Sign Pledge: U.S. Educators’ Conscientious Objection Pledge to End Complicity in Genocide & Apartheid
S. E. Anderson
U.S. Educators’ Conscientious Objection Pledge to End Complicity in
Genocide & Apartheid
SIGN HERE: https://educatorspledge.carrd.co/#
As educators, we recognize our profound responsibility to seek and teach the truth, foster critical thought, build a more just world, and end complicity in all forms of oppression. We recognize our additional responsibility as educators in the U.S., which serves as the world’s primary funder, enabler, and defender of Israeli violations of international law and human rights.In this urgent moment, as the Palestinian people, mainly in Gaza but also across Palestine and in exile continue to endure immense suffering under Israeli colonization, occupation, apartheid, and genocide, we reaffirm these responsibilities.Standing for equality, justice, and freedom for all people is a fundamental moral duty that none of us—especially those who teach—can ignore.
We answer the call of Palestinian academics, educators, heads of academic institutions, and civil society in urging the international academic community to reject silence, racism, settler colonialism, and dehumanization, and to help end complicity in oppression.
Inspired by the historical precedent of the academic boycott against apartheid South Africa, and in solidarity with the 2004 call by the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI) and the 2005 Palestinian civil society call for the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) of Israel:
We, the undersigned academics at U.S. academic institutions, and U.S. academics abroad, pledge, on grounds of conscience, not to engage in academic or cultural cooperation, collaboration, or joint projects with Israeli academic, cultural, state, or private entities that are complicit in the ongoing occupation, apartheid, genocide, or other violations of Palestinian rights as stipulated under international law.
This includes, but is not limited to, participation in conferences, research collaborations, exchange programs, and institutional partnerships sponsored or organized by such institutions. We support the following additional actions:
• to Advocate for a comprehensive boycott of such Israeli institutions at the local, national, and international levels, including the suspension of all forms of funding and subsidies to these institutions;
• to Promote strategic and targeted divestment from entities that enable Israel’s atrocity crimes against Palestinians, by academic institutions and in our professional organizations and unions; to Press for non-cooperation boycott resolutions to be adopted by academic, professional, workers’, and cultural associations and organizations, against the Israeli state, and against organizations that fund, enable, or advocate for Israeli violations of international law and human rights;
• to Support Palestinian academic and cultural institutions directly, without requiring them to partner with Israeli counterparts as a condition for such support.
We affirm that our boycott is institutional, not individual. We do not target individuals based on nationality, ethnicity, or beliefs, but focus on institutions and official representatives implicated in supporting or justifying colonial violence, violations of international law, and human rights.
We commit to producing, fostering, and disseminating knowledge about the hundred-years’ war on Palestine and the Israeli state’s ongoing Nakba, and confronting the production of ignorance on Palestine.
We call upon our colleagues, students, staff, and administrators to join us in this pledge, and to support the right of educators and academic workers to speak out against injustice without fear of retaliation.
We demand that educational institutions protect academic freedom and freedom of expression and stand in solidarity with those who advocate for justice and the liberation of all peoples.While this pledge is primarily directed towards educators in U.S. higher education institutions, we invite all those who are in one way or another affiliated with any institution of learning to sign on in support.
We believe that educators possess the right and carry the responsibility to educate about matters of public import in the public sphere.
We believe that it is of the utmost urgency to uphold this right and to enact this responsibility in the case of the unfolding genocide in Palestine.
We are committed to using our expertise–where relevant–to analyze and deconstruct the language used in media, government, and public discourse, demonstrating how language can be either a tool for propaganda or a pathway toward restorative and transformative justice.
We invite all members of the academic community to join us in using our collective knowledge to build a just and liberated future for all.
In solidarity with all educators who speak out against injustice and in favor of the liberation of Palestine, we pledge to support them and their right to academic freedom and free expression.
Free Palestine!
