Call by Academics for International Solidarity after the Ankara Bombing

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Call by Academics for International Solidarity after the Ankara Bombing

By : Jadaliyya Reports

[The following statement was released in English, French, Turkish, and German on 17 October 2015. To sign on to this petition, please click here.]

Call by Academics for International Solidarity after the Ankara Bombing

In the wake of the atrocious bomb attack in Ankara on 10 October that killed over a hundred demonstrators for peace, we, the undersigned academics and scholars, call on the Turkish government to account for these events, and on all governments to reconsider their relations with the Turkish government. 

We believe that serious claims alleging the complicity of state agents in the perpetration of the Ankara massacre must be investigated by independent commissions, preferably under the aegis of the United Nations. All bi- and multi-lateral agreements with Turkey should be made conditional upon demonstrable efforts to end the intimidation, harassment, and murder of those who defend their basic rights. 

We call for international solidarity with the peoples of Turkey who resist authoritarian and illegitimate rule. The deployment of extra-judicial means to subjugate the Kurdish population and silence opposition cannot be condoned or accepted as a political necessity, regardless of the pretext. The demonstration in Ankara was intended to call upon the Turkish government to resume the peace talks with the Kurds that it called off in spring of 2015. 

We call for the protection of civilian lives, guarantees of freedom of assembly, and free and open elections, unhampered by violence or coercion. Achieving substantial peace within Turkey and in the Middle East depends upon a thorough revision of war policies by all governments contracted with the Turkish regime and a genuine commitment to the de-escalation of militarization, including the cancellation of arms deals that support the violent suppression of democracy. 

***

Appel d’universitaires pour la solidarité internationale après l’attentat d’Ankara

L’attentat sanglant du 10 Octobre a fait plus de 100 morts parmi les manifestants qui s’étaient rassemblés à Ankara pour exiger du gouvernement turc la reprise des négociations de paix avec les Kurdes, autoritairement interrompues au printemps 2015.

Universitaires et intellectuels de différents pays, nous exigeons que le gouvernement turc soit sommé de rendre des comptes sur sa responsabilité dans ce massacre, et nous appelons tous les gouvernements à reconsidérer leurs relations actuelles avec le gouvernement turc.

De sérieuses présomptions existent en effet quant à la complicité d’agents de l’Etat dans la préparation de l’attentat. Seule une commission d’enquête indépendante, de préférence sous l’égide des Nations-Unies, peut faire toute la lumière sur ce point. Et dans l’attente de ses conclusions, il faut que tout accord bilatéral ou multilatéral dont la Turquie est partie prenante soit suspendu, du moins jusqu’à ce que le gouvernement d’Ankara ait démontré sa volonté de mettre fin aux intimidations, aux persécutions et aux assassinats de citoyens turcs qui revendiquent leurs droits fondamentaux.

Nous appelons à la solidarité internationale avec les peuples de Turquie qui refusent d’obéir à un pouvoir de plus en plus autoritaire et illégitime. L’usage massif de moyens extra-judiciaires pour soumettre la population kurde de Turquie et réduire l’opposition démocratique au silence, quels qu’en soient les prétextes, ne saurait se réclamer de quelque nécessité politique que ce soit. Nous exigeons que soient protégées les vies des civils, garanties la liberté de rassemblement et des élections libres et pluralistes, sans pressions ni violences.

Plus généralement, nous appelons à une révision complète des politiques de guerre de la part de tous les gouvernements collaborant avec le régime actuel en Turquie. Seule une telle révision peut apporter  une paix durable en Turquie et au Moyen-Orient. Il faudrait aussi qu’elle s’accompagne d’un véritable engagement en faveur de la démilitarisation  des conflits, y compris par l’annulation des contrats d’armements utilisés pour noyer dans la violence les aspirations démocratiques des citoyens de la région.

***

Akademisyenlerden Ankara Katliamı Sonrasında Uluslararası Dayanışma Çağrısı

10 Ekim’de Ankara’da 100’den fazla barış göstericisini öldüren korkunç bomba saldırısının ardından, biz aşağıda imzası bulunan akademisyen ve araştırmacılar, Türkiye hükümetinden bu olayların hesabını vermesini, tüm dünya hükümetlerinin de Türkiye hükümetiyle ilişkilerini gözden geçirmelerini talep ediyoruz.

Ankara katliamının gerçekleşmesinde devlet aktörlerinin işbirliği olduğuna dair ciddi iddiaların Birleşmiş Milletler çatısı altında bağımsız komisyonlarca soruşturulması gerektiğine inanıyoruz. Türkiye ile mevcut tüm ikili ve çok taraflı anlaşmalar, temel haklarını savunan insanların sindirilmemesi, taciz edilmemesi ve katledilmemesi için somut adımlar atılması koşuluna bağlanmalıdır.

