Mai Abu Moghli & Nida Badawi • FreshEd

Mai Abu Moghli & Nida Badawi
Palestine, Academic Freedom, and Struggles for Justice

The FreshEd Podcast · FreshEd #337 – Palestine, Academic Freedom & Struggles for Justice (Mai Abu Moghli & Nida Badawi)

Overview

Today we explore academic freedom and struggles for justice by looking at Palestine. My guests are Palestinian academics Mai Abu Moghli and Nida Badawi.

Mai Abu Moghli is a Senior Researcher at the Centre for Lebanese Studies and an Academic Fellow at the University of Cambridge. Nida Badawi is a master’s students at the University College London. I spoke with them last week.

Citation: Moghli, Mai Abu, Badawi, Nida, interview with Will Brehm, FreshEd, 337, podcast audio, November 20, 2023. https://freshedpodcast.com/moghli-badawi/

Transcript

Will Brehm 0:00
Mai Abu Moghli and Nida Badawi, welcome to FreshEd.

Mai Abu Moghli 0:34
Hello. Well, thank you for having us.

Nida Badawi 0:35
Hi, Will. Thank you for having us on your platform. It’s great to be here.

Will Brehm 0:40
Thank you so much. I want to start our conversation today on this sort of big topic of academic freedom and free speech on university campuses kind of around the world at this point. So, you both are on university campuses in different respects; Nida, you’re in London in, Mai, you’re in Cambridge. What happened on your respective campuses in the aftermath of October 7 over the last 30 plus days?

Nida Badawi 1:04
Well, honestly, the most immediate response for me, it was this intense feeling of fear. I feared being attacked verbally and physically in London on our campuses, University of London campuses. I felt targeted because I was Palestinian Muslim, I had hesitation to -I say this with shame- to wear my keffiyeh, or to walk around with my phone that has a map of Palestine on it. I was I was worried about being targeted, especially when I was with my daughter. The global response encouraged and fueled xenophobia and Islamophobia and I was outraged by these statements coming in from the universities condemning these attacks, offering very little support, and feeling very alienated in a space that was supposedly meant to encourage higher thinking. I was particularly disappointed with my institution where decolonization is supposedly supported, but they stood at the sidelines, only to support in theory and not as a tangible event. And many of us students were targeted for supporting Palestinians and intimidation techniques were given to support the Zionist political agenda. It made me lose faith in my institution, if I’m going to be completely honest with you. And I was disappointed in my colleagues who were silent, therefore complicit.

Will Brehm 2:15
I mean, it’s quite hard to hear that. Such a complicated and complex position that you were in. Trying to speak freely being on a site of higher learning, and yet being sort of policed in your own thinking. Mai, what about you? What was it like on the college campus where you were?

Mai Abu Moghli 2:33
Actually, I’m based in London, but my office is in Cambridge. So, I’m in regular contact with my colleagues who are in Cambridge, and we exchange experiences. So, I’ll just reflect on my experience also being in London, as well as the experiences of my colleagues who are in Cambridge and on other campuses in London, because what we realize is that we actually all have a collective experience that is very, very similar and very, very connected. So, as academics and students, of course, because I also talk to students and work with them, we ourselves as either Palestinians, or visibly Arab or Muslim or pro-Palestinian allies, we all experienced the impact of what I would characterize as panic and knee jerk reactions from the institutions. These academic institutions are embedded in colonial values and structures. And these reactions actually remove the mask and the claims of equality, justice, respect for human rights or freedoms. That’s all talk as Nida was saying, while in practice the situation and the reality is completely different. We have witnessed a barrage of statements as you know from day one. At the beginning, these statements came from leadership of these institutions, from chairs from Provosts, from presidents. So, what they did in these statements, they adhere to circulars and communicates from government officials criminalizing the very existence of Palestinians and pro-Palestinian academics and students on campus. One of the universities issued a statement highlighting that there will be heightened 24/7 security, which will be present on campus. This hyper securitization of campuses without acknowledging the ongoing fear and deep discrimination and criminalization of Palestinians, Arabs, Muslims and students of color, as Nida was saying was, and still is, outrageous and very, very dangerous. The statements from universities leadership’s continued for the first couple of weeks highlighting the need to condemn the actions of Palestinians as a whole, as all Palestinians are representatives of a certain faction, and further marginalizing and alienating Palestinian societies, students, academics and their allies. After all of this, this was followed by apologetic, watered down statements by some academics who unfortunately work in the fields of international development, social justice, and funnily enough, as Nida was saying, on decolonization where Palestinians in some of these statements were not even mentioned. And these statements were harmful, decontextualized and depoliticized. They use the language and utilize it to ensure that their personal careers and funding are not affected. This only for me shows a deep complicity of these institutions and these academics, our colleagues, they’re very much embedded and complicit in colonization in all its manifestation. And these manifestations we’re very, very clearly seeing now in Palestine, but it doesn’t seem that Palestine is present in the values and the psyche of these institutions and academics who unfortunately work in these fields of international justice and development.

