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<div>While I hesitate to bring this up because it causes distress, embarrassment, resentment and even anger, I feel I must do so in order to point directly to an issue of great importance that the academy in Canada seems determined to ignore.</div>
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<div>In fact, in Canada as a whole we are very far behind in our recognition and understanding of this issue, that is, the international campaign of BDS—Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions—that was initiated in 2005 against Israel for its crimes against the Palestinian
people: its campaign of terror against a population under illegal military occupation, its ongoing program of land theft, its legally established program of discrimination against Palestinian Israelis—at least 20% of the population— as well as the slow-motion
genocide that is its appalling siege of Gaza.</div>
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<div>This boycott is not solely of goods and commercial interests; its aims and intents also includes the academic the academic sphere.</div>
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<div>Please note that the American Studies Association—among many other groups around the world—has endorsed the academic boycott. <a href="http://www.bdsmovement.net/activecamps/academic-boycott" style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline; ">http://www.bdsmovement.net/activecamps/academic-boycott</a></div>
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<div><em>“It can never be business as usual. Israeli Universities are an intimate part of the Israeli regime, by active choice. While Palestinians are not able to access universities and schools, Israeli universities produce the research, technology, arguments
and leaders for maintaining the occupation. [Ben Gurion University] is no exception. By maintaining links to both the Israeli defence forces and the arms industry, BGU structurally supports and facilitates the Israeli occupation.” —
</em><strong><a href="http://www.timeslive.co.za/world/article675369.ece/Israeli-ties--a-chance-to-do-the-right-thing">Desmond Tutu</a>,
</strong>talking shortly before the University of Johannesburg <a title="University of Johannesburg ends Israeli links" href="http://www.bdsmovement.net/2011/uj-bgu-5379">
cut its ties with Ben Gurion University</a>.</div>
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<div>I recall hearing Dr. Rokem speak at the 2012 <i>Memory, History, Performance</i> conference at U of O in which I participated, and I gleaned from what he said at various times that he is one of a growing number of progressive Israelis who fully understands
the terms of this conflict, as well as the nature of Zionism as a discriminatory ideology. The irony of this situation is that Dr. Rokem is very likely more cognizant than Canada's academic community both of the real nature of the conflict—not that portrayed
by media massively influenced by Zionist lobby groups— as well as of the international campaign of BDS—and the fact that it includes academic exchange as much as any other variety.</div>
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<div>As difficult as it may be for scholars to address and engage with this issue, I believe that, as in the case of the apartheid regime in South Africa—to which the situation in Palestine/Israel is often compared—the only way to effect real change is to endorse
and participate in an all-encompassing program of boycott against a regime that consistently flouts human rights and international law, and has been doing so for decades with impunity.</div>
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<div>I hope that you will consider this letter with the same serious intent with which it was written.</div>
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<div>Most sincerely,</div>
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<div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Helvetica, Arial; ">-- </span></div>
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<div style="font-size: 14px; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; "><font face="Trebuchet MS,Verdana,Helvetica,Arial">Conrad Alexandrowicz, Associate Professor</font></div>
<div style="font-size: 14px; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; "><font face="Trebuchet MS,Verdana,Helvetica,Arial">Movement, Acting and Devised Physical Theatre<br>
Department of Theatre<br>
University of Victoria<br>
P.O. Box 1700 STN CSC<br>
Victoria, BC. V8W 2Y2<br>
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Office: 250.853.3727<br>
Cell: 250.580.5524</font></div>
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<span style="font-weight:bold">From: </span>Yana Meerzon <<a href="mailto:Yana.Meerzon@UOTTAWA.CA">Yana.Meerzon@UOTTAWA.CA</a>><br>
<span style="font-weight:bold">Reply-To: </span>Yana Meerzon <<a href="mailto:Yana.Meerzon@UOTTAWA.CA">Yana.Meerzon@UOTTAWA.CA</a>><br>
<span style="font-weight:bold">Date: </span>Wednesday, March 12, 2014 7:40 AM<br>
<span style="font-weight:bold">To: </span>"Ric Knowles <<a href="mailto:rknowles@UOGUELPH.CA">rknowles@UOGUELPH.CA</a>>" <<a href="mailto:CANDRAMA@LISTSERV.UNB.CA">CANDRAMA@LISTSERV.UNB.CA</a>><br>
<span style="font-weight:bold">Subject: </span>Dr. FREDDIE ROKEM: Distinguished Visiting Professor in Ottawa, March 24-29,2013<br>
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<p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align:center;line-height:90%"><b><img width="230" height="88" id="Picture_x0020_2" src="cid:image001.jpg@01CF3DE1.53E8B7D0" alt="cid:image001.jpg@01CF3878.D4A72AF0">
</b><span style="color:black"><img width="156" height="79" id="_x0000_i1026" src="cid:image002.jpg@01CF3DE1.53E8B7D0"></span><b><o:p></o:p></b></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align:center;line-height:90%"><b><o:p> </o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align:center;line-height:90%"><b>Dr. Freddie Rokem<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align:center;line-height:90%">Tel Aviv University<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align:center;line-height:90%">is the Distinguished Visiting Professor at the University of Ottawa<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align:center;line-height:90%">March 2014<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:90%"><span style="color:#1F497D"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:90%"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; ">University of Ottawa is proud to host a world expert in theatre theory as its Distinguished Visiting Professor program. Dr. Freddie Rokem is Emanuel Herzikowitz Professor
for Nineteenth and Twentieth Century Art and teaches in the Department of Theatre Studies at Tel Aviv University. His areas of interest combine theatre and philosophy and his books include Performing History: Theatrical Representations of the Past in Contemporary
Theatre, which received the ATHE (Association for Theatre in Higher Education) Prize for best theatre studies book in 2001, and was translated into several languages. He is also author of Strindberg’s Secret Codes (2004) and Philosophers and Thespians: Thinking
Performance (2010). Rokem is the co-editor of Jews and the Making of Modern German Theatre (2010) and is also a translator and a dramaturg.
