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Free Speech

Protesters Denounce ICE ‘Abduction’ Of Mohsen Mahdawi

April 16, 2025 People's Dispatch. , , , , , , , ,
On April 14, Palestinian Columbia University student and leading pro-Palestine activist Mohsen Mahdawi was detained by immigration agents as he attended an interview as part of his application for US citizenship in Colchester, Vermont. Mahdawi is the second Palestinian Columbia University student activist to be kidnapped by immigration authorities, after Mahmoud Khalil’s arrest which has earned international attention as demands for his release grow. With Mahdawi’s detention, pro-Palestine groups have renewed calls to end Trump’s attacks on students and free speech.

New Orleans Rallies For Mahmoud Khalil Outside ICE Field Office

April 13, 2025 Fight Back! News. , , , , ,
New Orleans, LA – Around 60 people gathered outside the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) field office in New Orleans to protest the illegal detention of Mahmoud Khalil. Attendees rallied around speakers and chanted as a judge – hours away in rural Jena, Louisiana – would decide if Khalil could be deported for his activism for Palestine. Speaking for the Palestinian Youth Movement, Majdi Jaber said, “This ICE office that we’re outside right now directs operations in all of Louisiana, Arkansas, Mississippi, Tennessee and Alabama. Every day for the last month, these people have chosen to do nothing about Mahmoud’s incarceration.”

Trump Administration Revokes Hundreds Of Student Visas

April 9, 2025 Michael Arria, Mondoweiss. , , , , , ,
The Trump administration has reportedly revoked hundreds of student visas, amid a widening crackdown on the U.S. Palestine movement. In recent days, dozens of schools have announced that draconian measures by the Trump administration have targeted some of their students. The list includes UC Berkeley, UCLA, Stanford, Ohio State, Minnesota State University, the University of Kentucky, Northeastern, and Harvard. Last month Secretary of State Marco Rubio guessed that he had revoked about 300 visas since arriving in office. “I don’t know actually if it’s primarily student visas,” Rubio told reporters.

Thousands Rally In Washington, DC For Palestine

April 8, 2025 Natalia Marques, People's Dispatch. , , , , ,
“We are the majority,” declare organizers of a mass demonstration outside the United States Capitol building opposing the genocide in Gaza and Trump’s attacks on students Thousands rallied in the heart of the US capital Washington, DC on April 5 to oppose Trump administration attacks on free speech and student activism, and demand an end to Israel’s relentless genocidal onslaught against Gaza. Students, organizers, journalists, artists, and workers came to Washington, DC from across the country to call for the release of pro-Palestine students such as Mahmoud Khalil and Rumeysa Ozturk from ICE detention and to declare their fearlessness in the face of Trump’s attacks.

The Absurd Excuse Notre Dame Gave Me When They Canceled My Talk

April 8, 2025 Eman Abdelhadi, In These Times. , , , ,
Mary E. Gallagher, dean of the Keough School of Global Affairs at the University of Notre Dame, wrote University of Chicago Professor and In These Times columnist Eman Abdelhadi on Saturday morning to tell her that her upcoming keynote speech was canceled. “We were unaware of your planned lecture, and since this conference overlaps with two other annual events on campus, we cannot provide security at short notice,” Gallagher wrote in an email. ​“For this reason, we respectfully request that you do not participate in the conference.” Abdelhadi is a widely celebrated academic, organizer, author and journalist. She frequently speaks on campuses across the country and from 2023-24 was a faculty fellow at Notre Dame.

FSU Students Crash President McCullough’s Ice Cream Social

April 6, 2025 Fight Back! News. , , ,
Tallahassee, FL – On Thursday, April 3, Students for a Democratic Society crashed the FSU president’s ice cream social, demanding answers about the university's subservience to President Trump’s and Governor Desantis’ attacks on DEI initiatives and free speech. Four members of SDS approached President Richard McCullough with a banner reading “Fight Trump and the GOP agenda! Stand with Palestine! Stop attacks on immigrants! Defend women’s and LGBTQ+ rights!” After waiting in line for ice cream, SDS member JJ Glueck was refused service by McCullough. The president hid behind student volunteers upon seeing SDS.

We Have To Mobilize In Even Greater Numbers Than Ever Before

April 2, 2025 Natalia Marques, People's Dispatch. , , , , , , ,
As the Trump administration escalates attacks on the pro-Palestine student movement and Israel continues the genocide in Gaza in full force, thousands are expected to partake in a mass demonstration for Palestine on April 5 in Washington DC, undeterred by repression. Trump’s Secretary of State Marco Rubio has announced that he has signed off on the revocation of over 300 student visas for reasons related to pro-Palestine protest activity, raising alarms about free speech violations. We do it every day. Every time I find one of these lunatics, I take away their visa,” Rubio said at a press conference in Guyana on Thursday.

Mahmoud Khalil’s Attorney: ‘This Is The McCarthy Era All Over Again’

April 1, 2025 Marjorie Cohn, Truthout. , , , ,
A federal judge in New Jersey will soon issue a ruling on where the deportation case of Mahmoud Khalil, a Palestinian student who led the student encampment at Columbia University last year, can be litigated. On March 8, Khalil was abducted in New York by agents from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) who told him his lawful permanent residency status had been “revoked.” He is now languishing in a notorious Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) jail in Louisiana, more than 1,000 miles from his U.S. citizen wife who is over eight months pregnant, while U.S. District Judge Michael E. Farbiarz decides where his case will be heard. Khalil has been charged with no crime.

