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Free Speech

A Higher Education Union’s Response To Trump’s Attacks

March 7, 2025 Workers World. , , ,
Higher education — colleges and post-secondary education — has been a target of right-wing, reactionary attacks for decades, but the Musk-Trump-MAGA grouping has brought a new, vicious intensity to this campaign. The Department of Education has threatened schools with losing all federal funding if they have policies supporting diversity, equity and inclusion. The MAGA assault on DEI is intended to roll back civil rights and other efforts that address historic inequities. Much of the research funds in science, technology and clinical work has been frozen. Research and publishing on cultural and gender issues have been actively suppressed.

Breaking Down Trump’s Executive Order Targeting Palestine Activists

February 14, 2025 Michael Arria, Mondoweiss. , , , , ,
On January 29 President Donald Trump signed an executive order aimed at canceling the visas of foreign students who participated in protests opposing the Gaza genocide across college campuses last year. “To all the resident aliens who joined in the pro-jihadist protests, we put you on notice: come 2025, we will find you, and we will deport you,” said Trump in a fact sheet released alongside the order. “I will also quickly cancel the student visas of all Hamas sympathizers on college campuses, which have been infested with radicalism like never before.”

Statement From Jewish Rutgers Union Members: Zionist Hegemony Must End

February 2, 2025 Open Letter, Mondoweiss. , , , , ,
On November, 25, 2024, the office building of the Rutgers academic unions (representing tenured, contingent, and graduate student educators) was defaced with pro-Israel posters. “Fight Jew-hatred. Before it’s too late,” said one. “STAND UP FOR THE JEWISH STATE,” demanded another. As Jewish educators at Rutgers we categorically reject the slanderous insinuation that our unions–led by Jewish presidents and vice presidents–are blind to or bastions of antisemitism. At the same time, we affirm our opposition to all ethnosupremacist states–including the apartheid Israeli state.

Trump Issues Order To End Censorship

January 21, 2025 Joe Lauria, Consortium News. , , ,
President Donald Trump in his inaugural speech on Monday vowed to end online censorship by government using social media companies as proxies. He said: After years and years of illegal and unconstitutional federal efforts to restrict free expression, I will also sign an executive order to immediately stop all government censorship and bring back free speech to America. Never again will the immense power of the state be weaponized to persecute political opponents, something I know something about. We will not allow that to happen. It will not happen again. Later on Monday Trump signed the executive order, “Restoring Free Speech and Ending Federal Censorship

The Biden Administration Fails To Win Imprisonment Of The Uhuru 3

December 17, 2024 The Black Alliance for Peace. , , , , , ,
Members of the Uhuru Movement, Omali Yeshitela, Penny Hess, and Jesse Nevel – the “Uhuru 3” – were sentenced to three years probation and community service after being convicted in September 2024 of supposedly conspiring with the Russian government to interfere in U.S. elections. The Black Alliance for Peace recognizes that this sentence is confirmation that the charges against Uhuru members by the Biden Administration Justice Department were baseless. While any sentence handed down from imperialist courts for actions that are supposed to be legally protected are, in themselves, illegitimate, the refusal of the judge to incarcerate the Uhuru 3 is a victory in the fight against a repressive US regime, regardless of which wing of the finance capital bird leads it.

Failing In Its Case Against The Uhuru Three, The US Manufactures ‘Thought Crimes’

December 10, 2024 Margaret Flowers, Clearing the FOG. , , , , ,
The Uhuru 3 - Chairman Omali Yeshitela, Penny Hess and Jesse Nevel - will have a sentencing hearing on December 16 in Florida. Failing to find evidence to convict them of violating the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA), the US Government manufactured a charge of conspiring to violate the law by thinking about it. There is no evidence to support this. This conviction creates a new level of state repression. Clearing the FOG speaks with Chairman Yeshitela about the case, the current political environment in the United States, including his opinions on the recent presidential election, and the recent events in the Sahel Region of Africa to decolonize the area.

The New College Gambit

December 9, 2024 Kathryn Joyce, In These Times. , , ,
Ever since Jan. 6, 2023, when DeSantis appointed a series of right-wing activists to New College’s board of trustees with the mission to transform Florida’s weirdest, queerest public college into a ​“Hillsdale of the South” — emulating the Michigan Christian school known for its conservative ​“classical education” and hard-right politics—it was clear the takeover was meant to be a model. Nearly two years later — after interviews with current and former New College students, faculty and staff, extensive research of news and academic reports, firsthand reporting and numerous documents shared with In These Times—there’s no simple answer as to whether they’ve succeeded.

Private Israeli Security Firms Are Killing Free Speech On College Campuses

December 6, 2024 Robert Inlakesh, MintPress News. , , , , , , ,
Following the unprecedented proliferation of student-led protests against Israel’s war on Gaza across U.S. and international college campuses, educational institutions have found themselves under immense pressure to crush the movement from private Israeli security firms. Following a surge of demonstrations and acts of civil disobedience in protests of Israel’s genocide in Gaza by students across U.S. college campuses, university administrations faced immense pressure to strengthen security measures and suppress the movement.

