American Historical Assoc. Votes Overwhelmingly to Support Resolution to Oppose Scholasticide in Gaza, with Jadaliyya Co-Editor Sherene Seikaly on Democracy Now!

AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org, The War and Peace Report. I’m Amy Goodman.

We begin today’s show with a vote Sunday by the oldest learned association in the United States, the American Historical Association, which was founded by an act of Congress, to approve a “Resolution to Oppose Scholasticide in Gaza.”

THAVOLIA GLYMPH: Opposing the resolution, 88 votes.

AHA MEMBER: Whoa!

THAVOLIA GLYMPH: In favor of the resolution, 428 votes.

AHA MEMBERS: Yes! [cheering]

 

AMY GOODMAN: The results of that vote were read by the outgoing president of the American Historical Association, Duke University’s historian Thavolia Glymph. The vote was a vote of 428 in favor and 88 opposed. And the resolution was written by Historians for Peace and Democracy. There were four abstentions. This is one of the leaders of the movement talking about, right after the vote, her response.

SHERENE SEIKALY: We just won a very basic resolution to oppose scholasticide and 15 months of genocide at the American Historical Association. We won it in a landslide. And this moment makes me feel like, despite the fact that every single day for the last 15 months I have watched the obliteration of my people, the future is still ours.

AMY GOODMAN: Professor Sherene Seikaly.

The American Historical Association’s Resolution to Oppose Scholasticide in Gaza reads, quote, “Whereas the US government has underwritten the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) campaign in Gaza with over $12.5 billion in military aid between October 2023 and June 2024. Whereas that campaign, beyond causing massive death and injury to Palestinian civilians and the collapse of basic life structures, has effectively obliterated Gaza’s education system; Whereas in April 2024, UN experts expressed 'grave concern over the pattern of attacks on schools, universities, teachers, and students in the Gaza Strip' including [quote] 'the killing of 261 teachers and 95 university professors … which may constitute an intentional effort to comprehensively destroy the Palestinian education system, an action known as scholasticide,'” unquote.

That’s the Resolution to Oppose Scholasticide in Gaza, which was approved Sunday by the American Historical Association after speakers from both sides presented their arguments. The measure now will be examined by the AHA’s elected council, where they can approve it, they can veto it, or decide to put the membership vote at the business meeting yesterday out to a full vote by the organization, that has well over 10,000 members.

For more, we’re joined in Philadelphia by Sherene Seikaly, an associate professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara. She’s the editor of the Journal of Palestine Studies and co-editor of Jadaliyya. Seikaly is on the editorial board of The American Historical Review. She helped to lead the push for the vote. And joining me here in New York is Barbara Weinstein, a history professor at New York University. She served as president of the American Historical Association in 2007.

We welcome you both to Democracy Now! We just heard professor Seikaly responding at the Hilton at the moment of this overwhelming vote by the membership who attended the business meeting. Professor Weinstein, you were president of the American Historical Association in 2007. Can you talk about the significance of the AHA, what its role is in American society, its history, for taking this vote today — yesterday?

BARBARA WEINSTEIN: Well, the AHA is, again, the oldest learned — continuing learned society in the U.S., and I think it’s among the very few that were created by an act of Congress. So the AHA is kind of almost a gatekeeping organization for the history not just of the United States, but because — it’s not just historians of the U.S., it’s historians of every place on the globe. And so, I think it has generally been a relatively moderate, sometimes even conservative, organization. But I think over the years it has become increasingly clear that we can’t have a narrow definition of what our roles are as historians, and there’s been more and more of a willingness to take a position on issues that relate directly to our roles as historians, as educators, as researchers, as archivists. And so, this is really a significant indication of the organization’s willingness to think about its role more capaciously.

AMY GOODMAN: And so, if you can talk about the positions it’s taken in the past, even as you were president in 2007?

BARBARA WEINSTEIN: So, in 2007, I think that was a first moment when we were willing to do this, because — just to very quickly say, there’s a back story to this, which is that during the Vietnam War, the AHA was very resistant to taking any kind of position on the war, insisting that it was not a political organization, and therefore could not take a position. But by the time we’re talking about the Iraq War, we could already see the implications that the war had for doing research, for traveling to conferences, that it was having an impact on the lives of scholars. And so, the connection between what the association does and what was happening in the world was becoming clearer and clearer. And that resolution passed, the condemning the invasion of Iraq, fairly easily. So it indicated a real turn in the association’s direction.

AMY GOODMAN: Well, it’s fascinating to see the four presidents — the president-elect in two years; the outgoing president, Thavolia Glymph, the Duke University historian, who read the results of this vote; and Ben Vinson, who’s now the new president of the American Historical Association, who is the president, the new president, of Howard University.

BARBARA WEINSTEIN: Yes, yes.

AMY GOODMAN: So, Sherene Seikaly, you are one of the spearheads of this resolution, that overwhelmingly passed. You are also editor of the Journal of Palestine Studies, not to mention a historian at UC Santa Barbara. Talk about the significance of this moment and why you chose to focus this resolution on scholasticide.

SHERENE SEIKALY: Thank you so much, Amy.

And I really have to give credit where it’s due, which is to the Historians for Peace and Democracy, which is a group that actually began in 2003 under the name of Historians Against the War. And they really — they were really the spearheads and leaders of this resolution.

