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‎السَّلَامُ عَلَيْكُمْ وَرَحَمْةُ اللهِ وَبَرَكَاتُهُ Assalamu'alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh. Peace, mercy and blessings of Allah be upon you. Salam sejahtera ke atas kamu dan semoga Allah merahmati dan memberkati mu.

Open letter on academic freedom and BDS in Germany

 donshafi911  FOT911  16/03/202322 Minutes

The University of Jena distanced itself from Professor Brenna Bhandar solely for her support of BDS. This breach of academic freedom shows the silencing of Palestinian rights advocates in Germany.

Open LetterMarch 8, 2023

Brenna Bhandar

Professor Brenna Bhandar (University of British Columbia) was invited to visit the German Research Foundation-funded “Structural Change of Property” Collaborative Research Centre based at the University of Jena as a Mercator Fellow in late April for research workshops and a public talk. 

On February 13, one of the convenors of the Centre communicated to her by email that, having learned of her support for the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions campaign targeted at the Israeli state, “we cannot and do not want to hold the planned event” in Berlin since this “would definitely be understood (especially in the very heated debates following the Documenta) as support for the BDS by our research centre”. The convenor added that they considered “the call for a boycott to be wrong against the backdrop of German history on the one hand and in view of the current situation [in Israel] on the other”. Prof. Bhandar had been approached by members of the Centre as far back as 2019, who made it clear at the time that including fellows whose work centred race and colonialism in the study of property was an important concern for them. She was formally invited in late 2021 to take up the fellowship. While not cancelling the Mercator fellowship outright, it was made unequivocally clear in the initial email and in subsequent communications, that the Centre did not want to be associated with Prof. Bhandar in a public forum, and that her visit was to be limited to exchanges with other researchers in Jena. The suggestion of continuing to draw on her work and expertise in a somewhat sequestered manner is a particularly problematic suggestion when addressed to a racialized woman scholar. 

The retraction of the public component of the Mercator fellowship on the basis of Prof. Bhandar’s personal commitment to solidarity with a call from Palestinian civil society is a glaring and unjustified breach of principles of academic freedom. As the public event that was an integral component of Prof. Bhandar’s fellowship was not going to address BDS but rather the themes of the Centre as they relate to her academic work, it is invidious to suggest that BDS would have been at its core. Unless that is, as seems to be the case, the Centre has decided to adopt the neo-McCarthyite principle that it refuses to be associated in any way not with the public advocacy of BDS but with any scholar who has at any time been a signatory to a BDS statement. In that case, at a minimum it should accord fellow academics the respect and consideration to inform them of this fact before – as Prof. Bhandar did – they devote time, thought and energy to collaborative research with the Centre. The convenors and members of the Centre should also reflect on what the consequences of treating support for BDS as license for disaffiliation involves. In holding to this position, the Centre, its convenors, and members would be signalling that the vast majority of Palestinian academics are unwelcome to public scholarly discussion in Germany, and that so are countless academic supporters of Palestinian rights. There is a bitter irony in systematically excluding those living under conditions of dispossession, occupation, and displacement from research on “structural changes in property” in the contemporary world.

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Prof. Bhandar’s experience follows in the wake of the well-known attacks on numerous scholars, artists, and intellectuals for supporting (or not denouncing) BDS. The effort to exclude voices criticising Israel or arguing for Palestinian rights from the German public sphere seems to be accelerating after the Bundestag’s factious designation of BDS as anti-Semitic in 2019 – though it bears noting that German courts have repeatedly deemed actions taken on the basis of that legislation unconstitutional. The climate around BDS prompted the directors of many major German cultural institutions to set up the “Initiative GG 5.3 Weltoffenheit” (‘world-openness’) to affirm the right to publicly and critically discuss matters pertaining to Israel/Palestine in Germany. The “Structural Change of Property” Centre and its members, like other academic and cultural institutions in Germany, have an ethical duty to publicly clarify whether they intend to sacrifice academic and artistic freedom, scholarly discussion, and openness to international and marginalised voices for the sake of a definition of anti-Semitism that has repeatedly resulted, among other things, in forbidding Jewish as well as Palestinian voices from engaging in public debates on questions of rights and justice in Israel/Palestine. 