Journalism And Democracy In A Time Of Genocide

October 30, 2024 Mary Kostakidis, Consortium News. , , , , , , , ,
Last month in New York at separate forums, two senior Democrat figures – John Kerry and Hillary Clinton – pointed to what they saw as major problems: the First Amendment was “an obstacle to building consensus,” and the “narrative” in the press needs to be (even more) “consistent.” The challenge presented by the free flow of ideas and information in the digital world, to those accustomed to maintaining control of the narrative, defines our moment in history and the fragility of democratic freedoms. Those calls for less freedom of speech and for more consistency in messaging to the public by the Fourth Estate, come at a time when large sections of the public have lost trust in a legacy media too consistent in its messaging, and incapable of providing the information and analysis that will enable them to know and fully understand what’s happening.

Uhuru 3 File For Judgment Of Acquittal In Free Speech Case

October 30, 2024 Fight Back! News. , , , , , , , ,
On Thursday, October 10, Attorney Leonard Goodman filed a post-trial motion on behalf of the Uhuru 3 – Omali Yeshitela, Penny Hess and Jesse Nevel – asking Judge William Jung for a “judgment of acquittal on the conspiracy charge” or a new trial on that charge. In September’s contradictory verdict, the Uhuru 3 were found not guilty of acting as unregistered agents of the Russian government but were unjustly convicted of “conspiracy” to act as unregistered agents of the Russian government. Omali Yeshitela, Penny Hess and Jesse Nevel declared victory in defeating the government’s claim that their lifelong advocacy for Black reparations, justice and peace was conducted under the direction and control of a foreign government.

American Bar Association Mandates Crackdown On Law Student Speech

October 25, 2024 Fight Back! News. , , , , , , ,
Philadelphia, PA – On October 16, over the objections of students, Temple University Beasley School of Law adopted anti-protest policies mandated by the American Bar Association. In the spring of 2024, the American Bar Association (ABA) adopted a mandate forcing all law schools to adopt policies designed to prevent the student protests that have taken place since October 7, 2023. While the student movement has recently surged as a part of the broader pro-Palestine movement, law student protests that have raised concern from the ABA also include the pro-choice and LGBTQ rights activism following judicial attacks on women and LGBTQ people in the courts.

Students And Faculty Encountering Stricter Anti-Protest Rules

October 20, 2024 Michael Arria, Mondoweiss. , , , , , , ,
This semester returning university students have encountered stricter anti-protest regulations at their schools, while advocates continue to deal with fallout from last spring’s Gaza solidarity “University administrators across the United States have declared an indefinite state of emergency on college campuses,” wrote National SJP organizer Carrie Zaremba in September. “Schools are rolling out policies in preparation for quashing pro-Palestine student activism this Fall semester, and reshaping regulations and even campuses in the process to suit this new normal.” Palestine Legal senior staff attorney Radhika Sainath told Mondoweiss those changes have included new encampment bans, stricter rules against wearing masks, a weaponization of ‘Time, place, and manner restrictions’, and stricter rules for holding protests.

Cornell Black Students Denounce University President’s ‘White Supremacist’ Language

October 5, 2024 Amandla Thomas-Johnson, Popular Resistance. , , , , , ,
Black students at Cornell have denounced the University's Interim President Michael Kotlikoff for deploying “white supremacist caricatures” as he pursues a war of words against Momodou Taal, a graduate student facing deportation for taking part in pro-Palestinian protests.  Following a meeting with Kotlikoff earlier in the week, Black student groups on Wednesday said they “no longer felt safe on campus” and urged the university to “create an open forum to repair the administration’s relationship with Black students.” It comes as a petition supporting Taal surpassed 10,000 signatures. 

Russia Is Not Bluffing: To Avoid WWIII, The US Must Find A Diplomatic Offramp

September 17, 2024 Margaret Flowers, Clearing the FOG. , , , , , ,
Last week, the United States was considering Ukraine's request for long-range missiles that could strike more deeply into Russian territory. The Russian government made it clear that this would be viewed as a declaration of war and that it would respond with attacks on NATO countries, including the United States. Clearing the FOG speaks with Scott Ritter about the current state of the Ukraine proxy war against Russia. Ritter explained that had the United States not backed down, World War III could have started. Ritter also discusses the escalating attack on free speech and his new campaign, Operation Dawn, which will launch on September 28 in Kingston, New York.

Uhuru 3 Found Not Guilty Of Being Russian Agents

September 12, 2024 Hands Off Uhuru, Popular Resistance. , , ,
On the morning of September 12th, the jury returned a verdict in the free speech trial of the century, where Chairman Omali Yeshitela, Penny Hess and Jesse Nevel faced bogus charges of working as Russian agents.  The 12 person jury concluded a not guilty verdict on count number two, “failure to register as a foreign agent,” in other words, working as agents of Russia. This was the big charge that carried an up to ten year prison sentence. The jury contained no black jurors, but to their credit, they saw clearly that African people have agency and sovereignty over their actions. 
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