censorship

( Tomdispatch.com) – In these first 100-plus days of the nation’s 47th presidency, President Donald Trump and his sidekick Elon Musk have cast a frightful spell over the country. As if brandishing wands from inside their capes — poof! — offices and their employees, responsibilities and aims, norms and policies have simply disappeared. The two […]

Academic Freedom

Lawsuit alleges former University of Michigan Employees were fired for participating in Protests

Michigan Advance

By: Anna Liz Nichols – ( Michigan Advance ) – Former employees of the University of Michigan are suing the leadership of the school, alleging that their employment was terminated after they engaged in pro-Palestinian protests on campus. The lawsuit, filed Thursday in the U.S. District Court in Detroit by the Sugar Law Center and […]

Bill of Rights

From the Chinese Exclusion Act to pro-Palestinian Activists: The Evolution of politically motivated Deportations

The Conversation

By Rick Baldoz, Brown University (The Conversation) – The recent deportation orders targeting foreign students in the U.S. have prompted a heated debate about the legality of these actions. The Trump administration made no secret that many individuals were facing removal because of their pro-Palestinian advocacy. In recent months, the State Department has revoked hundreds […]

Bill of Rights

Condemnation of Trump targeting noncitizen Students, Researchers for Constitutionally protected Speech

Middle East Studies Association

Middle East Studies Association MESA Board Joint Statement with the TFCHR regarding deportations The MESA Board of Directors and the MESA Task Force on Civil and Human Rights condemn in the strongest terms the Trump administration’s targeting of noncitizen students and researchers for their constitutionally protected speech and advocacy. As part of an expansive […]

censorship

Iran must Unconditionally Release Nobel Laureate Narges Mohammadi

Human Rights Watch

Release All other Arbitrarily Detained Rights Activists Human Rights Watch – (Beirut) – Iranian authorities are threatening to return the human rights defender and Nobel Peace Laureate Narges Mohammadi to prison to serve the remainder of her unjust sentence as a means to pressure her to cease her rights advocacy, Human Rights Watch said today. […]

Academic Freedom

Protesting Harvard’s Dismissal of Directors of its Mideast Center over Israel-Palestine as Attack on Academic Freedom

Committee on Academic Freedom

Committee on Academic Freedom | Middle East Studies Association | – Committee on Academic Freedom Alan Garber President, Harvard University . . . Dear President Garber, Dean Hoekstra and Dean Cutler: We write on behalf of the Middle East Studies Association of North America (MESA) and its Committee on Academic Freedom to express our deep […]

Academic Freedom

Condemnation of Columbia U. for Endangering Int’l Studies in U.S. by Caving to Intrusive Gov’t

Middle East Studies Association

Middle East Studies Association | American Comparative Literature Association | American Studies Association | Association for Asian Studies | National Women’s Studies Association | – We, the Middle East Studies Association joined by the undersigned associations, write to express our deep condemnation of actions taken in the past weeks that imperil the autonomy of centers […]

Academic Freedom

Middle East Studies Assn, AAUP, and Knight Inst. file Lawsuit over Trump Arrests and Deportation for lawful Speech

Middle East Studies Association

Middle East Studies Association | – Policy has created “climate of fear and repression” on campuses around the country, groups say FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE March 25, 2025 CONTACT: Adriana Lamirande, adriana.lamirande@knightcolumbia.org; AAUP, Kelly Benjamin, kbenjamin@aaup.org BOSTON—The American Association of University Professors (AAUP) and the Middle East Studies Association (MESA) today filed a lawsuit seeking to […]

censorship

Letter from a Palestinian Political Prisoner in Louisiana: Mahmoud Khalil

Mahmoud Khalil

Note from Juan Cole: I used to write letters to totalitarian governments on behalf of Amnesty International complaining about their detention of political prisoners for mere thought crimes. One of the worst offenders was Communist Czechoslovakia, which did not even bother to reply. I could not have imagined in 1987 that in 2025 people in […]