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Anyone know what's going on with this?
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| Desiderata |
In solidarity with the Palestinian people, British theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking has pulled out of a major international Israeli conference, showing his support for an academic boycott of Israel.
Citing his belief that he should respect a Palestinian call to boycott contacts with Israeli academics, Hawking announced his support for the academic boycott of Israel on May 7, via a statement released by Cambridge University.
The 71 year-old theoretical physicist and Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at the University of Cambridge had first accepted the invitation to attend the annual President’s Conference, entitled Facing Tomorrow, and scheduled to be held in Jerusalem next June.
The British-based Palestine Solidarity Campaign released extracts of Hawking's letter to conference organizers in which he explained his decision:
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I have received a number of emails from Palestinian academics. They are unanimous that I should respect the boycott.
In view of this, I must withdraw from the conference. Had I attended, I would have stated my opinion that the policy of the present Israeli government is likely to lead to disaster.
In a statement, conference chairman Israel Maimon addressed Hawking’s withdrawal from the conference:
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The academic boycott against Israel is in our view outrageous and improper, certainly for someone for whom the spirit of liberty lies at the basis of his human and academic mission.
The prestigious conference has attracted some major international figures. However, Elvis Costello, Roger Waters, Brian Eno, Annie Lennox, Mike Leigh and now Stephen Hawking have all rejected the Israeli President’s invitation to attend the conference. |
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| Vivid Boy |
| I hate stephen Hawking. Hes an overglorified speak n spell |
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| Lira |
| Well, it's a protest because of Israel's foreign policy :conf: |
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| Desiderata |
| quote: | Originally posted by Vivid Boy
I hate stephen Hawking. Hes an overglorified speak n spell |
How can you hate intelligence? A person with such hardships has an incredible IQ. I do understand that his hardships has made him more famous than otherwise but still that's no reason to hate. Also I was born on his birthday so I'm partial to him.
Anyhowm it's not just him that is boycotting. It's a lot of famous people.
Here is the jist of it:
It lets the Palestinian people know that they are not forgotten and the justice of their cause is recognised.
It sends a signal that the world will not sit by whilst Israel flouts UN resolutions, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Geneva Convention and other international laws – Israel cannot be allowed to act with impunity.
It enables decisions made in their everyday lives by people outside Israel and Palestine to refresh and reinforce their opposition to Israeli policy.
It exerts moral pressure on the British Government by giving expression to the desire to move towards a more ethical foreign policy. |
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| Vivid Boy |
I have my own theory about "Stephen Hawking". I think a speak n spell factory in the 80s was struck by lightening giving birth to the first Artificial Intelligence. In order to give itself a face to be acceptedby the rest of the world, It found a local mentally handicapped Child and used him to create the full stephen hawking persona.
dont be fooled guys.....font be fooled.
Has anyone ever seen stephen hawking actually blink??? i didnt think so |
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| Desiderata |
| Ha Ha kinda funny. |
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| Joss Weatherby |
| quote: | Originally posted by Vivid Boy
I have my own theory about "Stephen Hawking". I think a speak n spell factory in the 80s was struck by lightening giving birth to the first Artificial Intelligence. In order to give itself a face to be acceptedby the rest of the world, It found a local mentally handicapped Child and used him to create the full stephen hawking persona.
dont be fooled guys.....font be fooled.
Has anyone ever seen stephen hawking actually blink??? i didnt think so |
So basically the plot of Short Circuit (holy ive been able to use that movie twice today). |
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| Floorfiller |
| "respect the boycott or we'll break your legs!" |
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| Sleightful |
So why accept the invitation to speak in Jerusalem in the first place?
I'm starting to be bored to death with all of the vaguely political goings-on in the Middle East. |
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| Lira |
| quote: | Originally posted by Sleightful
So why accept the invitation to speak in Jerusalem in the first place? |
He changed his mind. Either that, or it takes a bit longer than we imagine to type "Hi, I'd love to go to your conference... but on second thought, no". |
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| Lews |
| I don't understand the question. It's obvious what's going on by reading the blurb :conf: |
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