Otoriter ve gayrımeşru bir rejime direnen Türkiye halklarıyla uluslararası dayanışma için çağrı yapıyoruz. Kürt nüfusu sindirmek ve muhalefeti susturmak için yasal olmayan araçların devreye sokulması her ne bahaneyle olursa olsun onanamaz, siyasi zorunluluk olarak mazur görülemez. Ankara’daki yürüyüşün amaçlarından biri, Türkiye hükümetinin Kürtlerle sürdürdüğü ve 2015 baharında askıya aldığı barış görüşmelerini yeniden başlatmasını sağlamaktı.

Türkiye’de sivil halkın yaşam hakkının korunmasını, toplanma özgürlüğünün güvence altına alınmasını, şiddetten ve baskıdan arınmış özgür ve açık seçimlerin sağlanmasını talep ediyoruz. Türkiye ve Orta Doğu’da kalıcı barışın sağlanması için, Türkiye rejimiyle anlaşmalı olan tüm hükümetlerin savaş politikalarını baştan aşağı gözden geçirmeleri, bölgede militarizasyonu azaltmak için samimi olarak sorumluluk sergilemeleri şarttır, buna demokrasinin şiddetle bastırılmasına vesile olan silah satışlarının iptali de dahildir.

***

Unter dem Eindruck des entsetzlichen Bombenanschlags, der in Ankara am 10. Oktober mehr als einhundert Friedensdemonstrant/innen das Leben gekostet hat, rufen wir, die unterzeichnenden Akademiker/innen und Wissenschaftler/innen, die türkische Regierung dazu auf, für diese Ereignisse Rechenschaft abzulegen. Ebenso fordern wir sämtliche Regierungen dazu auf, ihre Beziehungen zur türkischen Regierung kritisch zu prüfen.

Die schwerwiegenden Vorwürfe einer Komplizenschaft von Staatsakteuren am Massenmord von Ankara müssen überprüft und eine unabhängige Untersuchungskommission, vorzugsweise unter Federführung der Vereinten Nationen, eingesetzt werden. Alle bi- und multilateralen Vereinbarungen mit der Türkei müssen davon abhängig gemacht werden, dass nachweislich jede Anstrengung unternommen wird, um die Einschüchterungen, die Schikane, und die Morde an denen, die lediglich ihre Grundrechte verteidigen, zu beenden.

Wir rufen zur internationalen Solidarität mit den Menschen in der Türkei auf, die sich autoritärer und illegitimer Herrschaft widersetzten. Die vermeintlichen politischen Notwendigkeiten, mit denen der Einsatz extralegaler Mittel zur Unterdrückung der kurdischen Bevölkerung und die Versuche, die Opposition zum Schweigen zu bringen, begründet werden, können nicht akzeptiert werden. Die Demonstration in Ankara war ein Aufruf an die türkische Regierung, die Friedensgespräche mit den Kurden, die sie im Frühjahr 2015 abgebrochen hatte, wieder aufzunehmen.

Wir fordern: den Schutz der Zivilbevölkerung, die Garantie der Versammlungsfreiheit, freie und offene Wahlen, unbeeinflusst von Zwang und Gewalt. Damit in der Türkei und im Mittleren Osten nachhaltig Frieden hergestellt werden kann, müssen alle Regierungen, die mit dem türkischen Regime vertraglich verbunden sind, ihre Kriegspolitik revidieren und sich auf ein Ende der Militarisierung verpflichten. Dies beinhaltet den Stopp von Waffenexporten, die der gewaltsamen Unterdrückung von Demokratie dienen.

