censorship

DeSantis’ Legacy Lives on in Unconstitutional Bills Banning Free Expression, Campus Palestine Groups

By Diane Rado ( Florida Phoenix ) – From threatening students’ free speech on college campuses to making it easier for powerful people to sue for defamation, lawmakers have been filing bills in 2024 that are bad, according to Florida’s First Amendment Foundation. The foundation is tracking the proposals and fighting back, hoping to get […]

Apartheid

Israel now ranks among the world’s leading jailers of journalists. We don’t know why they’re behind bars

Peter Greste

By Peter Greste, Macquarie University | – (The Conversation) – Israel has emerged as one of the world’s leading jailers of journalists, according to a newly released census compiled by the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists. Each year, the committee releases a snapshot of the number of journalists behind bars as of December 1 […]

Anti-intellectualism

Zionism, Anti-Palestinianism, and the Fall of Harvard’s Claudine Gay

Charles Hirschkind

Berkeley, CA (Special to Informed Comment; Feature) – Much of the media conversation about the recent resignation of Harvard’s president, Claudine Gay, has (rightfully) framed her abrupt removal in the context of the current right-wing assault on liberal education and, particularly, its targeting of the policies and practices designed to promote racial equality on US […]

Bill of Rights

Academic Freedom Violations at Indiana U against Professor Abdelkader Sinno and artist Samia Halaby

Committee on Academic Freedom

Committee on Academic Freedom | Middle East Studies Association of North America | – Abdelkader Sinno Indiana University Samia Halaby Rahul Shrivastav, Provost and Executive Vice President provost@indiana.edu Rick Van Kooten, Executive Dean, College of Arts and Sciences rvankoot@indiana.edu . . . Dear Provost Shrivastav and colleagues: We write on behalf of the […]

censorship

Iran: Chokehold on Dissent

Human Rights Watch

Human Rights Watch – (Beirut) – Iranian authorities show no signs of ending their brutal repression of peaceful dissent across the country one year after nationwide protests that erupted after the death in morality police custody of Mahsa Jina Amini in September 2022, Human Rights Watch said today in its World Report 2024. The authorities […]

censorship

Setting the Record Straight: Weaponizing Antisemitism to Cancel Academic Free Speech

Ted Swedenburg

( Northwest Arkansas Democrat Gazette) – As someone who believes deeply in human rights for all, who has spent a great deal of time in Palestine and Israel and cares a great deal about the people there, and who is very concerned and grieved about the loss of life in Israel on Oct. 7 and […]

Bill of Rights

Palestine Solidarity Crackdown: Challenges in the US and Europe

Al-Shabaka

By Layla Kattermann and Diala Shamas | – ( Al-Shabaka ) – Israel’s 2023 genocide of Palestinians in Gaza has horrified many around the world and drawn widespread public outcry, with unprecedented levels of solidarity organizing taking place across the globe. Millions have gathered in the streets, issued public statements, and mobilized to block corporate […]

Anti-intellectualism

Open Letter to Higher Ed Presidents on Palestine-Israel and Academic Freedom

Committee on Academic Freedom

Middle East Studies Association of North America | Letters and Statements from the Board | – Open Letter to US and Canadian College and University Presidents We write on behalf of the Middle East Studies Association of North America (MESA) and its Committee on Academic Freedom to urge you to uphold academic freedom on your […]