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]

This piece does a good job addressing common misconceptions used to dismiss BDS:

http://www.jadaliyya.com/pages/index/20760/boycott-divestment-sanctions_myths-and-realities#.VNI3Wn6rJcZ.facebook

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]

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

As well, we have a Facebook page by the same name, that now has 655 members and we’d like it to reach 1000:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/MLAM4JP/

Please consider joining these sites to bu…[Read more]

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

As well, it would be great if you want to join the Facebook page by the same name:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/MLAM4JP/

These are spaces to build support for a resolution on Acade…[Read more]

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

As well, it would be great if you’d like to  join the Facebook page set up for this group, that has the same name:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/MLAM4JP/

After more than 3 hours of commit…[Read more]

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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]

We were successful in moving that a PTF be a required member of the Executive Council!  The motion, put forward by the radical caucus, also asked for more governance opportunities for PTF throughout the organization.  The dominance of tenured faculty in the MLA is beginning to topple. Please get in touch with me at hanzimanolis@gmail.com if you w…[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]

Contrary to claims made on the MLA Commons site Scholarship, Censorship, Exclusion, that “Those who would impose a sectarian political platform on the MLA will harm it and weaken its ability to act on behalf of the profession”, the MLA already has a long-standing and honorable record of speaking out on political issues and passing resolutions a…[Read more]

Select resolutions from 1981 and 1986, ratified by the membership

1981 Delegate Assembly Meeting; 1982 membership vote

Resolution 1

Be it resolved that the Modern Language Association express its outrage and sorrow at the suppression of human rights in Poland, which involves the persecution and harsh detention of students, teachers,…[Read more]