Offener Brief zu akademischer Freiheit und BDS in Deutschland

Professorin Brenna Bhandar (University of British Columbia, Canada) wurde als Mercator-Fellow für einen Besuch Ende April 2023 beim DFG-geförderten Sonderforschungsbereich ‚Strukturwandel des Eigentums‘ an die Universität Jena eingeladen, um Workshops durchzuführen und einen öffentlichen Vortrag zu halten.

Am 13. Februar meldete sich einer der Projektleiter_innen via E-Mail bei Prof. Bhandar, und teilte ihr mit, dass man, aufgrund ihrer Unterstützung der BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanction) Kampagne den geplanten öffentlichen Vortrag in Berlin „weder abhalten wolle noch könne, da ein solcher Event (vor allem vor dem Hintergrund der hitzigen Debatten um die Documenta 15) definitiv als Unterstützung des Sonderforschungsbereichs für BDS verstanden werden würde“. Der/die Projektleiter_in fügte hinzu „dass man den Aufruf für einen Boykott falsch fände, nicht nur vor dem Hintergrund der Deutschen Geschichte, sondern auch in Anbetracht der derzeitigen Lage (in Israel).“ Prof. Bhandar war bereits 2019 von Mitarbeiter_innen des Projekts kontaktiert worden, denen es offensichtlich darum ging Forscher_innen in das Projekt einzubeziehen, deren Forschung zum Eigentum sich auf die Themen ‚Rasse‘ und Kolonialismus konzentriert. Prof. Bhandar wurde dann Ende 2021 offiziell für das Mercator Fellowship eingeladen. 

Nun wurde diese Einladung nicht gänzlich zurückgezogen. Stattdessen wurde deutlich gemacht, dass das Projekt keinesfalls öffentlich mit Prof. Bhandar assoziiert werden möchte und dass ihr Forschungsaufenthalt sich daher auf einen Austausch mit anderen Forscher_innen in Jena beschränken würde. Die Implikation, dass man weiterhin die Arbeit und Expertise einer weiblichen, rassifizierten Forscherin für das Projekt nutzen will, allerdings hinter geschlossenen Türen, ist dabei besonders problematisch.

Die Absage des öffentlichen Teils des Mercator Fellowships aufgrund Prof. Bhandars persönlichen Einsatzes für Solidarität mit einem Aufruf der palästinensischen Zivilgesellschaft ist ein offensichtlicher und unberechtigter Bruch mit den Prinzipien wissenschaftlicher Freiheit. Da es in ihrem öffentlichen Vortrag, der einen integralen Bestandteil des Fellowships darstellte, in keiner Weise um BDS gegangen wäre, sondern um die Themen des Forschungsprojekts und deren Verbindung zu Bhandars akademischen Arbeiten, ist es unangemessen zu suggerieren, sie hätte BDS ins Zentrum der Diskussion rücken wollen. So wird der Eindruck unvermeidbar, dass innerhalb des Forschungsprojekts eine Entscheidung nach Neo-McCarthyistischem Prinzip gefallen ist und es nicht primär darum geht, sich von öffentlichen Aufrufen zu BDS zu distanzieren, sondern von allen Forscher_innen, die jemals ein BDS Statement unterzeichnet haben. Sollte letzteres der Fall sein, wäre es aus Respekt akademischen Kolleg_innen gegenüber zumindest zu erwarten, dass man sie über diese Tatsache informiert bevor sie – wie es bei Prof. Bhandar der Fall war – Zeit, Arbeit und Energie in die Zusammenarbeit mit dem Forschungsprojekt stecken. Außerdem sollten sich die Projektleiter_innen und Mitarbeiter_innen ernsthaft mit den Konsequenzen der Entscheidung auseinandersetzen, jegliche Unterstützung für BDS als Grund für einen Ausschluss von Kooperation mit dem Projekt zu nehmen. Denn mit einer solchen Position signalisiert das Projekt, sowie seine Leiter_innen und Mitarbeiter_innen, dass die große Mehrheit an palästinensischen Akademiker_innen, sowie unzählige akademische Unterstützer_innen von Palästinensischen Rechten, bei einer öffentlichen wissenschaftlichen Diskussion in Deutschland nicht willkommen sind. Es ist eine bittere Ironie, dass gerade die, die unter Bedingungen von Enteignung, Besetzung und Vertreibung leben, von der Forschung zum ‚Strukturwandel des Eigentums‘ in der gegenwärtigen Gesellschaft ausgeschlossen werden.

