I have decided, with regret, to pull out of the 7th Global Conference of Economic Geography in Worcester (MA).
It is a pointless gesture in the wider scheme of things, but one I can make.
It is prompted by the Trump regime’s economic attack on Canada, his disdain for treaties, his utter contempt for human life and livelihoods, and on and on.
From a professional point of view, Trump is decimating the federal government’s research infrastructure, is attacking free speech on campuses (even more than it was already being attacked), and has now banned a long list of words from government web sites and documents. Researchers risk their funds (and maybe their jobs) if they use them.
I can’t do much about all of this. But I don’t have to go to the USA and pretend that all is normal.
I wish the best to colleagues, friends, and all other people caught up directly in this authoritarian coup (yes, Trump was elected, but many of his decrees are illegal, he sees himself as a king, and unelected people like Musk are wielding power without any mandate).
Richard Shearmur 
Hello Richard
Thank you for your leadership and this post.
We have just returned from a Reading Week visit to Cuba, a last minute change from our planned American holiday.
With regret, in response to the positions of the American government noted in your blog, I will not renew my long-standing memberships in SACRPH, the APA, AICP, CNU, or the ULI. I will not attend any conferences or meetings, if they involve spending funds in the USA. We have canceled our American vacations, stopped donations to my American alma mater and we will no longer purchase goods or services manufactured in the USA, if there are any feasible alternatives.
For example, my new computer is from Taiwan (rather than the usual Dell desktop from the past 30 years) and my new phone and tablet are from South Korea. I agree that these are pointless gestures in the larger scheme of things, but it is important to make Canadian anger clear to our American colleagues.
This situation is unfortunate, given the long periods of co-operation between our nations, but I fear that there is a dark age ahead, in the words of my mentor, Jane Jacobs, who left New York for Toronto in 1968 with similar concerns.
Professor Dave Gordon
Queen’s University
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Hi David. Yes, this is a sad state of affairs, but it’s difficult to carry on as usual. These gestures count, if only for our own sanity and ethics. Dark age ahead indeed…
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