The myth of “peaceful” R&D in Israel
In 1969, when Argentinian writer Jorge Luis Borges conducted a 10-day pilgrimage to Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, he wrote in his book, In Praise of Darkness,
“You shall be an Israeli, a soldier, you shall build a country on wasteland.
... One thing only we promise you –your place in the battle.”
Where Israeli venture capitalism pursues new frontiers over the wasteland of razed Palestinian towns, a place in the battle is guaranteed even for the wide-eyed, utopian tech entrepreneur. Technological innovation is often seen as a neutral force striving for progress and social good outside of any partisan political agenda. But this erases the politics and power involved in sourcing, producing, investing, and exchanging resources between international collaborators. Israel’s high tech market helps to normalize international relations with its apartheid settler state, rewriting territorial lines and narratives over the very ground in which the fiber-optic cables of private networks are buried.
APOLITICAL R&D
Fringed by a macaron boutique, a non-profit fair trade organization, and a designer baby clothing store, the office of the Canada– Israel Industrial Research and Development Foundation (CIIRDF) sits in an innocuous building in Ottawa’s gentrified neighbourhood of Westboro Village. Its headquarters in Israel are located near the border with the West Bank, 10 kilometres west of the Palestinian city of Qibya, across the Rantis checkpoint at the separation wall.
Established by the Government of Canada and the State of Israel in 1994 as a bilateral partnership, the CIIRDF brokers partnerships between private-sector high-tech companies in both countries, primarily in research and development (R&D) in fields including biotechnology, cyber security and surveillance, oil and gas, agriculture, and medical technology.
Bu hikaye Briarpatch dergisinin July/August 2018 sayısından alınmıştır.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Giriş Yap
Bu hikaye Briarpatch dergisinin July/August 2018 sayısından alınmıştır.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Giriş Yap
PLATFORMS FOR PEOPLE, NOT PROFIT
Digital platforms boast that they’ve “democratized” cultural production. But what would truly democratic platforms look like in Canada?
ORGANIZING THROUGH LOSS IN THE HEART OF OIL COUNTRY
The story of climate justice organizing in Alberta, at the heart of the tarsands, is the story of a group of young activists learning what it means to lose, and keep on fighting
GROWING THE LABOUR MOVEMENT
How unions are using community gardens to engage members, nourish communities, and help strikers weather the picket line
A NEW ERA FOR OLD CROW
In the Yukon’s northernmost community, the Vuntut Gwitchin First Nation is reckoning with how to preserve their land and culture, amid a warming climate and an influx of tourists
“At Least Hookers Get Wages”
The risky business of sex work in the gig economy
The Literal – And Literary – Futures We Build
Briarpatch editor Saima Desai talks to two judges of our Writing in the Margins contest about Idle No More and MMIWG, ethical kinship, writing queer sex, and their forthcoming work.
The Cost Of A T-Shirt
In Honduras, women maquila workers are fighting back against the multinational garment companies that they say are endangering their health and safety.
Milking Prison Labour
Canada’s prison farms are being reopened. But when prisoners will be paid pennies a day, and the fruits of their labour will likely be exported for profit, there’s little to celebrate.
Bringing Back The Beat
In mainstream media, labour journalism has been replaced by financial reporting and business sections. But journalism students are raising the labour beat from the grave.
There's No Journalism On A Dead Planet
Corporate media owners are killing local newspapers – which is making it impossible for everyday people to understand the on-the-ground impacts of the climate crisis
