These documents are eye-opening, and remind us, as MLA members, that the occupation and siege of Palestine have direct consequences for education (among many other things).  In the most recent war on Gaza, more than a quarter of all Palestinian civilians killed were students. Fourteen institutions of higher education were damaged.  Read on…[Read more]

The Arabic Literature Division’s Executive Committee has unanimously voted to endorse the resolution presented to the MLA Delegate Assembly to boycott Israeli academic and governmental institutions.

The Executive Committee of the West Asian Literatures Discussion Group has unanimously voted to endorse the draft resolution in favor of the boycott of Israeli academic institutions.

The Executive Committee of the Division on Marxism, Literature, and Society is happy to announce that it has unanimously endorsed the resolution on the Boycott of Israeli Academic Institutions.

In the wake of the Delegate Assembly’s discussion of the  boycott of Israeli academic institutions at MLA 2015, a DA member sent the following important queries regarding the scope and practice of the boycott.  We reply to her questions here.  Given the length of the document, it is also posted in the documents section of this forum si…[Read more]

A November 2014  poll conducted by the political scientist Shibley Telhami sought to identify trends in U.S. public opinion on the following issues: “How do Americans see Bibi Netanyahu in the first place? And how do these attitudes play into a broader, and growing national divide about policy toward Israel?” Telhami’s specific findings and his…[Read more]

There is growing support among many progressive and democratically minded Jews in the US, Europe and Israel who are unwilling to stand by and allow apologists for Israel to speak on their behalf. Numerous groups founded by committed Jewish journalists, scholars and activists are increasingly taking a stand against Israel’s policies and are…[Read more]

Pls. spread the word, East Carolina University is hosting a Digital Innovation and Scholarship in the Social Sciences and Humanities Symposium in Greenville, NC, March 18th, 2015. Speakers below, guests welcome, 5-7-minute lightning-round presentations are currently being solicited at our website. Both graduate students and faculty welcome.

MORE…[Read more]

<div class=”uiScaledImageContainer _6m5 fbStoryAttachmentImage”>

Please consider joining the new commons group MLA Members for Justice in Palestine. http://mla.hcommons-staging.org/…/mla-members-for-justice-in-palest…/ …

After more than 3 hours of committee reports and discussion of organizational changes within the MLA, the Delegate Assem…[Read more]

Not wishing to beat a dead horse, let me just say that of course I stand by my account of the Delegate Assembly meeting and the rejection that its fourth straw poll affirmed of any form of retaliation against scholars and students who speak out in support of Palestinian rights or in criticism of Israel and its policies. As others have made clear…[Read more]

Despite Russell Berman’s claims in a previous posting to this group, David Lloyd’s article summarizing the open discussion at the MLA 2015 Delegate Assembly meeting in Vancouver fairly reflects the mood in the room, where for 90 minutes many Delegates and numerous members of the MLA spoke from the floor strongly in support of the academic boycott…[Read more]

Here’s David Palumbo-Liu’s report in the Huffington Post on the discussion of boycott in the DA on Saturday.

Preliminary votes show that the DA recognizes (by a significant margin) that this is a urgent topic that the MLA needs to be addressing; that academic boycotts promote, rather than harm, academic freedom; and that those who speak…[Read more]

Invitation to BDS Working Group: first meeting at MLA 2015, Jan 9 2:30-5:00

If you would like to work actively over the next two years towards gathering support for the MLA resolution to endorse the Palestinian call for a boycott of Israeli academic institutions, please contact David Lloyd (david.lloyd@ucr.edu) or Rebecca Comay…[Read more]