Our Zoom call this week will be on Thursday—not the usual Friday—at Noon EST. Our guests will be former Human Rights Watch executive director Ken Roth and Kathryn Sikkink, the Ryan Family Professor of Human Rights Policy at Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government. They’ll be discussing a remarkable
As I think you know, we often do exactly that. But ini this case it's not possible to find someone from the Kennedy School who will publicly defend the decision. And it's this particular decision--and the implications it raises--that we're discussing. Not HRW in general.
"Ken Roth is going to be our guest Thursday at noon. And we’re also going to be joined by Kathryn Sikkink, who is a Professor of Human Rights Policy at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government. She’s one of the people who is quoted as one of the people who internally expressed outrage at what happened at her own institution. So, we’re gonna talk about this particular incident."
So you're going to circle jerk about it. Why not include someone present who is critical of Ken Roth? You know, showing different points of view and having an actual conversation?
I posted a link to The Harvard Kennedy School Palestinian Alumni Collective’s statement concerning Elmondorf’s decision to refuse Ken Roth a fellowship at HKS in my last comment. Since then, this statement has come out from the HKS Student Body which I will leave here. It is a petition any Harvard alum can sign whether they were part of The Kennedy School or not. I don’t know if it’s kosher to post petitions in this space, so will just post the statement. If it is kosher, and Harvard alums in this space do want to sign, someone can give me the green light and I’ll post the signing link as well.
Ever since (the civil rights reforms of Johnson's time, the resignation of Nixon, the election of Clinton - name your moment) it has been the central strategy of Republican's to impede the Federal government in every way possible from meeting the needs of the American people. Now it has moved to become the "revenge" of the slaveholders/Confederacy w/ conservative states against the Feds and a conservative Supreme Court against the other branches of the government. Too often, the Dems seem to be deer in the headlights of the oncoming assault. Time to try to gather a serious counterstrategy!?
I am thrilled and so grateful that Ken Roth and Kathryn Sikkink will be your guests this week! Thank you thank you for holding this conversation!
I actually first heard this story from the artist/activist Adam Broomberg in Germany and then another human rights activist in Canada, our fellow subscriber Raja Khouri. The world is watching.
When 30,000 Israelis just marched in Tel Aviv this weekend in protest of the new government, fear of a theocracy and complete dissolution of any I-P peace process, is this a time when the estuary of The US State Dept that is The Kennedy School should be silencing human rights leaders who speak out against anti-democratic Israeli policies?? For the sake of Palestinians certainly, but also now for the sake of Israelis? Is HKS interests in Israel really about democracy or is it actually about economic and defense interests in the end? How much of this is Elmondorf acting as a lone wolf with his personal politics or capitulating to donors with an agenda (and what is that agenda?). So many red flags, so many questions.
The US is great at pointing at anti-democratic actions with our enemies, but awful at self-interrogating our own anti-democratic action or those of our allies. This is terrifying if we actually want ourselves or our allies to uphold democratic values. Authoritarianism is on the rise everywhere. We can’t afford to make convenient exceptions if we don’t want to fall into the same hole.
Also this just came out today from Harvard Kennedy School Palestinian Alumni Collective in response to Elmondorf’s decision.
As I think you know, we often do exactly that. But ini this case it's not possible to find someone from the Kennedy School who will publicly defend the decision. And it's this particular decision--and the implications it raises--that we're discussing. Not HRW in general.
"Ken Roth is going to be our guest Thursday at noon. And we’re also going to be joined by Kathryn Sikkink, who is a Professor of Human Rights Policy at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government. She’s one of the people who is quoted as one of the people who internally expressed outrage at what happened at her own institution. So, we’re gonna talk about this particular incident."
So you're going to circle jerk about it. Why not include someone present who is critical of Ken Roth? You know, showing different points of view and having an actual conversation?
Last year, Harvard denied tenure to Dr. Cornel West for seemingly similar issue. Follow the money?
I posted a link to The Harvard Kennedy School Palestinian Alumni Collective’s statement concerning Elmondorf’s decision to refuse Ken Roth a fellowship at HKS in my last comment. Since then, this statement has come out from the HKS Student Body which I will leave here. It is a petition any Harvard alum can sign whether they were part of The Kennedy School or not. I don’t know if it’s kosher to post petitions in this space, so will just post the statement. If it is kosher, and Harvard alums in this space do want to sign, someone can give me the green light and I’ll post the signing link as well.
Meanwhile, here is the statement.
https://docs.google.com/document/u/0/d/1JWMaHU3dssdMAQEWJRlqKMpm4F6QHQWN_mNUkW2liLQ/mobilebasic
Ever since (the civil rights reforms of Johnson's time, the resignation of Nixon, the election of Clinton - name your moment) it has been the central strategy of Republican's to impede the Federal government in every way possible from meeting the needs of the American people. Now it has moved to become the "revenge" of the slaveholders/Confederacy w/ conservative states against the Feds and a conservative Supreme Court against the other branches of the government. Too often, the Dems seem to be deer in the headlights of the oncoming assault. Time to try to gather a serious counterstrategy!?
I am thrilled and so grateful that Ken Roth and Kathryn Sikkink will be your guests this week! Thank you thank you for holding this conversation!
I actually first heard this story from the artist/activist Adam Broomberg in Germany and then another human rights activist in Canada, our fellow subscriber Raja Khouri. The world is watching.
When 30,000 Israelis just marched in Tel Aviv this weekend in protest of the new government, fear of a theocracy and complete dissolution of any I-P peace process, is this a time when the estuary of The US State Dept that is The Kennedy School should be silencing human rights leaders who speak out against anti-democratic Israeli policies?? For the sake of Palestinians certainly, but also now for the sake of Israelis? Is HKS interests in Israel really about democracy or is it actually about economic and defense interests in the end? How much of this is Elmondorf acting as a lone wolf with his personal politics or capitulating to donors with an agenda (and what is that agenda?). So many red flags, so many questions.
The US is great at pointing at anti-democratic actions with our enemies, but awful at self-interrogating our own anti-democratic action or those of our allies. This is terrifying if we actually want ourselves or our allies to uphold democratic values. Authoritarianism is on the rise everywhere. We can’t afford to make convenient exceptions if we don’t want to fall into the same hole.
Also this just came out today from Harvard Kennedy School Palestinian Alumni Collective in response to Elmondorf’s decision.
https://hkspac.wordpress.com/statements/
Looking forward to Thursday and thank you!!