Die hier beschriebene Erfahrung Prof. Bhandar folgt auf prominente Angriffe auf unzählige Akademiker_innen, Künstler_innen und Intellektuelle aufgrund ihrer Unterstützung (oder fehlenden Distanzierung) von BDS. Die Anstrengungen, Israel-kritische Stimmen oder solche, die sich für Palästinensische Rechte einsetzen von der deutschen Öffentlichkeit auszuschließen, haben sich intensiviert, seitdem der Bundestag in 2019 BDS als antisemitisch designiert hat – wobei zu bemerken ist, dass deutsche Gerichte Handlungen und Maßnahmen, die sich auf den Bundestagsbeschluss beziehen, mehrfach als nicht verfassungsmäßig eingestuft haben. Aufgrund des Klimas um BDS haben die Vorsitzenden mehrerer deutscher Kulturinstitutionen die „Initiative GG 5.3 Weltoffenheit“ ins Leben gerufen. Hier geht es darum, das Recht zu verteidigen, Themen in Bezug auf Israel / Palästina in Deutschland öffentlich und kritisch diskutieren zu können. Das Projekt „Strukturwandel des Eigentums“ und die zugehörigen Mitarbeiter_innen haben eine ethische Pflicht, so wie andere Akademiker_innen und Kulturinstitutionen in Deutschland auch, öffentlich klarzustellen, ob es tatsächlich ihre Absicht ist, akademische und künstlerische Freiheiten, Forschungsdebatten und die Offenheit für internationale und marginalisierte Stimmen aufzugeben, um einer Definition von Antisemitismus Folge zu leisten, die unter anderem wiederholt dazu geführt hat jüdische sowie palästinensische Stimmen von der Teilnahme an öffentlichen Debatten zu der Frage von Rechten und Gerechtigkeit in Israel / Palästina auszuschließen.

