Can Aciksoz
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canaciksoz.bsky.social
Can Aciksoz
@canaciksoz.bsky.social
Anthropologist @UCLA, author of Sacrificial Limbs
https://www.ucpress.edu/books/sacrificial-limbs/paper
Reposted by Can Aciksoz
Absolutely fantastic.

One of the best things I've read all year along.

A critique of 'apartheid' frameworks, and the necessity to address the Settler-Colonialism that still remains unquestioned and well-protected, as most loudly seen with Israel now:

www.bostonreview.net/articles/the...
The Land Question - Boston Review
Fighting apartheid has become a global paradigm for justice struggles. That’s not how many Black liberationists in South Africa understood their cause.
www.bostonreview.net
December 13, 2025 at 1:30 AM
The piece is a mess, singlemindedly reproducing a one—sided political narrative & in that it’s not different from the administration that it ostensibly criticizes. But, it confirms what we already know: There was no real investigation & lawyers were ordered to make findings for a certain conclusion
NEW: Trump’s DOJ Pressured Lawyers to “Find” Evidence That UCLA Had Illegally Tolerated Antisemitism

An investigation by ProPublica and @chronicle.com reveals how the U.S. government ignored due process to gin up its attack on the University of California.
Trump’s DOJ Pressured Lawyers to “Find” Evidence that UCLA Had Illegally Tolerated Antisemitism
An investigation by ProPublica and The Chronicle of Higher Education reveals how the U.S. government ignored due process to gin up its attack on the University of California.
www.propublica.org
December 12, 2025 at 3:05 PM
Reposted by Can Aciksoz
You might not be in Middle East Studies. But whether you picked this fight or not, if you work at a university, this fight is picking you.

You are responsible for standing with colleagues. You are responsible for failing to stand up too. We're all in it now.

www.newarab.com/news/israel-...
From Israel to ICE, MESA’s academic freedom is under attack
The issue of academic freedom, particularly related to Israel and Palestine studies, has become a daily concern for students and professors.
www.newarab.com
December 3, 2025 at 2:23 AM
Reposted by Can Aciksoz
"academic publishing is dominated by profit-oriented, multinational companies for whom scientific knowledge is a commodity to be sold back to the academic community who created it... The dominant four collectively generated... $12 billion in profits between 2019 and 2024."
November 18, 2025 at 6:48 AM
Reposted by Can Aciksoz
WE JUST KEEP WINNING. (UC President's Postdoctoral Fellowship Program RESTORED!!!!)
November 18, 2025 at 10:34 PM
Reposted by Can Aciksoz
MESA's Committee on Academic Freedom letter in support of Dr. Tamar Shirinian, who UT Knoxville suspended on dubious grounds of "uncivil" social media postings.

MESA continues to lead the academy in standing firm in support of faculty!

mesana.org/advocacy/com...
Middle East Studies Association
Our letter expressing concern about the capricious and hasty suspension of Assistant Professor Tamar Shirinian of the Department of Anthropology at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, and your dec...
mesana.org
November 4, 2025 at 8:00 PM
Reposted by Can Aciksoz
Here it is: the Trump Administration "draft proposal" to the University of California. Published bc faculty sued for its disclosure.

Its terms go beyond what Trump demands in similar compacts to other universities.

EVERYONE should read: faculty, students, admins, alumni.
ucop.edu/communicatio...
ucop.edu
October 25, 2025 at 12:42 AM
Reposted by Can Aciksoz
The Global Sumud Flotilla en route to Gaza is nearing the expected interception point by Israeli forces.

You can watch a livestream of some of the boats here:

