Saturday, October 18, 2014

Support BDS? Yes! Condemn ISIS? Nope!

Support BDS? Yes! Condemn ISIS? Nope!:
The National Union of Students (NUS) in the United Kingdom has decided not to condemn the radical Islamist group ISIS for fear that it would be dubbed “Islamophobic.”
However, in August of this year, the NUS voted to support the BDS movement. That’s the “Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions” movement … of Israel.
Students put forward a motion at the body’s National Executive Council meeting calling for the condemnation of terrorist atrocities and support for the Iraqi people.
But the call was defeated after a rebellion led by Black Students Officer Malia Bouattia, who said the motion was merely a ‘justification for war’.
[A student responded,] ‘If the vast majority of Muslim students in the UK are in fact repeatedly standing up and telling you that they don’t like ISIS, that these terrorists don’t represent their faith, that they don’t want to be associated with them in any way – then how exactly is not condemning ISIS helping to fight Islamophobia?’
But … Malia Bouattia led a team who either abstained or voted against the proposal, leading to the motion’s defeat.
She said: ‘We recognise that condemnation of ISIS appears to have become a justification for war and blatant Islamaphobia.
‘This rhetoric exacerbates the issue at hand and in essence is a further attack on those we aim to defend.
‘The NUS Black Students’ Campaign stands in support of Black communities across the globe and uncompromisingly against imperialism and Western interference which history shows all too often leads to the suffering of Black people.

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