I think it’s really significant, as a historian of Palestine, the American Historical Association last January, in the — you know, three months in to the beginning of the genocide, did not have any panels on Palestine. And I remember very strongly feeling like I was in an alternate world, with this huge conference, right? It’s one of the largest academic — sorry — associations, that has — correct me if I’m wrong, Barbara — 11,000 members. And it was so shocking to be at a conference in the midst of this interminable grief, a conference of historians, and not have a single word being talked about directly centering Palestine and the Palestinians.

And so, this moment was one I never thought I would experience, in which we are really recognizing both the Israeli assault and destruction of the education system in the Gaza Strip. Since October 2023, Israel, armed, aided and abetted by the United States, has destroyed 80% of the schools in the Gaza Strip and every single university. And another thing that I think is often put to the side or marginalized, and we really have to center as historians, is that almost every single archive, library and bookstore have been bombed and destroyed by Israel. And so, this genocide is really attempting to destroy our capacity to narrate our past and to imagine our future. And to be able to articulate a principled but really not that radical of a resolution opposing this, with such a landslide of support, was a turning point for the American Historical Association and, I believe, for the field in this country.

AMY GOODMAN: I wanted to get your response to an opponent, Natalia Petrzela — I’m not sure if I’m pronouncing her name correctly — a New School professor — I’m reading from Inside Higher Ed — who said the resolution doesn’t mention the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israelis or hostages Hamas took. She said, “Passing this resolution as the view of the AHA stands to hurt the historical profession and academia writ large.” She said it would only lend credibility to accusations of political bias in academe, and, quote, “these attacks will only intensify with the coming [Trump] administration.” Professor Seikaly, your response to that? And I’d also like to get yours, as well, Professor Weinstein. Professor Seikaly?

SHERENE SEIKALY: Thank you. So, I would say, first, about the point, the bothsideisms, right? And we got this from more than one of the opposing figures, attempting to equate the last 15 months with the incidents of October 7. And to me, that is really a very clear position of valuing certain lives over others. And this is the kind of hiding of the truth that we have seen. We know that today in the Gaza Strip, when there are rumors of humanitarian convoys coming, Israeli soldiers bulldoze corpses to hide the evidence of decomposing bodies. And it isn’t just these soldiers who are trying to hide the truth. This is also happening in mainstream media, in the courts, as well as in our universities. And I think this equating is really trying to mask that truth that can no longer hide under the rubble.

For the second point, and here I’d like to quote our colleague Van Gosse, who really warned us about falling prey to anticipatory obedience. I was really surprised and taken aback that historians would suggest that the way to deal with the coming attacks and precarity that academics will continue to feel, and might escalate under the Trump administration, by being passive and silent and not taking a principled stance. Scholars and students of history know much better than that. It is not — the way forward is not to be passive and obedient. The way forward is to be ethical and to stand for what is just and to stand against this Israeli genocide, which is, again, armed and abetted by the United States.

AMY GOODMAN: Professor Weinstein?

BARBARA WEINSTEIN: So, just before I directly answer the questions, I just want to emphasize what Sherene just said about the role of H-PAD, Historians for Peace and Democracy, and particularly Van Gosse and Margaret Power, who were the key movers — they’re the co-chairs and the key movers in putting this resolution together. First of all, to start with the second point, I completely agree with everything both Van Gosse said at the meeting and that Sherene just said, that the idea that we’re going to self-censor because people for whom most historians regard as in no way qualified to comment on our scholarship, to evaluate our scholarship, who are now in power, that we’re going to start censoring ourselves because of them, is really absurd, especially since we’re talking about people who are not going to be imprisoned and tortured as a result of saying things that the government doesn’t like. I mean, we’re not — it’s not — you know, it takes — it doesn’t take a lot to be a little bit brave and say, you know, “I’m not going to change the way I do history because Donald Trump is now president.” So, I mean, that whole argument about “we have to be careful, or we’ll be targeted,” it seems to me, borders on the absurd.

And as for the issue of October 7th, historians understand that the immediate cause of something is not necessarily what helps us understand all the processes involved. The October 7th may — you know, if I were doing a history of this war, obviously I would talk about October 7th. But if I’m talking about scholasticide, the destruction of every university in Gaza, the importance of October 7th exists in another realm of explanation.

AMY GOODMAN: Well, Professor Seikaly, as we begin to wrap up, the resolution ends this way. It says, “Finally, be it resolved that the AHA form a committee to assist in rebuilding Gaza’s educational infrastructure.” What would this look like?

SHERENE SEIKALY: I’m not sure. I think that what it looks like in the immediate is that we put our energy and our resources and our creativity as historians to follow the lead of scholars, Palestinian scholars in the Gaza Strip, as they continue, as they continue their educational mission from tents. And, you know, a collaborative collective of scholars from — Palestinian scholars in the Gaza Strip have said to us, “We started in these tents. We will continue in these tents.” And I think I would end with learning from those Palestinians in the Gaza Strip would entail, exactly as Barbara suggested, the lesson that history did not begin on October 7 and that this is a centurylong struggle for Palestinian political rights and freedom.

AMY GOODMAN: Sherene Seikaly, I want to thank you for being with us, a professor at University of California, Santa Barbara, historian there, and editor of the Journal of Palestine Studies, as well as co-editor of Jadaliyya, and Barbara Weinstein, former president of the American Historical Association, a historian at New York University here in the city.

Next up, “The Return of Trump—II.” We’ll speak with historian Quinn Slobodian about the influence of tech billionaires, like Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos, on the incoming Trump administration. And we’ll talk about his book, Crack-Up Capitalism: Market Radicals and the Dream of a World Without Democracy. Stay with us.