I boycott the USA for the following reasons:
- The USA boycotts many efforts of the United Nations which I consider
important for the future of our world and the human society. For instance,
the USA have not ratified important international treaties, such as
- the Kyoto convention concerning the environment and climate changes
- the convention against antipersonnel mines
- the convention on money laundering
- the convention against torture, and several others.
- Instead of working with the United Nations to create a world-wide
legal framework covering certain global concerns for which national laws
are not effective, the USA
- introduces difficulties for the smooth operation of the International
Penal Court
- tries to apply certain national USA laws to people and organizations
located in other countries
- The USA unilaterally starts wars against other counties with the
aim of changing their government in situations were the so-called "national
interest of the USA" is involved. Examples are the invasions of the Dominican
Republic and Panama in previous years, and the current war against Iraq.
Such wars are not legitimate.
- The USA has the apparent misunderstanding that the US culture would
necessarily be of benefit to all other countries. Within the negotiations
in the World Trade Organization, they ignore the cultural diversity of
our world and try to impose an imperialism of anglo-american audio-visual
products.
My boycott of the USA takes the following forms:
- I will not attend any scientific conference held in the USA during
the year 2003 (and possibly later).
- I urge the associations IEEE and ACM, of which I am a Fellow
member, to become truly international organizations as explained in my
open letter below. If no progress is made in this respect within the
next 3 years, I will terminate my membership. I think that these associations,
through their high quality journals and conferences, have obtained de
facto an international mandate in the information technology field. This
international mandate could be formally realized by separating the international
activities (journal and certain conferences) from the activities of a
US-national association for US citizens.
Open letter to the Presidents of the IEEE and the ACM
Given the current situation in world politics, I have decided to boycott
the USA, as explained in the enclosed text. I am presently member of the
IEEE and ACM and have been recognized as a Fellow in these organizations.
But given the present situation, I feel quite ambiguous about my membership.
I have a high esteem for the IEEE and the ACM, and I recognize their leading
role in the IT technological sector. While originally conceived as national
associations, they have gradually taken up an international leadership,
especially through their high quality journals and international conferences.
However, in order to effectively satisfy this international (global) role,
certain things should change, such as the following:
- The committees that look after the international activities should
be truly represent the international community, which means that they
should not be dominated by one country. Half or more representation from
the USA is not acceptable (maybe it would be better to limit this percentage
to 30% for any one single country).
- The USA laws should not apply to these international activities.
I am not an expert in regulations, but I would think that one could find
some international context for the operation of these activities, or
possibly move them to another country, such as Netherlands or Switzerland.
I find it unacceptable that the current US laws forbid the publishing
of papers in the IEEE or ACM Transactions by authors from certain countries,
such as Cuba or Iraq.
As I explained in the enclosed text, I hope that the organization of the
IEEE and ACM can evolve within the next three years to realize the above
changes. You can count on my collaboration in this respect. In three years
from now, I will reconsider whether I will remain a member of these organizations
or not.
Gregor v. Bochmann
Ottawa (Canada), March 23, 2003
Other readings
- The editorial in the Montreal newspaper " Le Devoir
" (March 18, 2003) gives a good presentation of the situation .
Unfortunately, copyright limits the reproduction.
- Mille
mercis, président Bush, par Paulo Coelho, an ironic standpoint,
appeared in LeMonde newspaper (March 18, 2003).
- Here is a pointer to the United Nations
and the preamble
of its Charter which, in a sense, defines the objectives of the United
Nations.
- In Canada, there are at least two organizations that promote democratic
global governance in the areas of international human rights, international
trade, environment and world peace: the United Nations Association in Canada
and the World Federalists
of Canada . There are probably similar organizations in other countries.
For instance, "United Nations Associations" exist in different countries
and are federated in the World Federation
of United Nations Associations (for the list of member associations,
see the link "Directory of UNA members").
- In the USA, I have found the web page of Win Without War, a coalition of
US-national organizations representing broad constituencies that aim to
Keep America Safe by advocating alternatives to preemptive war in
Iraq. They also propose a declaration
that supports the United Nations and can be undersigned by people throughout
the world.
- If you want to read more, there are many sources; for instance the
Peace Magazine which publishes
various articles, or the many reports and other documents prepared by the
International Peace Academy.