October 9, 2013 Happy Dussehra The Louis D. Brandeis Center wishes a very happy Dussehra (Dasara) to those who celebrate this festival. As we mark this joyous occasion, which commemorates the victory of good over evil, we thank those in the Indian community who have joined hands with us in our battles against campus anti-Semitism and in favor of religious […] Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI)
October 3, 2013 America’s Current “Weimar Moment” is Greatly Exaggerated The current lamentable federal government shutdown—for which I think there is enough blame to go around—has precipitated a flurry of “not me but thee is the Nazi” accusations from both Ted Cruz’s and Harry Reid’s sides of the Congressional aisle. Such back-and-forth character assassination, alas, has become recurrent in recent national American politics, starting in […] Blog
September 28, 2013 The Swastika as a Symbol of Happiness The Polish criminal code, similarly to criminal codes in other European countries, prohibits incitement to racial hatred; public insult due to race, national, ethnic or religious origin; as well as public propagating of National Socialist and Fascist systems. Those who oppose the penalisation of words – including racist and xenophobic words – will most probably […] Anti-Semitism Blog
September 27, 2013 Call for Papers: Budapest Conference on “Narratives of Violence” This announcement from our colleagues at the Pears Institute for the Study of Antisemitism and the International Consortium for Research on Antisemitism and Racism (ICRAR) will be of interest to our anti-Semitism scholars: A major international conference on Narratives of Violence, conceived by the International Consortium for Research on Antisemitism and Racism (ICRAR), of which […] Anti-Semitism Blog
September 19, 2013 UC Berkeley Student Assesses Campus Anti-Semitism UC Berkeley freshman Elijah Z. Granet has written an interesting account of anti-Semitism that he has faced there and on Facebook. Granet’s op ed in The Daily Californian relates his own personal experience with anti-Semitism before he even set his foot on UC Berkeley’s ground. He elaborates on the U.S. Department of Education Office […] Anti-Semitism Anti-Zionism Blog
September 19, 2013 Anti-Semitic Group Hate Speech Permeates Facebook Very recently, Facebook Inc. has come under scrutiny for allowing certain hate groups against the Jewish community to stay online, while blocking other hate groups that target other minority communities. Within Facebook’s public, community standards, the company explicitly prohibits the “attack of others based on their race, ethnicity, national origin, religion, sex, gender, sexual orientation, […] Anti-Semitism Blog
September 12, 2013 WMDS, Barack Obama, and Hegel’s “The Cunning of History” According to Hegel, Reason realizes itself in History through the action of “great men.” However, Hegel argues that Reason does not act in a manner that seems “reasonable” on the surface. Men acting—as Freud would say unconsciously of ultimate results—bring Reason’s purposes to fruition. My starting point here is the assumption that members of the […] Blog
September 12, 2013 Government-Created Anti-Semitism (Part 3) In a recent article written for The Tablet, Kenneth R. Timmerman said that when he traveled to Gaza, Amman, and Damascus in 1994, he kept asking Hamas and Muslim Brotherhood leaders whether they thought the Jews had a plan to dominate the world. Timmerman recounted the enthusiastic answer one Hamas leader: “Yes, indeed. I […] Anti-Semitism Anti-Zionism Blog
September 11, 2013 Government-Created Anti-Semitism (Part 2) False accusations against Jews can lead to horrific ends, but so can false charges of anti-Semitism. The problem is that charges of anti-Semitism are almost always met with denial, and it can be difficult to separate legitimate from illegitimate claims. That makes it particularly important to expose false charges when they are uncovered. The importance […] Anti-Semitism Blog
September 10, 2013 Government-Created Anti-Semitism (Part 1) Many people think of Nazi Germany as the cradle of government created anti-Semitism, but long before anyone had heard of the Nazi Holocaust, the Russian concept of pogrom was well known. The 1939 edition of an authoritative Russian dictionary defined pogrom as: “the government-organized mass slaughter of some element of the population as a group, […] Anti-Semitism Blog
