Moroccan campaign urges ISA to rethink Israeli presence at sociology forum
On Wednesday, July 2, the Moroccan Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (MACBI) renewed its call for mobilization, urging the organizers to reconsider their stance.
In a written statement received by Yabiladi, the organization—part of the BDS Morocco coalition—affirmed that «the participation of Israeli researchers is indeed maintained at the 5th ISA Forum of Sociology», calling it «an unacceptable form of normalization». It added, «The ISA's suspension of the Israeli Sociological Society does not mean that representatives of universities complicit in genocide will not attend».
According to MACBI, the event's program still includes 17 presentations by researchers affiliated with Israeli institutions. «Maintaining their participation, without issuing a statement to cancel it, amounts to a clear act of normalization», the group stated. It also criticized ISA for not addressing key demands raised in the June 24 declaration by the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI), which was endorsed by Arab and international scholars, as well as the Palestinian Sociological And Anthropological Association.
MACBI called on ISA to engage with PACBI's demands, which include ensuring that Israeli participants support Palestinian rights in line with international law, and verifying that they are not implicated in violations such as war crimes or crimes against humanity. The demands also call for ISA to adopt a consistent «land recognition» policy for universities in settler colonial contexts, including Palestine, and to acknowledge the complicity of Israeli universities in their state's actions against Palestinians.
The statement follows a similar call by the Campaign to Boycott Supporters of Israel in Lebanon. In light of ISA's unchanged position, MACBI renewed its call to boycott the forum «unless the association meets ethical standards that ensure it does not harm the Palestinian cause, and instead contributes to ending the genocide and dismantling the Israeli apartheid regime». The ISA, for its part, has invoked «academic freedom» to justify the inclusion of Israeli researchers.
This renewed call comes just days after the ISA officially froze ISS membership on June 29. In an earlier statement to Yabiladi, MACBI coordinators stressed that Israeli institutional affiliation was not a disqualifying criterion in the selection of speakers, hence the ongoing mobilization. So far, 232 researchers have declared their boycott of the forum until the ISA reconsiders its position.
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