Nahla Abdo Archives – Activism

Dr. Nahla Abdo’s scholarship has always been deeply tied to political struggle. As a committed anti-colonial feminist and advocate for Palestinian liberation, she has consistently used her voice and platform to support grassroots movements, challenge systems of oppression, and stand in solidarity with the dispossessed.

Public Statements and Open Letters

“It is time for the further concrete action that has been promised”: an Open Letter to Prime Minister Carney to take decisive action to end genocide in Gaza (9 June 2025) – We write as a concerned group of 412 Canadians, including academics, lawyers, former and retired ambassadors (including to the United Nations), ministers and public servants, UN human rights experts, and civil society, labour and faith leaders, all deeply concerned with the catastrophic human rights and humanitarian crisis in Gaza, now into its twentieth month.

Open Letter to Federal Leaders: Do Not Expand Anti-Terrorism Laws in the Name of Anti-Racism (22 February 2021) – As organizations and individuals with expertise in anti-racism, law, and/or human rights, we write to express our deep concern about the use of anti-terrorism powers to address the threat of White supremacism.

Open Letter from Carleton University Faculty in Support of CUPE 2424 (18 March 2018) – We, the undersigned members of Carleton University’s academic staff, are deeply concerned about the treatment of our colleagues in CUPE 2424 during the current labour dispute.

Open Letter by Faculty for Palestine: Carleton University and the silencing of dissent (5 November 2012) – Academic and intellectual life should not tolerate any form of silencing and marginalization. The academe should remain the primary space for freedom of speech and for open debate.

Open Letter Critiquing the Report of Carleton’s Commission on Inter-Cultural, Inter-Religious and Inter-Racial Relations on Campus (10 October 2012) – We, the undersigned, reject the biased investigations and procedures that underwrite this Report and its attempts to suppress debate and academic freedom. We demand that our freedoms to inquire, speak, debate, teach, associate and organize on this campus be fully respected. Finally, we demand that the Report be withdrawn, in view of its faulty methodology and manifest failure to treat equitably the concerns of all cultural, religious and racialized groups at Carleton.

Campaigns and Movement Involvement

2024 – Popular University for Palestine (Tabaret Hall, University of Ottawa) – Dr. Abdo played a key role in the Popular University for Palestine held on the lawn of Tabaret Hall during the University of Ottawa encampment. She led multiple teach-ins connecting Palestinian liberation to broader struggles against settler colonialism, gendered state violence, and academic repression.

2022 – Denaming Carleton University Buildings Named After David Azrieli – Dr. Abdo has been a vocal critic of Carleton University’s decision to name multiple campus buildings after David Azrieli, a former member of the 7th Brigade involved in the 1948 Nakba and the ethnic cleansing of Palestine. She has supported student and faculty efforts to confront this institutional glorification of settler violence, framing it as part of a broader erasure of Palestinian history and complicity in Zionist state-building.

2005 – Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions Movement – Dr. Abdo has been a consistent and outspoken supporter of the Palestinian-led BDS movement. She has advocated for academic boycott as a means of challenging Israeli apartheid, urging scholars and institutions to sever ties with complicit universities and organizations.

Photos and Posters