September 10, 2013 University Trustees Must Step Up and Defend Real Academic Freedom In ACTA’s last post here at the Brandeis Center Blog, we noted several examples of how professors abuse and violate the principles of academic freedom. How has the landscape of academic freedom changed over the years and who is best positioned to stand up and fight for it today? The first “Key Document” in ACTA’s […] Anti-Zionism
September 9, 2013 Upcoming Guest Blogger: Ronald J. Rychlak We are delighted to welcome Ronald J. Rychlak as our next guest blogger. Professor Ronald J. Rychlak is the Butler, Snow, O’Mara, Stevens and Cannada Lecturer and Professor of Law at the University of Mississippi School of Law, where he was formerly Associate Dean for Academic Affairs. Rychlak is the author or co-author of eight […] Anti-Semitism Blog
September 6, 2013 Brandeis Center Welcomes More New Staff and Interns In response to the resurgence of campus anti-Semitism, the Louis D. Brandeis Center has recently added four new vibrant and passionate members to its team. Ari Plaut, Sitara Kedilaya joins as Civil Rights Legal Fellows, while Maria Islam and Eesha Bhave join as Fall interns. Sitara Kedilaya is a recent honors graduate from American University Washington College […] Anti-Semitism Blog
September 1, 2013 Wikipedia Article Features LDB Wikipedia now boasts a nice new entry for the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law.The entry, although brief, is informative, well-researched and well-written. Followers of the Brandeis Center can help out by expanding and contributing to this fine piece. Contributors should not be associated with the Brandeis Center, and they should follow […] Blog
August 30, 2013 Given the Troubling Reach of Ron Paul’s Political Shadow, Senator Rand Paul Will Deserve a Fair Hearing—But Not a Free Ride—If He Runs for President During the 1960 presidential campaign, after Protestant Minister Norman Vincent Peal questioned the fitness of a Catholic to be elected president, Adlai Stevenson quipped: “I find St. Paul appealing, but Rev. Paul appalling.” More than half a century later, the 2016 presidential race may face a second “Pauline” moment. When John F. Kennedy ran for […] Anti-Semitism Blog
August 29, 2013 Students, Professors, and Academic Freedom I would like to begin by thanking Ken Marcus for giving my colleague Avi Snyder and me the opportunity to guest-post for the Brandeis Center. Avi and I work for the American Council of Trustees and Alumni (ACTA), a Washington, DC-based non-profit dedicated to academic freedom, academic excellence, and accountability in higher education. Earlier this […] Anti-Zionism
August 28, 2013 ACTA and Academic Freedom From the beginning, academic freedom has been a core concern of the Louis D. Brandeis Center. As civil rights lawyers, we are concerned both when academic freedom is violated and also when the doctrine is abused. For example, we are concerned when anti-Israel activists suppress the ability of pro-Israel speakers to communicate their messages on […] Anti-Zionism Blog
August 27, 2013 Why Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., Is Still “A Jewish Folk Hero” Were he still alive today, Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., would be 84 years old. Much of the current buzz surrounding the fiftieth anniversary of the 1963 March on Washington centers on speculation about what MLK would believe and where he would lead today. The 1963 March put the political spotlight on achieving color blind […] Blog
August 27, 2013 No Joke No Joke “Growing up,” said my son Jacob, “ if you had told me that someone in my family would write a book about Jewish humor, I would have imagined it to be my father, or perhaps my brother, who has something of a legendary wit; certainly not my mother, who was generally regarded as […] Anti-Semitism Blog
August 26, 2013 Welcome Guest Blogger Ruth Wisse The Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law is pleased to announce that Dr. Ruth R. Wisse, Professor of Yiddish and Comparative Literature at Harvard University, will be joining the Brandeis Center Blog team as a guest blogger. Dr. Wisse, an experienced editor, essayist, and columnist brings to the Brandeis Blog a long […] Anti-Semitism Blog
August 23, 2013 Islamic Republic of Iran: The World’s Worst Sponsor of Terror Must Be Stopped The Islamic Republic of Iran, a designated State Sponsor of Terrorism since 1984, remains the world’s “most active state sponsor of terrorism” according to the U.S. Department of State’s most recent Country Reports on Terrorism. Yet the world continues to turn a blind eye to Iran’s sponsorship of terror, ignoring the suffering of terror victims […] Anti-Zionism Blog Litigation