Que l’on soit ou pas en faveur de BDS ( Boycott, Désinvestissement et Sanctions) comme outil pour changer la situation qui a cours en Palestine, il est important de reconnaître que le boycott est une forme d’expression politique affirmée internationalement et constitutionnellement protégée.
En tant qu’instrument non violent visant à un changement politique, le boycott ne peut être interdit sans que soit piétiné le droit d’expression politique, qui est constitutionnellement protégé.
Les personnes qui soutiennent le boycott ne doivent pas être soumises à des représailles, de la surveillance ou de la censure quand elles choisissent d’exprimer un point de vue politique, même si ses détracteurs peuvent le trouver offensant.
Nous voyons actuellement des efforts renforcés pour court-circuiter la parole d’individus et mener contre eux des actions de représailles sur la base de leurs opinions ou associations politiques, notamment le soutien à BDS. Nous demandons aux institutions culturelles et éducatives d’avoir le courage et la position de principe de défendre et sauvegarder les principes mêmes de la liberté d’expression et du libre échange d’idées qui rendent ces mêmes institutions possibles. Ceci implique le refus d’accepter les pressions, l’intimidation et les menaces qui visent à baîllonner des orateurs, au prétexte de leurs opinions supposées ou avérées. Cela implique aussi le refus d’imposer un contrôle politique à des orateurs ou des artistes invités à parler ou montrer leur oeuvre.
Nous demandons aux institutions éducatives et culturelles qu’elles s’engagent à nouveau à maintenir les principes d’un débat ouvert et qu’elles restent les lieux où exprimer une palette d’idées, y compris sujettes à controverse.
C’est seulement en refusant de devenir la main de la censure et de la calomnie, en rejetant la chasse aux sorcières, l’intimidation et la discrimination à l’encontre de certains points de vue que ces institutions seront fidèles à leur raison d’être : des centres d’éducation et de culture.
Signataires :
Judith Butler
Professor, UC Berkeley
Rashid Khalidi
Edward Said Professor in Modern Arab Studies, Columbia University
Etienne Balibar
Emeritus Professor, Paris-Nanterre
Natalie Zemon Davis
Professor of History
Deborah Eisenberg
Writer
Eve Ensler
Playwright/Activist
Samera Esmeir
Associate Professor, University of California, Berkeley
Khaled Fahmy
Professor, The American University in Cairo
Katherine Franke
Isidor and Seville Sulzbacher Professor of Law, Columbia Law School
Paul Gilroy
London
Naomi Klein
Author and Journalist
Jacqueline Rose
Professor of English, Queen Mary University of London
Mariam C Said
Individual
Joan W Scott
Institute for Advanced Study
Professor Lynne Segal
University of London
Wallace Shawn
Writer
Lila Abu-Lughod
Columbia University
Sara Ahmed
Goldsmiths, University of London
Udi Aloni
Filmmaker and writer
Richard Appelbaum
MacArthur Foundation Chair, Global & International Studies, UCSB
Elsa Auerbach
Professor Emerita, UMass Boston
Lisa Baraitser
Birkbeck, University of London
Yael Bartana
Artist
Rosalyn Baxandall
SUNY Old Westbury Distinguished Prof Emeritus
Joel Beinin
Donald J McLachlan Professor of History, Stanford Univerrsity
Emanuela Bianchi
New York University
Omri Boehm
New School for Social Research, Assistant Professor
John Borneman
Princeton University
Nicolas Bousserez
Research Associate, University of Colorado at Boulder
Sarah Bracke
Harvard Divinity School
Naomi Braine
Brooklyn College
Laurie A. Brand
University of Southern California
Renate Bridenthal
Professor, retired from CUNY
Wendy Brown
UC Berkeley
Shale Brownstein
Retired psychiatrist HHC
Susan Buck-Morss
Distinguished Professor, CUNY Graduate Center
Eduardo Cadava
Princeton University
Margaret Cerullo
Hampshire College
Sally Charnow
Hofstra University, Professor of History
Alexandra Chasin
New School for Social Research
Eric Cheyfitz
Professor, Cornell University
Kandice Chuh
Professor of English, CUNY Graduate Center
Ilene Cohen
Editor
Elliott Colla
Georgetown University
Christopher Connery
Professor, University of California Santa Cruz
Stuart Davis
Cornell University
Walt Davis
Retired minister/professor
Ashley Dawson
Professor, English Department, CUNY
Colin Dayan
Vanderbilt University
Brett de Bary
Professor, Asian Studies and Comparative Literature, Cornell University
Beshara Doumani
Professor of History, Brown University
Lisa Duggan
Professor, New York University
Nancy du Plessis
Artist
David Eng
University of Pennsylvania
Darlene Evans
Cornell University
Sara Farris
Assistant Professor, Goldsmiths, University of London
Leila Farsakh
Associate Professor, University of Massachusetts Boston
Pnina Feiler
Physicians for Human Rights
Kathy E. Ferguson
Professor, Departments of Political Science and Women’s Studies, University of Hawai’i
Elle Flanders
Filmmaker
Jeff Fort
University of California, Davis
Cynthia Franklin
Professor of English, University of Hawaii
Carla Freccero
Professor
Jamie Fuller
Artist
Jennifer Gaboury
Hunter College, CUNY
Ellen Gruber Garvey
Ph.D.
