MİT suspended the student and banned the magazine for his article opposing the Gaza genocide

Last Friday, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) ordered the immediate “temporary” suspension of graduate student Prahlad Iyengar for writing an article titled “On Pacifism” in the MIT student magazine. written Revolution, We oppose Israel’s genocide against the people of Gaza. The broadcast itself was banned on campus.

Graduates protesting the genocide in Gaza leave an outdoor ceremony at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology on Thursday, May 30, 2024, in Cambridge, Massachusetts. (AP Photo/Michael Casey)

Zionist groups and the MİT administration falsely claimed that the article encouraged violence and tried to portray Iyengar as a terrorist. Article published in the fifth edition magazine, This publication, a publication recognized by the American Sociological Association, does nothing of this kind, as can be seen from the academic text of the article.

World Socialist Website opposes this reckless attack on freedom of expression and academic freedom and calls on workers, students and young people to demand the immediate revocation of all administrative measures against Iyengar.

As Iyengar wrote in his statement opposing the ban, “The administration also lifted the ban. Written Revolution This means that students who disseminate or read this publication on campus may face discipline.” Some students who were reading the magazine were approached by police. According to records of the call to the police, it was to stop the distribution of the “banned pamphlet.” Students face Orwellian disciplinary measures for distributing or simply reading the article on campus They stay.

The suspension and ban represent an escalation of the Biden administration and the Democratic Party’s bipartisan campaign against opposition to the Gaza genocide on campuses. It comes after more than 186,000 people in Gaza were massacred by Israel, according to one Israeli estimate. Lancet Starting from July. The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has warned that everyone in northern Gaza “is in danger of dying”, while there is a massive and unprecedented amount of photo and video evidence on social media from both victims and killers documenting the genocide. This can accurately be described as the first live-streamed genocide in history.

Iyengar is a second-year electrical engineering doctoral student. The student was suspended from campus on the spurious grounds that he posed an immediate risk of violence, and the administration falsely claimed that his article supported “terrorism.” This was done solely on the basis of anonymous claims by Zionist students that the statements in the article “could be interpreted as a call for more violent or destructive forms of protest at MIT.” The temporary restraining rule against students seemingly only targets people at risk of violence, such as those suspected of rape, murder or assault. Obviously this is not the case.

In fact, no evidence was presented in Iyengar’s article other than using the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine poster as an example. The administration incorrectly used this to claim that the article supported terrorism. Banning opens up a veritable Pandora’s Box of censorship; This means that all forms of media can be banned, from textbooks and dictionaries to documentaries and non-fiction books, and even news articles in the mainstream press, that contain images of real or so-called “terrorist” organisations. .

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In a strong statement condemning the current ban HereIyengar writes:

These extraordinary actions should concern everyone on campus. My article, which I encourage everyone to read at writerevolution.com, provides a historical review of the types of tactics used by protest movements throughout history, from the civil rights movement to the struggle against South African Apartheid on the MIT campus. The article addresses academic writer Ward Churchill’s famous article “Pacifism as Pathology” and responds to those who embrace pacifism as an end in itself; This intellectually undermines the Palestinians’ right to fight against oppression under Protocol I to the Geneva Conventions. confront

Iyengar notes that such themes have already been discussed in the MIT History Department as well as in the campus student newspaper and are the subject of legitimate discussion, and that this may be possible if the same standards are used to prohibit “terrorism.” It will be used against anyone accused by Israel, including UN members, Palestinian poets and academics, and others.

MIT has made other attacks on academic freedom, such as preventing tenured Professor of Linguistics Michel DeGraff from teaching a course on the language surrounding the Gaza genocide. DeGraff received letters of reprimand and a salary freeze in response to his request to teach this course.

The treatment of anti-genocide protesters contrasts with MIT’s treatment of Zionist students, revealing this double standard. Iyengar, who had previously been evicted from student housing for sending an email about a non-violent protest, told the WSWS that he had filed harassment reports against some Zionist students and staff, who “slandered” him on social media site X. he said. school shooter,” and falsely claimed that he was affiliated with the PFLP, which has been designated a terrorist organization by the US government. Nothing came of these reports.