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• Vasuki Nesiah, Professor of Practice in Human Rights and International Law, The Gallatin School, NYU
• Melanie J. Newton, Associate Professor of History and Caribbean Studies, University of Toronto
• Scott Newton, Head of School of Law, Gender and Media, SOAS, University of London
• Kerem Nisancioglu, Senior Lecturer, SOAS, University of London
• Paolo Novak, Senior Lecturer, SOAS, University of London
• Lutz Oette, Professor of International Human Rights Law, SOAS, University of London
• Oreva Olakpe, Research Fellow, Toronto Metropolitan University 
• Goldie Osuri, Professor, University of Warwick
• Jordan Ouellette, PhD student, University of British Columbia 
• Simon Lysander Overstall, Doctoral Student, Simon Fraser University
• Christine Oughton, SOAS, University of London
• Sezai Ozan Zeybek, Lecturer, Alice Salomon Hochschule
• Polly Pallister-Wilkins, Associate Professor, Political Science, University of Amsterdam
• Andreas Papamichail, Lecturer in International Relations, Queen Mary University of London
• Ajay Parasram, Associate Professor, departments of International Development Studies and History, Dalhousie University 
• Shiri Pasternak, Associate Professor, Toronto Metropolitan University
• Lyana Patrick, Assistant Professor, Faculty of Health Sciences, Simon Fraser University
• Nina Paulovicova, Associate Professor, Athabasca University
• Alejandro Paz, Associate Professor of Anthropology, University of Toronto
• Miranda Pennell, Artist in Residence, Centre for Law and the Humanities, Birkbeck, University of London
• Daniel Peres, Professor of Philosophy, Federal University of Bahia – Brazil
• Nicola Perugini, Associate Professor, University of Edinburgh
• Kavita Philip, University of British Columbia
• Giovanni Picker, Lecturer in Sociology, University of Glasgow
• Anand Pillay, William J. Hank Professor, University of Notre Dame
• Sharri Plonski, Senior Lecturer in International Politics, Queen Mary University of London
• Charles Post, Professor, Sociology, Graduate Center and Borough of Manhattan Community College-City Unversity of New York
• Geraldine Pratt, Professor, Geography, University of British Columbia
• Nicola Pratt, Professor, University of Warwick 
• Hannah Proctor, University of Strathclyde
• Mario Prost, Senior Lecturer in International Law, Keele University (UK)
• Nirmal Puwar, Goldsmiths, University of London
• Kareem Rabie, Assistant Professor of Anthropology, University of Illinois at Chicago 
• Shirin M. Rai, Distinguished Professor in Politics and International Studies, SOAS, University of London
• Paige Raibmon, Professor, Department of History, University of British Columbia
• Aneil Rallin, erstwhile Associate Professor of Rhetoric and Composition
• M.V. Ramana, Professor, University of British Columbia
• Manjeet Ramgotra, Senior Lecturer, SOAS University of London
• Magie Ramirez, Assistant Professor of Geography, Simon Fraser University
• Surabhi Ranganathan, Professor, University of Cambridge
• Rahul Rao, Lecturer, University of St Andrews
• Elora Raymond, Assistant Professor, Georgia Institute of Technology
• John Reynolds, Associate Professor, Maynooth University
• Pilar Riaño-Alcalá, Professor, The Social Justice Institute, University of British Columbia
• Melanie Richter-Montpetit, Senior Lecturer, University of Sussex 
• Nils Riecken, Research Fellow, Ruhr-Universität Bochum
• Jillian Rogin, Assistant Professor, University of Windsor, Faculty of Law
• Caroline Rooney, Professor Emeritus of African and Middle Eastern Studies, University of Kent
• Daniela Rosner, Associate Professor, University of Washington
• Pallavi Roy, Reader in Political Economy, SOAS, University of London 
• Jonathan Rosenhead, Emeritus Professor, London School of Economics
• Andrew Ross, Professor, New York University
• Daniel Rück, Assistant Professor, Dept. of History, University of Ottawa
• Evelyn Ruppert, Professor Emerita, Goldsmiths
• Kanchana N Ruwanpura, Professor, Development Geography, University of Gothenburg
• Hicham Safieddine, Assistant Professor, University of British Columbia
• Sara Salem, Associate Professor, Department of Sociology, London School of Economics 
• Lana Salman, Ghent University 
• Zoé Samudzi, Assistant Professor, Rhode Island School of Design
• Frida Sandström, PhD fellow in Modern Culture, University of Copenhagen
• Philipp Sattler, Assistant Professor, IZK-Institute for Contemporary Art, Graz University of Technology 
• Marlene Schäfers, Assistant Professor, Utrecht University
• Moritz Schmoll, Mohammed VI Polytechnic University
• Benjamin Schuetze, Emmy Noether Research Group leader, Arnold Bergstraesser Institute (ABI)
• Stefanie Schüler-Springorum, Professor, TU Berlin
• Susan Schuppli, Director, Centre for Research Architecture, Goldsmiths University of London
• Manuel Schwab, Professor, AUC
• Leon Sealey-Huggins, Assistant Professor, University of Warwick
• Joshua Sealy-Harrington, Assistant Professor, Lincoln Alexander School of Law at Toronto Metropolitan University
• Daniel Segal, Jean M Pitzer Professor of Anthropology and History, Pitzer College
• Timothy Seidel, Associate Professor, Eastern Mennonite University
• Sherene Seikaly, Associate Professor, UCSB
