Full text of Judith Butler and Rashid Khalidi’s open letter condemning censorship of Israel critics
Whether one is for or against Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) as a means to change the current situation in Palestine-Israel, it is important to recognize that boycotts are internationally affirmed and constitutionally protected forms of political expression. As non-violent instruments to effect political change, boycotts cannot be outlawed without trampling on a constitutionally protected right to political speech. Those who support boycotts ought not to become subject to retaliation, surveillance, or censorship when they choose to express their political viewpoint, no matter how offensive that may be to those who disagree.
We are now witnessing accelerating efforts to curtail speech, to exercise censorship, and to carry out retaliatory action against individuals on the basis of their political views or associations, notably support for BDS. We ask cultural and educational institutions to have the courage and the principle to stand for, and safeguard, the very principles of free expression and the free exchange of ideas that make those institutions possible. This means refusing to accede to bullying, intimidation, and threats aimed at silencing speakers because of their actual or perceived political views. It also means refusing to impose a political litmus test on speakers and artists when they are invited to speak or show their work. We ask that educational and cultural institutions recommit themselves to upholding principles of open debate, and to remain venues for staging expressions of an array of views, including controversial ones. Only by refusing to become vehicles for censorship and slander, and rejecting blacklisting, intimidation, and discrimination against certain viewpoints, can these institutions live up to their purpose as centers of learning and culture.
Judith Butler
Professor of Comparative Literature, UC Berkeley
Rashid Khalidi
Edward Said Professor in Modern Arab Studies, Columbia University
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Etienne Balibar, Emeritus Professor, Paris-Nanterre
Wendy Brown, UC Berkeley
Susan Buck-Morss Distinguished Professor, CUNY Graduate Center
Eduardo Cadava, Princeton University
Lisa Duggan, Professor, New York University
Kathy E. Ferguson, Professor, Departments of Political Science and Women’s Studies, University of Hawai’i
Paul Gilroy, London
Naomi Klein, Author and Journalist
Jacqueline Rose, Professor of English, Queen Mary University of London
Joan W Scott, Institute for Advanced Study
Professor Lynne Segal, University of London
Wallace Shawn, Writer
Marianne Hirsch, Professor, Columbia University
Udi Aloni, Filmmaker and writer
Amy Kaplan, University of Pennsylvania
Saba Mahmood, UC Berkeley, Associate Professor
Chandra Talpade Mohanty, Syracuse University
David Palumbo-Liu
Louise Hewlett Nixon Professor, Stanford
Bruce Robbins, Columbia University