CARTOON: WHAT ELSE ARE THEY KEEPING FROM YOU? Meet The Palestinian Lawyer Censored At Both Columbia & Harvard
"It is really unfortunate to see how this is playing out and the extent to which the board of directors is willing to go to shut down and silence Palestinian scholarship."
Cartoon by Mark Taylor / DeMOCKracy.ink
Editor’s Note: Freedom of speech? Our freedoms are rapidly boiling away in the bubbling shit pot of Zionazi fascism. As the Israelis have destroyed every university in Gaza, many of our universities have already fallen into 1930s German style meek subservience. Speak now, or live in censored silence. — Mark Taylor
Democracy Now! (6/5/24)
The website of the Columbia Law Review was taken down by its board of directors on Monday [6/3] after student editors refused a request from the board to halt the publication of an academic article written by Palestinian human rights lawyer Rabea Eghbariah titled "Toward Nakba as a Legal Concept.”
The article argues for the Nakba to be developed as a unique legal framework, related to but distinct from other processes defined under modern international law, including apartheid and genocide.
Second time censored
This is not the first time that Eghbariah's legal scholarship has been censored by an Ivy League institution. The Harvard Law Review last year refused to publish a similar, shorter article it had solicited from Eghbariah even after it was initially accepted, fully edited and fact-checked. Eghbariah calls the abrupt rejection of his work "offensive," "unprofessional" and "discriminatory," and says "it is really unfortunate to see how this is playing out and the extent to which the board of directors is willing to go to shut down and silence Palestinian scholarship. … What are they afraid of? Of Palestinians narrating their own reality, speaking their own truth?"
14-minute video
CENSORED! The Fight For Palestinian Recognition In American Academia
The censorship at Columbia and Harvard is more than a bureaucratic scuffle; it’s a microcosm of the broader battle for free speech and academic freedom in the United States.
By Oussama Horchhani
The Citizens Chronicle / Substack (6/5/24)
In an era where the free exchange of ideas is supposedly the cornerstone of higher education, the recent censorship of Palestinian scholarship by prestigious American law reviews raises alarming questions. Columbia Law Review and Harvard Law Review, institutions known for championing enlightenment and intellectual diversity, have both taken steps to silence the work of Palestinian human rights lawyer Rabea Eghbariah. This controversy is not just about one article; it is a powerful illustration of how academic freedom can be compromised, particularly when it involves challenging dominant narratives about the Palestinian experience.
Imagine working tirelessly on a groundbreaking piece, only to have it silenced at the final hour. That’s exactly what happened to Rabea Eghbariah. Columbia Law Review's website, one of the oldest and most respected legal journals, went offline, purportedly for maintenance. But the truth was far more disturbing. The board of directors had pulled the plug after student editors defied their directive to halt the publication of Eghbariah's article. This followed a similar incident at Harvard Law Review, where Eghbariah’s work was also censored.
Eghbariah, speaking out about this ordeal, shared his frustration and confusion.
"What are they afraid of?" he asked, voicing a question on the minds of many.
The answer seems clear: the fear of a Palestinian narrative that challenges the status quo and demands a new way of thinking about historical and ongoing injustices.
Eghbariah’s article argues that existing legal frameworks are insufficient to encapsulate the Palestinian experience of occupation, apartheid, and genocide. He proposes recognizing the Nakba, the 1948 catastrophe that led to the displacement of over 700,000 Palestinians, as a legal concept. This is not merely about historical acknowledgment; it's about providing a legal language that can address the ongoing reality of Palestinian oppression. …
A Fundamental Truth To Understand…
“Things get a lot clearer when you understand that the US empire is not a national government which happens to run a bunch of worldwide military operations, it’s a worldwide military operation which happens to run a national government.”
— Caitlin Johnstone, The Washington Post Is Pure AIDS, And Other Notes (6/6/24)
since the article is now available may i suggest spreading it?
https://columbialawreview.org/content/toward-nakba-as-a-legal-concept/
These censorship actions tell us exactly how terrified these genocide-enabling sociopaths are of others hearing the truth of the matter. They truly must be paralyzed with fear to exercise such blatant defiance against our First Amendment rights of free speech. Keep calling them out and revealing their hypocrisy everyone!