Since 1947, the Salzburg Global Seminar at the Hotel Schloss Leopoldskron in Salzburg, Austria has hosted forums on pressing global issues, convening expert discussants from multiple industries throughout the world. In September 2024, the Salzburg Global American Studies Program organized “Crossing the Pacific: The Asian American Experience in U.S. Society and Discourse.” Along with Asian American studies scholars, civil rights lawyers, activists as well as American Studies scholars in European and Asian contexts, the program included members of the Asian American far-right, namely activists against critical race theory, anti-affirmative action organizers, a eugenicist, and even a legal scholar with pending war crime charges, who backed out of attending.

While the Seminar forbids its attendees from disclosing individual statements through the Chatham House Rules, the panelists of this roundtable nevertheless felt the need to reunite and reflect on the remarkable connections and international solidarities that were built, alongside the shocking and often insurmountable confrontations with Asian American conservatism. As a mixed panel of humanities academics and legal civil rights leaders, we first think together on ways to promote the vision of Asian America that combats antiblackness, imperialism, and the worst ravages of racial capitalism. Second, we consider the bonds and breaks within our community while confronting ideological opponents. Third, considering ideological and political limits presented in the forum, we ask what does Asian Americanism have to offer a global audience--from places as diverse as Germany, Romania, Thailand, Mongolia and Poland--who may be largely unaware of its paradigms and ideological limits?