While not a perfect historical parallel, The International AIDS Society (IAS) was successfully pressured to organize its conferences outside of the USA for more than 20 years while a discriminatory HIV Travel Restriction prevented foreign nationals with HIV to enter the country [1]. President Obama formally lifted the ban at the end of 2009 (based on a law that President Bush signed (a direct result of relentless pressure from activists) that included a repeal of the statute making the entry ban legal) and the conference was organized in Washington, DC in 2012 as a result [2].

Protests and federal courts have already forced the administration to roll-back small parts of the ban; but should Trump's executive orders on immigration be extended or become permanent policies, critical scholars could find inspiration in the radical AIDS activists, lead by ACT UP, who disrupted and protested during an ISA conference, called for a boycott of future meetings, and targeted the individual scientists organizing the meeting: "ACT UP issued a press release insisting that Boston conference be shut down. Part of the release read, 'If the organizers of next year’s conference and if the Board of Directors of Harvard University attempt to hold this conference in Boston, or any other city in the United States of America, while these discriminatory laws stand against those of us infected with HIV, we’ll give them a Tea Party they’ll never forget!'" [3].

[1]: http://www.siecus.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=Feature.showFeature&featureID=1835

[2]: http://www.thenewcivilrightsmovement.com/25_years_later_international_aids_conference_returns_to_u_s_after_lift_of_hiv_travel_ban

[3]: https://aids.harvard.edu/florence-revisited-americas-history-of-hiv-travel-restrictions/

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From: A forum for critical and radical geographers <[log in to unmask]> on behalf of david hugill <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: 30 January 2017 03:52
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Fwd: Call for an Academic Boycott of International Conferences held in the US

 

Dear friends and colleagues,

Please consider signing on this letter: 

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeNN_2HHREt1h-dm_CgWpFHw8NDPGLCkOwB4lLRFtKFJqI25w/viewform

In Solidarity with People Affected by the ‘Muslim Ban’: Call for an Academic Boycott of International Conferences held in the US docs.google.com

In Solidarity with People Affected by the ‘Muslim Ban’: Call for an Academic Boycott of International Conferences held in the US

On 27 January 2017, President Donald Trump signed an Executive Order putting in place a 90-day ban that denies US entry to citizens from seven Muslim majority countries: Iran, Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Sudan, Libya and Somalia. So far, the ban includes dual nationals, current visa, and green card holders, and those born in these countries while not holding citizenship of them. The Order also suspends the admittance of all refugees to the US for a period of 120 days and terminates indefinitely all refugee admissions from Syria. There are indications that the Order could be extended to include other Muslim majority countries.

The Order has affected people with residence rights in the US, as well as those with rights of entry and stay. Some of those affected are fleeing violence and persecution, and have been waiting for years for resettlement in the US as refugees. Others are effectively trapped in the US, having cancelled planned travel for fear that they will be barred from returning. The order institutionalises racism, and fosters an environment in which people racialised as Muslim are vulnerable to ongoing and intensifying acts of violence and hatred.

Among those affected by the Order are academics and students who are unable to participate in conferences and the free communication of ideas. We the undersigned take action in solidarity with those affected by Trump’s Executive Order by pledging not to attend international conferences in the US while the ban persists. We question the intellectual integrity of these spaces and the dialogues they are designed to encourage while Muslim colleagues are explicitly excluded from them.

-- 
Irina Ceric
https://kwantlen.academia.edu/IrinaCeric
Vancouver/Unceded Coast Salish Territories

Irina Ceric | Kwantlen Polytechnic University - Academia.edu kwantlen.academia.edu Irina Ceric, Kwantlen Polytechnic University, Criminology Department, Faculty Member. Studies Law and Social Movements, Critical Legal Theory, and Critical Criminology. I am a Criminology Instructor at Kwantlen Polytechnic University in Surrey, BC

--

DAVID HUGILL

[log in to unmask]

416-459-1141