Sharing on behalf of the Social Responsibilities Round Table:
Members of the Social Responsibilities Round Table would like to invite you to an event at the upcoming ALA conference that we feel will be of special interest to you and other members of the Sustainability Round Table. On Sunday, June 25 at 10:30 AM – 12:00 PM SRRT will sponsor a showing of Just Vision's powerful award-winning documentary Boycott in McCormick Place W471A as part of the Now Showing @ ALA series. The film showing will be followed by a Q&A with Just Vision's Public Engagement Manager, Kate Schwartz.
Boycott follows the stories of a news publisher in Arkansas, an attorney in Arizona, and a speech therapist in Texas, who, when forced to choose between their jobs and their political beliefs, launch legal battles that expose an attack on freedom of speech across the US. The film traces the impact of state legislation passed in 35 states designed to penalize individuals and companies that choose to boycott Israel due to its human rights record. Several of these state laws have been declared unconstitutional, but the Arkansas law has been upheld in court. (For over 200 examples of how this legislation has impacted libraries, see SRRT's webpage Anti-BDS Legislation: The Library Connection.)
The state anti-boycott laws discussed in the film were drafted by the rightwing organization ALEC (the American Legislative Exchange Council). Since 2021 ALEC has also utilized this legislation as a template for bills banning state contracts with companies that engage in boycotts of fossil fuels and the firearms industry and bills banning state investment in companies that practice responsible environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG). All this legislation is part of a general assault on free speech and on movements for a healthy environment, gun safety, social justice, and progressive social change.
We hope you'll join us to learn more about these laws and their wider implications for our right to voice dissent in America. And we hope you will share this announcement with other members of the Sustainability Round Table.
Many thanks and best wishes,
Tom Twiss
Co-chair, International Responsibilities Task Force
Social Responsibilities Round Table
PS: You and other members of SustainRT may also be interested in another program SRRT is sponsoring at the ALA conference. On Saturday, June 24, 2:30-3:30 PM in McCormick Place, W195 SRRT will present a program on "US-Iran Relations in the Biden Era" with Trita Parsi, the award-winning author and executive vice president of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft.
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Tina Chan
Coordinator, ALA Sustainability Round Table
Reference Services Program Manager and Humanities Librarian
MIT Libraries
She/Her/Hers
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