tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4463400498028740590.post2085629328832460887..comments2023-11-03T15:26:32.061+00:00Comments on Grinning in your paradise: Clare College and the Palestine QuestionEddMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11143058782179022200noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4463400498028740590.post-19063675302671682202010-03-30T13:00:12.303+01:002010-03-30T13:00:12.303+01:00Absolutely none of your tuition money goes towards...Absolutely none of your tuition money goes towards 'Jetting the Choir around the world'; while this may be the case in some colleges in the university, Clare choir receives absolutely no money from the college and funds its own tours through CD recordings and concerts throughout the year. If anything, the choir works very hard as the 'figurehead' of the College, for no monetary reward. The musical reputation of the college is a large attraction point for many, both choral scholars and more generally artistic people. The college benefits hugely from this in terms of applications to the college, while the choir receives nothing back in return.<br />As such, the 'holiday' for which you are berating the choir has no direct effect on the finances of you or the college.<br />To suggest that the tour was indeed a holiday shows a lack of understanding. It was originally meant to be an educational trip to both Israel and occupied Palestine. Unfortunately the 'wisdom' of Palestinian support groups saw fit to ban the choir from officially crossing through the boundary and performances were confined to Israel.<br />The choir was lucky enough to have an open meeting in Tel Aviv with a Jewish Israeli academic, who is strongly against the occupation of Palestine and is also a great champion of the arts. He pointed out that the majority of people who would have attended the Christmas Oratorio were unlikely to be staunch Zionists who saw the tour as a statement of Israeli support by Clare College, and were mostly educated and civilised Israelis who feel politically powerless in the face of terrorism and atrocities taking place on both sides of the dividing wall. <br />Perhaps the timing of the tour was not best advised, although it was intended as a Christmas Tour to bring the beauty and joy of Bach's music to BOTH sides of the equation. Unfortunately, the decision to 'support' Palestine as well as Israel with the tour was taken out of the choir's hands by those who are supposedly championing Palestine.<br />You admit that you missed the arranged meeting in December. Perhaps this explains the hugely one-sided nature of your argument, which fails to acknowledge the original intention of the tour;<br />Medieval indeed...Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02845631617036503029noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4463400498028740590.post-80444088285669992402009-12-26T15:25:40.471+00:002009-12-26T15:25:40.471+00:00There are still disinvestment campaigns alive in C...There are still disinvestment campaigns alive in Cambridge, mostly to do with the arms trade. They are definitely better than encouraging lifestyle boycotts because they raise the idea of bringing our collective influence to bear on university authorities, while also exposing how the university is financially bound up with the dirtier parts of international capitalism.<br /><br />This in turn raises all sorts of questions about democracy within the university, which is basically non-existent.EddMhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11143058782179022200noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4463400498028740590.post-31086788143032701522009-12-24T09:48:46.145+00:002009-12-24T09:48:46.145+00:00You mention the apartheid boycotts: Back in the 80...You mention the apartheid boycotts: Back in the 80s we had a campaign at Clare to get the college to disinvest from Rio Tinto Zinc - whose mining operations were heavily implicated with the SA regime.<br /><br />Ultimately the campaign petered out - but arguably it raised the issue more effectively that the liberal 'lifestyle' boycotts of Barclays Bank and SA oranges.Journeymanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06537094981931276738noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4463400498028740590.post-53132624396389190702009-12-23T20:48:17.789+00:002009-12-23T20:48:17.789+00:00Nice article. No one ever explained to me why the ...Nice article. No one ever explained to me why the college pays for choir tour, Christian or not.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02227769914654330512noreply@blogger.com