abolish planets

#NoConferenceAsUsual Toolkit

This toolkit is version 1.1, dated September 8, 2024.

  1. What is a conference disruption?
  2. How do I disrupt?
    1. What conferences are genocide profiteers sponsoring in 2024?
    2. Template emails
    3. Template slides
    4. Resources for QR codes in talks, posters, and flyers
    5. Other disruption ideas
    6. Ideas for next steps
  3. How else can I disrupt?

What is a conference disruption?

As the Palestine Space Institute recently exposed, the ties between the military-industrial complex (MIC) and the space sciences and related fields are as mundane as they are incredibly material and urgent; the missions that we work on are inextricably linked to the production of aircraft, missiles, bombs, chemical weapons, cyber warfare tools, and more being used to maim, kill, and displace Palestinians in their homeland. The very same tools we use in our research or to get our data are instrumentalized for genocide.

Trade unions in Palestine have called on all workers to take collective action to interrupt the arms trade. Unfortunately, academia (and the other places we do space science) are under-unionized, but this does not mean we lack the tools to interrupt the regularization of genocide.

We are calling for a “conference disruption” to tell the community that we as researchers and educators are not being served by conferences if they are going to partner with companies furthering this genocide. Much like our research, conferences in all sciences typically have mundane links to MIC companies, through both sponsorships (general sponsorships, equity events, travel grants) and in exhibition halls, where they recruit early-career researchers. By reconsidering our membership fees to the academic societies that sponsor these conferences, as well as assessing the costs of registration and our labor as presenters and conveners, we will make a clear message that we do not stand idly by as our disciplines kill.

While we have focused here on space and related sciences, workers in all disciplines are welcome to start their own efforts, and all contents of this toolkit may be liberated and tailored to your discipline without credit.

How do I disrupt?

Participating in a conference disruption can mean many things, depending on your capacity, both personal and professional. We provide you with the following resources:

What conferences are genocide profiteers sponsoring in 2024?

Expand the headings below to find which 2024 conferences in your discipline are sponsored or will host exhibitions from genocide profiteers, as defined by BDS and arms divestment groups. These tables will be updated frequently. Included are major conferences that have yet to announce their sponsors/exhibitors. Bold text indicates upcoming conferences.

If you’d like a conference added, please contact us.

planetary science
ConferenceDateSponsorsExhibitors
NASA Exploration Science Forum23–25 July 2024BAE systemsN/A
Goldschmidt18–23 August 2024N/ATeledyne
AAS Division of Planetary Sciences6–10 October 2024Lockheed MartinN/A
earth science
ConferenceDateSponsorsExhibitors
IEEE International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium7–12 July 2024BAE SystemsN/A
Goldschmidt18–23 August 2024N/ATeledyne
GSA Connects22–25 September 2024ChevronN/A
AGU 20249–13 December 2024Lockheed MartinTBD
astronomy
ConferenceDateSponsorsExhibitors
AAS 2449–13 June 2024TBDTeledyne
European Astronomical Society1–5 July 2024TBDTeledyne
International Astronautical Congress (IAC)14–18 October 2024Leonardo, Thales Alena, Airbus, Lockheed Martin, BAE Systems, Blue Origin, Boeing, Northrop Grumman, SpaceX, AmazonAstroscale, IAI, KBR, MDA, Safran, Teledyne
AAS 24512–16 January 2024Northrop Grumman, BAE SystemsTBD
all space science
ConferenceDateSponsorsExhibitors
COSPAR13–21 July 2024ULTRASATTBD
International Astronautical Congress (IAC)
14–18 October 2024Leonardo, Thales Alena, Airbus, Lockheed Martin, BAE Systems, Blue Origin, Boeing, Northrop Grumman, SpaceX, AmazonAstroscale, IAI, KBR, MDA, Safran, Teledyne
SGC10–12 October 2024Telespazio, Blue Origin, Lockheed, Airbus, OHBTBD
general stem
ConferenceDateSponsorsExhibitors
AISES3–5 October 2024Boeing, Chevron, Northrup Grumman, NSA, IBMAccenture, Apple, Boeing, Chevron, CIA, Cisco, DoD, Enbridge, ExxonMobil, FBI, General Motors, Google, IBM, Jacobs, Leidos, Meta, Microsoft, NSA, Northrop Grumman, SpaceX, US Air Force, US Navy, US Army, US Coast Guard
SACNAS14–18 October 2024CIA, FBI, NSATBD
OSTEM17–20 October 2024TBDChevron, Boeing, Amazon, CIA, Defense Intelligence Agency, ExxonMobil, FBI, Leidos, Lockheed Martin, NSA, US Navy, Raytheon

Template emails

Expand the headings below to access our email templates. We encourage you to tailor these with your own wording; offer your own testimony on why this is important to you, along with relevant details (for example, that you will encourage your lab or students to also reject membership in this society, that you have alternate sponsors).

If a conference is sponsored by genocide profiteers

Send a letter to the learned society stating that you are reconsidering your membership because of their sponsor(s):

Dear [CONFERENCE NAME] organizers,

I am writing to call attention to [one/several] of your sponsors, [COMPANY NAME(S)]. These companies possess demonstrable ties to the military industrial complex and are thus currently implicated in the ongoing genocide on Gaza. [ADD EXAMPLES].

Trade unions in Palestine have called on all workers to take collective action to interrupt the arms trade. [COMPANY NAME’s] sponsorship has implicated us as attendees, because we are now direct beneficiaries of their profits. If we, as a scientific community, hope to face our complicity in how our work benefits from the arms trade and its adjacent fields, we must begin by resisting the incursion of these companies in our spaces, and rejecting their funding for our meetings. 

