[Newsbot]

Title: Free software campaigner Richard Stallman cancels Israel lectures due to Palestinian pressure
Category: Tech
Posted By: Curtman
Date: 2011-05-29 07:00:18

[Curtman]

$1:

The funding for his trip came from the Palestinians who invited him to lecture for them, Stallman wrote in a letter explaining the cancellation.

He said that they were not pleased that he had been scheduled to lecture at Israeli universities as well, and so withheld funding for his trip.

This is pretty stupid. I know software and politics go hand in hand for some reason.. But it's still very strange.

[GreenTiger]

I want to stick up for the Palestianians but they go out of their way to make themselves look like complete JOs. Are they secretly on Mossads or Natanyahoos payroll?

[Curtman]

I wonder if he would still go speak if one of the Israeli Universities offered to pay his way?

[Khar]

Curtman Curtman:

$1:

The funding for his trip came from the Palestinians who invited him to lecture for them, Stallman wrote in a letter explaining the cancellation.

He said that they were not pleased that he had been scheduled to lecture at Israeli universities as well, and so withheld funding for his trip.

This is pretty stupid. I know software and politics go hand in hand for some reason.. But it's still very strange.

Not really.

I am sure the two of us could sit here shooting examples back and forth about where viable science or the talks of intellectuals were brow beaten or ignored because a bunch of (often uneducated) "activists" or "hardline supporters" get involved and entirely screw it up. In fact, I think we have shot a few on these forums as examples? I know you've at least brought up some good examples in the past which made me rub my stubbly chin and exclaim "indeed!" to myself.

I think this is kind of similar to that, so I don't think it's as strange, I guess. I mean no offense to those who support Palestine or Israel in any debates, I guess I am just used to hearing about the "political" side of when money gets into academic or goodwill endeavours.

To be honest, I think it was a good move on his part to abstain from that trip. If that had happened to me, I would immediately sense the tension and back off from the situation, worried that there might be more ardent concerns waiting under the surface which would be prudent to stir. While I would like to share my ideas, I would not like to add to discord doing so in a region like the Middle East. Even if I paid for it myself, I have a feeling the disapproval would have stayed it a bit.

[Curtman]

But what is the problem? The Palestinians pay his way, and they are upset that he would speak in Israel as well?

I think if the Israeli's paid his way, they would not make ridiculous demands about where he went afterward.

[Khar]

To be honest, I have little to no knowledge about current Israeli trends there. I try to avoid this topic because I know so little about it. You could be right.

I was just worried, what with current articles coming out of Israel, that both of these groups could percieve movement across borders on the pay of one or another as Western pressure to fix the problems. I guess my worries are ungrounded? Or maybe I'm just being paranoid.

[Curtman]

I'm no expert on the situation either. But Richard Stallman is someone that I have a lot of respect for, even if I think he's a bit crazy. I think he should give talks about Free Software and The GNU Project wherever anybody will listen. Screw the politics.