Tag: Israel

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Stop the Attack on Iran – No more War in the Middle East

UCU Left statement

We condemn the attack on Iran by the US and Israel. 

The US under Donald Trump is attacking country after country. Trump has unleashed ICE thugs on Americans. He will not bring democracy to Iran: he does not support democracy in the USA.

Bombing Iran will not support the movement for ‘Women, life, freedom.’ Trump is attacking women’s rights to healthcare, employment and equality in the USA and worldwide.

Opposing war does not mean support for the Iranian regime. The future of Iran must be decided by the Iranian people. They will not be liberated by bombs dropped from 30,000 feet. The dreadful US missile strike on a girl’s elementary school in southern Iran exposes the real consequences of Donald Trump’s war.

Bombing Iran does not make the Middle East safer. 

The excuse given by Trump for launching the attack on Iran was the failure of Iranian leaders to not agree to pursue a nuclear capacity. Whilst the threat of nuclear Armageddon is real, the main driver towards such a catastrophe is from the US, the only state to use nuclear weapons, and Israel, the only Middle East state that possesses nuclear weapons.

The Iranian state has shown it can retaliate against Israel and other US allies. 

The Islamic Republic will not fall because it has lost a leader. The government is strong, and the country is huge. Iran has over double the population of Iraq, and twice the landmass. 

Bombing Iran will not bring democracy closer in Iran or the wider Middle East. Every bomb dropped and every civilian who dies strengthens the targeted government. Every conscript killed becomes a martyr and strengthens nationalism.

UCU Left condemns these murderous and reckless acts. They are causing death and destruction in Iran and threaten wider war across the region. 

 As trade unionists in Britain, our first duty is to call for an immediate halt to this war. We condemn our government for supporting Trump’s war and for allowing Trump to use British military bases.

Donald Trump has said that American lives will be lost for his ‘noble’ cause. But as usual it will not be the children of the rich who suffer or die. Working class Americans will pay the ultimate price for Trump’s expansionism.

We call on all of our supporters to organise and build the protests against the war on Iran.

Suggested branch motion

This branch notes

  1. The attack by the US and Israel on Iran began on 27 February, while both sides were ostensibly in nuclear negotiations.
  2. Trump’s ‘America First’ doctrine explicitly prioritises US corporations’ interests above all else. Trump seeks to avoid ‘forever wars’ like Afghanistan (nearly 20 years) and Iraq (8 years, 8 months). So far this doctrine has translated into targeted strikes against leaders and military installations but not invading troops.
  3. The attack has been condemned by the UN Secretary General; Brazil, Turkey, Oman and Russia, as well as US lawmakers. But Keir Starmer has sent war planes to shoot down Iranian missiles, and offered British bases to the US, all the time approving US military actions while urging Iranian ‘restraint’.

This branch believes

  1. Bombing is not a route to democracy. The history of bombing campaigns is that they kill civilians and strengthen states’ hold over their people. 
  2. The first duty of trade unionists in the UK is to call for an immediate end to the war, and oppose the actions of our own government in enabling it. 

This branch resolves

  1. To call on members to oppose war on Iran and to join protests against it called by the Stop the War Coalition and CND. 
  2. To send messages of solidarity to Iranian trade unions, including the Iranian Teachers Trade Association (a member of Education International, to which UCU is affiliated).
  3. To call on UCU nationally to do likewise.
  4. To send a version of this motion to UCU Congress.* 

*Note re: the final resolves – “a version of” here is to deal with the 150 word limit.

See also

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UCL’s Academic Board finds the IHRA definition not fit for purpose, urges the College Council to retract its adoption

  • University College London’s Academic Board to recommend to the Council of the College that it should set aside the IHRA definition of antisemitism, and replace it with a more appropriate alternative.
  • Report finds the IHRA definition “not fit for purpose within a university setting and has no legal basis for enforcement.”
  • Findings raise serious questions about the implications of academic institutions and public bodies adopting IHRA definition. 
  • Report issues a scathing criticism of Secretary of State Gavin Williamson’s threats to withdraw funding from universities if they do not adopt the IHRA, describing this as putting their autonomy under threat. 

UCL’s Academic Board has overseen the most detailed and forensic study of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism yet, investigating its fitness for purpose following UCL’s adoption of it in 2019. 

The product of a year-long study by a Working Group established by the Academic Board, this major Report examines UCL’s decision in 2019 to adopt the IHRA definition. It has involved consultation with eminent lawyers including Philippe Sands and Sir Geoffrey Bindman, as well as academic experts on antisemitism such as Brain Klug, and representatives of UCL’s most relevant academic departments and of its Student’s Union. 

The ground-breaking Report found that the IHRA definition “is not fit for purpose within a university setting and has no legal basis for enforcement.” In considering alternative possibilities, given the inadequacy of the definition, the Academic Board decided that it should recommend to Council that the IHRA definition should be replaced through a process designed to identify a replacement definition. 

Furthermore, the Report also found that the IHRA definition is unhelpful in identifying actual cases of antisemitic harassment and is therefore a weak tool for effective university action. It observes that the definition “obfuscates rather than clarifies the meaning of antisemitism, and may in fact make it harder to identify and understand how antisemitism works.”

The Report finds that the IHRA definition risks conflating legitimate criticism of the State of Israel, or of Zionism, with antisemitism, thus threatening freedom of expression on campus. “By blurring these boundaries”, it states, “the IHRA working definition risks undermining academic freedom.”

With its measured and powerful analysis the Report delivers a devastating blow to Secretary of State for Education Gavin Williamson’s attempts to pressure universities into adopting the IHRA definition. 

His threat to withhold funding from Universities that do not adopt the definition, it says, demonstrates “how university autonomy is under threat.” It concludes by stating that “if universities are not permitted to use evidence, scholarship, research and logic to rebut Ministers’ political demands, then our autonomy and independence are seriously in peril.”

Ben Jamal, Director of Palestine Solidarity Campaign said:

“This study, the most systematic yet undertaken by a group of eminent academics, reinforces the concerns that have been expressed by a wide range of bodies since the UK government adopted the IHRA definition in 2016. The definition has been used to prevent both discussion of the facts of Israel’s oppression of the Palestinian people and calls for action to address that oppression. It thereby undermines freedom of expression at Universities and more widely. 

Gavin Williamson needs to stop pressuring universities to adopt. Moreover, all public bodies considering adoption need to address seriously the findings of this report.” 

Sir Geoffrey Bindman QC  said:

“Concerns about the coercive attempts to force public bodies to adopt the IHRA definition are clearly shared by lawyers and academics alike. The Government must cease its pressure on institutions to curtail debate and restrict freedom of expression.”