No more conferences in Arizona: Anthropologists condemn Immigration Law

Even (seemingly?) rather conservative organisations are able to act and protest: In an official resolution, passed on Saturday, The American Anthropological Association has condemned the new immigration law in Arizona.

The association will refuse to hold scholarly conferences in Arizona until the law is ”either repealed or struck down as constitutionally invalid”, as we read in the AAA blog:

“The AAA has a long and rich history of supporting policies that prohibit discrimination based on race, ethnicity, national origin, religion or sexual orientation,” AAA Executive Board Member (and resolution author) Debra Martin said in a statement issued today. “Recent actions by the Arizona officials and law enforcement are not only discriminatory; they are also predatory and unconstitutional.”

The AAA describes the so-called Arizona Senate Bill (SB) 1070 as ”the broadest and most strict law on immigration enacted in generations”. The organisation sees the law as a movement to target and harass Arizona’s large population of Hispanic immigrants.

>> read more on the AAA blog

In December, the AAA condemned the coup in Honduras. And in 2006, the AAA stood up against torture and the occupation of Iraq

Last week, Indigenous and American Indian Studies scholars called for an economic boycott of Arizona.

See also the post at Savage Minds: Whiteness as Ethnicity in Arizona’s New Racial Order

SEE ALSO:

Demonstrations against tougher immigration policy = birth of a new civil rights movement?

“Anthropologists Should Participate in the Current Immigration Debate”

Interview with Arjun Appadurai: “An increasing and irrational fear of the minorities”

Why borders don’t help - An engaged anthropology of the US-Mexican border

More Global Apartheid? New French immigration law

“Discuss politics!” - How anthropologists in Indonesia engage with the public