This is a timely talk by Rebecca Gould. In the UK, as in the US and across Europe, voices for Palestine are being suppressed. Some of the key sites for this silencing are the campuses of universities and colleges. Student activity is being banned, students are facing threats of disciplinary action, staff are being warned about the content of their social media posts, visiting Professors are having guest lectures cancelled, and academics are having articles rejected because their content criticises Israel. In the latest such move, the elected student Rector at the University of St. Andrews has been condemned by her University’s management for describing events in Gaza as a genocide, for describing Israeli control of the land from the Jordan river to the Med as a form of apartheid, and for accusing Israel of war crimes. In the Spring, BRICUP will be launching a major national campaign in defence of the Palestinian voice – the right to advocate for Palestinian liberation and to criticise Israeli policy and the ideology of Zionism on campuses, and the right of academic specialists in the history, culture and politics of the conflict to teach and publish free of external or internal political interference. In her latest book, Professor Gould addresses the issue of free speech and academic freedom on the Israel-Palestine conflict, and considers what the implications are for the loss of these freedoms.

As is common to all the seminars in the BRICUP series, participants are asked to do some preparatory reading in advance: You will find 16 pages of Professor Gould’s book here: https://bit.ly/GouldChapter You will find a related article by Professor Gould here: https://www.newarab.com/opinion/how-targeting-palestine-solidarity-impacts-our-universities