SIGNATORIES

Meltem Ahıska, Boğaziçi University, Istanbul

Etienne Balibar, Université de Paris 10 /Kingston University London

Judith Butler, University of California, Berkeley

Ayça Çubukçu, London School of Economics

Başak Ertür, Birkbeck College, University of London

Zeynep Gambetti, Boğaziçi University, Istanbul

Marianne Hirsch, Columbia University, New York

Elena Loizidou, Birkbeck, University of London

Joan Scott, Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton

Elda Abrevaya, psychologist, psychoanalyst, Istanbul

Lila Abu-Lughod, Columbia University, New York

Gilbert Achcar, SOAS, University of London

Hülya Adak, Sabancı University

Gülcan Akırmak, clinical psychologist, Işık University, Istanbul

Nadje Al-Ali, SOAS, University of London

Greg Albo, York University, Toronto

Ayşe Gül Altınay, Sabancı University, Istanbul

Janine Altounian, essayist and translator

Elmar Altvater, Freie Universität, Berlin

Michael Arfken, University of Prince Edward Island, Charlottetown

Maria Aristodemou, Birkbeck, University of London

Talal Asad, Graduate Center, City University of New York

Athena Athenasiou, Panteion University, Athens

Bilgin Ayata, University of Basel

Albena Azmanova, University of Kent

Evren Balta, Yıldız Technical University, Istanbul

Amy Bartholomew, Carleton University, Ottowa

Pınar Bedirhanoğlu, Middle East Technical University, Ankara

Zeineb Ben Said Cherni, Faculté des Sciences Humaines et Sociales de Tunis

Seyla Benhabib, Yale University, Connecticut ;

Henry Bernstein, SOAS, University of London

Sophie Bessis, Institut des Relations Internationales et Stratégiques, Paris

Chetan Bhatt, London School of Economics

Jacques Bidet, Université de Paris-Ouest

Constantin Boundas, Trent University

Bill Bowring, Birkbeck, University of London

Hamit Bozarslan, EHESS, Paris

Sarah Bracke, Ghent Univeristy

Wendy Brown, University of California, Berkeley

Eddie Bruce-Jones, Birkbeck, University of London

Susan Buck-Morss, City University of New York

George Caffentzis, University of Southern Maine

Claude Calame, Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, Paris

Craig Calhoun, London School of Economics

Marie-Claire Caloz-Tschopp, Collège International de Philosophie, Paris

Al Campbell, University of Utah

Joseph H. Carens, University of Toronto

Senija Causevic, SOAS, University of London

Paula Chakravartty, New York University

Anastasia Chamberlen, Birkbeck, University of London

Partha Chatterjee, Columbia University, New York / Centre for Studies in Social Sciences, Calcutta

Patrice Cohen-Séat, lawyer, Paris

Catherine Colliot-Thélène, Université Rennes 1

Maria José Contreras, Universidad Catolica de Chile, Santiago

Simten Coşar, Hacettepe University, Ankara

Deborah Cowen, University of Toronto

Christopher Cramer, SOAS, University of London

Paolo Cuttitta, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam

Hamid Dabashi, Columbia University, New York

Angela Y. Davis, University of California, Santa Cruz

Boaventura de Sousa Santos, University of Coimbra

Jodi Dean, Hobart and William Smith Colleges, Geneva, New York

Sila Demirors, SOAS, University of London

Costas Douzinas, Birkbeck, University of London

Bora Erdağı, Kocaeli University

Aysegul Ergul, Carleton University, Ottowa

Samera Esmeir, University of California, Berkeley

Jean-Louis Fabiani, Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, Paris/ Central European University, Budapest

