Leftlist is a private mailing list for NUJ members. Its members are not happy about the recent BBC Panorama programme on the flotilla to Gaza.

So what do members a Trade Union dedicated to journalistic freedom and independence do when they see piece of journalism they don’t like?

Well, the NUJ’s Vice President Donnacha Delong called for NUJ members to protest outside the BBC, and for BBC NUJ Chapels (ie branches) to put out ‘a statement’, presumably condemning one of their own members for writing something they disapprove of.

And another senior NUJ activist wants the NUJ to force the BBC to commission another Panorama that is more politically acceptable to them.

It’s a real shame – but no a surprise – that senior activists in a journalists’ union are prepared to throw out their founding principles in favour of attacking Israel.

First email –

From: donnacha.delong@tiscali.co.uk

To: leftlist@lists.riseup.net

Date: Wed, 18 Aug 2010 00:26:54 +0100

Subject: [leftlist] Demonstration called at the BBC

Ken O’Keefe and (one of) the Muslim Defence League(s) have called a demo on Sunday at BBC Television Centre.

http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/event.php?eid=151713191507367&index=1

Unfortunately, I won’t be able to make it, but it would be really good to have NUJ people. A statement from some of the BBC Chapels wouldn’t go amiss, particularly with the prospect of a strike at the BBC. The last thing we need is people attacking the BBC in its entirety as a result of this, and I’ve seen a few examples of that already on Facebook.

D.

—-

The National Union of Journalists runs a discussion list for people working in new media, join the debates at:

http://mailman.journonet.co.uk/mailman/listinfo/newmedia

second email

From: Larry Herman <larry@larryherman.net>

Sender: leftlist-owner@lists.riseup.net

Date: Tue, 17 Aug 2010 22:27:23 +0100

To: Tim Gopsill<timgo@inweb.co.uk>

Cc: ‘Vicki Morris’<vickimorris@btinternet.com>; <leftlist@lists.riseup.net>

Subject: Re: [leftlist] Israeli propaganda machine

On 17 Aug 2010, at 15:25, Tim Gopsill wrote:

…  And the issue is not religion or ideology but western militarism and imperialism, …

Hello,

Our legitimate reaction to the BBC Panorama pro Zionist programme has thrown up profound questions and has, once again, labeled those of us who fight for self determination of all the world’s peoples, including for those who live in the UK, closed – minded bigots and specifically, in this case, Jew haters. Those who sneer and seek to denigrate our views are wrong, but we don’t fear their slander because it shows our strength. Our responsibility is to determine how we better organise to take on the enemies of humanity and their apologists who live their lives giving the politics of reaction credibility.

There are many explanations why Zionism was organised in the 19th Century and why it was able to establish its state after the Second World War, why this State was violently inserted into Palestine and why Israel has carried on a sixty-year war to defend its interests. Israel is the form that imperialism takes in the Middle East. The Apartheid governments in South Africa were another, and equally unique, form of imperialism. The support of all American big capitalists, their governments and military, since the mid 1950’s (and before) for the Zionist state is because it defends Imperialism and Israel is its imperialist  beachhead in that part of the world.

American imperialisms has always fought wars to extend its interests, whether in The philippines in 1898, in the First and Second World Wars and now throughout Western Asia and North Africa ( of course, on other continents, too. The biggest military base outside of the United States is in Honduras!). It’s not the very active and well funded lobbyists in the United States that cause the American Government’s defence of the Zionist State; to argue this is playing into the hands of anti-semitism. The nefarious activity of pro Zionist organisations and individuals throughout the world exists because of the historic weakness of imperialism. That’s why they are compelled to do what they do.

I enthusiastically acknowledge that anti – Zionism occupies our political activity today because of several decades of Palestinian resistance. But, it’s not what we are against that defines people, but it’s what we are in favour of. If there were ever a crises of leadership it is there, in Palestine, for all progressives to see. As activists, we are in harmony with the Palestinian people in their struggle for self – determination. We are transformed into anti imperialist fighters through building this solidarity. We, as NUJ activists, have struggled to be heard in the past and will continue to organise against bigotry.  Perhaps, beginning with a demand, supported by a Union – wide campaign, that the BBC fund a ‘Panorama Two” putting the different view. The Leftlist should convene an immediate meeting, with an agenda, open to all who are opposed to the the content of the Panorama film, to initiate this demand within the Union.

Yours,

Larry

This is a guest-post by Gavin Gross

I was at Elton John’s sold-out concert last night at Ramat Gan stadium, and thought this greeting he delivered was spot-on and deserves wide distribution.

Elton told the crowd that he was happy to be back in Israel (he played here in 1993), and in a reference to anti-Israel boycotters who called on him to cancel the show, proudly proclaimed “ain’t nobody gonna stop us from coming here.” He said that as a musician his job was to spread love and peace, and that “we don’t cherry-pick our conscience,” a line for which he received extended applause.

I took this to be a sharp dig at the hypocrisy and sanctimoniousness of figures in the West who focus their ire almost exclusively on Israel, and particularly at his fellow musicians who have recently cancelled their shows here, such as Elvis Costello, the Pixies, Gil Scott-Heron and others.

