Another British Boycott?
In the past decade, the only country against which NATFHE has considered a boycott is Israel. The conference is also considering a motion condemning the"outrageous bias" of the British government in opposing Hamas' victory in Palestinian elections--as if Britain, a liberal democracy, should have supported a party that embraces terrorism and whose charter calls for the destruction of its neighbor.
Given the backlash against the AUT resolution, it's unclear what NATFHE activists hope to accomplish: they appear to be so blinded by their dislike of Israel that they don't realize their action likely will be counterproductive to their goals.
But perhaps they're onto something, and we should extend the practice. Germany has been very critical of the Iraq war, so maybe German faculty unions should resolve to boycott British academics. But Germany, of course, has long mistreated its Turkish minority--surely justifying a call to boycott German professors coming from Turkey. And Turkish treatment of its Kurdish minority would be more than enough reason for a human-rights friendly regime to pass a resolution boycotting Turkish scholars.
Eventually, we'll be left with the scholars of only the nation that has practiced a foreign policy closest to perfect (I nominate Finland) being boycott-free. The center of international intellectual exchange can shift to Helsinki, the only place on the planet where academics from all countries know they could travel without possibility of a boycott.