[Fdu] McGill Professors respond to Principal's condemnation of BDS

[Cynthia Wright]

apologies for x-postings...

Not in Our Name:

A response by McGill Professors to Principal Suzanne Fortier’s 
condemnation of BDS


As McGill professors committed to justice and equity, we strongly 
disagree with Principal Suzanne Fortier’s official response on behalf of 
the university administration to the recent Students’ Society of McGill 
University (SSMU) motion in support of Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions 
(BDS) against Israel and the subsequent on-line process which failed to 
ratify this vote. Her email response, sent to all McGill students and 
faculty, came moments after the results of the on-line process were 
announced, and echoed the disappointing and ill-informed motion passed 
by the Canadian Parliament in condemning the growing BDS movement.  For 
Principal Fortier to denounce a movement defending the rights of 
Palestinians against those who are oppressing them is in fact what 
“flies in the face of tolerance and respect"—not the BDS movement 
itself. The call for BDS, drawing upon lessons learned from earlier 
international movements against apartheid South Africa, indeed urges 
universities to end institutional ties with institutions funded and 
sponsored by the Israeli state, and which are complicit in the 
Occupation and violations of international law. The BDS movement is a 
measured, non-violent and principled civil society response to life 
under occupation and colonialism when a people’s basic rights are 
violated and denied.

The BDS call demands “tolerance and respect” for Palestinians--something 
that they have been denied by the state of Israel. It is precisely 
because Palestinians are not afforded the same rights as other peoples 
that BDS is necessary. Palestinians do not have equal rights to 
education, and are regularly denied their academic freedom. But they are 
also denied freedom of movement, freedom of association, and even their 
lives. "Freedom, equity, inclusiveness and the exchange of views and 
ideas in responsible, open discourse”, which are the core principles of 
McGill University as stated by Suzanne Fortier, are precisely what 
Palestinians are asking for with this call.

If these core principles do indeed guide the McGill community, it is our 
responsibility to support a grassroots movement initiated by the vast 
majority of Palestinian civil society. The demands of the BDS movement 
are simple. Israel should comply with international law by: (1) ending 
its occupation and colonization of Arab lands and dismantling the Wall; 
(2) recognizing the fundamental rights of the Arab-Palestinian citizens 
of Israel to full equality; and (3) respecting, protecting and promoting 
the rights of Palestinian refugees to return to their homes and 
properties as stipulated in UN resolution 194. When Israel complies with 
international law in these ways, there will be no more need for BDS.

Our mission as educators is to advance learning, to create and 
disseminate knowledge by offering our students the best possible 
education. We believe that upholding the highest international standards 
in teaching, research and scholarship, as well as service to local and 
international communities, means standing up for what is right when 
called upon to do so--locally, by supporting students who are working 
for justice for Palestine, and internationally, by responding to the 
call made by Palestinian civil society.

While we respect the freedom of expression of all members of our 
community, including the right of Principal Suzanne Fortier to publicly 
condemn the BDS movement, we resolve to steadfastly continue to support 
BDS and the work of our students at McGill who will carry on and 
continue to build this struggle.  In this case, the McGill 
administration, like the Canadian government, is on the wrong side of 
history.  The Canadian Parliament’s motion on BDS does not act in our 
name. As McGill professors, we also declare now and will continue to 
state that if this is the McGill Administration’s response to the BDS 
movement, it also does not act in our name.

*If you are a McGill professor and would like to add  your name to this 
letter, please email:*

cuwu.info at gmail.com <mailto:cuwu.info at gmail.com>

*Signed,*

Malek Abisaab, Associate Professor, Department of History and Classical 
Studies

Rula Jurdi Abisaab, Associate Professor, Institute of Islamic Studies

Diana Allan, Assistant Professor, Department of Anthropology and the 
Institute for the Study of International Development

Alia Al-Saji, Associate Professor, Department of Philosophy

Isabelle Arseneau,professeure agrégée, département de langue et 
littérature françaises

Jodie Beck, Course Lecturer, Department of East Asian Studies

Arnaud Bernadet, professeur agrégé, département de langue et littérature 
françaises

Lara Braitstein,Associate Professor, Faculty of Religious Studies

Brian Bergstrom, Visiting Professor, Department of East Asian Studies

Curtis Brown, Faculty Lecturer, Department of English

Mary Bunch, Faculty Lecturer, Institute for Gender, Sexuality, and 
Feminist Studies

Michelle Cho, Korea Foundation Assistant Professor, Department of East 
Asian Studies

Aziz Choudry, Associate Professor and Canada Research Chair in Social 
Movement Learning and Knowledge Production, Department of Integrated 
Studies in Education

Barry Eidlin,  Assistant Professor, Department of Sociology

Shanon Fitzpatrick,Assistant Professor, Department of History and 
Classical Studies

Allan Greer, Professor and Canada Research Chair in Colonial North America,
Department of History and Classical Studies

Jill Hanley, Associate Professor, McGill School of Social Work

Michelle Hartman, Associate Professor, Institute of Islamic Studies

Adrienne Hurley, Associate Professor, Department of East Asian Studies

Ahmed F. Ibrahim, Assistant Professor, Institute of Islamic Studies

Steven Jordan, Associate Professor, Department of Integrated Studies in 
Education

Pasha M. Khan, Assistant Professor, Institute of Islamic Studies

Thomas Lamarre, James McGill Professor in East Asian Studies and 
Associate in Communications Studies

Catherine Leclerc, professeure agrégée, département de langue et 
littérature françaises

Andrée Lévesque, Professor Emerita, History Department

Abby Lippman, Professor Emerita - Epidemiology, Biostatistics, and 
Occupational Health

Margaret Lock, Marjorie Bronfman Professor Emerita, Department of Social 
Studies of Medicine

Laura Madokoro, Assistant Professor, Department of History and Classical 
Studies

Setrag Manoukian, Associate Professor, Institute of Islamic Studies and 
Department of Anthropology

Gregory M. Mikkelson, Associate professor, Department of Philosophy

Charmaine A. Nelson, Associate Professor of Art History, Department of 
Art History and Communication Studies

Naomi Nichols, Assistant Professor, Department of Integrated Studies in 
Education

Máire Noonan, Course Lecturer & Research Assistant, Department of 
Linguistics

Kristin Norget, Associate Professor, Department of Anthropology

Anthony Paré, Professor Emeritus, Department of Integrated Studies in 
Education

Laila Parsons, Associate Professor, Department of History and Classical 
Studies

Jarrett Rudy, Associate Professor, Department of History and Classical 
Studies

Jessica Ruglis, Assistant Professor, Department of Educational & 
Counselling Psychology

Mela Sarkar, Associate Professor, Department of Integrated Studies in 
Education

Richard Shearmur, Professor, McGill School of Urban Planning

Jon Soske, Assistant Professor, Department of History and Classical Studies

Maria Theresia Starzmann, Assistant Professor, Anthropology Department

Gavin Walker, Assistant Professor, History & Classical Studies and East 
Asian Studies

Robert Wisnovsky, Professor and James McGill Chair, Institute of Islamic 
Studies

Brian J. Young, Professor Emeritus, Department of History

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