Philosophy Professor David-Hillel Ruben reisgns from UCU

June 20, 2011 — David Hirsh

Dear Sally Hunt,

As a life long socialist and a member of the AUT/UCU for almost 42 years, I could not have imagined that anything could have made me resign from the union. I have grown accustomed to the UCU’s annual adoption of illegal Israel boycott motions. But my imagination was obviously limited: the official UCU rejection of the European Union Monitoring Centre on Racism and Xenophobia (EUMC) working definition of anti-Semitism has accomplished just that. It has brought about my resignation from the union.

One part of that working definition rejected by the union stands out: it is anti-Semitic to ‘deny the right of the Jewish people to self-determination’, within some borders, unspecified as what they might be. It is hard for me to comprehend how anyone could consider this relatively anodyne claim as unacceptable, let alone reject it as a current form of anti-Semitism, which it most certainly is.

I have no doubt that there remain some individual Jewish members of the UCU. Many publicly identify as Jews only for the purpose of opposing Israel ‘as Jews’ and at no other times. But I can no longer allow my dues to support a union that is institutionally racist and that has demonstrated its anti-Semitism so repeatedly and unashamedly. I am therefore resigning my membership of the union with immediate effect.

David-Hillel Ruben, Professor of Philosophy, Birkbeck, University of London.

Thanks to Engage