Éric Fassin, Université Paris 8

Shelley Feldman, Cornell University, Ithaca

Elisabeth Gauthier, Transform! Europe, Paris

Akis Gavrilidis, University of Macedonia, Thessaloniki

Adam Gearey, Birkbeck, University of London

Nicole Gervasio, Columbia University, New York

Peter Geschiere, University of Amsterdam

Paul Gilroy, King’s College, London

Marcial Godoy-Anativia, New York University

Jamie Gough, University of Sheffield

David Graeber, London School of Economics

Victor Granado Almena, Universidad Computense, Madrid

Oscar Guardiola-Rivera, Birkbeck, University of London

Raquel S. L. Guzzo, Pontifícia Universidade Católica de Campinas

Bella Habip, psychoanalyst, Istanbul

Michael Hardt, Duke University, Durham

Laurence Harris, SOAS, University of London

David Harvey, Graduate Center, City University of New York

Nanna Heidenreich, Braunschweig University of Art

Jean Howard, Columbia University, New York

Aida A. Hozic, University of Florida

Alan Hunt, Carleton University, Ottowa

Andreas Huyssen, Columbia University, New York

Ahmet İnsel, Université de Galatasaray, Istanbul / Université Paris 1

Sibel Irzık, Sabancı University, Istanbul

Engin Isin, Open University, London

Mehmet İzbudak, SOAS, University of London

Banu Karaca, Forum Transregional Studies, Berlin

Cristobal Kay, SOAS, University of London

Sarah Keenan, Birkbeck, University of London

Catherine Kellogg, University of Alberta

Jane Kelly, Kingston University

Pierre Khalfa, Fondation Copernic, Paris

Milena Grass Kleiner, Pontifica Universidad Catolica de Chile

Kritnet (Network Critical Migration and Border Regime Studies), Germany

Cecile Lavergne, Université de Paris-Ouest

Alisa Lebow, University of Sussex

Jens Lerche, SOAS, University of London

Jean-Claude Léveque, Université de Turin

John Lister, Coventry University

Yahya Madra, Boğaziçi University, Istanbul

Thomas Marois, SOAS, University of London

Ruth Marshall, University of Toronto

Athanasios Marvakis, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki

David McNally, York University, Toronto

Angela McRobbie, Goldsmiths, University of London

Brinkley Messick, Columbia University, New York

Sandro Mezzadra, University of Bologna

Alessandra Mezzadri, SOAS, University of London

Pauline Milani, University of Fribourg

Shahrzad Mojab, University of Toronto

John Morrissey, National University of Ireland, Galway

John Mullen, Université de Rouen

Jean-Luc Nancy, Université de Strasbourg

Antonio Negri

Lorie Novak, New York University

Denis O’Hearn, State University of New York, Binghamton

Bertrand Ogilvie, Université Paris 8

Şebnem Oğuz, Başkent University, Ankara

Seçkin Sertdemir Özdemir, Université de Galatasaray, Istanbul

Ceren Özselçuk, Boğaziçi University, Istanbul

Leo Panitch, York University, Toronto

Xavier Papaïs, Université de Genève

Ian Parker, University of Leicester

David Pavón-Cuéllar, Universidad Michoacana de San Nicolás de Hidalgo

Ilaria Possenti, University of Verona

Geraldine Pratt, University of British Columbia

Manjeet Ramgotra, SOAS, University of London

Jacques Rancière, Université Paris 8

George S. Rigakos, Carleton University, Ottowa

Michele Riot-Sarcey, Université Paris 8

Bruce Robbins, Columbia University, New York

Jacqueline Rose, Birkbeck, University of London

Srirupa Roy, University of Göttingen

Alfredo Saad Filho, SOAS, University of London

Leticia Sabsay, London School of Economics

Pierre Salama, Université Paris 13

Darrow Schecter, University of Sussex

Sarah Schilliger, University of Basel

Lynne Segal, Birkbeck, University of London

Pinar Selek, sociologue et écrivain

Jacques Servin, New York University

Adania Shibli, writer

Subir Sinha, SOAS, University of London

Vicky Skoumbi, editor-in-chief of Aletheia

Alisa Solomon, Columbia University, New York

Céline Spector, Université Bordeaux Montaigne

Barbara Spinelli, member of the European Parliament

Leo Spitzer, Dartmouth College, New Hampshire

Annabelle Sreberny, SOAS, University of London

Bernard Stiegler, Compiègne / Nanjing / Humboldt Universities / Centre Pompidou

Marita Sturken, New York University

Christophe Tafelmacher, lawyer, Lausanne

Michael Taussig, Columbia University, New York

Diana Taylor, New York University

Aylin Tekiner, artist and activist

Nicholas Thoburn, University of Manchester

Nilgün Toker, Ege Üniversitesi, İzmir

Charles W. Tolman, University of Victoria

André Tosel, Université de Nice

Elena Tzelepis, University of Athens

Salim Vally, University of Johannesburg

Eleni Varikas, Université Paris 8

Dimitris Vergetis, director of Aletheia

Marie-Christine Vergiat, députée européenne

Rebecca Vilkomerson, Jewish Voice for Peace, Oakland

Immanuel Wallerstein, Yale University, New Haven

Eyal Weizman, Goldsmiths, University of London

Michael O. West, State University of New York, Binghamton

Frieder Otto Wolf, Freie Universität, Berlin

Gaye Yılmaz, Boğaziçi University, Istanbul

Slavoj Zizek, University of Ljubljana

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Past is Present: Settler Colonialism Matters!

On 5-6 March 2011, the Palestine Society at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) in London will hold its seventh annual conference, "Past is Present: Settler Colonialism in Palestine." This year`s conference aims to understand Zionism as a settler colonial project which has, for more than a century, subjected Palestine and Palestinians to a structural and violent form of destruction, dispossession, land appropriation and erasure in the pursuit of a new Jewish Israeli society. By organizing this conference, we hope to reclaim and revive the settler colonial paradigm and to outline its potential to inform and guide political strategy and mobilization.