Initial Signatories:
A Pollicino, Abdel Razzaq Takriti, Adam Rzepka, Adit Sabnis, Ahlam Muhtaseb, Al Kagan, Alan Wald, Alexander Elinson, Alexandria Hollett, Alicia Christoff, Amanda Batarseh, Ambereen Dadabhoy, Amira Jarmakani, Amy Hagopian, Anand Vaidya, Andrea Morrell, Andrés Fabián Henao Castro, Andrew Ross, Anita Sanyal, Anna Feder, Annelise Orleck, Anthony Alessandrini, Anton Shammas, Ara Merjian, Ariana Vigil, Ariella Aïsha Azoulay, Askold Melnyczuk, Atalia Omer, Barbara Foley, Barbie Wu, Barry Trachtenberg, Bassam Bamieh, Bassam Haddad, Begum Adalet, Beth Ribet, Bethany Letiecq, Bill V. Mullen, Bittany Munro, Bruce Levine, Bruce Robbins, Caitlin Schroering, Candace Fujikane, Carol M. Lang, Chris Dole, Chris Tilly, Christa Robbins, Christine Hong, Christopher Stone, Colleen Rost-Banik, Corinna Mullin, Cynthia Franklin, Dana Miranda, Daniel Segal, Danielle Purifoy, Dara Orenstein, Darlene Lee, Darrin Hpp[, Darryl Li, David Klein, David Laibman, David Letwin, David Lloyd, David Palumbo-Liu, David Yaghoubian, Devon Clifton, Diana Allan, Diane Gallo, Dina Omar, Dylan Rodriguez, Edgar Garcia Velozo, Elisabeth Weber, Elsa Auerbach, Elybeth Sofia, Elyse Crystall, Emmaia Gelman, Eric Cheyfitz, Ericka Kimball, Erin Clancy, Erin Pineda, Fawzia Afzal-Khan, Federico Pérez Fernández, Frank T. Fitzgerald, Gabi Kirk, Ganesh Trichur, Grace Kyungwon Hong, Hannah Appel, Hannah Manshel, Heather Dorfman, Heather Ferguson, Heba Gowayed, Heidi Morrison, Heike Schotten, Helen DeVinney, Hosu Kim, Howard Winant, Huda Fakhreddine, Hussein Rashid, Ira Dworkin, Irene Siegel, Isaac Kamola, Isabella Arzeno Soltero, Ishad Zaman, J. Kehaulani Kauanui, Jamie Jones, Jan Haaken, Janet Winston, Jasbir Puar, Jay Arena, Jazmine Janay Cuevas, Jean Beaman, Jean Halley, Jennifer Ruth, Jessica Hardie, Jessica Pabón, Jodi Dean, Jonathan Graubart, John Cox, John Gianvito, John King, John Maerhofer, Jolie Chea, Jonah Rubin, Jorge Coronado, Judith Butler, Judith Norman, Julia Gettle, Julie Carlson, Kai Bosworth, Karen Suyemoto, Karim Mattar, Karla Strand, Karma Chavez, Katherine Franke, Kathryn DePaolis, KD Thompson, Kevin Bruyneel, Kevin Winkler, Key K. Bird, Khaled Mattawa, Kristen Gillespie-Lynch, Kristian Contreras, Lara Deeb, Laura Bray, Laura Goldblatt, Leila Kawar, Leila Mansouri, Lisa Hajjar, Lisa Rofel, Lizabeth Roemer, Loubna Qutami, Lucien Baskin, Macy Miller, Mahruq Khan, Manzar Foroohar, Mar Golub, Margot Weiss, Mark Driscoll, Mark LeVine, Marlon Bailey, Martin Vega, Matt Chorpenning, Matthew Thomas Miller, Maura Finkelstein, Max Weiss, Melissa Weiner, Michael Drexler, Michel DeGraff, Mita Banerjee, Monica Parmley-Frutiger, Nada Elia, Nadia Yaqub, Nadine Naber, Nadine Sahyoun, Nandini Sikand, Naomi Braine, Navid Farnia, Neferti Tadiar, Ngo Nhan, Nic Francisco, Nicholas Mirzoeff, Nicole Morse, Noelle Mapes, Nour Joudah, Noura Erakat, Nouri Gana, Omnia El Shakry, Oscar Fabian Soto, Pam Butler, Paul Sawyer, Rabab Abdulhadi, Rana Jaleel, Rana Sharif, Randa Tawil, Ranjani Srinivasan, Rebecca Alpert, Rebecca E Karl, Richard Shin, Robert Warrior, Robin D. G. Kelley, Ron Heyduk, Rosalind Petchesky, Rosemari Mealy, Roshanak Kheshti, Ruha Benjamin, Rupal Oza, Russell Rickford, Saadia Toor, Sam Malabre, Sameer Ud Dowla Khan, Samer Alatout, Samer M. Ali, Samera Esmeir, Sang Kil, Sangeeta Ray, Sanghyuk Shin, Sarah Combellick-Bidney, Sarah Gilbert, Sarah Pursley, Saulo Colón, Sean Malloy, Setsu Shigematsu, Shahinaz Genied, Sherena Razek, Sherene Seikaly, Sherry Millner, Sofya Aptekar, Sophia Azeb, Sophia Taborski, Stacy Fahrenhold, Stéphanie Wahab, Stephen Sheehi, Steve Roddy, Stuart Chen-Hayes, Stuart Parker, Summer Kim Lee, Surya Teja Gavva, Susan Slyomovics, Sut Jhally, Terri Ginsberg, Thomas Volscho, Timothy Seidel, Tomomi Kinukawa, Ujju Aggarwal, Victor Silverman, Victoria Baena, William Robinson, Yannis Hamilakis, Yogita Goyal, Zeynep Korkman, Zillah Eisenstein
SIGN HERE: https://educatorspledge.carrd.co/#
s. e. anderson
author of The Black Holocaust for Beginners
"If WORK was good for you, the rich would leave none for the poor." (Haiti)
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