Will Brehm 5:45
Is this particular silencing or being complicit in these larger struggles while sort of using the rhetoric of decolonization; is this something that you see outside of the UK as well, from the colleagues you have, from the experiences that you’ve had? How widespread is this in a sense, policing of discourse in the university worldwide?

Mai Abu Moghli 6:06
So no, it’s not surprising, and it’s not particular to the UK. The chokehold of right-wing governments in the whole world that we’re seeing clearly in Europe and the US and all of the so-called, quote, unquote democratic world is reflecting strongly on what is happening in universities. Policies such as Prevent, for example, in the UK and the forced adoption of the IHRA a definition of antisemitism, and the bills being adopted by governments to criminalize people’s right to boycotts are all reflected in universities policies, which led to the criminalization of students and the attacks on their very physical safety sometimes, not only on their academic freedoms and freedom of expression. For example, we saw last week, students in the US, their photos were put on a truck, which was paraded around the city. And they’re being accused of antisemitism. For anyone to know them and attack them with no evidence and no basis encouraging crime against students under unfounded accusations and a false pretext. Students in Germany and France are being beaten and arrested on the street, students in the UK were suspended and silenced, their activities canceled, and they’re smeared on social media with no support mechanism in their own institutions. And like Nida was saying, she’s very disappointed and very disillusioned with the UK education system and the institutions. And she’s very right, because these students are being attacked either by their own institutions, or finding no support mechanisms in this institution. So, It’s not only in the UK, unfortunately, it’s across the world, particularly in the so-called democratic free world.

Nida Badawi 7:46
For the past month, I was really considering, where is my freedom of speech as a British resident as an American? What freedom of speech do I have?

Will Brehm 7:58
What I want to turn to is, although there’s this massive sort of elite narrative that is minimizing Palestine, is sort of dehumanizing Palestine, is being complicit in this genocide, as you say, at the same time, there’s massive public support, right? London just recently had this massive protest in support of Palestine. And it was happening in Johannesburg, it was happening in Sydney, it was happening in New York City, it was happening around the world there were these massive sorts of social movements or protests in support of Palestine. How do you understand this sort of dissensus between the elite narrative and this public outcry in support of Palestine?

Mai Abu Moghli 8:43
I thought about this, and taking part in these demonstrations when I was in Beirut, and now that I’m in London, it is very encouraging that masses of people are going out on the streets and calling for ceasefire, calling for the end of genocide. Unfortunately, these demonstrations are very reactionary, and as we mentioned before the colonization of Palestine have been going on for 75 years. And some of these governments like particularly where we are in the UK is actually the reason why there is colonization in Palestine. And if we’re going to see the positive side, if you would, or see through a hopeful lens to this, I have a number of possible explanations why this disconnect between governments and some of the people who are going out and calling for the end of genocide or ceasefire? Firstly, I think that institutions, be it universities or mainly governments, they try to mask crimes committed in Palestine to protect their interests, be it political or financial. So, when people around the world particularly in the Global North start feeling that the support for settler colonialism in Palestine is impacting their own lives, impacting their own well-being, their lifestyle, their interest, they will act, and they will show dissent. So, when the system of settler colonialism in Palestine is being supported unconditionally by money, and weapons, and unconditional backing, political backing by governments like in the UK or France or the US, they take tax money, our tax money, yet they destroy systems of education and health and further impoverish the citizens. For example, in the UK, where NHS is falling apart, education system is falling apart yet, there is an unconditional financial support for the settler colonialism in Palestine. People will see the connections and they will act. So, this would be my first kind of analysis why this is happening. The second one is the struggle for the liberation of Palestine is historically connected to liberation movements around the world. So, people from marginalized communities in particular, and those who are struggling for equality and justice know, see, and understand, and feel the intersectionalities of our struggles. And that’s why they know that supporting the struggle for justice and liberation for Palestine and for the Palestinians mean the liberation for all. Thirdly, social and alternative media, which can be and is harmful, as it contributes to spreading misinformation and the proliferation of violence and misleading propaganda. Yet, the voices of those who are from Palestine and who are supporting freedom and justice are now much louder than the co-opted and complicit conventional or government backed media. Even when social media would be against Palestinian content through silencing, blocking, biased algorithms, Palestinians and Palestine supporters have found ways to go around that. So, the reality on the ground in Palestine has been more visible. Solidarity networks are growing, and misinformation is being challenged and alternative platforms are being created. And so, it’s easier to create the disconnect between those who now support justice and end of colonization and governments who back injustices and the entrenchment of settler colonialism and apartheid in Palestine.

