Ahmad Abuznaid was recently named the Executive Director of the US Campaign for Palestinian Rights. In the wake of Trayvon Martin’s murder in 2012, Ahmad co-founded the Dream Defenders. He has interned at the International Criminal Court, presented before the United Nations’ Human Rights Committee and was the Director of the National Network for Arab American Communities.
Michael Arria and Dave Reed spoke to him about the future of the Palestine solidarity movement, challenges to expanding BDS work, and how the US Campaign for Palestinian Rights is engaging with Jewish anti-occupation groups.
Links:
- A US human rights group is being sued by pro-Israel organizations over an alleged connection to ‘balloon terror’ – Michael Arria
- WATCH: A conversation on Palestinian solidarity with black communities w/ Ahmad Abuznaid, Noura Erakat, and Ajamu Amiri Dillahunt
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Cornel West: Palestine is a ‘taboo issue among certain circles in high places’ | Middle East Eye
“Cornel West: Palestine is a ‘taboo issue among certain circles in high places'”
Middle East Eye, Feb. 24/21, by Azad Essa.
EXCERPT:
“Activist and scholar says he is being denied tenure at Harvard University because of his views on Israeli occupation”
“US activist and philosopher Cornel West said he is confident that it is his criticism of Israel cost him tenure at Harvard.
“The Harvard Divinity School professor of the Practice of Public Philosophy, who announced late last week that he might leave the university after being denied academic tenure, claimed he was being punished for his views on Israel’s occupation of Palestine.
“‘This is my hypothesis, because given the possibilities of why they would not be even interested in initiating a tenure process, what else it could be? And I asked them. And I didn’t receive a reply,’ 67-year-old West, who holds a joint appointment in the Department of African and African-American Studies, said in an interview on the TightRope podcast aired on Tuesday.
“‘The problem is that [talking about the Israeli occupation of Palestine] is a taboo issue among certain circles in high places. It is hard to have a robust, respectful conversation about the Israeli occupation because you are immediately viewed as an anti-Jewish hater or [having] anti-Jewish prejudices.’
“‘We’ve got a whole wave of Jewish comrades, Jewish brothers and sisters, who are critical of the Israeli-occupation, but not in high places,’ West said.
“In his interview on Tuesday, West, considered one of America’s foremost intellectuals, said the significance of being not granted tenure was really a case of the university tolerating him over taking full responsibility for his presence.
“In American universities, to be offered tenure means being granted an indefinite appointment at the institution. Scholars consider tenure a safeguard for academic freedom.” (cont’d)
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“‘I am not a backdoor-going-kind-of-brother. They got the wrong Black man. If I can’t be a free Black man, in the way in which I can preserve my self-respect, then I am not going to be in a place like that,’ West said.
“Harvard University has faced criticism in the past for refusing to offer tenure to scholars deemed to be controversial, but many observers expressed surprise that a scholar of West’s experience could remain untenured.
“Harvard University did not respond to MEE’s request for comment but the Boston Globe reported that a Harvard spokesperson had disputed West’s characterization of events.
“David Klein, a member of the US Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel and a professor of mathematics at California State University, told MEE that there was a long history of attempts to suppress or have outspoken critics of Israel fired from academic posts.
“Klein said that West’s account was in all likelihood ‘the tip of the iceberg'”.
Tight Rope Video:
Cornel West – “My Ridiculous Situation at Harvard” – YouTube
Cornel West – “My Ridiculous Situation at Harvard” Feb. 23/21
“In a special edition of The Tight Rope, Dr. Cornel West speaks freely about his ‘ridiculous situation at Harvard’ with respect to his being denied tenure at the institution. Join Dr. West and Professor Tricia Rose for a conversation as they reveal some of the possible underlying reasons for the rejection and as they dredge up the bedrock systemic issues at play in higher education. The Tight Rope just got a lot tighter! For additional insight into this matter of critical importance, check out the interview in The Chronicle of Higher Education with Max Alvarez, Editor-in-Chief of The Real News Network: https://www.spkerbox.com/chronicle