The Political Geography Specialty Group (PGSG) of the American Association of Geographers expresses concern over the recent erosion of academic freedom in France. We are particularly dismayed by public, personal attacks on the prominent political geographer Anne-Laure Amilhat Szary. Professor Amilhat Szary is a former board member of the PGSG and is currently the head of the Pacte Social Science Research Center at Grenoble Alpes University.

The PGSG denounces the personal attacks against Professor Amilhat Szary and stands in solidarity with all French academics who are targeted for supposed “Islamo-leftist” beliefs.

For more information on the situation in France, these resources are available:

In English:

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/mar/12/academics-french-republic-macron-islamo-leftism

https://www.mediapart.fr/en/journal/france/220321/how-islamophobia-row-erupted-french-political-sciences-school

In French:

https://www.liberation.fr/politique/islamophobie-ou-islamo-gauchisme-lindignation-a-geometrie-variable-de-frederique-vidal-20210318_DP6TUSG6RVE5ZEBXSXVYW2BS74/

https://academia.hypotheses.org/31564

Additionally, there is a petition available for concerned academics to sign, this petition has not been endorsed by the PGSG:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSc46U844ETt0fBsq-6v9n1pcaVIx_U8LLMiU16VpMo5NwgU_w/