www.youtube.com/live/uEN2bWF...
24/7 LIVESTREAM OF GLOBAL SUMUD FLOTILLA
YouTube video by Global Sumud Flotilla
www.youtube.com
October 1, 2025 at 12:39 AM
Reposted by Can Aciksoz
If you’ll recall, the “antisemitism” at UCLA involved primarily campus police allowing Zionist counter protesters to attack the pro-Palestinian camps (incl. many Jewish participants) while they did nothing, and arresting the anti-genocide students & faculty afterwards.
August 2, 2025 at 2:13 PM
A good read from 2014: "Israel has been stealing nuclear secrets and covertly making bombs since the 1950s. And western governments, including Britain and the US, turn a blind eye. But how can we expect Iran to curb its nuclear ambitions if the Israelis won't come clean?"
The truth about Israel's secret nuclear arsenal
Israel has been stealing nuclear secrets and covertly making bombs since the 1950s. And western governments, including Britain and the US, turn a blind eye. But how can we expect Iran to curb its nucl...
www.theguardian.com
June 20, 2025 at 8:11 PM
Reposted by Can Aciksoz
The people of Los Angeles will rally on Monday, 6/9 to demand the release of everyone unjustly detained by ICE, like SEIU leader David Huerta, and an end to militaristic escalation on our communities.

Join us and @aclusocal.bsky.social at 11 AM in LA to call for an end to these human rights abuses.
Free David Huerta, Rally Against ICE Raids
I'm attending this event - sign up now to join me!
act.aclu.org
June 8, 2025 at 10:09 PM
Reposted by Can Aciksoz
🚨 Support Los Angeles immigrant communities 🚨

Please consider donating to one or all of the following orgs:

Immigrant Defenders Law Center: give.immdef.org/donate

LA Jail Support / Bail Fund:
account.venmo.com/u/jailsuppor...

Unión del Barrio:
uniondelbarrio.org/main/support...
June 7, 2025 at 8:41 PM
Reposted by Can Aciksoz
Columbia University Acting President Claire Shipman welcomed to Columbia College's graduation ceremony with sustained jeers and boos.

Minutes later, students break out in loud chants of "Free Mahmoud":
May 20, 2025 at 3:13 PM
Reposted by Can Aciksoz
A faculty member spoke to the University of California system president prior to graduation about concerns over how the UC system responded to protestors and so they had the faculty member removed by the police.
"It is alarming that the administration would deploy law enforcement in response to something a faculty member says simply because their comments are uncomfortable or inconvenient."

mailchi.mp/cucfa/statem...
Statement condemning faculty member removal from commencement
mailchi.mp
May 20, 2025 at 1:28 AM
Reposted by Can Aciksoz
“The very idea that it is dangerous to distinguish between felt harm and actionable injury is a symptom of how gutted our political imaginations have become.”

Alex Gourevitch on the specious justifications of the McCarthyist crackdowns on pro-Palestinian speech and protest:
The Right to Be Hostile - Boston Review
Crackdowns on pro-Palestinian protest force a reckoning with inflated definitions of harm and harassment.
www.bostonreview.net
May 16, 2025 at 10:22 PM
Now that our government places so much importance on “balanced curriculum” we can start the mass recruitment of Marxist economists in economics departments.
April 16, 2025 at 6:12 PM
“Viewpoint diversity!” What a euphemism they’ve invented! Rest of the world calls an authoritarian government pressuring universities to staff them with its supporters with other names: Nepotism, clientelism, patronage…
April 16, 2025 at 5:34 PM
Reposted by Can Aciksoz
The book is officially out today! I can't wait to return to Chicago and hold my copy in hand! @socmedanthro.bsky.social
In "Between Families and Institutions" @zhiyingma.bsky.social examines how the contemporary Chinese state’s biopolitical governance impacts families’ involvement in the psychiatric care of their close relatives. Read the intro for free now! #Anthropology #AsianStudies
https://buff.ly/4blj2dp
April 5, 2025 at 4:13 AM
“The puzzle of Trumpism has been solved. We no longer require safaris to midwestern diners to illuminate it. Journalists and commentators no longer need to employ euphemism or coin neologisms to describe it.“

www.liberalcurrents.com/yes-its-fasc...
Yes, It's Fascism
It’s not an omen or threat or hint of fascism—it’s the thing itself.
www.liberalcurrents.com
April 13, 2025 at 1:24 AM
Reposted by Can Aciksoz
The Signal fiasco is obscuring an essential question: Why is the US bombing Yemen? — my latest for @theguardian.com | www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
March 27, 2025 at 11:12 PM
Reposted by Can Aciksoz
Reposted by Can Aciksoz
Boston/Somerville: 🚨emergency rally TONIGHT for a Tufts student abducted by ICE!🚨
March 26, 2025 at 1:58 PM