The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is often described as unique and exceptional with little resemblance to other historical or ongoing colonial conflicts. Yet, for Zionism, like other settler colonial projects such as the British colonization of Ireland or European settlement of North America, South Africa or Australia, the imperative is to control the land and its resources -- and to displace the original inhabitants. Indeed, as conference keynote speaker Patrick Wolfe, one of the foremost scholars on settler colonialism and professor at La Trobe University in Victoria, Australia, argues, "the logic of this project, a sustained institutional tendency to eliminate the Indigenous population, informs a range of historical practices that might otherwise appear distinct--invasion is a structure not an event."[i]

Therefore, the classification of the Zionist movement as a settler colonial project, and the Israeli state as its manifestation, is not merely intended as a statement on the historical origins of Israel, nor as a rhetorical or polemical device. Rather, the aim is to highlight Zionism`s structural continuities and the ideology which informs Israeli policies and practices in Palestine and toward Palestinians everywhere. Thus, the Nakba -- whether viewed as a spontaneous, violent episode in war, or the implementation of a preconceived master plan -- should be understood as both the precondition for the creation of Israel and the logical outcome of Zionist settlement in Palestine.

Moreover, it is this same logic that sustains the continuation of the Nakba today. As remarked by Benny Morris, “had he [David Ben Gurion] carried out full expulsion--rather than partial--he would have stabilised the State of Israel for generations.”[ii] Yet, plagued by an “instability”--defined by the very existence of the Palestinian nation--Israel continues its daily state practices in its quest to fulfill Zionism’s logic to maximize the amount of land under its control with the minimum number of Palestinians on it. These practices take a painful array of manifestations: aerial and maritime bombardment, massacre and invasion, house demolitions, land theft, identity card confiscation, racist laws and loyalty tests, the wall, the siege on Gaza, cultural appropriation, and the dependence on willing (or unwilling) native collaboration and security arrangements, all with the continued support and backing of imperial power. 

Despite these enduring practices however, the settler colonial paradigm has largely fallen into disuse. As a paradigm, it once served as a primary ideological and political framework for all Palestinian political factions and trends, and informed the intellectual work of committed academics and revolutionary scholars, both Palestinians and Jews.

The conference thus asks where and why the settler colonial paradigm was lost, both in scholarship on Palestine and in politics; how do current analyses and theoretical trends that have arisen in its place address present and historical realities? While acknowledging the creativity of these new interpretations, we must nonetheless ask: when exactly did Palestinian natives find themselves in a "post-colonial" condition? When did the ongoing struggle over land become a "post-conflict" situation? When did Israel become a "post-Zionist" society? And when did the fortification of Palestinian ghettos and reservations become "state-building"?

In outlining settler colonialism as a central paradigm from which to understand Palestine, this conference re-invigorates it as a tool by which to analyze the present situation. In doing so, it contests solutions which accommodate Zionism, and more significantly, builds settler colonialism as a political analysis that can embolden and inform a strategy of active, mutual, and principled Palestinian alignment with the Arab struggle for self-determination, and indigenous struggles in the US, Latin America, Oceania, and elsewhere.

Such an alignment would expand the tools available to Palestinians and their solidarity movement, and reconnect the struggle to its own history of anti-colonial internationalism. At its core, this internationalism asserts that the Palestinian struggle against Zionist settler colonialism can only be won when it is embedded within, and empowered by, the broader Arab movement for emancipation and the indigenous, anti-racist and anti-colonial movement--from Arizona to Auckland.

SOAS Palestine Society invites everyone to join us at what promises to be a significant intervention in Palestine activism and scholarship.

For over 30 years, SOAS Palestine Society has heightened awareness and understanding of the Palestinian people, their rights, culture, and struggle for self-determination, amongst students, faculty, staff, and the broader public. SOAS Palestine society aims to continuously push the frontiers of discourse in an effort to make provocative arguments and to stimulate debate and organizing for justice in Palestine through relevant conferences, and events ranging from the intellectual and political impact of Edward Said`s life and work (2004), international law and the Palestine question (2005), the economy of Palestine and its occupation (2006), the one state (2007), 60 Years of Nakba, 60 Years of Resistance (2009), and most recently, the Left in Palestine (2010).

For more information on the SOAS Palestine Society 7th annual conference, Past is Present: Settler Colonialism in Palestine: www.soaspalsoc.org

SOAS Palestine Society Organizing Collective is a group of committed students that has undertaken to organize annual academic conferences on Palestine since 2003.

 


[i] Patrick Wolfe, Settler Colonialism and the Transformation of Anthropology: The Politics and Poetics of an Ethnographic Event, Cassell, London, p. 163

[ii] Interview with Benny Morris, Survival of the Fittest, Haaretz, 9. January 2004, http://cosmos.ucc.ie/cs1064/jabowen/IPSC/php/art.php?aid=5412