| ID | 196680 |
| Title Proper | Axis of Evil’ and the Academic Repression of Palestine Solidarity |
| Language | ENG |
| Author | Sen, Somdeep |
| Summary / Abstract (Note) | In general, Palestine solidarity activism—irrespective of how and where it happens—faces censorship and repression, whereby solidarity with Palestine as a (national) cause is stigmatized and considered toxic to any mainstream discussion of the politics of Palestine/Israel. Academia tends to follow this norm of stigmatization and toxification of Palestine solidarity and any recognition of the legitimacy of the Palestinian struggle for liberation is viewed as a violation of the norms of scientific (i.e. objective) knowledge production. More recently, the adoption of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance working definition of antisemitism has played a critical role in censuring and censoring individual scholars and scholarship deemed too supportive of the Palestinian struggle. In this article, however, I view this manner of repression as embedded in a political project that extends far beyond the working definition. Specifically, I argue that the academic repression of Palestine solidarity draws on the lasting discursive legacies of the Global War on Terror that sought to bifurcate the world into ‘good’ and ‘evil.’ Drawing on my personal experiences of repression where my work has been charged as being antisemitic, sympathetic to terrorism/terrorists and defending fundamentalism, I argue that lumping Palestinian solidarity with all things evil, abnormal, disruptive, negative, and inappropriate represents a continuation of the Global War on Terror as the Palestinian cause is toxified as nothing more than an extension of the ‘Axis of Evil.’ |
| `In' analytical Note | Middle East Critique Vol. 33, No.3; 2024: p.335-344 |
| Journal Source | Middle East Critique 2024-09 33, 3 |
| Key Words | Palestine ; Repression ; Censorship ; Global War on Terror ; Academia |