Zionists at MIT are also involved in this violent attacks on students They faced no repercussions, legal, academic or otherwise. This follows a similar trend at other campuses, such as Columbia University and universities in Canada.

The ban on Iyengar was carried out without any legal action. As he explained to the WSWS, “They banned me from campus without ever hearing my side of the story, without ever hearing my defense.”

The campus campaign against Iyengar is led by Dean of Student Life David Randall, who also sits on the board of MIT’s Hillel organization, which played a leading role in the witch hunt against anti-holocaust activists. Hillel International’s own website adopts Israel’s reactionary definition of “antisemitism” to include those who are politically opposed to Zionism.

There are also extensive commercial connections between MIT and the Israeli Ministry of Defense; this ministry has developed much of the drone technology used by the latter. The Israeli military company Elbit Systems is part of the industrial liaison system at MIT, and several professors receive money from the Department of Defense.

MIT hypocritically said that cutting research ties with the Israeli military would “violate academic freedom.”

The attack on Iyengar is clearly a political conspiracy driven by powerful political forces, including Zionist organizations as well as the Democratic Party that controls the administration; Randall even admitted that he did not read the article carefully.

In addition to violating Iyengar’s and all MIT students’ and faculty’s First Amendment right to free speech, this action effectively deprived Iyengar of access to his laboratory, barred him from attending lectures, and may prevent him from participating in finals. Exams that could jeopardize your academic career.

In his statement, Iyengar noted the broader context in which this took place:

There is a systematic effort by university administrations across the country to prevent the freedom of expression of those who oppose the genocide in Gaza. Cornell attempted to revoke the visa of a graduate student who participated in the protest. Students at the University of California are being kicked out of their residence halls and left homeless due to disciplinary action for their protest activities.

Also Dr. Pointing out that Maura Finkelstein was fired due to her social media posts against the Gaza genocide, she asked the following question:

Do we want colleges and universities to be places of free and open debate, or do we allow the MIT administration to essentially accuse its own students of “terrorism” and ban student-run articles that attempt to thoughtfully cover student-run publications? day? Now more than ever, we cannot guarantee our basic democratic rights.

The genocide gets deeper every day. The Jabaliya refugee camp in northern Gaza faced unimaginable horrors under the total siege and blackout of the Israeli military occupation. The World Health Organization said the Sheikh Radwan health center, aimed at distributing the vital polio vaccine, was bombed by the Israeli army during a “humanitarian pause”. While millions of people are displaced in Lebanon, villages that are thousands of years old are being completely destroyed by the genocidal Israeli regime that is trying to erase Arab history.

It also takes place just a few months before Donald Trump’s inauguration. Trump had previously vowed to be a “dictator from day one” after trying to overturn the presidential election results on January 6, 2021, in a violent coup. He promised to use the army against domestic opposition and said Israel should “end the problem” with Palestine, echoing Hitler’s language about a “final solution” to the “Jewish question.” Iyengar touches on this point at the end of his letter:

And here, at home, Donald Trump, the engine of this global atrocity, has threatened to establish a dictatorship and said he wants to suppress protests with violence. Kamala Harris, meanwhile, continued solely to support U.S. complicity in genocide and vowed to use her track record of “law and order” to criminalize protesters. In the midst of this crisis, MIT’s actions only undermine our collective ability to counter threats to humanity, regardless of their source.

Therefore, I appeal to all students, staff, and faculty of conscience at MIT: Do not allow the administration to control our speech and censor student-run publications. This is not just about me, this is about democratic principles. Do not allow MIT to limit the boundaries of thought on this campus by restricting our ability to engage in critique that is vital to movement building. We demand that the administration lift its censorship of Written Revolution and allow me to return to campus to continue my academic studies and research work.

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