Friday, 25 July 2025
[link removed]


** Shadow of Gaza conflict hangs over education
------------------------------------------------------------

In a story of censorship that spans two continents, it was revealed this week that an entire body of scholarly work was cancelled ([link removed]) by the Harvard Educational Review (HER) shortly before publication. The work focused on ‘education and Palestine’ and its raison d'être was paramount: Since the war in Gaza started the educational system there has been decimated. All schools have been closed for children ([link removed]) for almost two years, and almost 90% of schools will require reconstruction or major work to be functional ([link removed]) . Every university in the strip has been partially or fully destroyed too
([link removed]) , as have the Central Archives of Gaza ([link removed]) , containing 150 years’ worth of documentation, in addition to every ministerial archive of official records. The scholar Henry A Giroux called the destruction “deliberate … part of a broader effort to annihilate Palestinian history and identity”. He used the term (employed by others too) “scholasticide ([link removed]) ”.

The HER special issue was a response to this, and was going to cover topics including the annihilation of Gaza’s schools. It was due to be published this summer. Contracts had apparently been finalised and articles edited. Then on 9 June, the Harvard Education Publishing Group, the journal’s publisher, cancelled the release. The publisher cited “a number of complex issues”, including the need for “considerable copy editing” and certain legal checks. They claim the cancellation was not “due to censorship of a particular viewpoint”.

Others disagree. “Even within the broader landscape around Palestine in the university, it’s unprecedented. You just don’t solicit work, peer-review it, have people sign contracts, advertise the articles, and then cancel not just one article, but an entire special issue,” said Professor Chandni Desai, author of one of the articles, in The Guardian.

It's impossible to ignore the wider US context too. Since October 2023 US universities have come under pressure over accusations of tolerating antisemitism on campuses. Many have responded by restricting pro-Palestine speech and scholarship, as we reported here ([link removed]) .

But the story goes beyond Palestine. After Donald Trump’s win in November, Index contributing editor, the academic Emma Briant, asked whether academic freedom would survive Trump ([link removed]) 2.0. It’s too early to say definitively. What we can say though is it’s being extremely tested. Everyone is familiar by now with the attacks to Columbia University – stripped of funding and given a list of demands, including external oversight ([link removed]) for certain academic departments – and of Harvard resisting only to be punished too. Add to these big picture stories smaller ones - academic journals accused ([link removed]) by officials of “bias”, threats to ban scientists from publishing in leading
peer-reviewed medical journals ([link removed]) , government subscriptions to several leading journals ended. Another story from this week: a new government investigation into Harvard’s exchange programme.

Against these two backdrops – a devasted Gazan education system and an embattled US one – an important project to save research on Palestine has been stopped. The knowledge economy is much poorer for it.


Jemimah Steinfeld

CEO, Index on Censorship


** More from Index
------------------------------------------------------------

From Malawi to Gaza: The week in free expression ([link removed])

A round-up of the key stories covering censorship and free expression from the past seven days ([link removed])

Has President Trump launched the age of the American dissident? ([link removed])

What can US political activists learn from those who defied Soviet repression? ([link removed])

Palestine Action proscription and Afghan data leak test free expression ([link removed])

Are certain UK laws too broad and ill-defined to protect our speech rights? ([link removed])

Attacked on all fronts in the West Bank ([link removed])

Palestinian human rights lawyer Diala Ayesh on the dangers she faces from both sides ([link removed])

News in India is being erased from the internet ([link removed])

Journalism critical of the government is vanishing from digital archives, years after publication ([link removed])

Afghans at risk on all fronts ([link removed])

Data leaks and deportations show that more protection is needed ([link removed])

[link removed]


** Land of the free? Magazine launch and panel discussion
------------------------------------------------------------

Join us on Tuesday 5 August at St John’s Waterloo for the launch of our latest magazine issue on the impact of the Trump administration on free speech in the USA and beyond.

With Charlie Holt (Global Climate Legal Defense), and Erica Wagner (The Observer) and Hanna Komar (Belarusian poet).
REGISTER ([link removed])


** From Malawi to Gaza: The week in free expression ([link removed])
------------------------------------------------------------


** >> EL SALVADOR: ([link removed]) [link removed] human rights group forced to flee country ([link removed])
------------------------------------------------------------


** >> USA: ([link removed]) [link removed] Street Journal barred from Trump’s Scotland trip over Epstein claim ([link removed])
------------------------------------------------------------


** >> MALAWI: ([link removed]) [link removed] decriminalised in boost for press freedom ([link removed]) [link removed]
------------------------------------------------------------


** >> KENYA: ([link removed]) [link removed] charges against prominent activist dropped after ([link removed]) [link removed] ([link removed]) [link removed]
------------------------------------------------------------


** >> GAZA: ([link removed]) [link removed], AP, BBC News and Reuters issue statement on starving journalists ([link removed])
------------------------------------------------------------


** Flashback
------------------------------------------------------------
[link removed]

The Duty

by Kaya Genç ([link removed])

Volume 49, Issue 3 ([link removed])

President Donald Trump is visiting the United Kingdom this weekend as part of a four-day official visit, which has already kicked off protests in Scotland ([link removed]) .

Back in late 2020, when Trump 2.0 would have been unthinkable, our contributing editor shared a short story written from the viewpoint of the President’s dog. Read the story here ([link removed]) . ([link removed])


** Support our work
------------------------------------------------------------

The world is becoming more authoritarian and our work calling out human rights abuses and promoting freedom of expression in countries such as El Salvador, India and Palestine has never been more important.

By supporting Index on Censorship today, you can help us in our work with censored artists, jailed musicians, journalists under threat and dissidents facing torture or worse.

Please donate today ([link removed])

Photos by: (Gaza classroom) Zuma Press Inc / Alamy Stock Photo; (Trump and dog) Eva Bee

[link removed]
[link removed]
[link removed]

View in browser ([link removed])

Copyright (C) 2025 Index on Censorship. All rights reserved.
You are receiving this email because you signed up for Index on Censorship's weekly newsletter.

Our mailing address is:
Index on Censorship
3rd Floor
86-90 Paul Street
London, EC2A 4NE
United Kingdom
Want to change how you receive these emails?

You can update your preferences ([link removed]) or unsubscribe ([link removed])