Academics finally organising to oppose Canada’s predatory foreign policy

 

A group of academics are beginning to mobilize against Canada’s predatory foreign policy, with the launch of a new organisation.

Academics Kevin MacKay, Dr. Sabreena Ghaffar-Siddiqui, and Dr. Radhika Desai, along with PhD candidates Tamara Lorincz and Ghada Sasa, joined Janine Solanki, the chairperson of Mobilisation against War and Occupation Vancouver (MAWO Vancouver) on a Zoom call on October 10 to oppose Canada’s foreign policy. 

Over a year into Israel’s genocidal bombing campaign, and two years into Russia’s denazification of NATO-armed Ukraine, one can hardly say the Zoom call/webinar was timely, but it at least shows some measure of courage from academics. A number of the academics speaking during this forum had already been persecuted by their respective institutions and the state for pro-Palestine and anti-NATO activism.

While conversations prioritised discussing the personal experiences of the participants, the main purpose of the webinar was the launch of the new organisation, Canadian Academics for a Just Foreign Policy (CAJFP) and to promote its website. The new organisation has two running petitions demanding that universities ensure that the principle of “universal free speech” is applied without the pro-colonial and pro-NATO bias that characterises North American academia.  (more...)

Academics finally organising to oppose Canada’s predatory foreign policy

Related:

A Call for Academic Freedom, Free Speech, and Critical Inquiry on Foreign Policy at Canadian Colleges and Universities