• Todd Sekuler, Research Associate, Institute for European Ethnology, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin 
• Oishik Sircar, Professor, Jindal Global Law School 
• Somdeep Sen, Associate Professor, Roskilde University
• Sanjay Seth, Professor, Goldsmiths, University of London
• Roschanack Shaery, Professor of History, University of Antwerp
• Nour Shantout, PhD candidate, Academy of Fine Arts Vienna
• Martha Shearer, Assistant Professor, University College Dublin 
• Stephen Sheehi, Sultan Qaboos Professor of Middle East Studies, William & Mary
• Shela Sheikh, Senior Lecturer in International Politics, University of London in Paris 
• Anand Sheombar, Postdoc researcher, HU University of Applied Sciences Utrecht
• Marc Siegel, Professor, Film Studies, Johannes Gutenberg-Universität, Mainz
• Jordana Silverstein, Senior Research Fellow, University of Melbourne
• Subir Sinha, Reader, SOAS, London
• Shreya Sinha, Lecturer, Queen Mary University of London
• Lana Sirri, Postdoctoral Researcher, Forum Transregionale Studien, University of Amsterdam
• Quinn Slobodian, Professor, Wellesley College
• Adrian Smith, Associate Professor, York University
• John Smith, Emeritus Professor of Fine Art, University of East London
• Rasha Soliman, Associate Professor of Arabic Language and Linguistics, University of Leeds
• Darci Sprengel, Lecturer, King’s College London
• Michelle Stack, Associate Professor, Educational Studies, University of British Columbia
• Jan Strain
• Amy Strecker, Associate Professor, University College Dublin
• Staci Strobl, Professor of Criminal Justice, Shenandoah University
• Nikita Sud, Professor, Oxford University
• Gavin Sullivan, Reader in International Human Rights Law, The University of Edinburgh
• Nimer Sultany, Reader in Public Law, SOAS University of London
• Juanita Sundberg, Associate Professor, Department of Geography, University of British Columbia
• Mayur Suresh, Senior Lecturer. SOAS, University of London
• Mai Taha, Assistant Professor, Department of Sociology, LSE
• Abdel Razzaq Takriti, Arab-American Educational Foundation Chair in Modern Arab History, University of Houston 
• Kevin Tan, Doctoral Student, SOAS, University of London
• Burak Tansel, Senior Lecturer in International Political Economy, Newcastle University
• Ulas Tastekin, PhD Candidate, McMaster University
• Lana Tatour, Assistant Professor, University of New South Wales
• Keeanga-Yahmatta Taylor, Professor of African American Studies, Northwestern University
• Kevin Taylor, Senior Lecturer, Sheffield Hallam University
• Virgil B/G Taylor, Artist
• Martina Tazzioli, Reader, Goldsmiths, University of London
• Sunera Thobani, Professor, University of British Columbia
• Kristen Thomasen, Assistant Professor, University of British Columbia
• Lisa Tilley, Senior Lecturer, SOAS, University of London
• Patrick Timmer, Master’s Student, King’s College London
• Ysabella Titi, Researcher, Columbia University 
• Hanan Toukan, Associate Professor, Middle East Studies, Bard College Berlin
• Enzo Traverso, Professor in the Humanities, Cornell University
• Sebastian Truskolaski, Assistant Professor in German Studies, University of Manchester
• Alyosxa Tudor, Reader in Gender Studies, SOAS, University of London
• Lewis Turner, Lecturer in International Politics, Newcastle University
• Ntina Tzouvala, Associate Professor, ANU College of Law
• Pheroze Unwalla, Assistant Professor, History & Middle East Studies, University of British Columbia
• Leire Urricelqui, PhD, Social and Political Philosophy, University of Graz
• Mary Anne Vallianatos, Assistant Professor, Windsor University
• Rashmi Varma, University of Warwick
• Vasanthi Venkatesh, Associate Professor, Faculty of Law, University of Windsor
• Siggie Vertommeb, Assistant Professor, University of Amsterdam
• Robert Vinten, Universidade Nova, Lisbon
• Marina Vishmidt, Lecturer, Goldsmiths, University of London 
• Hannah Vögele, PGR, Center for Applied Philosophy, Politics and Ethics, University of Brighton
• Alexander Vorbrugg, Senior researcher, University of Bern 
• Rinaldo Walcott, Professor, University of Buffalo
• Illan Wall, Professor, University of Warwick
• Yair Wallach, Reader, SOAS, University of London
• Aylwyn Walsh, Associate Professor, University of Leeds
• Janet Watson FBA, Professor, University of Leeds 
• Lynn Welchman, Professor of Law, SOAS, University of London
• Daphna Westerman, PhD candidate, Visual Cultures, Goldsmiths, University of London
• Lauren Wilcox, Associate Professor of Gender Studies, University of Cambridge
• Christian Wilke, Associate Professor, Carleton University, Department of Law and Legal Studies
• Kalpana Wilson, Lecturer, Birkbeck, University of London
• Maya Wind, University of British Columbia
• Vincent Wong, Assistant Professor, University of Windsor Faculty of Law
• Stepan Wood, Professor & Canada Research Chair in Law, Society & Sustainability, Allard School of Law, University of British Columbia 
• Sujith Xavier, Associate Professor & Director, Transnational Law and Racial Justice Network
• Deniz Yonucu, Lecturer, Newcastle University
• Fayrouz Yousfi, Ghent University
• Anna Zalik, Associate Professor, Environmental & Urban Change, York University
• Jasmin Zine, Professor, Wilfrid Laurier University

To read this letter with an updated list of signatories, see here.