9. Vote on Motion to create a Working Group on Human Rights and Academic Freedom
All members are invited to vote on the Motion.
Following recent developments and discussions with regards to the censorship of - and retaliation against - academics who speak up against state violence in the Occupied Palestinian territories, a group of EASA members (Yazid Ben Hounet, Alice von Bieberstein, Julie Billaud, Rebecca Bryant, Manuela Ciotti, Jane Cowan, Antonio De Lauri, Sarah Green, Shahram Khosravi, Prem Kumar Rajaram, Annelies Moors, Agathe Mora, Till Mostowlansky, Pedro Silva Rocha Lima, Umut Yildirim, Filippo Zerilli) put forward a motion at the December AGM. At the meeting, the Motion received a favourable vote from 60 of the 66 members present (2 against and 4 abstained). However, in view of the importance of the Motion’s topic and of the weight that the Executive Committee places on democratic process, the EC has decided to subject the Motion to an electronic vote by the entire EASA membership.
The motion proposes the creation of a Motion to create a Working Group on Human Rights and Academic Freedom with the mandate to act as an advisory body to EASA’s Executive Committee and to:
1. Examine the growing restrictions on academic freedom in Europe and within European universities.
2. Formulate suggestions to address the restrictions on academic freedom in Europe and within European universities.
3. Examine cases of academics, students and academic collectives who face reprisals and/or attacks for publicly sharing their anthropological analysis of colonialism and structural violence.
4. Propose a mechanism through which such cases can be addressed by EASA.
5. Suggest ways to address the situation of Palestinian and Israeli academics and students in Europe and the Middle East who speak up against state violence and censorship, and suffer punitive consequences for their actions.
6. Draft recommendations in response to these issues. The recommendations will be presented and discussed at EASA’s AGM in Barcelona in July 2024.
The vote on this proposal will open shortly after publication of this newsletter and all members are kindly requested to read the Motion and cast their vote. Results will be announced immediately after the end of the voting period.