How many musicians have cancelled their concerts in America because of the thousands of civilians the U.S. military has killed in Iraq and Afghanistan and in drone attacks in Pakistan?

This is a guest-post from Stop the Boycott

• UCU Congress begins this weekend, running from 30th May – 1st June, in Manchester
• This year, UCU Congress will debate three motions that relate to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict:

• The first of these, SFC14, encourages the Union to build links with Palestinian academics and unions

• The second motion, SFC15, is called “Palestinian Solidarity, BDS, and Histadrut”
• It reaffirms UCU’s support for the Boycott Divestment and Sanctions campaign against Israel “within legal constraints”
• It forces UCU to establish and fund a “research centre into complicity with Israeli breaches”, a BDS website, and an annual pro-boycott conference
• It demands UCU severs all ties with the Histadrut, the Israeli TUC
• An amendment to this motion would refer the decision on Histadrut to a special committee

• The third motion, SFC16 “Ariel and West Bank Colonisation”, formally starts the procedure to institute an academic boycott against Ariel College

• Additionally, a motion SFC17, called “UCU invitation to Bongani Masuku of South Africa”, comes from Oxford University’s UCU branch
• It was submitted in response to UCU’s invitation of Bongani Masuku to a UCU boycott conference this winter
• It dissociates UCU from his views and actions, and formally censures those who invited Masuku to the conference

• Stop the Boycott’s 2007 polling showed that the Union’s membership is largely moderate and neutral on the Middle East
• However, UCU Congress is always unrepresentatively hostile to Israel and has a record of supporting discriminatory policies

• If the motion “Palestinian Solidarity, BDS, and Histadrut” passes, UCU will be converting itself from a Trade Union into am organisation focused on promoting division and discrimination
• Sally Hunt holds the international portfolio on the Trades Union Congress’ General Council
• She cannot hold this position, which requires her to work closely with the Histadrut, while her Union is undermining these ties

Donate Here to support Stop the Boycott.

Today, on the 10th of May 2010, Israel has become a member of the Organisation of Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). Israel’s admittance to an establishment solely accepting constituents with high-income economies and high Human Development Index (HDI) demonstrates its accession to the family of developed countries. The OECD now counts 34 members, including the G8 members (minus Russia) and most European countries.

In its efforts to become a member of the OECD, Israel has reformed its economy in areas involving combating corruption or protecting intellectual property rights for example. The country will benefit from the transformative effects of OECD membership and the OECD will take advantage of Israel’s advanced scientific and technological policies.

The decision to accept Israel as a permanent member was unanimous, although anti-Israeli groups tried to prevent Israel’s entry to the organisation. These failed attempts are proof of Israel’s firm stand in the international community. They demonstrate that the Jewish state is appreciated for its achievements, despite violent criticism of its political decisions and security policy. Israel is succesfully integrating into more and more international forums, thus countering anti-Zionist efforts to undermine Israel in the international arena.

This piece by Jak Codd is cross-posted from Engage

On March 31st UNISON, one of the UK’s largest trade unions, announced their support for the Palestine Solidarity Campaign’s effort to end the sale of Israeli settlement produce in Britain. On the face of it this is hardly a controversial position – the settlements established from 1967 onwards are widely considered illegal and a barrier to the peace process.

However, a closer look at the ideology and discourse of the Palestinian Solidarity Campaign show that all is not as it seems. The PSC have an interesting article on their website entitled 62 Years of Nakba in which they state the following:

The United Nations had proposed a partition plan giving 55% of ancient Palestine for a Jewish state but the Zionists – who had targeted the whole of Palestine for the creation of a Jewish State long before the Nazi atrocities – took 78% of the land by terrorist tactics and military force.

The clear implication here is that it is not the land taken in the 1967 war by Israel that is occupied, but rather much of the land that Israel controlled after the 1948 War of Independence. Under this thinking, the cities such as Ashdod, Beersheva and Jaffa are considered occupied Palestinian land. Does the PSC consider produce from these areas as ‘settlement goods’ that should be boycotted?

The PSC’s ‘Settlements – The Fact’ briefing sheet again reiterates this position :

In 1947, the UN partitioned Palestine (whose population was 70% Palestinian Arab) and decreed that 55% of the land would be used to create Israel. In 1948, Zionist forces seized more land, razing about 500 Palestinian villages to the ground and driving 750,000 Palestinians abroad as refugees. More than 13,000 Palestinians were killed.

The PSC is deliberately blurring the line between the lands occupied in 1967, and the State of Israel as established in 1948. The TUC, UNISON, and other trade unions that sign up to the PSC campaign to boycott settlement goods should clearly distance themselves from any attempt to conflate the two. Failure to do so could result in a full scale boycott of Israeli goods, which would be a barrier to peace and significantly damage Israeli and Palestinian trade unionists and workers on the ground. Opposition to Israeli settlements in the West Bank should be accompanied by solidarity with grassroots activists in the Histadrut and the Palestinian General Federation of Trade Unions. It is the workers on the ground that want to see a just and long lasting peace for Israel and Palestinian – and it is groups like the PSC that seek to undermine them at every turn.