Out to Graz

Controversy over participation in the European Association for American Studies conference, which was held in Graz, Austria, in early April, led to a pre-conference meeting of representatives from national associations, including the British, which passed the following resolution: "EAAS is a professional academic organisation, the umbrella organisation of European Americanists from a great number of European countries. It is also an association committed in its own structures and proceedings to democratic principles and democratic process. It should therefore be clear that EAAS is fundamentally opposed to Mr Haider and what he stands for. It rejects any attempt to restrict or violate the individual rights of citizens or to discriminate against anybody on the basis of ethnic or racial difference. It has decided to convene its biennial conference in Graz out of solidarity with its Austrian colleagues, who share the same principles and commitments, and to demonstrate its awareness that the danger represented by Mr Haider and his politics cannot be treated as being the problem of one country alone since it is a European problem that has to be confronted in all societies with equal determination."

Mick Gidley Professor of American literature University of Leeds