It's bloody nonsense, if you ask me. If the
West had boycotted Polish universities during the Cold War, we
would probably still be ruled by Communists. Let's leave politics to
political activists. Why should we punish Israeli scholars and students for
whatever their government is doing? Roger Lass once told me how a campaign was
started to remove him from the editorial board of a linguistic journal when he
decided to move to South Africa (to work at a non-racial university, though
still during Apartheid); the editor fortunately -- and wisely -- ignored
the pressure. Insulate a regime from external influences, and you'll only delay
its natural death.
Piotr
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Wednesday, August 28, 2002 2:59 PM
Subject: Re: [tied] Indo-European Origins: The Anthropological
Evidence
> My own opinion is that politics and science are
different domains and should be
> kept apart.
In its extreme, this
is a very strong statement. What do cybalisters for
instance think of the
proposed academic boycott of Israel (initiated by
linguists (?)), that of
South Africa some time ago?