Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement against Israeli academic institutions

ATHENEA DIGITAL is a journal that addresses contemporary social phenomena in their multiple dimensions, including politics, with the primary objective of fostering critical reflection and dialogue in social research. Its pages advocate for a debate from an open and reflective perspective that does not ignore the connection between intellectual developments, social change processes, and institutional transformations. For this reason, at ATHENEA DIGITAL, we adhere to the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement against Israeli academic institutions.
BDS played a fundamental role in the resistance against apartheid in South Africa and, today, it can once again play that role in bringing an end to the criminal policies of the State of Israel. This movement compels us to place on the table the social and institutional conditions under which knowledge is generated in the academic world, constituting an example of positive action. This is not an attempt at censorship or the prohibition of any discourse, but rather a way to promote a mobilising debate on the occupation of Palestine and Israel’s apartheid policies, creating the conditions for liberating social sciences that are neither oppressive nor complicit in human rights violations.
At ATHENEA DIGITAL, we are aware that knowledge is not produced from neutrality, and for this reason, we encourage those who publish with us to make explicit the positions from which they conduct their research. In this regard, we cannot support work carried out at Israeli universities that actively collaborate with the military and political apparatus of the State. Universities are not places where any type of knowledge can be produced regardless of its effects. Therefore, we consider it inadmissible to publish knowledge that, either explicitly or by omission, is linked to genocidal policies, apartheid, or war crimes.
At ATHENEA DIGITAL, we commit to neither publishing, evaluating, arbitrating, nor advising on works affiliated with Israeli universities, nor requesting peer reviews or academic collaborations from individuals linked to such institutions. Since BDS is an institutional and not an individual boycott, Israeli academics may continue publishing in the journal by signing only with their names, without referencing an Israeli university. We will only accept work associated with Israeli institutions that explicitly position themselves in favour of human rights and against the occupation.
Furthermore, at ATHENEA DIGITAL, we provide a space for dialogue among researchers, welcoming critical works on current realities and opening our pages to all those who, for various reasons, are unable to publish in other media or are coerced by their institutions. Consequently, we assume a real and effective commitment to the possibility of dialogue—curtailed by apartheid and war crimes—while simultaneously facilitating and supporting the publication of voices resisting the policies of the State of Israel. We encourage the denunciation of all crimes in our pages and boycott universities and academic institutions that actively collaborate with such practices.
Finally, at ATHENEA DIGITAL, in accordance with the ethical principles that govern the tradition of academic research—respect for people, beneficence, and justice—we urge the academic community to take an active stance and join BDS as an act of solidarity and resistance.