On the Modern Language Association Leadership’s Refusal to Allow Vote on BDS Resolution

Jewish Voice for Peace’s Academic Advisory Council condemns the Executive Council and Executive Director of the Modern Language Association for refusing to allow a vote on a resolution to endorse the call for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) against Israel that was formulated in 2005. 170 Palestinian civil society organizations support this call. Though the proposed motion had moved through a lengthy vetting process and had properly cleared all procedural hurdles, on Tuesday, October 29^th, 2024, MLA Executive Director Paula Krebs, citing “financial and legal effects,” announced that the resolution could not move forward for a vote at the MLA convention in January. Since then, MLA leadership has blocked attempts by elected delegates to discuss the resolution on an official email list.

In doing so, the MLA stands apart from  peer organizations and sets a dangerous and shameful precedent for censorship. Numerous other scholarly organizations, including the American Studies Association, the American Anthropological Association, and the Middle East Studies Association, have endorsed the BDS call. Still others have openly debated such resolutions, including the MLA in 2017, even if they were blocked by opponents.

The MLA’s actions contravene the most fundamental tenets of scholarly and free inquiry and shared governance and, in doing so, pose an existential crisis for the organization. Who are we if we cannot even discuss Palestine at a time when Israel’s campaign of scholasticide has destroyed every university in Gaza, killed at least 11,000 students and 529 educators in the West Bank and Gaza, and prevented at least 718,000 Palestinian students from attending their schools and universities since October 2023? Indeed, the upcoming convention will feature over 40 panels devoted to Palestine, an indication of MLA members’ investments in the study of imperialism, colonialism, and their material effects today.

The Academic Advisory Council of Jewish Voice for Peace calls on the Modern Language Association  to recommit to academic freedom and open debate, and calls upon its members to insist upon a reversal of this craven decision. Now is the time to speak openly and to tell the truth—not to turn away from controversy from fear of what cowardly or ill-intentioned actors may do. We must all guard against censoring ourselves in advance of any repressive or retaliatory actions. The reasons the MLA provides are all fearful conjectures about what might happen were such a resolution to pass. This is a time for truthful speech, examining the evidence, and open debate on one of the most crucial issues of our time.

JVP is a national, grassroots organization working towards Palestinian freedom and Judaism beyond Zionism. With roughly 750,000 members, supporters, and participants in the last year, JVP is the largest such organization in the world. The Academic Advisory Council is a network of scholars within JVP with a shared commitment to JVP’s core values.