{"id":13719,"date":"2025-02-26T08:00:43","date_gmt":"2025-02-26T13:00:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tempestmag.org\/?p=13719"},"modified":"2025-03-02T01:47:46","modified_gmt":"2025-03-02T06:47:46","slug":"scholasticide-at-the-american-historical-association","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tempestmag.org\/test02\/2025\/02\/scholasticide-at-the-american-historical-association\/","title":{"rendered":"Scholasticide at the American Historical Association\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"

O<\/span>n January 5, 2025, attendees of the American Historical Association\u2019s (AHA) annual business meeting approved a \u201cResolution to Oppose Scholasticide in Gaza\u201d by a margin of 428 to 88. Put forward by Historians for Peace and Democracy, the resolution<\/a> notes that Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have destroyed 80 percent of Gaza\u2019s schools and all 12 of its university campuses, leaving 625,000 students without access to education. In addition to killing 261 teachers and 95 university professors, the IDF has destroyed numerous archives, museums, libraries, cultural centers, and bookstores. If passed, the AHA would affirm the \u201cright of all peoples to freely teach and learn about their past,\u201d and condemn the violence in Gaza that undermines that right. The resolution further called for a permanent ceasefire and the creation of a committee to assist in rebuilding Gaza\u2019s educational infrastructure.<\/p>\n

After its passage the resolution was sent to the AHA\u2019s Council, which could have accepted it or sent it to the general membership for a vote. Instead, the Council vetoed the resolution. In a single paragraph posted on the AHA website, the Council claimed that the resolution contravened the Association\u2019s constitution<\/a> and bylaws, and lay outside the organization\u2019s mission and purpose. Though the statement quoted the association\u2019s mission to promote historical knowledge and research, it said nothing specific about how the resolution violated the constitution, or how exactly it lay outside the association\u2019s mission.<\/p>\n

The Council\u2019s veto has caused a major controversy in the world\u2019s largest association of professional historians. Though historically an elitist organization, in recent years the AHA has become more active in advocating for educators\u2019 rights across the educational spectrum, from primary school teachers to university professors. The highly undemocratic veto of January 17 will undoubtedly be perceived by many of the organization\u2019s more than 11,000 members as yet another example of U.S. educational institutions\u2019 hypocrisy when it comes to Israel-Palestine. Whether Ivy League administrations or leading academic associations, it seems that educational institutions\u2019 fear of offending political authorities trumps the defense of basic democratic principles.<\/p>\n

Scholasticide, not a new phenomenon<\/h4>\n

Though the \u201cResolution to Oppose Scholasticide in Gaza\u201d is primarily concerned with events in Gaza since 2023, the term scholasticide is not new. It was coined<\/a> more than a decade ago by Karma Nabulsi, professor of Politics at Oxford University, and refers to the \u201csystemic destruction, in whole or in part, of the educational life of a national, ethnic, racial, or religious group.\u201d Though developed in the context of Israel\u2019s targeting of Gaza\u2019s Ministry of Education and other learning-related buildings in 2009, the concept refers to a pattern of Israeli attacks on Palestinian scholars, students, and educational institutions that dates as far back as the Nakba of 1948. This pattern, Nabulsi argues, is evidence of an effort to eradicate a Palestinian tradition in which education and freedom of thought are highly valued as a means to resist occupation and imagine a different world.<\/p>\n

A 2017 report<\/a> by Friends of Birzeit University details how Palestinian youth have been forced to contend for seven decades with oppressive and violent conditions of occupation and exile. A scarcity of schools due to planning restrictions and the constant threat of demolition exists in the West Bank as well as Gaza, while students are often forced to learn without artificial light or internet access because of Israel-imposed energy shortages. The IDF has subjected students to prolonged and arbitrary military detention for many years, and students are regularly detained for exercising their right to assembly, association, and expression. Scholasticide is not a new phenomenon, and has not been confined to times of violent conflict.<\/p>\n