Surviving Capitalism (Not) : Why aren't college presidents writing letters of concern about Salaita?

We’ve lived so long under the spell of hierarchy—from god-kings to feudal lords to party bosses—that only recently have we awakened to see not only that “regular” citizens have the capacity for self-governance, but that without their engagement our huge global crises cannot be addressed. The changes needed for human society simply to survive, let alone thrive, are so profound that the only way we will move toward them is if we ourselves, regular citizens, feel meaningful ownership of solutions through direct engagement. Our problems are too big, interrelated, and pervasive to yield to directives from on high.
—Frances Moore Lappé, excerpt from Time for Progressives to Grow Up

Monday, August 25, 2014

Why aren't college presidents writing letters of concern about Salaita?

Click here to access article by David Palumbo-Liu from Al Jazeera.

American Zionists are not satisfied with painting those critical of Israeli policies with the brush of "anti-Semitism", they also like to go after their jobs. This piece reports on the latest academic firing, and actions opposed to it.

One wonders why it is that critics of Israel are particularly vulnerable to attack, and not only undefended by people like those in UIUC's administration, but even subject to their whims. And furthermore, one has to mention this - if such arbitrary actions, prompted by outside influence and trumping faculty governance, can be undertaken with impunity in this case, there is absolutely no reason to believe that it could not happen again, to any other faculty hire in the country for any other reason, Israel-related or not.