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lukes_ramblingwritings66's review
informative
reflective
medium-paced
3.75
A very important book with a clear and concise thesis statement. Timely as well with the current US govt. making attempts to conflate criticisms of Israel with anti-semitism. Rebecca Ruth Gould’s short work is well researched and moves between weaving her personal experience of being accused of anti-semitism (despite being Jewish) and with well researched examples of Jewish thinkers who were critical of Zionism such as Leon Trotsky and Abram Leon. The final chapter on free speech kinda lost me a bit since Gould’s argument is that leftists who demand free speech must be comfortable with allowing or tolerating the free speech of those who hold abhorrent perspectives. The paradox of tolerance comes to mind here and it reminded me of Foucault’s reasoning behind signing the lowering of the age of consent in France. Where Foucault argued that having such laws would give way to a slippery slope of the state creating other mandates and regulations against people’s bodies, I feel like Gould’s is similar where she argues that abhorrent speech and action greatly differs and if the state bans a certain speech because it is deemed racist or anti-Semitic, it’ll become a slippery slope into banning other speech it doesn’t want as well (for example, banning criticism on the military budget and campaigns). But I digress, I still think this is an important book to help understand the history of the current definition of anti-semitism and modern anti-semitism in general has been co-opted into a realpolitik employed by Israel to prevent criticisms of their cruel treatment of Palestinians.
bookishmillennial's review
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
medium-paced
disclaimer: I don’t really give starred reviews. I enjoy most books for what they are, & I extract lessons from them all. I hope my reviews provide enough information to let you know if a book is for you or not. Find me here: https://linktr.ee/bookishmillennial
*purchased ebook via @versobooks
I work in academia and we often encounter the “free speech” debate, when it comes to faculty social media behavior, guest speakers’ political beliefs, and more. You could call it our cyclical academia discourse. It’s indeed a hot topic!
It’s obviously being brought up again as we navigate having a strong Jewish presence on our main campus especially (in Pennsylvania; I work at a smaller graduate-level campus in California) & these have been tough waters to wade in for everyone. It’s funny because I have to clarify that all views represented on this page are not representative of my university & that they are simply my *own* & that is a topic that Gould brings up in this book.
Rebecca lived in Palestine for a bit & witnessed the apartheid, only strengthening her support for Palestinian freedom. However, this book is not only about that. It’s about how so many folks in academia especially have lost their jobs due to questioning the Israeli government and army. It’s about academic freedom, which relates to freedom of speech, and how it doesn’t mean shit if the oppressed have zero semblance of freedom of *anything* at all. Palestinians’ freedom of speech comes with major risks; their freedom of speech is not protected or encouraged.
Some parts of this book can read as an academic journal that you’d find on the JSTOR archive, so maybe it’s not as readable/accessible/of interest to everybody, but if you’re a fellow academic or just someone who is interested in a book about academic freedom, and how silencing folks operates as a way of ultimately silencing Palestinians, please read this.
And please don’t stop talking about 🍉
*purchased ebook via @versobooks
I work in academia and we often encounter the “free speech” debate, when it comes to faculty social media behavior, guest speakers’ political beliefs, and more. You could call it our cyclical academia discourse. It’s indeed a hot topic!
It’s obviously being brought up again as we navigate having a strong Jewish presence on our main campus especially (in Pennsylvania; I work at a smaller graduate-level campus in California) & these have been tough waters to wade in for everyone. It’s funny because I have to clarify that all views represented on this page are not representative of my university & that they are simply my *own* & that is a topic that Gould brings up in this book.
Rebecca lived in Palestine for a bit & witnessed the apartheid, only strengthening her support for Palestinian freedom. However, this book is not only about that. It’s about how so many folks in academia especially have lost their jobs due to questioning the Israeli government and army. It’s about academic freedom, which relates to freedom of speech, and how it doesn’t mean shit if the oppressed have zero semblance of freedom of *anything* at all. Palestinians’ freedom of speech comes with major risks; their freedom of speech is not protected or encouraged.
Some parts of this book can read as an academic journal that you’d find on the JSTOR archive, so maybe it’s not as readable/accessible/of interest to everybody, but if you’re a fellow academic or just someone who is interested in a book about academic freedom, and how silencing folks operates as a way of ultimately silencing Palestinians, please read this.
And please don’t stop talking about 🍉
Content Warnings
Graphic: Colonisation, Confinement, Classism, Hate crime, and Racism
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