On Friday 27 January, President Donald J. Trump signed an Executive Order on Immigration effectively banning people from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen entry to the United States. Both in its presuppositions and its consequences, the Executive Order is discriminatory against the inhabitants of the countries concerned.
As members of the scientific community in the Netherlands, we sign this pledge of non-cooperation with the Executive Order. Our concern goes out to all persons who are now barred from entering the United States on discriminatory grounds.
We are acutely aware of the implications this measure will have for our own daily activities as scientists and academics. Scientific development thrives on international cooperation and the possibility to engage with scholars across national borders. We are proud of our strong ties with individuals and institutions both in the United States and in the seven affected countries. We will work to maintain and strengthen these connections, and will not accept the exclusion of any colleagues as a result of this ban.
We therefore declare, that
- within our universities, research institutes and as individual scientists, we will work to uphold our principles of non-discrimination, cooperation and solidarity;
- we support the thousands of scientists and their institutions inside the US and elsewhere who have expressed their protest against the Executive Order;
- wherever the Executive Order might affect the work of scientists from the seven countries, we will take practical steps to cancel such effects (e.g. when organizing conferences or international workshops, joint research projects, and other forms of cooperation);
- we will use our connections to encourage action from the international scientific community to mitigate the immediate results of the ban, and to strengthen the call for its repeal.
We ask members of the scientific community to endorse and spread this pledge, both on an individual basis and through their institutions.
International Institute of Social History
For more information please contact communicatie{at]iisg.nl