I ask that you divest from [THESE COMPANIES] and seek alternative funding for [CONFERENCE NAME]. The inconvenience caused by finding new funding sources is a small price to pay in the face of the massive harm these companies cause. If you are unwilling to commit to divesting, then I will reconsider my membership in this organization. It is high time to draw this line. 

Thank you for your consideration, and I hope that you consider taking this key step in disentangling our community from its complicity in the military-industrial complex. 

Sincerely, 

[YOUR NAME]

If a conference has exhibitions by genocide profiteers

Send a letter to the society stating that you urge them to drop the exhibitor(s) or else you will reconsider your membership:

Dear [CONFERENCE NAME] organizers,

I am writing to call attention to [one/several] of your exhibitors, [COMPANY NAME(S)]. These companies possess demonstrable ties to the military industrial complex and are thus currently implicated in the ongoing genocide on Gaza. [ADD EXAMPLES].

Trade unions in Palestine have called on all workers to take collective action to interrupt the arms trade. The inclusion of [COMPANY NAME] as an exhibitor has implicated us as attendees, and their attendance serves to validate both their existence and their choice to involve themselves in our community. If we, as a scientific community, hope to face our complicity in how our work benefits from the arms trade and its adjacent fields, we must begin by resisting the incursion of these companies in our spaces, which they use as opportunities to advertise and recruit new hires. 

I ask that you do not permit [COMPANY NAME] to be an exhibitor at [CONFERENCE NAME]. The inconvenience caused by having fewer exhibitors is a small price to pay in the face of the massive harm these companies cause. If you are unwilling to commit to divesting, then I cannot support my ongoing membership in this organization. It is high time to draw this line. 

Thank you for your consideration, and I hope that you consider taking this key step in disentangling our community from its complicity in the military-industrial complex. 

Sincerely, 

[YOUR NAME]

If a conference hasn’t announced sponsors/exhibitors yet

Send a letter to the society stating that you will reconsider your membership if they accept MIC sponsors or exhibitors:

Dear [CONFERENCE NAME] organizers,

I am writing, as a community member and conference attendee, to call on you to set clear standards for this year’s sponsors and exhibitors that exclude companies complicit in the genocide on Gaza. These include potentially longstanding sponsors and exhibitors that are defense companies, oil companies, and others, who knowingly participate in and profit from the ongoing suffering. Partnering with these companies and benefitting from their donations does not serve our scientific community; instead, it gives potential sponsors visibility and legitimacy, and potential exhibitors a venue to recruit early career scientists into their ranks. 

If we, as a scientific community, hope to face our complicity in how our work benefits from the arms trade and its adjacent fields, we must begin by resisting the incursion of these companies in our spaces, which they use as opportunities to advertise, recruit new hires, and cement themselves as a visible part of our community.

I ask, as you seek sponsors and exhibitors this year, that you reject offers from these companies and, if necessary, seek alternative funding routes. The inconvenience caused by having to take these efforts is extremely small relative to the massive harm these companies cause. If you are unwilling to commit to divesting, then I will reconsider my membership in this organization. It is high time to draw this line. 

Thank you for your consideration, and I hope that you consider taking this key step in disentangling our community from its complicity in the military-industrial complex. 

Sincerely, 

[YOUR NAME]

Template slides

We have generated these template slides for your conference presentations (PPTX download).

Resources for QR codes in talks, posters, and flyers

You can generate a QR code here and export it for other documents.

Other disruption ideas

These are just some ideas that we’ve collated from other organizers in various disciplines (h/t Just Mathematics Collective, Demilitarise Education, Infrastructure Humanities):

Waste their time

Exhibition halls are a platform for defense companies to launder their image and advertise themselves as workplaces (some conferences also have recruiters as part of exhibitions!). Arrange to waste the time of exhibitors—appear to have interest in their company, redirect conversation to your concerns about these companies’ role in the genocide, and hold their attention for as long as the session continues. You can do this in shifts to ensure coverage across the exhibition session. This can also helps drive exhibitors away from the conference in future.

Organize alternative conferences in parallel

Take your expertise outside the conference structure: turn a conference into a teach-out online or at physical space local to the conference. Bring like-minded peers and invite local organizers!

For example, Alter-Petrocultures (information here) was an alternative conference built out of the Petrocultures conference at UCLA in the context of ongoing student protests and Nakba Day.

Redirect the focus of the conference: how does your discipline relate to the genocide, what is the venue’s relationship with local communities, and how can you coordinate disruption together? Hold a discussion about the PSI report, a strategizing meeting about the STEM PACBI initiative, or share skills and ideas from organizers involved in the student intifada.

Subvert the program

Propose conference sessions or panels with a generic but subversive scope, coordinated with others you know will submit to your session. On the day, this coordinated panel of speakers would redirect the topic of the panel specifically to Palestine.

Ideas for next steps

Talk to your colleagues & students

Discuss why these issues are important to you! Read the PSI report in your journal clubs, and start discussions about it with your research groups. Use Astro 4 Palestine’s talking points for colleagues. Normalize these conversations and generate safe spaces where people can talk about their concerns.

Bring this to your department

For example, UCSC astro workers have set out the Astro 4 Palestine Action Packet on organizing your department to commit to not building further research partnerships with these companies. Get your colleagues to sign the USACBI pledge or other PACBI pledges.

Reach outside of your bubble
  • talk to people in related departments or groups within your institution that are similarly impacted (e.g., engineering), including students, lab technicians, and other workers
  • build connections with researchers in social science and humanities
  • reach out to community organizers (i.e., people outside academia & STEM)

How else can I disrupt?

Join us on June 13 for a brainstorm + skillshare on just this topic! Register here by June 12.