NEW ISSUE: Campus Politics--Palestine and the New University Order is out today! The issue features a suite of articles reflecting on two years of student encampments and struggles for academic freedom and against authoritarianism in the US, Europe and the Middle East.

As an anthropologist studying humanitarianism, I can assure you that Red Cross doctors wear robes and heal by laying on hands. And also, the slashing of the US aid to IFRC was divine retribution.

Beautiful piece on the intimate tensions of being caught between a genocidal colonial coalition and a murderous authoritarian regime

Another good interview on Iran with sociologist Asaf Bayat: www.bostonreview.net/articles/ira...

A very good interview on Iran with the CUNY history professor Ervand Abrahamian newleftreview.org/issues/ii157...

One of my students brought me a cookie!

AAUP President Todd Wolfson on the killing of Alex Pretti: "This moment demands a unified, bold, and powerful response from the labor movement. We are uniting across sectors to organize, mobilize, and wield our full collective power to confront ICE." Full statement:

Bsky is like a bottomless well. Throw a post into it and you’ll never hear a thump. I never thought I would ever miss twitter.

Banner on an LA overpass: “MLK had a dream. We live in a nightmare.”

There is so much loss, fear, and suffering. But this is not a moment of defeat. It’s a moment of organizing.

Nothing changed since this was written a decade ago. Nobel Peace Prize is still an Orwelian machination. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Yet another ”awkward gesture in a moment of enthusiasm”? theintercept.com/2026/01/13/d...

Applications for the Keyman Early-Career Scholars Article Workshop Spring 2026 are open until February 20. For more information, please visit: keyman.buffett.northwestern.edu/.../early-ca....

“Armed confrontation”? LA Times descends to a new low!

From an email to one of our faculty members.... Not even Plato can escape censorship at Texas A&M!

Back to campus after a long time. No cops, no white supremacist gang looking private security. Everything’s back to normal as if hundreds of students were not beaten and arrested here just recently. All that violence that goes into the creation of the facade of the ordinary.

I saw Lisa Reihana’s 'in Pursuit of Venus [infected]' at LACMA today. It was one of the most moving art pieces that I‘ve recently seen, even more so in the context of the imperialist assault on Venezuela. Btw, if you have a kid, you can get free tickets for both of you through nextgen LA program.

🤠 Hey, Texas faculty! As you prep for the spring semester check out our blog for tips + advice. 👇 1) Don’t self-censor, know your rights! 2) Report censorship of your teaching, research, or expression. 3) Organize your department. We are stronger together! aaup-texas.org/blog/f/2025-...

And we’re back to pirate capitalism of the conquistador era!

“Christmas…is the proclamation of a God who confronts the logic of empire…It is a radical statement about where God chooses to dwell: in vulnerability, in poverty, among the occupied, among those with no power except the power of hope. Christmas is a Palestinian story par excellence.”

“To survive a school shooting is traumatic enough, but to then face a nationwide racist smear campaign that falsely accuses you of being the murderer is even worse.“ www.thenation.com/article/poli...

In Tucson AZ I had to carry my papers with me all the time. If stopped by border patrol you’d be asked if u were citizens & the only was they could know was racial profiling. So this racial terror technique is not new. Technologies of power and violence are first tested in colonies & la frontera.

For journals, manuscript management platforms are going to need to integrate checking that the references exist. Great! On top of checking that the author exists, and hasn't grabbed up other people's already published language inappropriately....

If you’re in LA or NYC, go see it.

Days after the Netflix deal, Paramount announced it was launching a hostile takeover bid, appealing directly to Warner Bros. shareholders to overturn the decision. That bid would put CNN in the hands of David Ellison, who has spent the last several months remaking CBS News in Trump’s image.

SUPPORT MERIP: Pick up a poster of a recent issue or a tote bag to show off your support for MERIP! All merchandise is locally made in a union shop.

The last of this year's Society of Cultural Anthropology Fridays events, a "reading recap" for 2025, will host Jessica Cattelino and Anand Pandian.

Absolutely fantastic. One of the best things I've read all year along. A critique of 'apartheid' frameworks, and the necessity to address the Settler-Colonialism that still remains unquestioned and well-protected, as most loudly seen with Israel now: www.bostonreview.net/articles/the...

The piece is a mess, singlemindedly reproducing a one—sided political narrative & in that it’s not different from the administration that it ostensibly criticizes. But, it confirms what we already know: There was no real investigation & lawyers were ordered to make findings for a certain conclusion

You might not be in Middle East Studies. But whether you picked this fight or not, if you work at a university, this fight is picking you. You are responsible for standing with colleagues. You are responsible for failing to stand up too. We're all in it now. www.newarab.com/news/israel-...

"academic publishing is dominated by profit-oriented, multinational companies for whom scientific knowledge is a commodity to be sold back to the academic community who created it... The dominant four collectively generated... $12 billion in profits between 2019 and 2024."

WE JUST KEEP WINNING. (UC President's Postdoctoral Fellowship Program RESTORED!!!!)

MESA's Committee on Academic Freedom letter in support of Dr. Tamar Shirinian, who UT Knoxville suspended on dubious grounds of "uncivil" social media postings. MESA continues to lead the academy in standing firm in support of faculty! mesana.org/advocacy/com...

Here it is: the Trump Administration "draft proposal" to the University of California. Published bc faculty sued for its disclosure. Its terms go beyond what Trump demands in similar compacts to other universities. EVERYONE should read: faculty, students, admins, alumni. ucop.edu/communicatio...

The Global Sumud Flotilla en route to Gaza is nearing the expected interception point by Israeli forces. You can watch a livestream of some of the boats here: www.youtube.com/live/uEN2bWF...

If you’ll recall, the “antisemitism” at UCLA involved primarily campus police allowing Zionist counter protesters to attack the pro-Palestinian camps (incl. many Jewish participants) while they did nothing, and arresting the anti-genocide students & faculty afterwards.

Happy belated Father's Day, Mahmoud Khalil! www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

A good read from 2014: "Israel has been stealing nuclear secrets and covertly making bombs since the 1950s. And western governments, including Britain and the US, turn a blind eye. But how can we expect Iran to curb its nuclear ambitions if the Israelis won't come clean?"

The people of Los Angeles will rally on Monday, 6/9 to demand the release of everyone unjustly detained by ICE, like SEIU leader David Huerta, and an end to militaristic escalation on our communities. Join us and @aclusocal.bsky.social at 11 AM in LA to call for an end to these human rights abuses.

🚨 Support Los Angeles immigrant communities 🚨 Please consider donating to one or all of the following orgs: Immigrant Defenders Law Center: give.immdef.org/donate LA Jail Support / Bail Fund: account.venmo.com/u/jailsuppor... Unión del Barrio: uniondelbarrio.org/main/support...

Columbia University Acting President Claire Shipman welcomed to Columbia College's graduation ceremony with sustained jeers and boos. Minutes later, students break out in loud chants of "Free Mahmoud":

A faculty member spoke to the University of California system president prior to graduation about concerns over how the UC system responded to protestors and so they had the faculty member removed by the police.

“The very idea that it is dangerous to distinguish between felt harm and actionable injury is a symptom of how gutted our political imaginations have become.” Alex Gourevitch on the specious justifications of the McCarthyist crackdowns on pro-Palestinian speech and protest:

Now that our government places so much importance on “balanced curriculum” we can start the mass recruitment of Marxist economists in economics departments.

“Viewpoint diversity!” What a euphemism they’ve invented! Rest of the world calls an authoritarian government pressuring universities to staff them with its supporters with other names: Nepotism, clientelism, patronage…