In response to the recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Holder vs. Humanitarian Law Project that supports a broad-ranging law that allows Americans who offer advice to banned organizations, including legal assistance and information on conflict resolution, to be prosecuted as terrorists, the Peace and Justice Studies Association makes the following statement:
We scholars, educators, students and professionals who have devoted our careers to understanding how violence in the world can be reduced and how security can be attained believe, as a matter of conscience, in the right of all individuals to support both humanitarian aid to all people in need, and the teaching of nonviolent means for resolving conflicts without regard to lists of terrorist organizations provided by any agencies or governments.
We are convinced that waging war cannot meet the security needs of people in a globally interconnected world, and that waging peace is a more effective strategy for addressing the roots of terrorism and promoting the inherent dignity of all members of the human family.
We view efforts to restrict peacemaking activities as contradictory to the goals of combating terrorism and as an infringement of our right to express views consistent with both our knowledge and our moral and spiritual commitments to a world of peace.
PJSA is a non-partisan professional organization of scholars, educators and practitioners, dedicated to bringing together academics, teachers, and activists to explore alternatives to violence and share visions and strategies for peacebuilding, social justice, and social change.