The growing Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement fighting against Israeli oppression of Palestinians claimed a major victory December 16 as the American Studies Association voted overwhelmingly to support a boycott of Israeli academic institutions. A total of 1,252 members participated in the referendum, the largest vote in ASA history. When votes were tallied, 66.5 percent were in favor, and just 30.5 percent opposed to a boycott resolution that had been approved by the organization’s National Council on December 4.
The vote is a sign of the increasing strength of the BDS movement. Members of the Association of Asian American Studies unanimously endorsed a boycott of Israeli academic institutions at their annual meeting in April, 2013, and members of the Modern Language Association will hold their annual meeting in January 2014, during which they will consider a motion to criticize Israeli policies that limit professors’ access to Palestinian universities.
In addition, hundreds of oral historians and academics from Europe, South Africa, North America, Palestine, and Israel are calling on their colleagues to boycott a June 2014 conference on oral history at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem.
The ASA resolution noted that the organization is “committed to the pursuit of justice, to the struggle against all forms of racism, including anti-semitism, discrimination, and xenophobia, and to solidarity with aggrieved peoples in the United States and in the world.” It identified the U.S. role in enabling Israeli occupation of Palestine, expansion of illegal settlements, and violations of international law.
It also charged that “there is no effective or substantive academic freedom for Palestinian students and scholars under conditions of Israeli occupation, and Israeli institutions of higher learning are a party to Israeli state policies that violate human rights and negatively impact the working conditions of Palestinian scholars and students,” among its listing of reasons to support the boycott.
The U.S. Campaign for the Academic & Cultural Boycott of Israel applauded the ASA resolution. USACBI organizing member Nada Elia observed: “This is not only a victory for Palestinians. It is a victory for all who believe in justice for an indigenous people who have faced ongoing dispossession.”
The ASA’s overwhelming support of the boycott resolution may have a ripple effect. Following the ASA vote, the elected council of the Native American and Indigenous Studies Association announced its support of a boycott of Israeli academic institutions.
