ISA Forum of Sociology

Both individually and in our roles at the ISA, we share the global outrage over the ongoing genocide in Gaza. Since October 2023, the ISA has released three public statements expressing our profound concern for the suffering of the Palestinian people and calling for an immediate end to war and violations of human rights.

In those statements, the ISA officially called for:

1. An end to the genocide in Gaza and the escalating violence in the West Bank, and a complete end to Israel’s military occupation and all colonial practices in these territories, as well as in Lebanon and Syria;
2. An end to the apartheid-like conditions faced by Palestinians with Israeli citizenship; the establishment of conditions that allow for the return of Palestinian refugees, and the urgent, unimpeded delivery of humanitarian aid—currently obstructed by Israel’s government;
3. The protection of academic freedom and freedom of speech for all, especially faculty and students who research, teach, and speak out against the Israeli government's violent practices, both within Israel and globally.

The ISA has consistently defended the academic freedom of scholars persecuted for their views on this issue, including Israeli sociologists who have condemned the war and faced serious professional and personal consequences, including exile. These individuals are among those named in PACBI’s call for boycott.

Sociologists around the world have long stood at the forefront of social movements and political critique. The ISA Forum in Rabat continues this tradition. Several major panels will be dedicated to the Palestinian cause. Solidarity with Palestine and with Palestinian colleagues is central to our mission and will be clearly visible throughout the Forum. Palestinian scholars have been offered free registration, and we are working to support those unable to travel. The opening and closing ceremonies will reaffirm our condemnation of the genocide in Gaza and our solidarity with communities facing systemic violence and dispossession.

The ISA maintains no institutional relationship with Israeli universities or with the Israeli government. We welcome participation from individual Israeli scholars—as we do from Russian scholars—on the basis of academic freedom. The Israeli Sociological Society, a non-governmental body, has opposed settlement expansion and supported Palestinian colleagues. The Palestinian Sociological Association, a collective ISA member, has not called for a boycott of the Forum, and several Palestinian colleagues have explicitly supported our position.

The ISA Forum, held every four years, is organized by 68 Research Committees composed of individual ISA members. These committees do not represent countries or governments. The 2025 Forum in Rabat will welcome nearly 5,000 participants from over 100 countries.

We are deeply concerned that, rather than amplifying Palestinian voices, this boycott call may end up silencing them—especially those Palestinian scholars who plan to share their research and testimonies with a global audience in Rabat. Our commitment to Palestine has been visible throughout the organization of the Forum. Ironically, it is precisely this commitment that now makes the Forum a convenient target for pressure, despite its role as a rare and open space for critical reflection and solidarity.

We respect the right of civil society organizations to express disagreement and to call for boycotts. However, the ISA remains committed to its founding purpose: to offer a platform where sociologists—regardless of nationality, institutional affiliation, or political stance—can engage in meaningful, open, and critical dialogue.

We therefore respectfully ask those calling for a boycott to reflect on whether this particular Forum—organized for the first time in the Arab world, with a strong presence of Palestinian voices and a commitment to justice and decolonial knowledge—is the most appropriate target for such a campaign.

With respect and in solidarity,

Geoffrey PLEYERS, ISA President
Allison-Marie LOCONTO, President of the 5th ISA Forum of Sociology & ISA Vice-President for Research