London Region UCU is hosting an online meeting for UCU members to plan and organise a grassroots campaign to challenge the adoption and implementation of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) ‘Working Definition of Antisemitism’ in HE and FE.
Thursday May 6, 6pm
Speakers include:
- Saladin Meckled-Garcia, Associate Professor in Human Rights and Political Theory, UCL, and Vice-President, UCL UCU
- Goldie Osuri, Associate Professor in Political Sociology, University of Warwick
- Jonathan Rosenhead, British Committee for the Universities of Palestine (BRICUP)
- David Johnson, Professor of Literature, The Open University
- Hannah Jones, Warwick UCU
- Anne Alexander, Cambridge UCU and co-editor, Middle East Solidarity magazine
The meeting was open to all UCU members and was co-hosted by Yorkshire and Humberside Region UCU.
The adoption by universities of the IHRA Working Definition is opposed by numerous academics, public figures and campaigners (including its author, Kenneth Stern), first and foremost because it is a clear threat to academic freedom and freedom of expression. It infamously says that anti-Zionist acts ‘may be’ antisemitic, which (while true) is used to misrepresent entirely legitimate political views and scholarly argument as racial harassment and discrimination.
Unlike the Equality Act, however, it focuses on the beliefs of the accused, it is effectively unusable as a ‘definition’ to decide a particular case, and has no legal basis. However in the hands of managers wishing to bow to student complainants, it risks becoming a charter for the victimisation of pro-Palestinian activists, left wing academics and trade unionists.
Johnson’s Government is escalating pressure on universities to adopt it, with Gavin Williamson threatening to cut funding to institutions which fail to comply. The threat is not just to ‘adopt’ it ceremoniously, but to ‘implement’ it by incorporating it into disciplinary and complaints procedures. University staff are already being targeted for pro-Palestine writing and teaching.
Fortunately this attack is being resisted. At UCL, a year-long process of debate led to a report by a Working Group on Racism and Prejudice set up by the Academic Board, which recently culminated in a vote of the Board for the retraction and replacement of the definition (while a search for a replacement continues the UCL Provost has accepted that the IHRA working definition is expressly not to be cited in any procedure). The report concluded that the IHRA ‘Working Definition’ provided no additional protection for Jewish students and staff from antisemitism than the Equality Act, but seriously damaged academic freedom by creating a ‘chilling effect’ on teaching, research and debate.
UCU nationally has long had a policy of opposition to the IHRA Working Definition in its various forms, including Congress resolutions passed in 2017 and 2019. Congress 2021 will again debate the issue as a result of a motion proposed by London Region.
This meeting will be an opportunity for branch reps, activists and members concerned by the implications of the IHRA Working Definition to hear about the lessons of the campaign at UCL, exchange information with colleagues about the impact on teaching and research in other institutions, and discuss how this attack may be resisted.
UCU London Region 