Anthropology has always been a discipline keenly involved in the affairs of the world, especially those that involve and also affect the marginal, the dominated and the political victims of violence and oppression. As a deeply humanistic subject whose main methodological tool involves empathy and intersubjective understanding, anthropologists are inevitably drawn emotionally and ethically into situations that involve injustice and aggression. As a body representative of the anthropological communities globally, the World Anthropological Union, carries the moral burden of speaking up for causes that involve violation of humanity, disregard for human lives and security and overall crimes that involve the collective, especially states and power centers. However, as social scientists, anthropologists also recognize the complexity of social and political situations, the precariousness of a situation of ‘taking sides’, as for example in the ongoing violence in Gaza, Ukraine, Sudan and other places around the world. Each statement that is issued is weighed and judged and many a times the decision may be taken to opt for silence. There may be a sense of futility, ‘Do we speak at all?’, ‘Will anything change?’; and so on. As anthropologists, we have the overall ethics of speaking up for the victim, the oppressed and the marginal; but in many situations the identity of the victim may not be clear cut or obfuscated by political stands taken. In the ongoing conflict in Gaza for example, while sympathy is pouring in for Palestinians, there is hardly anyone to support the civilian hostages taken by Hamas. As anthropologists it therefore becomes imperative for us to be sensitive and impartial, taking a holistic and unbiased perspective as far as possible. It is important that we remain scholars and critical thinkers weighing and analyzing all the data, careful not to succumb to confirmation bias. This roundtable will debate around some of the issues that are involved when anthropological bodies make statements and take a political stand with respect to any issue.