UC Berkeley suspends course labeled anti-Israel by critics

[shira]

‘Palestine: A Settler Colonial Analysis,’ which explored a ‘decolonial alternative’ to Israel, failed to meet academic standards, officials say

SAN FRANCISCO (J. Weekly via JTA) — The University of California, Berkeley, has suspended a student-led course, “Palestine: A Settler Colonial Analysis,” following an outcry from Jewish community leaders who called it biased, anti-Zionist and in violation of the university’s academic standards....

....The course syllabus said it would cover the history of Palestine from the 1880s to the present and “explore the connection between Zionism and settler colonialism.” Students were to be required to attend an event “relating to Palestine” during the semester and make a final presentation proposing a “decolonial alternative” to the region’s problems not restricted to the two-state solution.

Forty-three Jewish and educational organizations signed a letter by the Santa Cruz-based Amcha Initiative, a nonprofit that monitors anti-Semitism in higher education, addressed to UC Berkeley Chancellor Nicholas Dirks expressing deep concern about the course. “A review of the syllabus … reveals that the course’s objectives, reading materials and guest speakers are politically motivated, meet our government’s criteria for anti-Semitism and are intended to indoctrinate students to hate the Jewish State and take action to eliminate it,” the letter said.

The letter called the faculty sponsor, Hatem Bazian, “a well-known anti-Zionist activist who is also the chairman of American Muslims for Palestine.”

http://www.timesofisrael.com/uc-berkeley-suspends-course-labeled-anti-israel-by-critics/

[Little Tich]

1. Course description: Palestine: A Settler Colonial Analysis

Source: DeCal Program

Fall 2016
Ethnic Studies 98/198
1 Unit(s)

About the Course:

This 1-unit lecture and discussion-based course will examine key historical developments that have taken place in Palestine, from the 1880s to the present, through the lens of settler colonialism. First, by utilizing a comparative approach and engaging with existing scholarship, we will gain a broad understanding of settler colonialism. Second, we will explore the connection between Zionism and settler colonialism, and the ways in which it has manifested, and continues to manifest, in Palestine. Lastly, drawing upon literature on decolonization, we will explore the possibilities of a decolonized Palestine, one in which justice is realized for all its peoples and equality is not only espoused, but practiced.

Upon completion of this course, students will have:

Been introduced to Palestine’s history from the 1880s to the present
Acquired a basic understanding of settler colonialism as a distinct colonial formation, as it has been implemented in various settings, and as it relates to Palestine
Developed a set of vocabularies specific to the colonial and settler colonial analytics
Gained the analytical skills necessary to ground research on Palestine and its history
Learned to express oneself using this history and these concepts and vocabularies
Researched, formulated, and presented decolonial alternatives to the current situation in Palestine/Israel
This course is open to all students and no prior knowledge is necessary.

Read more: http://www.decal.org/courses/4237

---

Class Schedule:
Source: DeCal Program
(Snip)

Subject to change as class needs arise
Week 1 |
Course Introduction: Syllabus, Community Agreement, Expectations
Week 2 |
Understanding Settler Colonialism: Distinct, Structural, Eliminatory
• Readings:
o Patrick Wolfe, Settler Colonialism and the Elimination of the Native
o Selections from Lorenzo Veracini, Settler Colonialism: A Theoretical Overview
Week 3 |
Contextualizing Zionism: Anti-Semitism, Nationalism, Imperialism, and Colonialism in the Late
19th and Early 20th Century
• Guest Lecture: Keith Feldman
• Readings:
o TBA by guest lecturer
Week 4 |
Zionism Manifest: Settling Palestine, 1882-1947
• Readings:
o Patrick Wolfe, Purchase by Other Means
o Selections from Nur Masalha, Expulsion of the Palestinians: The Concept of
“Transfer” in Zionist Political Thought, 1882-1948
Week 5 |
The Nakba: Indigenous Dispossession, Settler Independence
• Readings:
o Selections from Ilan Pappe, The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine
o Selections from Nur Masalha, The Palestinian Nakba: Decolonising History, Narrating
the Subaltern, Reclaiming Memory
• Assignment Due:
o Village Portfolio
Week 6 |
The Character of the Zionist Settler Colonial State, 1948 - 1966
• Readings:
o Fayez Sayegh, Zionist Colonialism in Palestine
• Assignment Due:
o Discriminatory Laws
Week 7 |
The Naksa: Settler Colonial Occupation, 1967-1987
• Assignment Due:
o Documentary Reflection
Week 8 |
Anti-Colonial Resistance and Intifadat Al-Hijar, or the “Uprising of Stones:” Political, Social,
Economic, and Transnational Resistance, 1960s – 1993
• Guest Lecture: Dr. Hatem Bazian
• Readings:
o TBA by guest lecturer
Week 9 |
The Oslo Accords: Entrenching Colonialism, Outsourcing Occupation, 1993 - 2000
• Readings:
o Edward Said, The Morning After
o Leila Farsakh, The Political Economy of Israeli Occupation: What is Colonial about
It?
Week 10 |
Intifadat Al-Aqsa, or ”Al-Aqsa Uprising,” and the Matrix of Control, 2000 - 2006
• Readings:
o Selections from Eyal Weizman, Hollow Land: Israel’s Architecture of Occupation
o Selections from Saree Makdisi, Palestine Inside Out
Week 11 |
The Neoliberal Turn, 2007 – Present
• Readings:
o David Rose, The Gaza Bombshell
o Adam Hanieh, Chapter 5, Class and State in the West Bank: Neoliberalism Under
Occupation in Lineages of Revolt
• Assignment Due:
o Final Presentation Proposal
Week 12 |
Reservation Gaza: Siege, Calorie Counting, and “Humanitarian Warfare,” 2007 – Present
• Readings:
o Selections from Report of the United Nations Fact-Finding Mission on the Gaza
Conflict, also known as the Goldstone Report (2009)
o Selections from Breaking the Silence, This is How We Fought in Gaza: Soldiers׳
testimonies and photographs from Operation “Protective Edge˝ (2014)
Week 13 |
Decolonial Horizons
• FINAL PRESENTATIONS
Week 14 |
Decolonial Horizons
• FINAL PRESENTATIONS