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:90%"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; "><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:90%"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; ">During his stay as a visiting scholar the week of March 24, 2014 Professor Rokem will be meeting with students and faculty and holding a round-table event for graduate
students. Professor Rokem will also be delivering a public lecture titled "Possessed by Theatre: ‘The Dybbuk’ at Habima, 1922". Habima, the first institutionalized Hebrew theatre founded in Moscow during the 1917 Revolution, staged a repertoire of experimental
works, of which “The Dybbuk” remains the most renowned. The play presents the story of a young bride possessed by a dybbuk and was authored by folklorist Sh. Ansky based on materials he collected during his expeditions among Eastern European Jews on the eve
of World War I. Habima’s Hebrew-language seamlessly performance blended Soviet experimental theatre with Jewish folklore to great critical acclaim. Rokem will discuss the inaugural performance that forever changed the history of Jewish theatre.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:90%"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; "><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:90%"><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 90%; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; ">The schedule is attached<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:90%"><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 90%; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; "><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:90%"><b>“Publishing-not-Perishing”<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:90%"><b>(</b>a workshop on publishing for the graduate students)<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:90%"><b>Thursday, March 27, 10-11:30 am</b><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:90%">Department of Theatre, Room 309<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:90%">(This event will be in English)<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoBodyText" align="left" style="text-align:left;line-height:90%"><b><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; "><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoBodyText" align="left" style="text-align:left;line-height:90%"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; ">"Possessed by Theatre: ‘The Dybbuk’ at Habima, 1922"<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoBodyText" align="left" style="text-align:left;line-height:90%"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; ">(open lecture)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoBodyText" align="left" style="text-align:left;line-height:90%"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; ">Thursday, March 27, 2:30 to 4 p.m.
<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoBodyText" align="left" style="text-align:left;line-height:90%"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; ">Department of Theatre, Academic Hall<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoBodyText" align="left" style="text-align:left;line-height:90%"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; ">Free of charge. (This event will be in English)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoBodyText" align="left" style="text-align:left;line-height:90%"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; "><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoBodyText" align="left" style="text-align:left;line-height:90%"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; ">“The Use of Space in Chekhov’s Dramaturgy”</span></b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; "><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoBodyText" align="left" style="text-align:left;line-height:90%"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; ">(a dialogue with the students of THE 4123,
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoBodyText" align="left" style="text-align:left;line-height:90%"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; ">Practice of Dramaturgy)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoBodyText" align="left" style="text-align:left;line-height:90%"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; ">Friday, March 28, 1 – 2:30 p.m<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoBodyText" align="left" style="text-align:left;line-height:90%"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; ">Morriset Hall (MRT), Room 251 (This event will be in English)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoBodyText" align="left" style="text-align:left;line-height:90%"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; "><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoBodyText" align="left" style="text-align:left;line-height:90%"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; ">Information: Dr. Yana Meerzon, Telephone: 613-562-5800, ext. 2243<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoBodyText" align="left" style="text-align:left;line-height:90%"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; ">E-mail:
</span><span lang="EN-US"><a href="../../../../privend/Downloads/ymeerzon@uOttawa.ca"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; ">ymeerzon@uOttawa.ca</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; "><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:90%"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:90%">Professor Rokem’s visit is sponsored by University of Ottawa’s program of Distinguished Visiting
<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:90%">professor, the Faculty of Arts, Department of Theatre, and Vered Jewish Canadian Studies Program.<o:p></o:p></p>
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