Rejecting Complicity: ScholCommLab’s Statement of Support for PACBI Principles | Scholarly Communications Lab

In the wake of the genocide and scholasticide in Gaza, the Scholarly Communications Lab (ScholCommLab) asserts its commitment to align its activities with the principles laid out by the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI), which “advocates for a boycott of Israeli academic and cultural institutions for their deep and persistent complicity in Israel’s denial of Palestinian rights as stipulated by international law.” 

We make this commitment in light of overwhelming evidence that Israel is committing scholasticide—the deliberate destruction of education—in Gaza. Every university in Gaza has been obliterated, alongside the majority of Gaza’s 564 school buildings, libraries, and cultural heritage sites. As a result, 625,000 students are now deprived of their education, while tens of thousands have been killed, including hundreds of educators.

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Unlike other units at our universities—such as the Public Knowledge Project at SFU, with which we share members—the ScholCommLab retains the institutional positioning and academic freedom to speak out. We use this voice to call on academic institutions, including our own, to reflect on their inaction. At the same time, we affirm our commitment—as a scholarly collective—to the principles outlined by PACBI and to upholding the fundamental moral responsibilities of the modern university.

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