| Contact |
Dustin Luca
|
|---|
SALEM, MASS. – Avi Chomsky, a professor of history at Salem State University, will speak this week before one of the world’s oldest and most prestigious debating societies: the Oxford Union.
Chomsky will participate in a formal debate on Thursday, June 5 on the motion “This House Believes No One Can Be Illegal on Stolen Land,” to be held at the Union’s storied chamber in Oxford, England at 8:30 pm in London, or 3:30 pm Eastern Standard Time.
Founded in 1823, the Oxford Union has hosted speakers from across the political and cultural spectrum—including the Dalai Lama, Queen Elizabeth II, Presidents Ronald Reagan and Richard Nixon, and Malala Yousafzai. In inviting Chomsky to speak, Union President Anita Okunde praised her “distinguished career as a historian, activist, and scholar of immigration, labor, and colonialism” and cited her books Undocumented: How Immigration Became Illegal and They Take Our Jobs! as vital contributions to contemporary immigration discourse.
“This is an area I’ve done a lot of work in and teach on in a number of classes, including last semester on the indigenous history of the Americas,” Chomsky said. “We were talking about undocumented, indigenous migration to the United States and in particular to the Boston area.”
Chomsky will speak in support of the motion. Her eight-minute opening argument will draw on her scholarship in settler colonialism, racialized citizenship law, and the historical roots of modern border regimes.
“In some ways, the arguments talk past each other—and that’s one of the things I’m thinking about as I craft my speech,” Chomsky said. “I’m a historian, so one of the things I look at is how deeply racialized immigration and citizenship law have always been in the United States.”
Chomsky will be joined in support of the motion by Nivine Sandouka, a Palestinian feminist and peace activist who is regional director of the Alliance for Middle East Peace. They will be opposed by: David Seymour, minister for regulation of New Zealand and leader of the right-wing political party ACT New Zealand; and R.J. Hauman, an influential American immigration hardliner and president of the National Immigration Center for Enforcement, headquartered out of Washington D.C.
The Oxford Union debate will be held before a live audience in Oxford. Chomsky’s participation places Salem State on a global stage of scholarly discourse—one that reaches far beyond the classroom. Please visit the Oxford Union YouTube page, where video of the event will be shared in the future.
