity to make its well-reputed expertise in water research available to improve the welfare of the South African people."
How naive BGU is. They fail to hear what Desmond Tutu and the South African government is saying: You are an apartheid institution. The irony of it is that BGU is the most fervently anti-Zionist university in Israel, home to a self-hating clique of treacherous pro-Palestinian faculty. My daughter studies there and it is full of Beduin underachievers (who enjoy absolute priority in everything) and Palestinian studies programs. Hardly a Jewish institution of higher learning. They will react to their South African collegues's rejection as the sick Jews they are, they will understand that they have been invited to hate and negate themselves even more fanatically, so they may gain the approval and love of Bishop Desmond Tutu and his ugly kin. If BGU had backbone and some self respect it should say: We imagined that we were friends. No, you cannot boycott us, we are gone. Take care to boil the water.
PS: U.K.-based "Doctors Without Borders" reported today that an alarming number of new cholera cases have been reported in Africa. While cholera is endemic to the region, far more cases than usual have been reported. Nigeria experienced its worst cholera outbreak this month when 800 died. That outbreak then spread to neighboring Cameroon, Chad and Niger, where more than 300 people died. Cholera is a waterborne bacterial infection spread through contaminated water. It causes severe diarrhea and vomiting that can lead to dehydration and death within hours.
PSs: The Johannesburg University senate decided NOT to boycott BGU. It demanded that Palestinian Universities should be involved in the cooperation. Is the senate unaware that BGU's wet dream is to work with Palestinians? That they are trying for years? Anyway, Tutu was defeated, which is encouraging.
12 comments:
I am glad at least someone has woken up.
Anon.
Oops ... too late.
The University of Johannesburg (UJ) senate on Wednesday voted not to continue its link with Israel’s Ben Gurion University (BGU), unless certain conditions are met.
“The conditions are that the memorandum of understanding governing the relationship between the two institutions be amended to include Palestinian universities chosen with the direct involvement of UJ,” the university said in a statement.
“Additionally, UJ will not engage in any activities with BGU that have direct or indirect military implications, this to be monitored by UJ’s senate academic freedom committee.” [There's an Orwellian name for you...]
If I were BGU, I would add condition 3 : go screw yourself. What, they are too good to accept free stuff from the Jews? Let them switch their affiliation and see how much the Palestinians are willing and able to help them.
K
In the bad old days, this collaboration would have been a source of pride on both sides, and the actual water problem would have been solved. Lots of students on both sides would have been educated, books would have been written, enduring and productive research collaborations established, nourished and cherished; and ordinary citizens massively benefited.
Now we have posturing and guilt trips masquerading as the academe.
And the problem will not be solved, at least not rapidly. And ordinary people will suffer.
But who, in this Brave New World, gives a rat's ass about them anyway.
Anon.
Why is a university needed to solve a problem of pollution of a reservoir?
This is a political problem, not a technical one, if any Israeli resources were appropriate for solving this problem, I would propose the IDF.
Probably J could tell after a week why the reservoir is contaminated.
Maintaining water and sewer services in Africa is an interesting problem. Sustainable solutions probably are those without moving parts, other than human-powered devices at the point of service. The Roman Empire and other ancient empires might be a better model than any modern country.
Anonymous, You are underrating the Romans. They were thousands of years ahead of any African country. The Romans designed and built aqueducts conveying good quality water for 50 km to supply Rome. They had pressure pipes. The had hot water supply systems. The built enormous underground sewage systems (the Cloaca Maxima under the Forum - still in operation). Romans were tremendously well organized and built lasting infrastructure.
No sub-Saharan society ever had a written language until modern times when they came into contact w/ the West or w/ Arabs. Without a written language it is impossible to develop advanced technologies such as aquaducts - there's a limit to what can be passed on by oral history.
The Roman aquaducts were built to amazing tolerances - one of them descends only 50m in 17km (such a slight pitch ( 3mm or the thickness of 2 US pennies/meter) would appear to be essentially level to the naked eye) and yet it flowed perfectly purely by gravity.
K
Not to forget that the colonial governments built good, appropriate and enduring infrastructure in Africa.
Anon.
J - I think you're putting too optimistic a spin on this. I assume what will happen is that the Palestinians will refuse to work with the dirty Jews and therefore under the terms announced the cooperation with BGU will have to end.
K
Ben Gurion Univesity, as all the others in Israel, are working very hard to establish relations with Egyptian, Jordanian, Palestinian, etc. academic institutions. Occasionally some known figure comes to participate in some seminar here and then he or she is boycotted back home. There is almost no public cooperation. The demand of Senate of Johannesburg U is probably hypocritical. They cannot be so blind to what is happening. BTW, accusing Western donor countries of all kind of evils has become the norm in Africa. And the West continues to feed them and feel even more guilty.
But where is John Galt?
Anon.
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