The Racial Muslim: When Racism Quashes Religious Freedom

Why does a country with religious liberty enmeshed in its legal and social structures produce such overt prejudice and discrimination against Muslims? Sahar Aziz’s groundbreaking book demonstrates how race and religion intersect to create what she calls the Racial Muslim. Comparing discrimination against immigrant Muslims with the prejudicial treatment of Jews, Catholics, Mormons, and African American Muslims during the twentieth century, Aziz explores the gap between America’s aspiration for and fulfillment of religious freedom. With America’s demographics rapidly changing from a majority white Protestant nation to a multiracial, multireligious society,… Continue reading “The Racial Muslim: When Racism Quashes Religious Freedom”

Launch of The Race and Rights Podcast [CSRR]

The Rutgers Law Center for Security, Race and Rights (CSRR) launched the Race and Rights Podcast, hosted by Professor Sahar Aziz. The Race and Rights Podcast explores the myriad issues that adversely impact the civil and human rights of America’s diverse Muslim, Arab, and South Asian communities. Toward that end, Professor Sahar Aziz engages with academics and experts who critically analyze law, policy, and politics in ways that center the lived experiences of under-represented communities in the United States and the Global South. The Race and Rights Podcast is available… Continue reading “Launch of The Race and Rights Podcast [CSRR]”

Academic Freedom Under Attack [AAUP-AFT]

The Rutgers University AAUP-AFT hosted a teach-in on the multiple threats to academic freedom since October 2023 targeted at faculty and students who defend the humanity of Palestinians and critique Israel’s military assault on Gaza as a genocidal campaign. Professor Sahar Aziz discussed the systematic harassment and intimidation of Muslim, Arab and Palestinian American professors by self-described pro-Israeli organizations, politicians and university administrators whose political objective is to censor criticism of the state of Israel. Watch Professor Aziz’s remarks here or below.… Continue reading “Academic Freedom Under Attack [AAUP-AFT]”

Israel’s Vision of No Palestinians “From the River to the Sea” [DAWN]

Words matter. That is the purported principle behind a national campaign by pro-Israel organizations to censor, punish and even criminalize protests on American college campuses demanding a cease-fire to Israel’s unrestrained assault on 2.4 million Palestinians in Gaza. University administrators have obliged with draconian restrictions that effectively deny their own students the ability to speak out against what the International Court of Justice has described as Israel’s “plausible” violations of the Genocide Convention in Gaza. Pro-Israel advocates often point to the phrase “from the river to the sea, Palestine … Continue reading “Israel’s Vision of No Palestinians “From the River to the Sea” [DAWN]”

Voices Under Siege: Free Speech, Islamophobia, and Palestine in Academia [Georgetown]

Georgetown University’s Bridge Initiative hosted Professor Sahar Aziz, Professor John L. Esposito, and Professor Robbins on a panel addressing the critical issues of free speech, Islamophobia, and the challenges faced by pro-Palestine voices in American academic institutions. The conversation focused on the current state of academia and its role in promoting or stifling open dialogue on contentious issues. Scholars discussed how pro-Palestine voices are being marginalized and their free speech rights violated within academic settings. Additionally, the conversation touched on how Islamophobia has played a role in the suppression of… Continue reading “Voices Under Siege: Free Speech, Islamophobia, and Palestine in Academia [Georgetown]”

The Palestine Taboo: Free Speech, Race and Islamophobia [WashU]

The true test of a democracy is the extent to which civil rights in law are enforced in practice for the most vulnerable groups in society. As members of Congress demand mass arrest and expulsion of college students exercising their free speech right to dissent against U.S. foreign policy in Gaza and the West Bank, the racial fault lines in American democracy are laid bare. Similarly, university presidents are buckling to external political pressure to violate academic freedom of Muslim and Arab faculty targeted by external anti-Muslim and pro-Israeli groups and… Continue reading “The Palestine Taboo: Free Speech, Race and Islamophobia [WashU]”

Digital Islamophobia: Disinformation, Elections and Islamophobia [MEC]

Professor Sahar Aziz provides her analysis about a recent report by disinformation researchers Marc Owen Jones and Sohan Dsouza that revealed a multi-platform global influence campaign promoting anti-Muslim hate and sectarianism. The report highlights the use of disinformation to spread a neoconservative agenda, including xenophobic, anti-immigration, and anti-Muslim propaganda and disinformation. Against the backdrop of the war on Gaza; and a series of consequential elections in Europe and the United States (U.S.), the campaigns fall under broader attempts to shape public opinion using hate speech. It is one of the… Continue reading “Digital Islamophobia: Disinformation, Elections and Islamophobia [MEC]”

House Committee on Education Hearing Echoes Era of McCarthyism [Parallax Views]

In this edition of Parallax Views, Rutgers University’s Director of the Center for Security, Race, and Rights, Professor Sahar Aziz, returns to the program to discuss the recent House Committee on Education and the Workforce hearings on antisemitism and why they resemble something more akin to the McCarthyite witch hunts of the House on American Activities during the Cold War than an honest effort to combat antisemitism. These hearings, she argues, are more about shutting down political criticism of Israel than fighting antisemitism.  Listen to Professor Sahar Aziz’s analysis here… Continue reading “House Committee on Education Hearing Echoes Era of McCarthyism [Parallax Views]”

A Conversation on Antisemitism and Islamophobia [UC Davis]

The UC Davis Jewish Studies Program co-sponsored “A Conversation on Antisemitism and Islamophobia” featuring Sahar Aziz, Distinguished Professor of Law and Chancellor’s Social Justice Scholar at Rutgers University, and Ethan Katz, Associate Professor of History and Jewish Studies and Faculty Director of the Center for Jewish Studies at the University of California Berkeley. The audio recording is available here.… Continue reading “A Conversation on Antisemitism and Islamophobia [UC Davis]”

The Middle East on the U.S. Campus with Sahar Aziz and Peter Beinart [Tufts University]

In her conversation with Professor Peter Beinart, Professor Sahar Aziz provided a primer on the First Amendment, Title VI, Title IX, and other free speech protections available in the United States in both public and private universities, and grappled with the question of how to engender an environment of tolerance and mutual respect while maintaining the rights of those engaged in speech that other groups could find offensive. Professor Aziz made particular reference to the idea of the ‘Palestine exception,’ in which speech, education, and activism in support of Palestinian… Continue reading “The Middle East on the U.S. Campus with Sahar Aziz and Peter Beinart [Tufts University]”