Nida Badawi 12:12
I’ve been in London this entire month, and the protests are just becoming bigger and bigger. And the crowds are becoming very diverse from ultra-orthodox Jews and Muslims and Christians, to atheists, to people from all around the world. I found myself really resonating with different blocks of the indigenous struggle. And they’re all taking the time to even learn chants in Arabic and our slogans to represent our solidarity to speak up against this right-wing government that is trying to conflate anti-Israel with antisemitic anti-Zionism with antisemitic. We are all challenging the status quo. And in this entire month, where I have lost all faith in humanity, it’s these protests where I go, and I feel now there is there is hope, these people are all making the effort to come out and seeing social media.

Will Brehm 13:11
I want to take a slightly different angle now on what’s going on. We’ve been focusing a lot on university campuses, sort of around the world and focusing in on your experiences on your university campuses. But I want to sort of zoom in on universities in Palestine because there are many universities in Palestine, and I just love to get a sense of; can you tell me a little bit about the university system in Palestine? And then what has happened to it over the last month or so?

Mai Abu Moghli 13:42
So, in the Gaza Strip, there are 19 higher education institutions, including colleges and universities and vocational training centers, and that includes two main universities -the Islamic University of Gaza, which is the oldest and Al-Azhar University. Since the start of the attacks on the Gaza Strip, education has been suspended across all 19 higher education institutions impacting over 88,000 students, both the Islamic University and Al-Azhar University have been completely destroyed by the Israeli missiles. Israeli military assaults on Palestinian education infrastructure and institutions is not a new phenomenon. Gaza’s Islamic University has been bombed before in 2008, 2009, and 2014. And since this podcast and we talked before about linking the situation, what’s happening to education, and most of the audiences will be interested in education, I’d like to note that on the 25th of October, an Israeli airstrike killed the Dean of the Faculty of Education at the Islamic University along with his family, all his family members. Also, this week, Dr. Maisara Al Rayyes who is a 30-year-old physician, who graduated with a Chevening Scholarship was killed along with most of his family members in Gaza by an Israeli airstrike. Now moving to the occupied West Bank, there are 32 higher education institutions with around 140,000 students, including Birzeit University, which is the university where I graduated for my undergrad, and it’s the most known and has been raided by the Israeli army last week. The Student’s Union was ransacked, and students were arrested. There’s also Al-Quds Abu Dis University, which is well known as well, because it has a medical school. This university is actually cut in half by the Israeli illegal apartheid wall and is regularly attacked and shot at by the Israeli military. Palestinian university students and academics are regularly arrested and killed by the Israeli army inside and outside of their campuses. Palestinian higher education institutions offer high quality education, they’re renowned internationally and some of their graduates and academics are leading voices in academia around the world in spite of all the restrictions and destruction caused by the Israeli occupation. So, you know, Will, education during the First Intifada actually was criminalized by the Israeli occupation Birzeit University was closed for four years by a military order. Palestinians who created teaching and learning spaces during the First Intifada -in their homes in churches and mosques and community centers- were put in prison and these education spaces were called cells of illegal education. So, Palestinian education is one of the main targets of the Israeli settler colonial project that not only aims to physically remove Palestinians, but also curb and end their ability to produce knowledge. Here also, it would be interesting to talk about schools. I know we’re talking about higher education, but the education system is very much interconnected. The Israeli occupation also attacked schools and school students regularly. In August of this year, for example, the Israeli occupation demolished a school in the occupied West Bank. They do school demolitions in what we call Area C where the Israeli army is in control in the West Bank. They demolish schools all the time. And just days before the start of this new school year, this school was demolished. Again, school demolitions is a regular occurrence. A recent UNESCO report found that between January 2019 And September 2021, explosive weapons launched by Israeli army affected at least 305 schools and kindergartens in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip. This week, hundreds of Israeli soldiers raided Shu’fat Refugee Camp in Jerusalem and harassed students including physically assaulting schoolgirls by conducting physical intrusive body searches on the streets. Back in 2009, the term “scholasticide” was coined to describe Israel’s targeting of educational institutions following the destruction Operation Cast Lead in the Gaza Strip. And early this November, the Minister of Education in Gaza announced the end of the 2023-2024 school year as in some classrooms, there are no students left. Dr. Ghassan Abu Sittah, who’s a Palestinian-British doctor in Gaza just now just before we started recording this podcast, he said that there’s a whole generation of Palestinians in Gaza that are maimed and damaged. So, education in Palestine in general, is perceived as a threat to the settler colonial project, as education institutions can raise consciousness, enhance critical thinking, allow for building networks and community. So, they are being regularly attacked not only as physical institutions, but in terms of curricula, archives, and all Palestinian as humans involved in the education processes.

