Mr Cushman, Sue Me Too, part 2.

Again the threat of libel raises its ugly head and HP is attacked again for revealing the unsavoury goings-on on the UCU activist list, as shown by the post below.

There is a cross posting in the comments from Mike Cushman suggesting that Ms. Delich has been libelled by HP, which is utter nonsense.

Ms. Delich made a conscious choice to go to David Duke’s web site, read material there, then deliberately posted a link to the well-known ex-Grand wizard of the Ku Klux Klan web sites.

It is not too difficult to understand, having digestive virulent “anti-Zionism” day in day out, having pushed discriminatory measures against Israelis, having fought tooth and nail to delegitimise Israel, and along that way ingest plenty of animus towards Jews, having done all that, then David Duke’s web site might look fairly tame to some UCU “activists”?

And that’s the problem, the constant stream of attacks against Israelis means that many decent ordinary people become desensitised to anti-Jewish racism, so instead of spotting David Duke’s antisemitic filth at 200 yards, they are drawn into it.

That is the danger of this kind of behaviour, the constant, repetitive vitriol which is aimed at Israelis by some Westerners is naturally going to lead to this problem, “anti-Zionists” get to a stage where they can’t see the difference between legitimate criticism of Israel and racist filth.

And they are very different.

So Mr. Cushman/Ms. Delich, if you wish to sue Harry’s Place then sue me too.

”

UCU activist list member

22 August 2008, 9:39 pm

Here are a few emails responding to Delich’s email:

From Mike Cushman, one of the leaders of the boycott campaign:

It is clear then Jenna has made a serious error and she has owned up to that and apologised so why are people still trying to beat her up about this (that’s a rhetorical question).

I have taught sessions on web searching, web use and how to establish the provence and authenticity of information. This has made me crucially aware of how difficult it is to set out rules, or even guidelines, for avoiding errors. One example I use is about MMR – many of the most difficult issues (other than political ones) come in health information. The most basic rules is that items from high qulaity peer reviewed sites are ones we are inclined to trust – and of course the Wakefield article that caused all the trouble was in the Lancet, as
prestigious and authoritative as they come.

This is not about whether Jenna is a racist or an anti-semite it is about trying to shoot the messanger. If I were to be inclined to use biblical references I might start talking about people without sin casting the first stone.

Mike

From Simon Rushton:

I was walking through Cardiff this evening and I was stopped by
someone from the Iran Liberty Association. I listed to what they had
to say and was ready to give some money there and then which isn’t
something I’d normally do. Then I got pressurised. At that point I
asked for a leaflet and said I’d go away and think about it. I just
got home and typed “iran liberty association” into google. If you do
the same you will find the fifth link starts, “Hi, I wondered if you
could tell me anything about the Iran Liberty Association? Are they a

genuine outfit? They were talking to people in the town centre. ..”.
That was exactly the question I had so I clicked the link.

http://hurryupharry.bloghouse.net/archives/2007/04/19/secular_motion.php

this then resolves to

http://www.hurryupharry.org/

I was rather taken aback by what I saw. I will append the text
below. I have deleted the picture of Jenna Delich which appears in
the middle of the text.

I presume that Matt will take appropriate action.

Oh, and if anyone knows anything useful about the Iran Liberty
Association that might influence a decision to make a donation do
contact me off list.

simon

From Mike Cushman:

I have complained about list members publishing to Hurry up harry before
but no action has been taken and nobody who is praised by hurry up harry
has dissociated themselves from this scurrilous site or deplored the
leaking of our postings to it.

In deleting, for good reasons, Jenna’s photo unfortunately Simon also
deleted the caption. “Sheffield-based academic, Jenna Delich – links to
far right websites associated with the Klu Klux Klan”. This is a
potentially libellous statement and I would urge Jenna to contact
hurryupharry’s ISP

Details from http://whois.domaintools.com/

Tech Organization:Daily Internet Services Limited
Tech Street1:9 Regan Way

Tech Street2:Chetwynd Business Park
Tech Street3:Chilwell
Tech City:Nottingham
Tech State/Province:Nottinghamshire
Tech Postal Code:NG96RR
Tech Country:GB
Tech Phone:+44.8454662100
Tech Phone Ext.:
Tech FAX:+44.1159725140

Tech FAX Ext.:
Tech Email: domains@daily.co.uk

People who have had their names and details on this blog in the past
have received threatening and obscene e-mails.

I would hope that UCU centrally or failing that Jenna’s branch will
pursue this on her behalf.

Mike

From Jimmy Donaghey:

Simon and all,

this is not the only website with extracts from the list and that message is reproduced on at least one other site.

As people know, I am strongly anti boycott but the conditions of the list is that it is not reproduced elsewhere and this sort of thing cannot be condoned. People on the list often are critical of their university managements on this list. To keep things simple, what’s on the list should stay on the list and if exception is made for one topic, it can be made for all. Matt has told us those are the rules and those should be respected whether it concerns the middle east, personal cases, pay bargaining or the colour which doors are painted in our workplaces.

Regards

Jimmy Donaghey
School of Management
Queen’s University Belfast

”