Axis of Evil’ and the Academic Repression of Palestine Solidarity
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 12980465 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Somdeep Sen (0000-0002-0206-9568, Roskilde University, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2024 |
| Volume | 33 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 335-344 |
| Publication date | 2024-07-02 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Middle East Critique (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1943-6149 • E-ISSN: 1943-6157 |
| Publisher | Taylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/19436149.2024.2370658 |
| OpenAlex | W4400448308 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 6 |
| References cited | 26 |
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.’
Ancient history · Palestine · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Psychological repression · Sociology · Solidarity · History · Jewish and Middle Eastern Studies · Law · Middle East and Rwanda Conflicts · Middle East Politics and Society
Protesting Genocide on Campus
The Secular Myth of Hate and Neocolonialism
Elite philanthropy, neoliberal universities, and the politics of suppression
Unpacking the crackdown on Palestine solidarity activism in the UK in a post-7 October reality
If Gaza Burns, Berlin Burns’—Transregional Solidarity Between Appeal, Accountability and Belonging
Introduction to Special Section
Covering Islam
Towers of Ivory and Steel
Disciplining Terror
Development of Arab-American Identity
Israel's Holocaust and the Politics of Nationhood
Decolonizing Palestine
Antagonistic landscapes
Political Science as a Contest of Perspectives
Palestine and the “War on Terror”
Language Matters
The Revolution Will Not Be Theorised
It's Nakba, Not a Party”
Peacebuilding as counterinsurgency in the occupied Palestinian territory
The politics of science
Scientific racism, race war and the global racial imaginary
Nato and the global colour line
The Location of Palestine in Global Counterinsurgencies
Hidden in plain sight
BDS
Hamas and Civil Society in Gaza
Managing violence
The colonial roots of counter-insurgencies in international politics
Beyond Orientalism and Islamophobia
The Toxic Other
| Unique citing works | 6 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 6 |
| Citation span | 2025 - 2026 (2) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 5 |