5 Feb
2025
5 Feb
'25
11:00
Zdravo, pošiljam zapis Iana Parkerja in Erice Burman o njuni odstavitvi iz
uredniškega odbora priznane revije Theory & Psychology zaradi njunih zahtev
po aktivnem delovanju po principih BDS.
Pošljemo odgovornemu uredniku Thomasu Teu sporočilo, da podpiramo njuno
pobudo? Maša & Tina vem, da sta se z vprašanjem palestinskega osvobodilnega
gibanja pri nas največ ukvarjali, bi morda lahko pripravili osnutek?
*Theory & Psychology Editorial Board*
We were removed from the Theory & Psychology Editorial Board by Thomas Teo,
the new editor of the journal, at the end of January 2025. This was just
over a month after we had sent an email to all members of the Editorial
Board (on 23 December 2024), raising the issue of Palestine and BDS. We
acknowledge we sent this email just as the Western academic world was
approaching a holiday period, and we were hoping for more responses in the
new year.
We are reproducing our original email below, an email which attracted only
a few responses from colleagues on the Board. Those responses, once again,
blurred the distinction between institutional boycott, which we were
arguing for, and boycott of individuals, which we were not. The responses
pointed to good critical work done by some Israeli academics, which we
consider to be beside the point, while the incoming editor rehearsed the
German ‘Staatsräson’ argument for the ostensibly philosemitic importance of
allying with the Israeli state. On this point, we recommend the recent
article by Pankaj Mishra (see:
https://www.theguardian.com/.../israel-and-the-delusions...). We repeat our
plea to remaining Editorial Board colleagues, who have until now largely
remained silent, to take up this issue and stand with Palestinians,
respecting their call for BDS.
This was the original email setting out our position:
This journal has been a valuable resource for ‘critical’ debates in
psychology for over thirty years, both those that are conceptual and those
that are decidedly more explicitly critical, i.e. political. We have been
involved in the journal in one way or another from the beginning. We were
happy to hear that the new editor is to be Thomas Teo, who is well known
for his work on ‘decolonial’ perspectives, and very happy to be invited by
him to put together a special issue on radical research. We got as far as
discussing this possibility with Palestinian colleagues.
However, a problem became apparent, which we raised in an email exchange
with Thomas. A member of the current editorial board has as their
institutional designation ‘The University of Haifa, Israel’. This citation
of an Israeli university affiliation is counter to the call by Palestinian
civil society organisation calls for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions
(BDS), and gives legitimacy to the Israeli apartheid state, a state that is
now intensifying its genocide in Gaza (see:
https://bdsmovement.net/academic-boycott).
Thomas, in response argued that BDS does not target individuals, but
institutions. We agree, and we suggested that a way forward would be that
the institutional affiliation for that individual be removed. (A similar
procedure has been used in other academic forums, and there have been
occasions when Israeli academics have been willing to publish their work in
places that adhere to BDS without their institutional designation.) Thomas
refused to explore this possibility.
Israeli academic institutions are an integral part of the apparatus of
apartheid, dispossession and genocide, something discussed in detail (and
including reference to the University of Haifa as a case in point) by Maya
Wind, in her recent study Towers of Ivory and Steel: How Israeli
Universities Deny Palestinian Freedom (2024, Verso). Wind, a Jewish Israeli
academic, calls in the book for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS)
against Israeli state institutions.
BDS was an important part of the worldwide movement of resistance and
solidarity against the apartheid state in South Africa. It puts questions
of history, context, identity and standpoint to the fore, making the social
conditions in which we speak and write salient rather than hidden, erased.
This implementation of BDS is positive action. Far from being a prohibition
on speaking, BDS promotes debate and discussion about what is happening in
Palestine and enables conditions for psychology that is liberating, rather
than collusive or oppressive.
We are asking you all, Editorial Board colleagues, to take up this issue,
and stand with Palestinians, respecting their call for BDS. There has been
pressure, sometimes successful, and resignations also, unfortunately, from
other academic journals recently over the question of BDS. If there are
those among you willing to take collective action on this, we would like to
discuss this possibility and pursue it further. As things stand at the
moment, we cannot remain on the Editorial Board of a journal that gives
institutional legitimacy to Israeli state institutions and so normalises
occupation, apartheid and genocide.
Erica Burman and Ian Parker
https://www.facebook.com/ian.parker.5621149/posts/pfbid02et3m3CY1ZqiVQsYA9d…
tp
Ana