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Open letter | In Defense of Immediate Ceasefire in Gaza, Academic Freedom, and Ethnomusicologist David McDonald
In Defense of Immediate Ceasefire in Gaza, Academic Freedom, and Ethnomusicologist David McDonald
The community of scholars and students of the Instituto de Etnomusicologia-Centro de Estudos em Música e Dança (INET-md) expresses its support and solidarity for our colleague, Professor David McDonald, Chair of the Department of Folklore and Ethnomusicology at Indiana University. On April 25, 2024, McDonald was arrested in a designated free-speech area of Indiana University’s Bloomington campus while trying to protect students who were participating in a peaceful demonstration against the violence in Gaza. McDonald has since been charged with criminal trespassing and banned without process from his campus for one year.
David McDonald has been a notable partner of INET-md. In 2016, he was the first of three keynote speakers invited by Prof. Maria de São José Côrte-Real (INET-md) at the “Protest Song and Social Change” Conference in Lisbon, and he also participated at the 46th World Conference of the International Council for Traditional Music conference in Lisbon in 2022. His chapter, “Sincerely Outspoken: Towards a Critical Activist Ethnomusicology,” appeared in Transforming Ethnomusicology (2021), co-edited by Salwa Castelo-Branco (INET-md). With Andrew Snyder (INET-md), he co-edited At the Crossroads of Music and Social Justice (2022) and Festival Activism (forthcoming), which includes chapters by Filippo Bonini Baraldi (INET-md) and Miguel Moniz (CRIA). His book, My Voice Is My Weapon, tells a fascinating history of Palestinian protest song, and he chairs one of the leading and long-standing institutions in our field.
We call on Indiana University to rescind the decision to ban McDonald from campus and to dismiss all charges, and we condemn in the strongest terms this unjust action and the larger attack on academic expression and democratic freedoms that it represents. We further extend our solidarity to the more than 2,000 students and faculty members who have been arrested during for protesting peacefully on different North American and European campuses over the last two weeks. We express our support for the recent “Statement Regarding the Ongoing Violence and Destruction of Cultural Heritage in Gaza”of the Society for Ethnomusicology, published on April 22, 2024, which:
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Condemns the ongoing violence against and killing of innocent civilians, and the deliberate destruction of Gazan culture heritage;
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Calls for an immediate and permanent ceasefire;
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Calls for an immediate, unimpeded humanitarian response that would provide aid and protection for Palestinian people, land, and heritage;
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Calls for the immediate release and return of kidnapped Israelis;
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Calls upon the relevant United Nations and other international agencies to work with Gazan specialists and determine the next steps in the process of recovery, reconstruction, and preservation of Palestinian material culture and heritage;
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Stands in support of the lives and livelihoods of all who seek peace in the region.