Nida Badawi 18:42
I think it’s worth mentioning with these students, post-traumatic stress disorder will never be used to describe what these students may be suffering. It’s, I believe, now coined as continuous stress disorder, considering within their short lives, how many assaults and wars -not even wars at this point, just- brutal collective punishment they have endured.

Will Brehm 19:08
What can the global education community do to support efforts of academic freedom, of free speech, of justice, of knowledge creation in Palestine? What can be done? Like where do we begin?

Mai Abu Moghli 19:21
I would say what needs to be done is to use our privileges to speak about Palestine. Don’t water anything down, don’t depoliticize Palestine. It’s not a humanitarian issue. It’s a humanitarian issue now because of a political situation it’s because of settler colonialism. People are being killed, they’re being starved, the right to access any health system is being completely violated. I don’t know where to start in terms of human rights violations that are happening now in Palestine. So, as academics, it’s our ethical and moral duty to highlight this. Don’t water it down and do not make it a humanitarian issue because it’s not so that it would fit within the framework of liberal development, international development kind of systems that we work within. What we need to do is listen to Palestinian voices and not to contribute to the Palestinian epistemicide, use Palestinian literature when we’re teaching about and researching Palestine. What we need to do is also work on and in Palestine. Our work there should be linked at political agenda, as I mentioned, before aiming for liberation. We need to connect Palestine to other issues and struggles for freedom and justice and not exceptionalize Palestine and say it’s scary, too complicated, too controversial, because that’s not actually true. It’s very clear. It’s a colonized place with people under colonialism that needs to end. So, we need to think how does our research and academic contribution feed into the struggle for liberation and not exceptionalize Palestine in that sense. Support Palestinian students and the allies; ensure their safety on campus and protect them. Give them tips on who to go to if something happens to them, because there’s a complete lack of information and people, students in particular, are really, really scared and there’s a lot of fear on campus. We need to lobby our universities to allow Palestinian societies to work freely because they’re being shut down now. Lobby the universities to create mechanisms to protect Palestinian students and academics who want to work on and speak about Palestine. Again, connect with Palestinian academics in Palestine and listen to them, use their language and support them based on their needs and priorities. We need to collectively refuse systems and fundings that are conditional and link to the persecution of the Palestinian people. For example, you get funding to work on refugee education, but there’s always an exceptionalization of Palestinian refugees, although, I think there’s a statistic that says one of each four refugees around the world is Palestinian. But because Palestinians fall under a different international law of refugees, they’re always exceptionalized. And people are scared to include Palestinian refugees for different political reasons. So, this exceptionalization within our work and our research needs to end.

Nida Badawi 22:21
I think something I would really encourage -and actually not even encourage, I implore- professors, academic researchers, it’s not easy speaking up against the status quo. Again, it’s uncomfortable. You will face critics but for us, it’s not a divisive issue and it shouldn’t be. Palestine is a symbol of struggle for liberation, not only for Palestinians but for all causes of freedom around the world. It’s a queer issue, it’s a feminist issue. It’s a Black issue, it’s a Muslim issue, it is a social justice issue. And it’s frankly insulting when, just like Mai said earlier, just to kind of put it under the nice little umbrella as a humanitarian issue. If you go and look at different Palestinian journalists right now, they are not asking for donations or for money or for help. They’re asking for their voices to be amplified. Oh, my God, I hope we do it justice because they didn’t ask to be put in this situation, but they’re putting their lives on the line to be heard, for the truth to be revealed. Justice, freedom, equality should not be divisive. But unfortunately, governments and institutions are being weaponized to defeat our efforts, to end these intersectional injustices globally. Honestly, if I could reach out to my professors, it’s not just about manipulating reading lists, put them front and center. Ghassan Kanafani’s? work should be all over, for example, at our IOE but it’s not. Instead of making it just the traditional let’s just have a debate or conversation; that’s no longer enough. We need academics, we need researchers to step up to take action. 75 years of oppression of apartheid, of a settler colonial state is enough.

Will Brehm 24:11
Well, Mai Abu Moghli and Nida Badawi, thank you so much for joining FreshEd. Just an absolute pleasure to talk.

Mai Abu Moghli 24:18
Thank you, Will.

Nida Badawi 24:19
Thank you for having us.

Translation

Resources

Related Author Publications/Projects

Research ethics in the occupied West Bank and the Gaza Strip

The Palestinian civics curriculum: Smoke screening the illusion of the state

Researching violent contexts: A call for political reflexivity

Reconceptualizing human rights education: From the global to the occupied

The struggle to reclaim human rights education in Palestinian Authority schools in Occupied West Bank

Mentioned Resources