Date: Fri, 25 Feb 2000 20:12:29 -0600
   To: ASL Council, ASL Committee on Logic in Europe
   From: Anand Pillay <pillay@math.uiuc.edu>
   Subject: Logic 2001
   Dear Tony, members of the ASL council, and members of the ASL
   committee on Europe,   
   We the undersigned wish to express our concern over the holding of
   Logic Colloquium 2001 in Vienna. We understand that our colleagues in
   Austria who are organizing the meeting are in a difficult position,
   having already invested time and energy into preparations. This
   statement is written with sympathy for their efforts and their wishes
   not to be isolated. These wishes should be addressed, but not through
   the holding of LC 2001 in Vienna. We propose that the venue of LC 2001
   be immediately changed.   
   The first reason comes from principle. We take it for granted that the
   logic community as a whole finds the participation of the Freedom
   Party of Austria in the Austrian government to be repugnant. Not only
   has the leader of this party made positive references to Hitler and
   the SS, but the party has come to power on a racist platform. The
   international community is now forming its position regarding the
   legitimacy of this government. Every academic congress, art exhibit,
   or cultural meeting which is moved out of Austria signals the
   unacceptibility of the new Austrian coalition. At the same time, any
   event which continues to take place in Austria will be counted by the
   Austrian government as an endorsement of this new coalition. It can
   rightly be said that economic pressure and boycotts may be more
   effective. But if we are not willing even to carry out
   cultural/scientific boycotts, how can we expect more costly measures
   to be carried out. A related issue is the question of whether many in
   the logic community will not only feel politically uncomfortable going
   to Vienna, but also personally uncomfortable, due to the racism and
   anti-semitism of the partner in the Austrian government. If we answer
   this in the positive, can we honestly continue with the meeting as
   planned.   
   A second reason is one of practicality. The decisions and invitations
   of the program committee were more or less simultaneous with the
   establishment of the new government. So even though a substantial
   majority of invitees have accepted the invitation to speak, we would
   expect that many logicians, having absorbed the new political
   formation in Austria, would not wish to attend the meeting if it were
   to be held in Vienna. The result would be a scientifically
   unsuccessful meeting.   
   For all these reasons we urge that a new venue for LC 2001 be found as
   soon as possible, and that a public statement be issued by the ASL
   regarding reasons for the change.   
   Ahmet-Tuna Altinel (Lyon)
   Vincent Astier (Paris)
   Luc Belair (Montreal)
   Oleg Belegradek (Istanbul)
   Chantale Berline (Paris)
   Elisabeth Bouscaren (Paris)
   Enrique Casanovas (Barcelona)
   Zoe Chatzidakis (Paris)
   Barry Cooper (Leeds)
   Luc Darniere (Paris)
   Francoise Delon (Paris)
   Maximo Dickmann (Paris)
   Rene Cori (Paris)
   Michele Giraudet (Paris)
   Moti Gitik (Tel Aviv)
   Bradd Hart (McMaster and Fields Institute)
   Yoram Hirschfeld (Tel Aviv)
   Ehud Hrushovski (Jerusalem)
   Daniel Lascar (Paris)
   Manny Lerman (UConn)
   Dugald Macpherson (Leeds)
   Marie-Helene Mourgues (Paris)
   Ludomir Newelski (Wroclaw)
   Ali Nesin (Istanbul)
   Ya'acov Peterzil (Haifa)
   Thanases Pheidas (Crete)
   Anand Pillay (Illinois)
   Mike Prest (Manchester)
   Malcolm Schonfield (Paris)
   Philip Scowcroft (Wesleyan)
   Patrick Simonetta (Paris)
   Steve Simpson (Penn-State)
   Sergei Starchenko (Notre Dame)
   Katrin Tent (Wurzburg)
   Lorenzo Tortora (Paris)
   Francoise Ville (Paris)
   Alex Wilkie (Oxford)
   Martin Ziegler (Freiburg)   
   Alessandro Berarducci (Pisa)
   Steven Buechler (Notre Dame)
   Peter Cholak (Notre Dame)
   Rafel Farre (Barcelona)
   Azriel Levy (Jerusalem)
   Francis Oger (Paris)
   Francoise Point (Mons)
   Philipp Rothmaler (Wesleyan, Connecticut)
   Patrick Speisseger (Toronto)
   John Truss (Leeds)
   Yi Zhang (Istanbul)   
   Bernhard Herwig (Freiburg)
   Ramon Jansana (Barcelona)
   Andre Villaveces (Bogota, Colombia)   
   Christine Charretton (Lyon)
   Ramez Sami (Paris)
   Thomas Blossier (Paris)
   Annalisa Marcja (Florence)
   Francisco Miraglia (Sao Paolo, Brazil)
   Byunghan Kim (MIT)
   Alain Louveau (Paris)
   Daniel Pitteloud (Switzerland)
   Charles Steinhorn (Vassar)
   Paul Roziere (Paris)
   Deirdre Haskell (Holy Cross, MA)
   Ivo Herzog (Lima, Ohio)
   Salma Kulhlmann (Saskatchuan)
   F.V. Kuhlmann (Saskatchuan)
   Manasori Itai (Japan)
   David Evans (Norwich)
   Jan Denef (Louvain, Belgium)
   Richard Lassaigne (Paris)   
   Andreas Baudisch (Berlin)
   Thierry Coquand (Goteborg)
   Aleksander Iwanow (Wroclaw)
   Jean-Louis Krivine (Paris)
   Leonard Lipshitz (Purdue)
   Benoit Mariou (Paris)   
   Claude Sureson (Paris)
   Juan Carlos Martinez (Barcelona)
   Xavier Caicedo (Bogota, Colombia)   
   Luis-Jaime Corredor (Bogota)
   Mark Fuller (Rock County, Wisconsin)
   Charles Morgan (London)