At a time when an inhumane catastrophe is taking place in Gaza, a catastrophe which has been called genocidal by an increasing number of human rights organisations and international legal institutions, Groot has set his sights not on the violence which devastates hundreds of thousands of people’s lives each day, but rather on those who are protesting against it. The ease with which pro-Palestinian protesters are labelled “rioters” says more about Groot’s own moral compass than it does about reality.
Protesters – including the authors of this piece – speak out because silence is not an option when an entire population is being systematically besieged, expelled and killed. Protesting is not rioting but rather a fundamental democratic right, a humble attempt to stand on the right side of history in the absence of a greater power of influence when institutions, politicians, and, at the time, UM were failing to.
Moral emptiness
Groot also accuses UM’s Human Rights Commission (which investigates whether partners, wherever they may be around the world, are involved in human rights violations or other international crimes) of being afraid and of moral emptiness. But moral emptiness is found precisely in denying the asymmetry of a state robbing an entire population of life and land by calling it a ‘war’.
The decision by Maastricht University to end the collaboration with the Hebrew University stemmed from the ethical awareness of students and staff, and from practising academic citizenship. Ultimately, this led to an institutionally founded choice to cut ties with an institution that actively contributes to the education and support of military personnel involved in serious violations of international law.
Systematic consideration
The decision by the Human Rights Commission is not a sum of individual opinions, but a systematic consideration of the structural position and actions of an organisation as a whole. The ability to work together with individual Israeli colleagues is not affected by this decision. Many of them understand that international and institutional pressure is necessary when internal dissent is suppressed, as is the case in Israel. Israeli critics deserve support, but that does not relinquish the institutions they work for from the responsibility for their structural role in a war machine.
The suggestion that UM yielded to activists is an attempt to portray well-founded decisions as fear. The real problem is not that universities eventually listen to staff and students who stand up for human tights, but that Groot paints this sincere solidarity as disorder and tyranny. This distracts from the true injustice in the world. Anyone truly seeking an open debate about democracy, ethics and humanity should set their sights not on protesters, but on the inhumane violence that necessitates their protest in the first place.
Carijn Beumer and Gonnie Klabbers