Read more: http://www.decal.org/file/4465

[aranthus]

3. The course assumes that Jews have no right to a state in Israel.

That's the only way that creating a Jewish state in Israel could ever be considered "settler colonialism." You can't be a settler colonialist if you are indigenous to the land, can you? That fundamental assumption of the course is understood by almost all affective Jews to be antisemitic. It is understood by most decent thinking people to be antisemitic. Everyone on this board knows that. Everyone on this board knows that you know that. The fact that you have a peculiar (that is unique to yourself) understanding of what antisemitism is (which conveniently excludes antisemitism such as this course) doesn't change that. It merely establishes that your world view is morally and intellectually bankrupt.

[Little Tich]

4. I think that promoting equal rights for Jews and Palestinians isn't anti-Semitism.

So, sorry to say, we'll just have to disagree on that one.

[aranthus]

9. The standard crutch.

When you have no argument, claim that the other side isn't interested in equal rights. It won't fly. It's not true. What is true is that you have a peculiar and convenient misunderstanding of what rights are involved here, and who is denying equal rights.

[Little Tich]

10. I'm sorry - I just don't think ethnic privilege is a right.

I don't accept the notion that equal rights for one group should be able to curtail the rights of others.

[Little Tich]

2. I'm not sure if I understand how the course meets anyone's criteria for anti-Semitism,

but it seems to be completely one-sided and promoting bias, which is not suitable for a university level course.

[shira]

5. Week 6 | The Character of the Zionist Settler Colonial State, 1948 - 1966

AKA Jews are colonial invaders & Israel has no business existing.

You just agreed with Amos Oz that denying Israel's existence is antisemitic.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1134132621

This course is the same thing.
Did you just forget your comment on that thread or was that someone else pretending to be Little Tich?

[Little Tich]

6. Weak sauce.

Arguing that Israel has done some bad things in the past isn't the same as calling for the destruction of Israel.

[shira]

7. That week 6 Agenda proves....

Last edited Wed Sep 14, 2016, 09:54 AM - Edit history (1)

....that the people behind this course do not believe Israel has any right to exist, being a colonial settler program from 1948-1966.

BEFORE the 6 day war and 1967 occupation.

[Little Tich]

8. Ah. The penny dropped.

I understand your point and will return to it later. In the meantime, here's a link to that week's reading "Zionist Colonialism in Palestine (1965), by Fayez Sayegh", which I haven't read yet.

Zionist Colonialism in Palestine (1965), by Fayez Sayegh, Settler Colonial Studies
Source: Taylor & Francis online
http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/2201473X.2012.10648833

[Little Tich]

11. The article by Fayez Sayegh reads like political pamphlet.

While I think it's useless for teaching the history of Israel and Zionism, I didn't find any overt instances of anti-Semitism. I suppose it's possible to read between the lines, but I can't say that the article was intended to be read that way. About the colonization part - framing the issue of Jewish immigration into the state of Israel as a colonial venture isn't necessarily racist.

That being said, there are some troubling passages that may have crossed the line. Look at "III. The Character of the Zionist Settler-State" on p214-215, for example.

[shira]

12. Sayegh is yet another nasty racist who wants Israel to cease to exist...

The reason you don't see antisemitism is because you don't want to see it.

On the one hand, you acknowledge that wanting Israel gone & destroyed is antisemitic. OTOH, if it were up to you in 1948 it would've never come into being. On this, you agree with Sayegh. You're both against Israel existing from the start. If you had your way now, Israel wouldn't exist either. It would become just another failed Arab majority state. You and Sayegh practically agree on everything & that's why you cannot acknowledge his antisemitism.