Michael Gilsenan
Prof. Michael Gilsenan
Neve Gordon
Samira Haj
Professor
Lisa Hajjar
Professor of Sociology, University of CA-Santa Barbara
J. Halberstam
Professor of American Studies and Ethnicity, USC
Sondra Hale
Research Professor, University of California, Los Angeles
Abdellah Hammoudi
Professor , Princeton University
Beth Harris
Associate Professor, Ithaca College
Professor Emerita, Princeton University
Salah D. Hassan
Associate Professor, MSU
Gail Hershatter
University of California, Santa Cruz
Neil Hertz
Johns Hopkins University
Marianne Hirsch
Professor, Columbia University
Andrew Hsiao
Verso Books
Elizabeth Ingenthron
Graduate Theological Union
Margo Jefferson
Writer
Joseph Jeon
Pomona College
Jeanette Jouili
College of Charleston
Moon-Kie Jung
University of Illinois
Ann Jungman
Writer
Amy Kaplan
University of Pennsylvania
Carolyn L. Karcher
Professor Emerita, Temple University
Suvir Kaul
A M Rosenthal Professor, University of Pennsylvania
Elizabeth Kendall
Associate Professor, New School
Arang Keshavarzian
Faculty member, New York University
Dr. Gail Lewis
Reader in Psychosocial Studies, Birkbeck College
Risa Lieberwitz
Professor, Cornell University
Audrea Lim
Verso Books
David Lloyd
University of California, Riverside
Zachary Lockman
New York University
Ania Loomba
Professor, University of Pennsylvania
Miriam R. Lowi
Professor, The College of New Jersey
Sandra R Mackie
Reverend
Saba Mahmood
UC Berkeley, Associate Professor
Harriet Malinowitz
Professor of English, Long Island University, Brooklyn
Curtis Marez
Associate Professor, University of California, San Diego
Mario Martone
Cornell University
Barry Maxwell
Senior Lecturer, Cornell University
Rela Mazali
Author & Independent Scholar
Jeffrey Menlick
University of Massachusetts Boston
Brinkley Messick
Columbia University
Jennifer Miller
Circus Amok, Director
University of Southern California
Susette Min
University of California, Davis
Chandra Talpade Mohanty
Syracuse University
Aurora Levins Morales
Writer
Fred Moten
University of California, Riverside
Yasser Munif
Emerson College
Tad Mutersbaugh
Professor of Geography, University of Kentucky
Chiara Nappi
Manijeh Nasrabadi
New York University
David Palumbo-Liu
Louise Hewlett Nixon Professor, Stanford
Lizabeth Paravisini-Gebert
Professor, Vassar College
Rosalind Petchesky
Distinguished Professor Emerita, Hunter College & the Graduate Center CUNY
Silvia Posocco
Birkbeck, University of London
Vijay Prashad
Trinity College
Sara Pursley
Associate Editor, International Journal of Middle East Studies
Bruce Robbins
Columbia University
Corey Robin
Brooklyn College and the CUNY Graduate Center
Andrew Ross
New York University
Dr. Catherine Rottenberg
John Carlos Rowe
Rachel Rubin
Professor, University of Massachusetts Boston
Leticia Sabsay
Birkbeck College, Univeristy of London
Neil Saccamano
Cornell University
Ilan Safit
Dept. of Philosophy and Religious Studies, Pace University
Josefina Saldaña
Professor, New York University
Paul Sawyer
Cornell University
James Schamus
Columbia University
C. Heike Schotten
Associate Professor of Political Science, University of Massachusetts Boston
Sarah Schulman
Distinguished Professor of the Humanities CUNY College of Staten Island
Sherene Seikaly
Director of Middle East Studies Center, American University in Cairo
Karen Shimakawa
Associate Professor
Lincoln Shlensky
University of Victoria
Marc Siegel
Ast. Professor, Goethe University, Frankfurt, Germany
Victor Silverman
Chair, Department of History, Pomona College
David Simpson
U of California-Davis
Jeffrey Skoller
Professor, UC Berkeley
Darryl A. Smith
Associate Professor, Pomona College
Alisa Solomon
Professor, Columbia University
Dov Waxman
Professor
Robert Warrior
University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
Kathy Wazana
Documentary filmmaker
Max Weiss
Princeton University
Laura Wernick
Fordham University
Lisa Westarp
Grace Memorial Episcopal Church
John M. Willis
Assistant Professor, University of Colorado
Dagmawi Woubshet
Cornell University, Associate Professor
Rachel Zolf
Writer