{"id":131151,"date":"2023-07-24T00:02:13","date_gmt":"2023-07-24T04:02:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thecollegefix.com\/?p=131151"},"modified":"2023-07-25T18:30:14","modified_gmt":"2023-07-25T22:30:14","slug":"anthropologists-association-votes-on-boycott-of-israeli-academic-institutions-looks-to-bds-principles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thecollegefix.com\/anthropologists-association-votes-on-boycott-of-israeli-academic-institutions-looks-to-bds-principles\/","title":{"rendered":"Anthropologists vote yes on BDS-influenced Israel academic boycott"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em><b>UPDATED<\/b><\/em><\/p>\n<p><em><strong>Ban will apply to academic events &#8216;convened or co-sponsored by Israel&#8217;<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p>The American Anthropological Association voted this morning to boycott Israeli academic institutions in a move inspired by the Palestinian Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement.<\/p>\n<p>The AAA\u2019s membership voted 2,016\u2013835 in support of the resolution, with 37 percent of eligible members voting.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">The AAA membership has voted to endorse a resolution to boycott Israeli academic institutions.<\/p>\n<p>Read more: <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/N8Hyl607Gf\">https:\/\/t.co\/N8Hyl607Gf<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; American Anthropological Association (@AmericanAnthro) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/AmericanAnthro\/status\/1683447441381621761?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">July 24, 2023<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis was indeed a contentious issue,\u201d AAA President Ramona P\u00e9rez said of the vote. \u201cOur differences may have sparked fierce debate, but we have made a collective decision and it is now our duty to forge ahead, united in our commitment to advancing scholarly knowledge, finding solutions to human and social problems, and serving as a guardian of human rights.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The referendum on the <a href=\"https:\/\/americananthro.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/ReferendumOnProposedResolutionToBoycottIsraeliAcademicInstitutions.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">resolution<\/a> called on the American Anthropological Association, which has more than 10,000 members, \u201cto boycott Israeli academic institutions until such time as these institutions end their complicity in violating Palestinian rights as stipulated in international law.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The resolution went before members from June 15 through July 14.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The Israeli state operates an apartheid regime from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea,\u201d according to the resolution\u2019s preamble, which continued, \u201cIsraeli academic institutions are complicit in the Israeli state\u2019s regime of oppression against Palestinians.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The boycott\u2019s organizing committee, Anthropologists for the Boycott of Israeli Academic Institutions, \u201cworks in support of justice and human rights in Israel\/Palestine,&#8221; according to its <a href=\"https:\/\/www.anthroboycott.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">website<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>\u201c[T]his boycott pertains to Israeli academic institutions only and not to individual scholars,\u201d the proposed resolution stated. \u201cNor would the resolution bar AAA members from \u201cdetermin[ing] whether and how they will apply the boycott in their own professional practice.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis is an institutional boycott,\u201d resolution committee member Jessica Winegar told <em>The College Fix.<\/em> \u201cIsraeli institutions will always be able to unethically use anthropological frameworks and methods to further entrench the occupation, unless these institutions face consequences for doing so, such as those which would come with the boycott.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The resolution does not specify what boycott guidelines the association should adopt, instead charging the group \u201cwith implementing this boycott and determining how to do so with reference to the Association\u2019s own mission.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>However, Winegar told <em>The Fix <\/em>that her group will recommend the AAA implement rules in consultation with the Palestinian BDS National Committee, which has promulgated model <a href=\"https:\/\/usacbi.org\/guidelines-for-applying-the-international-academic-boycott-of-israel\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">guidelines<\/a> as part of its U.S. Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Being the part of the Palestinian BDS National Committee (BNC) tasked with overseeing the academic and cultural boycott aspects of BDS,&#8221; the Palestinian group &#8220;has advocated, since 2004, for a boycott of Israeli academic and cultural institutions,&#8221; according to its <a href=\"https:\/\/usacbi.org\/guidelines-for-applying-the-international-academic-boycott-of-israel\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">website<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The proposed guidelines include a ban on &#8220;academic events&#8230;convened or co-sponsored by Israel, complicit Israeli institutions or their support and lobby groups in various countries\u201d and a ban on study-abroad programs, which \u201care usually housed at Israeli universities and are part of the Israeli propaganda effort, designed to give international students a &#8216;positive experience&#8217; of Israel, whitewashing its occupation and denial of Palestinian rights,&#8221; the resolution website states.<\/p>\n<p>Anthropologists Against Academic Boycotts <a href=\"https:\/\/www.noanthroboycott.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">opposed<\/a> the resolution and academic boycotts generally, which it claims \u201cruns counter to the fundamental principles of academic freedom, freedom of inquiry, and free speech.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In 2015, a contingent of AAA members briefly approved a boycott of Israeli institutions at the group\u2019s annual business meeting in a landslide 1,040\u201336 vote, <em>The College Fix<\/em> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thecollegefix.com\/academic-association-votes-1040-136-in-favor-of-anti-israel-bds-resolution\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">reported<\/a> at the time.<\/p>\n<p>However, when the measure was put before the entire membership, voters <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thecollegefix.com\/academic-group-votes-resolution-israel-surprise-loss-bds-supporters\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">rejected<\/a> it in a 2,423\u20132,384 vote.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Four times as many members participated in an online vote from April 15 through the end of May [20116] as did those voting at last fall\u2019s [2015] meeting in Denver, and they split almost evenly: 2,423 against the boycott resolution and 2,384 in favor,&#8221; <em>The Fix r<\/em>eported.<\/p>\n<p><em>The Fix <\/em>reached out to Anthropologists Against Academic Boycotts in late June and again in July and has not received a response.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>MORE: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thecollegefix.com\/conservative-israeli-scholar-at-princeton-target-of-cancel-culture-campaign\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Conservative Israeli scholar at Princeton target of cancel culture campaign<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>IMAGE: American Anthropological Association\/Twttier<\/p>\n            <div class=\"article-truncate-control\">\n                <button class=\"show-complete-article\">\n                    Read More                <\/button>\n            <\/div>\n\n        ","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Ban will apply to academic events &#8216;convened or co-sponsored by Israel.&#8217;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1248,"featured_media":131191,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1085,1077],"tags":[9502,17174,50165,50167,37379,4183,43388,501,50166],"acf":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.thecollegefix.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/voteyes72.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2Oh4L-y7l","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thecollegefix.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/131151"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thecollegefix.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thecollegefix.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thecollegefix.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1248"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thecollegefix.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=131151"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/www.thecollegefix.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/131151\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":131320,"href":"https:\/\/www.thecollegefix.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/131151\/revisions\/131320"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thecollegefix.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/131191"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thecollegefix.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=131151"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thecollegefix.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=131151"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thecollegefix.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=131151"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}