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The Tufts Daily
News
Monday, April 2, 2012
Butler discusses Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions campaign Butler
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norms of alliance and refusing to normalize relations based on exploitation and colonial subjugation,” Butler said. According to Butler, the BDS movement is concerned not only with bringing about the end of the alleged occupation but also with addressing the
rights of Palestinians and the return of Palestinian refugees. She said that the dualistic language that characterizes much of Palestinian-Israeli discourse serves only to undermine the issue. “I want to suggest that we are not talking about a soccer game. It strikes me that that language really misses the entire point. The point is to be for
justice and you could be any nationality and still be in the struggle for justice,” she said. “One is rather asking for a new constellation for political life in which colonization has come to an end.” SJP member Ann Yacoubian, a sophomore, said Butler’s focus on human rights and justice, rather than on the theme of
gaelx via flickr creative commons
Judith Butler, a philosopher and professor at the University of California Berkeley, discussed the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions campaign.
conflict, was especially illuminating. “One thing she said that I thought was very important was that we need to stop thinking of ourselves as proPalestine and pro-Israel. Instead, we’re pro-justice,” Yacoubian said. “It fundamentally comes to human rights and inequality.” Butler also discussed the State of Israel’s Law of Return vis-à-vis the right to return of Palestinian refugees, who were, according to her, forced from the land following Israeli occupation and currently face exclusionary and discriminatory policies. “Israel’s own Law of Return works in relation to its refusal to grant the Palestinian right of return,” she said. “The Law of Return establishes the State of Israel as the sanctuary of all Jews who conform within the contemporary rabbinical definition of what it means to be a Jew.” Butler argued that the Israeli Law of Return should be suspended until Palestinian refugees’ rights are no longer subordinated to the retention of an Israeli demographic majority. “It is clearly necessary to impose an indefinite moratorium on the Law of Return,” she said. “Under the conditions in which the Law of Return is instrumentalized as purely demographic for the state of Israel, it is discriminatory and anti-democratic. Until the Law of Return is combined with the right of return, there should be no Law of Return.” Butler criticized the identification of Zionism as equivalent to Judaism and argued that the State of Israel should not be regarded as the unilateral arbiter of a monolithic Jewish identity. “We have to separate Jewishness from Zionism in my view and we have to produce new modes of social democratic struggle that can be part of a counter-Israeli Jewishness,” she said. “The State of Israel does not get to decide who is Jewish and who is not, and it cannot make the claim that it represents the Jewish people, and it’s very worrisome how many people accept that.” SJP member Alexa Stevens, a junior, felt that Butler’s lecture illuminated the student group’s position as an entity that supports the widely misunderstood BDS movement. “In terms of the discourse at Tufts, I think it helped to clarify things. I think it helped to dispel certain myths and clarify where we stand as a group that advocates BDS,” Stevens said.
Johnson plans to target young alumni for fundraising JOHNSON
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with Johnson’s appointment. “Of course, I am biased after having worked with Eric for many years, and admiring his extraordinary skills as a fundraiser and his style as a leader,” Lee told the Daily. “So, I believe the president made a very wise decision.” Since he started work at Tufts 24 years ago, Johnson has filled a variety of positions coordinating alumni and philanthropic relations in specific areas of the university. In his new role, Johnson will continue to use these skills but will apply them across Tufts’ campuses. “I still really enjoy building connections with alumnae and friends of the university,” Johnson said. “It’s why I got into this industry, but now I also like working with the leadership team, both in our division and the university.” Last June, Lee finished a fundraising effort, Beyond Boundaries: The Campaign for Tufts, which accumulated its goal of $1.2 billion for the university. In the time between this campaign and the next, Johnson said he hopes to increase support from young alumnae as well as garner more volunteers in his division. “We want to expand alumnae relations programs so that we have more people involved in the programs around the country and keep them involved for the long term,” Johnson said. “We’re not going to wait for a
andrew schneer / the Tufts daily
Eric Johnson yesterday assumed his new role yesterday as vice president for university advancement. campaign to focus on some key priorities financially for all schools.” During his month as vice president for university advancement ad interim, Johnson traveled the country with
Monaco to meet with alumni and completed various other tasks. Over this period of time, Monaco evaluated Johnson for the permanent position, Johnson said. “He’s modest about his achieve-
ments, but he is quietly confident and instills confidence in others,” Monaco said. “He and Brian Lee are very much alike. Both are consummate professionals and caring human beings.”