The Urgency Of Fighting For Our Rights While We Can

March 31, 2025 Margaret Flowers, Clearing the FOG. , , , , , ,
The repression of people who show support for Palestinian liberation has escalated. The Trump administration is using an antiquated immigration law and executive orders to target student activists, threatening them with deportation, and has gone so far as to kidnap students and professors. Clearing the FOG speaks with a Cornell University PhD student, Sriram Parasurama, who was suspended for participating in pro-Palestine demonstrations and is currently a plaintiff in a case challenging two of President Trump's executive orders and with Chip Gibbons, a lawyer with Defending Rights and Dissent and the author of an upcoming book on the FBI, surveillance and the national security state. Both explain the urgency of fighting violations of our Constitutional rights and how to do that, as well as the implications of not taking action.

Tufts Student Targeted By DHS Wrote Suspiciously Pro-Humanity Op-Ed

March 29, 2025 Ari Paul, Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting. , , , , ,
The journalism world has been reeling from news that a BBC correspondent was deported from Turkey, after he was “covering the antigovernment protests in the country” and was “detained and labeled ‘a threat to public order’” (New York Times, 3/27/25). Turkey has an abysmal reputation for press freedom (CPJ, 2/13/24; European Centre for Press and Media Freedom, 10/5/23), placing 158th out of 180 countries on the Reporters Without Borders index, so as distressing as this news is, it’s in character for a country many think of as illiberal and authoritarian (Guardian, 6/9/13; HRW, 1/29/15). Journalists have been arrested in the latest unrest in Turkey (AP, 3/24/25).

Explainer: The Lawsuits Aiming To Stop Trump’s Assault On Free Speech

March 28, 2025 Michael Arria, Mondoweiss. , , , , , , , , , , , ,
According to a tracker developed by Just Security, there have been at least 146 legal challenges to Trump administration actions since he took office. Several of those have dealt with the White House’s war on Palestine activists. In recent weeks, students, faculty, and legal organizations have launched multiple lawsuits aimed at halting the Trump administration’s draconian crackdown on Palestinian protesters and holding universities accountable for their complicity. Here are some of the legal efforts that we’ve seen so far.

Film On Gaza Solidarity Encampments Launched Amid Crackdown On Activism

March 23, 2025 People's Dispatch. , , , , , , , ,
A new documentary chronicling the Gaza Solidarity Encampment at Columbia University will premier at the CPH:DOX Film Festival in Copenhagen on March 25, 2025. “The Encampments,” a film produced by BreakThrough News and Watermelon Pictures, “challenges the dominant media narrative by revealing the true spirit of the encampments—what it felt like to be there, the emotions that fueled the students, and what motivated their drastic action,” said directors Kei Pritsker and Michael T Workman. The film was produced by nonprofit media organization BreakThrough News, Grammy-award winning musician Macklemore, and Watermelon Pictures, a production company focusing on Palestinian-centered films.

Federal Agents Seek Detention Of Cornell Graduate Momodou Taal

March 22, 2025 Matt Dougherty, Ithaca Times. , , , , ,
Ithaca, N.Y. — Days after filing a lawsuit against the Trump administration that challenges the constitutionality of two executive orders that violate free speech, Cornell graduate student Momodou Taal has said that he is being watched by federal agents who could be looking to detain and potentially deport him before he can make his case in court on Tuesday. “This morning, shortly after a federal judge scheduled a hearing in my lawsuit demanding the courts strike down Trump's executive orders attacking free speech, law enforcement from an unidentified agency came to my home in Ithaca, New York,” Taal said in a social media post on Wednesday, March 19.

The Chris Hedges Report: America’s Constitutional Crisis

March 20, 2025 Chris Hedges, Scheer Post. , , , , , ,
Mahmoud Khalil’s arrest and detention in a Louisiana ICE facility is a harbinger for a new authoritarian era of the United States. Khalil’s arrest, the capitulation of Columbia University against dissent and protest by its own students and the Trump administration’s threat of stripping the university of $400 million in grants if it does not meet its requests is just one place where the tentacles of fascism tighten their grip. Katherine Franke, a former law school professor at Columbia, is on the front lines of this assault. Her support for student protests and her condemnation of the university for not addressing the harassment of pro-Palestinian students has earned what she called, “a termination dressed up in more palatable terms.”

Jury Delivers Verdict Finding Entities Liable For More Than $660 Million

March 20, 2025 Madison Carter, Greenpeace. , , , , ,
Mandan, North Dakota — A Morton County jury of nine reached a verdict in Energy Transfer’s meritless lawsuit against Greenpeace entities in the US (Greenpeace Inc, Greenpeace Fund), and Greenpeace International, finding the entities liable for more than US$660 million, today. Big Oil Bullies around the world will continue to try to silence free speech and peaceful protest, but the fight against Energy Transfer’s meritless SLAPP lawsuit is not over. “This case should alarm everyone, no matter their political inclinations,” said Sushma Raman, Interim Executive Director Greenpeace Inc, Greenpeace Fund.
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