We, the undersigned,

Note that the prevailing conditions of inequality and injustice in many parts of the world today, including Africa, the Middle-East, South-East Asia, South-East Europe and Latin America, run counter to the promotion of human well-being, the more even development of societies, the maintenance of democracies, the promotion of peace and stability, and the sustainability of a global commons for all.

In particular, we support our colleagues from Brazil, Turkey and Palestine who note the following:

Brazil is not a democracy anymore.
This is a moment in which Brazil is returning to many old practises of the past - torture, inequality, prejudice and discrimination against women, gays, lesbians, black people, the indigenous and poor.  Brazilians are currently experiencing and living through a coup – not a military coup as occurred between 1964 and 1985, but a coup orchestrated by many members of the Brazilian elite.

In Turkey, academics from 89 universities (Academics for Peace) are being wrongfully criminalized for having advocated peace and a return to negotiations rather than the escalation of deadly violence occurring in the Kurdish-populated region in the Southeast. This violence is having disastrous effects on the lives of men, women, and children who bear the brunt of the political polarization

In Palestine, but especially in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, Palestinian academics, students and the community at large are confronting daily military violence and repression by the Israeli colonial military.

Although in different ways, the hard-earned democratic gains yielded by centuries of struggle in Brazil, Turkey and Palestine are being systematically destroyed by forces opposed to the liberties underwritten by a commitment to ‘human rights for all’.

The Brazilian elite have used their power as owners of radio and television networks, as members of right wing parties, and as members of the legal system, to build a case for impeaching the democratically elected President. This injustice has been committed under the disguise of constitutional law. The government that succeeded Dilma Roussef’s ignored the voice of more than 54 million voters, and is lead by a President that has just 2% of the potential votes of the Brazilian population.

In Turkey, the academy is under siege. President Erdoğan has declared some 1128 academics traitors and accused them of sympathising with terrorists. As a consequence, they are being investigated and/or detained for prosecution, fired from their jobs, and harassed and threatened in other demeaning ways. They are being targeted as enemies of the state. However, in signing the petition they acted within their human rights, as defined and codified by the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, of which Turkey is a signatory.

This state violence, while already rampant in Turkey and Palestine, is an ever-present possibility in Brazil, where landless people, the homeless, the poor, women, lesbians and gays are all living with a sense of anxious expectation that its illegitimate government will use the brutal force of the security forces to attack those that have been occupying streets and public spaces since the beginning of the impeachment process. There are millions of people who are demanding the return of real democracy, but there are many others who support a false democracy, simply to serve a few.
South Africa, despite 22 years of democracy, still experiences immense poverty, social exclusion and violation of its citizen rights. Its deeply divided social relations, and high levels of social inequality continue to undermine the promises of South Africa’s hard-won democratic freedom.

We call on all concerned global citizens to support and pledge solidarity to the academics of Turkey and Palestine, and the people of Brazil.

We call on all concerned academics and social justice activists to fully support the Palestinian struggle for freedom and self-determination, including joining the academic and cultural boycott campaign which is spearheaded by Palestinian academics and international allies.

We call for this at the 6th International Conference on Community Psychology in South Africa, a country that has shared fundamental lessons about resistance, social struggles and courage. We invite delegates from the more than 25 different countries represented here to support our fight and our hope for the future of these beautiful countries, and their extraordinary and generous peoples.

Undersigned: