Category Archives: Government Oppression

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When your morning messages and updates have only one person in their sharing,then it can be safely assumed that person was central to many peoples lives and interests. It is rare to find such acceptance across the board. Gail Omvedt, an American-born Indian scholar, prolific writer, public intellectual, researcher, activist, and founder of socio-political movements, is one of those.

Gail Omvedt passed away on 25 August 2021 at 10 am at her village in Kasegaon, Sangli, Maharashtra at the ripe age of 80. Omvedt was born on 2 August 1941 in Minneapolis. She attended Carleton College and went to University of California, Berkeley for her doctorate. She was one of the first among American scholars who truly spent time with the oppressed people trying to unearth their archives for an international audience that was otherwise only fed a Brahminical, elitist point of view.

Omvedt first came to India in 1963 and then came back again to research on her PhD dissertation in 1970. Her dissertation Cultural Revolt in a Colonial Society: The Non-Brahman Movement in Western India, 1873-1930 was submitted in 1973,which was eventually published as a book with emphatic appreciation from social justice movements in India.

The era of 1960s and70s saw the emergence of peace movements in theWest. The new culture of finding soul and freeing it from the trap of consumerism and imperialism was trying to find solutions elsewhere, to find a true meaning of life. The East became a hub of a new generation of activists fighting against war, nuclear arms, ethnic and colour violence, with the touch of Communist struggle. The university and college campuses in America did not budge down and dared to face the might of the empire, its police and capital.

This approach of delving into other cultures and learning from them brought the famous hippy culture. When theWestern world was trying to learn various traditions from India and grasping the mostly Brahminical approach of the Indic past, there were honourable exceptions who chose to study the real, ideal, and peoples India as opposed to the privileged castes India.

Also read: Understanding the new Dalit identity: Radical, angry, urgent and international

Gail, as she was fondly called by her friends and colleagues in India and abroad, took up a teaching position in San Diego after submitting her PhD dissertation, but the distance between her home and her loving country, India,was becoming impractical. She finally chose to settle in India in 1978 and eventually married aShudra caste activist,Marxist, Phuleite Dr Bharat Patankar. Omvedt relinquished her American citizenship to become Indian in 1983.

Gail was a household name of the Dalit and worker rights activists of the70s,80s, and90s. I grew up listening to her and another American scholar Eleanor Zelliots names. One could notice a white woman speaking fluent Marathi and addressing rallies, seminars, conferences, while also vociferously publishing seminal texts and offering public commentaries in newspapers, magazines, while at the same time theorising movements for the academic world. A polyglot thinker,Gail offered the required assurance to the anti-caste, workers, environment, and womens rights movements.

Like most activists, my father knew her and marvelled at her work. They had mutual interest in BAMCEF (the All India Backward and Minority Communities Employees Federation), workers movements, and the power of literature and cultural movements. They would bump into each other at BAMCEF conventions.

Also read: Dalit history threatens the powerful. That is why they want to erase, destroy and jail it

The list of books authored by Gail is vast. She poignantly wrote about the social movements against caste, workers and peasant movements, and religion. She also authored books on the most important thinkers of the anti-caste world Phule and Ambedkar alongside a list of anthologies that combine archival research, ethnographic observations, journalistic reportage, biographical notes, and intellectual history.

For mainstream publishers in India, texts on Dalits were mostly guided and published by Gail.Dalits and the Democratic Revolution: Dr. Ambedkar and the Dalit Movement in ColonialIndia andAmbedkar: Towards an Enlightened Indiaprofiled Ambedkar.Buddhism in India: Challenging Brahmanism and Casteoffered an anti-caste substance to the Buddhist revival and contrasting flavours with Brahminism that opposed the open, liberal, and universal social view of Buddhism. Her contribution to Indias feminism and the womens movement is vital.We Shall Smash This Prison: Indian Women in Strugglewas a landmark in that she assessed the variants of feminist movements.

Gails most famous text in recent times wasSeeking Begumpura: The Social Vision of Anticaste Intellectualsthat literally subverted the elite paganism of the Indian crybabies over the European Renaissance. Putting aside these conventional tropes, Gail aptly put the modernist revival at the hands of Dalit and Shudra intellectuals Chokhamela, Janabia, Ravidas, Kabir, Tukaram,who existed prior to or during the famous European modernity. This text shook me from inside. A spark ran throughout the body as I started devouring it.

Also read: Why neo-liberal capitalism failed Dalit enterprise

Gails writings were lucid and accessible. She wrote on a topic in a crisp and concise way. Her books are indispensable for students and the public to know more about India and its past. Almost taking the responsibility of filling the gap, Gail produced a scholarship in English. Her vast list of Dalit and Shudra caste collaborators, comrades and network of movements and their leaders is proof that Gail was a trusted friend. Along with her husband,she co-founded Shramik Mukti Dal (Workers Liberation Party) and remained a regular invitee and advisor to various movements across the board.

Whenever the Dalit movement was faced with challenges posed by Brahminical actors or foreign individuals, Gail was prompt to respond to and offer the nuanced perspective of Dalit response. During the famous WorldConferenceAgainstRacismin Durban, South Africa, Gail was holding the fort strong to push back against the misguided apprehensions of the Indian government.

A recipient of several awards, fellowships, and professorships at national and international institutes, Gail Omvedt was the most influential American ambassador to India. She became an ideal for Western scholars on how to write, intellectualise, and reach scholarship into the masses. She could be seen on the streets leading a movement as easily as she would teach in classrooms or advise international bodies.

Omvedt represents a generation of scholarship and activism that combined diverse ideologies to fight out oppression. One could embrace Buddha, Phule, Ambedkar, Shahu, Marx and still not break each others head. Looking back,it seems like a delicious combination. Todays generation will have to work very hard to develop a similar blend.

Gail is survived by her husband Bharat Patankar, daughter Prachi, son-in-law Teju, and granddaughter. She is immortalised in our memories. The community will not forget the grateful contribution of an unrelated, distant foreigner becoming our Gail.

Suraj Yengde, author ofCaste Mattersand an associate at Harvard University, is currently in Tuscany, Italy. He tweets @surajyengde. Views are personal.

(Edited by Prashant Dixit)

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A U.S. soldier watches civilians at a processing center for Afghan refugees at Dulles Expo Center in Chantilly, Virginia on Aug. 24, 2021.Photo: Joshua Roberts (Getty Images)

Airbnb said on Tuesday it will provide free temporary accommodations to 20,000 Afghan refugees fleeing the Talibans virtually complete takeover of Afghanistan in the wake of U.S. military withdrawal, with the program beginning immediately.

CEO Brian Chesky tweeted early Tuesday that the company will begin housing 20,000 Afghan refugees globally for free, adding that while the company will be paying for the stays, we could not do this without the generosity of our Hosts. Chesky added: The displacement and resettlement of Afghan refugees in the US and elsewhere is one of the biggest humanitarian crises of our time. We feel a responsibility to step up.

In a statement, Airbnb said that that it and Chesky would be covering costs through the non-profit 501(c)(3) Airbnb.org, which has previously provided housing for disaster victims and health workers during the novel coronavirus pandemic. The organization will also be soliciting donations for its Refugee Fund. It is working with resettlement agencies and other partners to identify those in need of housing. The company added that it urges fellow members of the global business community to join efforts to provide immediate support to Afghan refugees.

Reached by email, Airbnb did not say how long it would be providing the housing or covering bills. However, the company wrote in the statement it has already provided 165 refugees from Afghanistan safe housing shortly after touching down in the U.S. over the last weekend.

The Taliban, an ultra-reactionary Islamic militant group originally backed by the CIA and Pakistans Inter-Services Intelligence agency to fight the Soviets during the Cold War, controlled Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001, when they were deposed by the U.S. in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks for providing safe haven to the Al-Qaeda terror network. But it was never even close to being destroyed and continued to fight both the U.S.-led coalition occupying the country and security forces commanded by the U.S.-backed Afghan government. President Joe Bidens administration, having promised to bring an end to the seemingly never-ending U.S. occupation of the country, has so far chosen to abide by a deal struck with the Taliban under Donald Trumps administration to pull out all U.S. troops (though it extended the timeline to the end of August 2021). Despite assurances to the contrary from Bidens administration, the Afghan government put up little resistance and effectively ceased to exist beyond isolated groups of holdouts as Taliban forces consolidated control in mere weeks.

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The 20 disastrous years of U.S. occupation stretched across four presidential administrations, caused hundreds of thousands of deaths and untold economic and social damage. And according to United Nations estimates, ended with just short of 2.5 million registered Afghan refugees. The only part of Afghanistan where U.S. military forces remain stationed is the airport in Kabul, where tens of thousands of refugees desperate to avoid retribution and/or oppression by the resurgent Taliban have fled in recent weeks in a last-ditch effort to board the last planes leaving the country.

The Taliban have since announced that while they will let foreign nationals leave, they will not allow Afghan citizens to reach the airport, and they oppose any continued evacuations beyond Aug. 31. Witnesses have described the militant groups crackdown on dissent and reprisals against those suspected of assisting U.S. or NATO forces during the occupation. On Tuesday, according to CNBC, the Biden administration said it had evacuated or helped evacuate some 58,700 people from Afghanistan since Aug. 14, including about 21,600 airlifted since Monday. According to the Washington Post, Biden told G-7 leaders on Tuesday that he believes the evacuation will be completed by the Aug. 31 deadline. While he is not expected to announce an extension, the White House left open the possibility that the final withdrawal date could change if necessary.

Many of the refugees are currently in squalid conditions, such as in hangars at Doha, Qatars Al Udeid Air Base, where thousands are reportedly being held in searing August temperatures without air conditioning and a dire lack of resources. Axios obtained an email, sent last Friday by U.S. Central Command supervisory special agent Colin Sullivan, detailing conditions at the base including uncleaned human waste and a rat infestation. Sullivan wrote, While not in any way downplaying the conditions in Kabul nor the conditions the Afghanis [sic] are escaping from, the current conditions in Doha are of our own doing.

Airbnb said in the statement that Airbnb.org has provided accommodation to roughly 75,000 people in need since 2012. Chesky tweeted, I hope this inspires other business leaders to do the same. Theres no time to waste.

The company, which operated in Afghanistan during the U.S. occupation and still has a small number of listing there as of Tuesday afternoon, isnt the only one offering to help during the crisis (and implicitly pick up some PR goodwill in the process). According to Reuters, Verizon Inc. has announced plans to waive charges for calls to Afghanistan through Sept. 6, while Walmart is donating $1 million to nonprofits to support Afghan refugees. The Pentagon said this weekend that it has enlisted 18 aircraft from United Airlines, American Airlines, Delta Airlines, and others to take displaced persons to their next destinations after disembarking from flights leaving Afghanistan, Reuters added.

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Airbnb Says It Will Host 20,000 Afghan Refugees Following Taliban Takeover of Afghanistan - Gizmodo

Activism came to Hazar Kolancal like a thunderstorm, at first a rumbling in the distance and then upon her all at once. The constant and often violent oppression of LGBTQI+ people in Turkey, a country that is increasingly hostile toward them, manifested suddenly for Kolancal in a brutal arrest at the hands of Istanbul police. I knew trouble was coming on the day I saw smear campaigns against us being pushed by pro-government media, she told Truthout.

Despite her attempts to avoid conflict with police, government-executed violence and oppression is always lurking just around the corner for queer activists in Turkey.

In addition to health and economic crises, 2020-21 brought a sharp rise in government homophobia to Turkey, manifesting as hate speech from top government officials, the barring of LGBT symbols, withdrawal from the Istanbul Convention on the grounds of it normalizing homosexuality, and arrests of LGBTQI+ activists like Kolancal.

On January 30, 2021, such government oppression was waiting for Kolancal just outside the gates of her university campus. We exited the campus and right away there were police everywhere, cars, sirens, and they were screaming our names. I was shocked. They came for me immediately and then there was chaos. The police used brutal force against us.

Kolancal, 22, a psychology student, artist and openly bisexual activist, found herself on the front lines of Turkeys struggle for LGBTQI+ rights.

Two months prior, situated in a grassy field on Boazii Universitys campus, solidarity-seeking students mingled at an art exhibition of anonymous contributions organized by Kolancal and fellow artist-activists. The exhibition was part of the protests against President Recep Tayyip Erdoans appointment of a pro-government party member as rector to their university and the subsequent closure of the schools LGBTQI+ student club. One piece of art, however, caught the disapproving eye of a passerby, and soon, the eyes of top Turkish officials, who demanded punishment.

After her arrest, Kolancal spent 12 hours in a jail cell opposite her lover, she says, unsure of what fate awaited them. She was then placed on house arrest and left to await trial.

We are creative because we are repressed. When youre repressed, you have to find alternative ways of expressing yourself, Kolancal says of how her activism necessitates her art and vice versa. She pulls up a video on her laptop of her standing in a lineup with the other arrested students at the police station, looking somber. She then holds up her phone showing a lineup of four parallel figures, looking psychedelic and confident, which she drew to cope with the traumatic memory.

Since the beginning of the Boazii protests on January 4 after Melih Bulu was appointed rector, over 500 people have been detained, many having been arrested as a direct result of their LGBTQI+ activism.

The Erdoan regime hasnt hidden its approval of violence against protesters, especially LGBTQI+ activists like Kolancal. Rhetoric from prominent government officials has been explicitly LGBTQ-phobic, with Interior Minister Sleyman Soylu repeatedly calling the arrested students LGBT perverts and Erdoan praising his partys youth saying, You are not the LGBT youth.

Despite such setbacks, the government rescinded its decision without explanation, removing the appointed rector on July 15, 2021, via a midnight presidential decree a major success for the protest movement based in LGBTQI+ inclusion and representation. The universitys LGBTQI+ student club, however, remains banned.

Although the Boazii protests represent a recent swell in LGBTQI+ activism, Kolancals experience with government homophobia is nothing new. On June 26, 2021, police fired tear gas and detained attendants at the annual Istanbul Pride march.

Turkey previously touted itself as an LGBTQI+ defender, with Erdoan vowing to protect LGBTQI+ rights and Istanbul being home to the largest LGBTQI+ Pride march in the Muslim world before being broken up by police and banned in 2015. However, during its 19 years in power, Erdoans ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) has made an escalating shift toward cultural conservatism.

Erdoans dramatic shift is part of a larger effort to secure support for his party from conservative religious circles. As AKP support has decreased, Erdoan has made increasingly clear his willingness to utilize homophobic rhetoric and action in pursuit of new voting blocs.

This crackdown on LGBTQI+ rights was further cemented via the governments civil society agenda post-2016 coup attempt, after which Turkey saw a drastic increase in violence directed at LGBTQI+ folks.

When asked whether she felt connected to Turkey, Kolancal said yes but not without qualification. It is a toxic relationship, but we are connected. Im only 22 years old, and this conservative government has a history of 19 years. So, I didnt realize that my destiny was being shaped by these conservative monsters.

Homophobia in Turkey is often packaged as being pro-family in order to appeal to conservative religious voting blocs. Although homosexuality is not technically a crime in Turkey, it is frequently denounced as being incompatible with Turkish values.

I am tired, said Kolancal. I want to escape like everyone does. But I love my university. I love where I am living. I love the psychology department. I love my professors. I dont want to let [the government] ruin this beautiful country. I love my country too, you know.

Unbridled creativity seems to be a common theme among LGBTQI+ activists, and none encapsulates such unabashed artistic self-expression more than nonbinary designer and internet personality alar Almendi. I want to dress [Istanbul Mayor Ekrem] mamolu. He should be wearing Almendi, they tell Truthout.

Almendi not only hopes to design a colorful costume for suit-loving Mayor mamolu, a potential opposition challenger to President Erdoan, but also to start their own design brand.

In addition to their queer identity, Almendi is also Kurdish, a minority ethnic group which the Turkish government often links to terrorism, using language similar to its strategy with regard to the LGBTQI+ community. [Kurds] are the same as queer people. Their rights were stolen from them. They know how to survive and they can understand suffering. I think we are on the same road together, Almendi says.

This cross section of identities can be seen throughout their artistry, from party planning to visual artwork. At my parties, I use lots of traditional Kurdish music. So people are coming to my parties to dance and getting used to Kurdish people, getting used to drag queens, getting used to queer people. It becomes this center. It is all a protest.

Regarding how these two facets of their identity relate, Almendi says, There is queer blood in my veins. There is Kurdish blood in my veins, and I just want to let it explode everywhere. My anger and passion should be seen and felt.

Almendi then retreats to a room in the back of the apartment and emerges with a framed piece of glass puzzled together with red fabric. Upon the glass is a painted Shahmaran, a Kurdish mythological creature, half-woman, half-snake. An Istanbul earthquake knocked the glass painting off the wall the year prior, after which the piece took on a new meaning.

I put it back together mixed with a traditional quilt. The Shahmaran is dangerous, but she wants to be loved. I feel for her. I have my lover, and I feel like this is our family portrait. Because I am dangerous and broken, but he is keeping me together.

Like Kolancal, Almendi also found government oppression lurking around every corner of life.

I got shot by the police with plastic bullets. We were in the streets, and they told us to go home. So, I did. I started walking toward my house, and they began to run after me. They chased me all the way to my house for like 10 minutes. Once I reached my door, they shot me in the back five times, they told Truthout. I couldnt do anything. I just hid in my house because I was alone. I went to the police station to file a complaint, but they wouldnt even let me give a statement. They just said, You were at a protest. You deserve it.

Such experiences including an ongoing lawsuit filed against Almendi by an AKP supporter for disrespecting Islam by wearing a headscarf in a YouTube video, years of school harassment and countless stories of friends experiences have left Almendi and others feeling increasingly unsafe in their country and their communities.

The government is becoming more Islamist, and theyre changing things. Theyre taking more and more rights from us, Almendi says. Maybe tomorrow they will pass a new law in Turkey making gay people illegal. I dont know what they could do. I dont feel safe, and its getting worse.

Regarding how queer Turkish and Kurdish people cope with the worsening state of affairs in Turkey, Almendi says, Were all creating something. Were not just living. Everyone is sad. Everyone is out of work. But we come together and help each other. We talk every day because every day is something new. We wake up and hear that one of our friends had been hit or shot or killed, and we cant just keep silent.

The AKP-era increase in arrests of Kurdish politicians, academics, journalists, human rights defenders, LGBTQI+ activists and lawyers is seen as the ruling coalition governments attempt to weaponize identity politics to maintain support among nationalist and religious voting blocs as the partys support dwindles.

In a country where rule of law has become virtually obsolete, for Levent Pikin, a self-described queer struggler, human rights defender and lawyer, fighting against systems of oppression via legal channels has become next to impossible.

The relationship in Turkey between the law and the LGBTI+ community is not one of ignoring anymore, Pikin said. The states policy has started to be based on hate toward the LGBTI+ community.

Sitting at his desk in the home he lives in with his two sisters, Pikin pulls out a package of nicotine gum and talks about how acupuncture helped him quit smoking. They put one right here, he points to the middle of his chest, It felt like clouds.

About his work as a human rights lawyer, however, Pikin takes a more somber tone.

I practice law, which doesnt exist, Pikin said. Your role in the courthouse is nothing. Sometimes you feel like an actor in a play, but not a lead actor or even a supporting actor, maybe the fifth or sixth actor.

Despite his reputation in human rights advocacy circles, Pikin, an openly gay man, has also run into a great deal of LGBTQI-based discrimination. In 2014, he was sued by the government for defamation after using the Turkish word ibne (Turkish slang for gay) and President Erdoans name in the same tweet. The case is still ongoing. Of course, I dont feel safe, he says.

Pikin was also detained via a home raid in 2016 and put into an isolated jail cell for three days in connection with his legal representation of imprisoned Kurdish politician Selahattin Demirta.

The relationship between the LGBTI+ community and the law has always been complicated because no laws have ever existed in Turkey to protect the LGBTI+ community, Pikin says. But we try to find legal holes to protect people.

Regarding his history of advocating on behalf of LGBTQI+ activists, he says, I have something in common with them. We are defending the same thing. You can speak for them and for yourself at the same time.

Pikins role as a lawyer is of increasing importance as he represents more and more LGBTQI+ activists, including Kolancal.

He represented Kolancal at her hearing at Istanbuls alayan courthouse on March 17. Demanding her immediate acquittal, he argued the charges against her for inciting hatred and insulting religious values were not substantiated.

Pikin, leaning against his impossibly full bookcase, gives his final prognosis, Change is not a quick thing. It will take time. It will cost lives. But it will change. Not tomorrow, but maybe in two years. Maybe in 20 years, it will change. We are building a house, and it is my role to add one stone, just like everyone else.

Kolancal was released from house arrest following the hearing. At the most recent hearing on July 5, witness testimony from several university security guards was heard, but the trial remains ongoing. The next hearing will be on November 17.

The reason protests are dominated by LGBTI+ people is because we are having fun while we are there. We are going because we want to. It is not like a job. LGBTI+ people just know how its done, Kolancal says. What we do is always peaceful, because we are humans, you know, we are humans with pure hearts, and we like what we are doing. We are very loud! We know what love is!

Regarding what she sees on the path ahead, Kolancal is even more optimistic and enthusiastic than the others. She sees the Erdoan-controlled governments grip on power as quickly diminishing and believes this recent homophobic turn will be ultimately unsuccessful in achieving their desired aims. This belief is supported by recent polling trends that indicate support for Erdoan and his party is dropping, with AKP support having fallen to 36 percent most recently.

The governments only weapon right now is hatred, and theyre trying to provoke people to be hateful against some kind of other. This years other is the LGBTI+ community. It is so obvious, Kolancal says. But we are the writers of history. So, even though they make these aggressive decisions, we are going to be the ones who tell this story.

Continue reading here:

Turkish LGBTQ Activists Counter Oppression With Art, Solidarity and Radical Hope - Truthout

The Republican congressman did not cite a single district that was doing so. And he declined to be interviewed or respond to questions seeking specific examples where CRT is taught.

Still, it was good politics.

RELATED: Crowd protests 'government speech,' critical race theory at Rochester School Board meeting

Critical race theory has joined the list of contentious cultural issues, such as abortion and gender identity, that sharply divides activists in both parties, says political analyst Steven Schier. Hagedorn's goal was two-fold: To mobilize his base, and to brand the other side as propagators of a nefarious theory.

"The polling I've seen is that when people learn some aspects of CRT, it's pretty unpopular," Schier said. "So politically, it's a fat target."

Schools are finding themselves at the epicenter of this debate. Rochester was one of the early flashpoints, but it hasn't been the only one in Minnesota.

The issue is also resonating and inflaming debate statewide, as work proceeds on a new set of social studies standards for public schools that seeks to include a more diverse, racially and gender-inclusive perspective.

CRT takes as its guiding premise that race is not a natural, biologically grounded feature, but a social construct used to oppress and exploit people of color. Critical race theorists maintain that the law and legal institutions in the U.S. are racist insofar as they create social, economic and political inequalities between whites and nonwhites.

On one level, it's not surprising that the clash is so supercharged, given that it pits different interpretations and narratives about what it means to be an American.

But on another, it begs the question: How did we get to this point? Less than a year ago, no one knew what critical race theory was.

The Hagedorn Report was sent out on Aug. 12, 2021.

It hasn't mattered that officials for Rochester Public Schools have emphatically denied that CRT is taught in its classrooms. And there are no plans to do so.

Nor has it mattered to eagle-eyed CRT critics who dismiss claims from Minnesota Department of Education officials that CRT is not part of the recent draft of social studies standards. They say elements of CRT are part of the draft, and they want them rooted out.

"The theme of oppression, marginalization, group identity and absent narratives drives the second draft standards and benchmarks," the Center of the American Experiment, a conservative Minnesota think tank, said in a statement this week. "Students will learn that their concept centers around their racial/gender group identity, and that limiting oppression, not facts, is the lens through which all social studies content should be viewed."

Matt Carlstrom, one of the co-chairs of the state social studies committee, said there is "zero" critical race theory in the draft. He argues that CRT is being used as a stalking horse to eliminate discussion of topics that broaden understanding of U.S. history.

"Many people don't know what (critical race theory) is," he said. "And when school districts start to talk about equity and ethnic studies and indigenous history, that is not critical race theory at all."

Carlstrom has been a social studies teacher for 29 years, and notes that before last May, he had never heard of the theory. He began researching it, wondering if it was a subject he should be incorporating in his classroom. He discovered it was an upper-level legal theory that examines how the legal system contributed to oppression and racism.

"The thing about CRT is that even the people who teach it and do research work don't necessarily agree on exactly what it is," he said about a subject that has become such a bugaboo, it has now been banned in several Republican-dominated states.

Carlstrom said the proposed draft standards are different from the ones taught today. The more inclusive historical approach outlined in the draft was in response to a survey sent out last year, seeking input from parents, teachers and community members on what changes needed to be made to the state's standards.

One response came back loud and clear: That the standards need to do a better job presenting a perspective that reflects the diversity of the state and its history.

"That was abundantly clear across the state," Carlstrom said.

He said this broadening of perspective is critical if schools are to improve their ability to engage students of color at a time when the state is become less white and more multiracial.

He recalled that when he attended a high school that enrolled a large percentage of minority students in the 1970s, those students "never saw themselves in their education." And when he went to college, it was "white, Western Hemisphere."

"If kids are going to engage in education, they must see themselves in that education," he said.

And that lack of connection, he said, is a major factor driving the state's "huge" achievement gap between white and minority students.

Meanwhile, high school social studies teachers find themselves in the crosshairs of this debate.

"The last four or five years have been freakishly hard to teach civics," said one area social studies teacher who asked not to be identified. "Very little grace or benefit of the doubt is given to teachers these days."

A recent MinnPost article highlighted how community members have made data requests to identify teachers who have received equity training. They wanted to make sure that their kids didn't have those teachers. Some kindergarten teachers worry about the books they read to students, for fear of offending their parents.

The article quoted Denise Specht, president of Education Minnesota, the state's teachers union, as saying some parents are sharing forms for students to hand to their teachers on the first day of school. The forms ask teachers to see their lesson plans every week and to review the books, worksheets and chapters used in class, MinnPost reported.

"If there is something that they object to," she said, "they plan on taking on the teacher, talking to the principal and people in the district."

Link:

Schools, teachers find themselves in the crosshairs of critical race theory debate - PostBulletin.com

By now youve probably heard that the Taliban fighters whose battle fatigues look like those of neo-hippies on campus at the University of California, Berkeley are on the verge of being back in charge in Afghanistan. All thanks to the failed programs funded by Western taxpayers that were apparently more like Ponzi schemes. How else could one characterize what the U.S. Defense Department estimated as $815.7 billion spent to stabilize the country and develop its institutions when the result is the NATO-trained Afghan army collapsing like it was ordered from an online cheap goods store?

If you cant create a democracy in Afghanistan after 20 years and hundreds of billions of dollars, then you arent ever going to. But where exactly did all the money go?

The internet provides some clues. As American and NATO allied troops evacuate ahead of U.S. President Joe Bidens Sept. 11 withdrawal date, images have shown Taliban fighters sliding their flip-flop-clad tootsies into some heavy artillery co-opted from the NATO-trained Afghan army, whose sub-commanders were bought off by the Taliban as soon as the training wheels came off.

But thats not all. Because this is apparently like the Showcase Showdown on The Price Is Right, where the winners played so well that they get to take home the prizes of all the players.

When NATO troops abandoned the Bagram Air Base earlier this year, ceding it to the Afghan army proteges whom they had spent the better part of two decades training, images quickly appeared online of the Taliban commandeering some nice, shiny gym equipment on that military base. Ah, the spoils of war. Hey, look at that Taliban guy cranking out reps on that state-of-the-art chest press! Check out the dude in the long robe and sandals with socks on the stationary bike!

The idea of the Taliban being back in power is enough to make a lot of people who made personal sacrifices in this war irate. But they see the straw in their neighbors eye rather than the beam in their own, as the biblical saying goes.

Apparently the Taliban are less militant than our own sanitary ayatollahs here in the West at least in the gym. They didnt even have to sign up for a time slot, apply hand sanitizer and wear masks.

Judging by the lack of social distancing and other Covid-era behaviors in the Taliban gym videos, its hard to imagine that they would impose strict sanitary measures on the population the way our leaders have here in the West.

But theyll probably oppress and kill people with whom they dont agree! you might be saying. Perhaps. But were living in countries where leaders are increasingly using the COVID-19 pandemic pretext to force people to take an experimental injection or risk losing their livelihood contrary to the principles of personal autonomy and free will.

We in Paris have spent the past 17 months being placed periodically on house arrest for our own good, being forced to wear cloth over our faces for fear of government-imposed punishment, having our movement controlled, and now being segregated and marginalized if our personal choices dont align with those of our rulers. Moreover, when some people speak out against such oppression, theyre either censored or targeted by institutions or authorities promoting the governments official narrative.

And now were seeing the leaders of our so-called democracies introducing increasingly intrusive monitoring through digital technology such as smartphone applications and QR codes, all under the pretext of ensuring adherence to the governments chosen ideology of sanitary purity.

Those among us who have been relieved of critical thought after being bombarded with fear-driven propaganda now cry out for punishment when a Western woman whips off her symbolically oppressive mask in her local grocery store, proclaims her emancipation from the sanitary regime, or rejects the imposition of a medical act like an injection by claiming, My body, my choice.

Indeed, the women of Afghanistan are going to have to contend with the Talibans return to power. But since the pandemic, the governments of allegedly free and democratic countries are not really in a position to be giving lessons on liberty to the Taliban or to anyone else. Our governments dont get to claim moral authority regarding oppression when theyre increasingly responsible for perpetrating it themselves.

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Western leaders taking cues on oppression from the Taliban - Minot Daily News

Aug 19th 2021

BABA KOBE ashbe? (When will Daddy come?), asks the youngest daughter of Sajedul Islam Sumon. No one has an answer, but she keeps asking anyway. Her familys lifeand hersrevolves around his absence. Now eight, she was just one when security forces came to their suburb of Dhaka, Bangladeshs capital, and bundled her father, a local leader for an opposition party, into the back of a van. That was the last time he was seen or heard from.

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Mr Sumons tale, in a new report on enforced disappearances in Bangladesh, is a chilling example of what can happen to those who oppose or criticise the government of Sheikh Hasina Wajed. Under her 12-year tenure at least 600 Bangladeshis are reckoned to have been disappeared.

Many have eventually re-emerged. Some have been implausibly found and produced in courtlike Shafiqul Islam Kajol, a photojournalist who, 53 days after he went missing in March last year, turned up blindfolded, his legs and arms bound, in a no-mans land between Bangladesh and India. Police took him into custody, slapping a trespassing charge on to his original crime of posting on Facebook about a sex scandal involving a politician in the ruling party. Others, like Aminul Islam, have returned in body bags. He was a labour activist whose tortured remains were found dumped on the edge of Dhaka, days after his abduction in 2012. Eighty-six victims, including Mr Sumon, are still missing.

While these numbers may seem small in a country of 170m, fear of being goom (disappeared) muzzles millions of voices. Disappearances, along with an array of other human-rights abuses, are not new in Bangladesh. Under previous governments, including those led by the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party and the ruling Awami League, dissidents vanished and were killed. But since 2009, the year Sheikh Hasina took office for a second time, state-sponsored abductions have become a systematic tool of oppression, says Meenakshi Ganguly, South Asia director of Human Rights Watch, the advocacy group behind the report.

Bangladeshs is not the only South Asian state that covertly kidnaps its citizens. Yet, says Ms Ganguly, such actions elsewhere are usually linked to civil strife or insurgencies. Bangladesh is alone in so blatantly targeting political opponents and critics for secret detentions. Disappearances have shot up most in the run-up to elections, with over 130 before the 2014 vote and 98 in the year leading up to the ballot in 2018.

Despite such brazenness, ruling-party politicians deny or play down the abductions. In 2017 Sheikh Hasina claimed that Bangladeshs enforced disappearances paled in comparison with Britains, bogusly citing data for missing persons. Her son, Sajeeb Wazed, recently penned an article for the Diplomat, an online news site, calling the disappearances comical. Many of the vanished were fugitives who, he joked, had gone into hiding to escape arrest.

Such mocking attitudes percolate down through the state apparatus. When Marufa Islam Ruma sought answers about her missing husband, Mofizul Islam Rashed, security-force officers jeered that he had probably run off with another woman. Years after Mr Sumons disappearance, a senior officer came to his familys home and theatrically walked around the house shouting Where is Sumon? Let him out, I need to speak to him!, recalls his niece.

The families interviewed for the report named the Rapid Action Battalion, an elite police squad, as being behind the abductions. But other security units are guilty too, say various rights groups. And they all operate with impunity.

Some families give up or do not try in the first place, says Afroja Islam Akhi, Mr Sumons sister, who runs Mayer Dak, an organisation for the families of vanished Bangladeshis. They know their questions may bring punitive repercussions rather than helpful answers. She reckons the number of disappeared is far higher than the 600 known about. Only God knows the accurate tally.

This article appeared in the Asia section of the print edition under the headline "They just disappeared"

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Critics of Bangladesh's government are liable to vanish - The Economist

On August 16th, the courts of Belarus sentenced Stepan Latypov, a Belarusian activist and political prisoner, to eight and a half years in prison. He was originally put on trial in June after being arrested in September amid a violent government crackdown on political opposition. Latypovs story, however, became known out of thousands of Belaruss politically detained due to his first appearance in court. His trial earlier this summer was postponed when Latypov stabbed his own neck after recounting the threats that were targeted at his family and the torture he experienced while imprisoned. He received medical treatment and, three months later, was brought back to be issued a verdict. Latypov faced charges of arranging riots, resisting the police, and fraud, according to Reuters. While he pleaded not guilty, he was unable to escape confinement as the Belarusian government persists with its order of repression and terror.

Within the past year, the citizens of Belarus have seen rampant violence and human rights abuses. In a report on the Eastern European country, the United Nations Special Rapporteur, Anas Marin, described the current situation: the Belarusian authorities have launched a full-scale assault against civil society, curtailing a broad spectrum of rights and freedoms, targeting people from all walks of life, while systematically persecuting human rights defenders, journalists, media workers and lawyers in particular. These aggressive governmental actions have drawn the outrage of Belaruss public. Hugh Williamson, the director for Europe and Central Asia at the Human Rights Watch, stated that the sweeping brutality of the crackdown shows the lengths to which the Belarusian authorities will go to silence people, but tens of thousands of peaceful protesters continue to demand fair elections and justice for abuses.

Belarus has developed into a humanitarian disaster as the government attacks its political opponents and supporters of human rights. In the days following the nations presidential election last year, which has been deemed fraudulent by multiple independent organizations, almost 7,000 people were detained by security forces in raids against peaceful proteststhat number has since reached 35,000, as reported by the United Nations. Contested Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko has created an authoritarian state that condemns those who disagree with his regime and inhumane methods. The government of Belarus cannot continue to threaten, detain, and repress its opposition, actions that directly violate international human rights. Their efforts to impair peaceful demonstrations put the safety and security of Belarusian civil society at risk; if left unrestrained, such violence will only propel the country into greater chaos.

The Eastern European nation has faced a brutal government crackdown and human rights abuses since August 2020 when a disputed presidential election sparked large-scale protests. Among the thousands of political prisoners like Latypov are reports of police brutality and torture. The Human Rights Watch group investigated the systematic imprisonment and persecution of peaceful protesters and detailed the utilization of beatings, electric shocks, and prolonged stress to maltreat those detained. The freedoms of expression and assembly have deteriorated as the Belarusian government restricts human rights. Over a thousand dissidents have fled the country, including leaders of opposing political parties, while others have been forcibly exiled. Accounts from women in Belarus have detailed threats of sexual violence and of their children being taken away, according to Amnesty International.

As the populace of Belarus continues to suffer under the oppression of their government, there needs to be an increased focus on peace and accountability. Activists like Latypov, who experience the injustice of being arbitrarily imprisoned, threatened, and tortured, do not deserve punishment for fighting for human rights and a free system. International actors must work together to hold the Belarusian government to world standards of electoral credibility and fair treatment. The persistent use of violence in responding to peaceful protests only exacerbates the situation and causes more harm. Belarus must stop employing force and restricting its citizens. Safety, security, and human rights are essential components of civil society that should be valued above political pursuits. Continuing this violent crackdown hurts both the Belarusian people and the countrys future stability.

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Belarusian Activist Sentenced After Trying To Take Own Life In Court - The Organization for World Peace

Kabul, Afghanistan-Taliburn Tuesday, Afghanistan, as part of a publicity blitz aimed at respecting womens rights, respecting womens rights, respecting womens rights and reassuring world power and a terrifying population Vowed not to be a shelter for terrorists.

Continue Lightning attacks across Afghanistan Having seen many cities fall into rebels without fighting, the Taliban have sought to describe it as more modest than it was when it imposed strict Islamic rule in the late 1990s.But many Afghans Stay skeptical And thousands of people desperately competed for the airport to flee the country.

Older generations remember the Talibans previous rules of confining women primarily to their homes, banning television and music, and public executions. A US-led aggression pushed al-Qaeda out of power months after the 9/11 attacks organized from Afghanistan while they were protected by the Taliban.

Taliban long-time spokesman Zabifra Mujahid emerged from a shadow that first appeared publicly on Tuesday to address these concerns at a press conference.

He promised that the Taliban would respect womens rights within the norms of Islamic law without giving details. The Taliban encouraged women to return to work, allowed girls to return to school, and handed out Islamic scarves to the doors. A female newscaster interviewed Taliban officials at a television studio on Monday.

The treatment of women varies widely throughout the Islamic world, sometimes within the same country, and rural areas tend to be much more conservative. While some Islamic countries, including neighboring Pakistan, have female prime ministers, ultra-conservative Saudi Arabia has recently allowed women to drive.

The Mujahideen also said the Taliban would not allow Afghanistan to be used as a base for attacking other nations, as it did in the years prior to 9/11. The guarantee was part of the 2020 peace agreement between the Taliban and the Trump administration, paving the way for the withdrawal of the United States.

The Pentagon said the US commander is communicating with the Taliban, who are working to evacuate thousands of people through Kabuls international airport. The Taliban said it was not acting hostile there.

The Mujahideen reiterated that the Taliban provided full amnesty to Afghans working for the US and Western-backed governments, saying, No one goes to their doors to ask why they helped. It wont happen. He said the private media should remain independent, but journalists should not work against national values.

The capital, Kabul, remains calm while the Taliban patrol the streets. However, many are still afraid even after prisons and arsenals have been emptied while rebels have wiped out the country.

Residents of Kabul say that a group of armed men are making door-to-door canvassing in search of individuals to cooperate with exiled government and security forces, but the armed forces are Taliban or a crime disguised as a militant. I wasnt sure if he was a person.

The Mujahideen accused the former administration of the collapse of security, saying that the Taliban had only entered Kabul to restore law and order after the police broke up.

An Afghan broadcaster said she was hiding in a relatives house. She said she and the other women did not believe the Taliban changed their way. She spoke on condition of anonymity because she was afraid of her safety.

A group of women wearing Islamic scarves gave a brief demonstration in Kabul and put up a sign demanding that the Taliban not exclude women from public life.

Jake Sullivan, US National Security Adviser, said the US and other governments would simply not accept the Talibans words when it comes to womens rights.

As Ive always said, this isnt about trust, its about verification, Sullivan said in a White House briefing. And we will see what the Taliban will do in the coming days and weeks, and when I say us, I mean the entire international community.

Whatever their true intentions, the Taliban are interested in predicting moderation to prevent the international community from isolating governments, as they did in the 1990s.

The European Union has suspended development assistance to Afghanistan until the political situation becomes clearer, but said it would consider strengthening humanitarian aid.

EU Foreign Policy Officer Josep Borrell said Tulliburn must respect UN Security Council resolutions and human rights in order to gain access to the approximately $ 1.4 billion development fund allocated by 2024. rice field.

Foreign Minister Dominic Raab said Britain could provide up to 10 percent more humanitarian aid, but the Taliban would not receive the money previously allocated for security.

On Tuesday, the Taliban entered half of the airports private sector and fired in the air to expel about 500 people there, Afghan officials said on anonymous terms because he was not authorized to explain to journalists. rice field.

The Taliban appeared to be trying to control the crowd rather than prevent people from leaving. Videos circulating online show that the Taliban oversee the orderly departure of dozens of foreigners.

The US Embassy in Kabul, currently operated by the military side of the airport, urged Americans to register online for evacuation, but prevented them from coming to the airport before being contacted.

The German Foreign Ministry said the first German transport plane landed in Kabul, but due to turmoil it took off with only seven people on board. The other later left with 125 people.

US President Joe Biden Defended his decision He blamed the Talibans rapid takeover of Afghanistans western-backed government and security forces to end the longest war in the United States. NATO Secretary General Jason Stoltenberg Repeated the evaluation, While saying that the alliance must investigate flaws in its efforts to train Afghan troops.

Talks continued on Tuesday between the Taliban and several Afghan politicians, including former President Hamid Karzai and Abdullah Abdullah, who once headed the states negotiating council. The Taliban said it wanted to form a comprehensive and Islamic government.

The talks focused on how the Taliban-controlled government works in light of the changes in Afghanistan over the last two decades, rather than simply splitting ministries.

The Talibans top leader, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, may have arrived in Kandahar from Qatar on Tuesday night, indicating that the deal is imminent.

Meanwhile, the exiled government vice president tweeted that he was the legal interim president of the country. Amurula Surrey said President Ashraf Ghani had fled the country and he should be held liable under the Constitution.

Fayez reported from Istanbul, Ganon from Guelph, Canada, and Klaus from Jerusalem. Associated Press writers Tameem Akhgar in Istanbul, Jon Gambrell in Dubai, Kirsten Grieshaber in Berlin, Jan M. Olsen in Copenhagen, Denmark, Pan Pylas in London, and Aya Batrawy in Dubai contributed to this report.

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Taliban vows to respect women despite the history of oppression | News - Pennsylvanianewstoday.com

Documentarian Nanfu Wangs latest film, In The Same Breath, which premiered Wednesday on HBO Max, had quite a rapid turnaround. Depicting the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic in China, the film debuted at the Sundance Film Festival in January. But its no less thoughtful, carefully constructed and inquisitively insightful than any of Wangs other films, an approach that has become her hallmark in a career thats been marked by one remarkable film after the next.

Wang, who was born and raised in southeast Chinas Jiangxi province, was educated in the U.S. at Ohio University and New York University. Her work has consistently probed at the oppressive Chinese government through an intimate and human perspective, and In the Same Breath turns its lens on how that manifested during the COVID-19 pandemic, specifically focusing on the messaging and information, and sometimes misinformation, presented by the state-run news media.

While the Chinese media attempted to downplay the severity of the pandemic early on, including obfuscating the number of deaths, as well as presenting rosy human interest stories about how well doctors were fighting the deadly disease, Wang, who was visiting her mother in China in January 2020 as the pandemic began, sent cameras into the hospitals to capture what was happening on the ground. She contrasts her footage and interviews of grieving families with the propaganda presented in the news media. She then juxtaposes the highly controlled Chinese media landscape, where freedom of speech is forbidden and citizen journalists arrested, with the anti-lockdown protests in the U.S. and viral misinformation spread via social media, where perhaps freedom of speech ultimately led to more misinformation and mistrust. Ultimately, she imagines a world where the pandemic was taken seriously and governments transparently shared information, though that reality will never be an option at this point.

Its a fascinating and sophisticated latest entry in her oeuvre, posing important questions and helping us to unpack the unseen and seen before our eyes, which she has done again and again in her work, which includes some of the best nonfiction films of the past five years.

Her debut film, Hooligan Sparrow has similarities to In the Same Breath, focusing on the oppression of the Chinese government on free speech, this time with regard to womens rights activist Ye Haiyan, who has faced persecution and violence for her protests against child sex abuse. In Hooligan Sparrow, Wang herself, who is often a part of her films, struggles to capture these events for fear of violence and intimidation, and depicts the harrowing process of getting her footage out of China. Watch it on the Criterion Channel and Kanopy, or rent it for $3.99 on iTunes.

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Pandemic's early days examined in documentary - The Columbian

On Wednesday August 11th, The Connecticut Association of Schools hosted an event titled Learning & Leading for Systemic Racial & Social Justice. The star-studded lineup included opening remarks by Miguel Cardona, U.S. secretary of education, and remarks by Charlene Russell-Tucker, acting Connecticut commissioner of education. In the spirit of Rahm Emanuels saying, You never want a serious crisis to go to waste, the clear intent of this conference was to take this moment of Americas racial reckoning, to shift the purpose of K-12 education from developing critical thinking to an emphasis on critical consciousness.

The term critical thinking was coined by philosopher John Dewey to capture the intellectual process used by Enlightenment intellectuals to understand the world. He extensively quoted Francis Bacon, John Locke, and John Stuart Mill in his description of this scientific approach to learning.

Critical theories reject the concept of Enlightenment rationalism, and substitute the power of story-telling.

Critical Pedagogy is a critical theory created by Paulo Freire, Brazilian educator, and author of Pedagogy of the Oppressed. Freire believed that the traditional education system, with the teacher as the sage on the stage, was designed to produce workers to support the capitalist system, and perpetuate the oppression of the working class. He envisioned a participatory form of education.

As Henry Giroux, a disciple of Critical Pedagogy explains:

For Freire, pedagogy is not a method or an a priori technique to be imposed on all students but a political and moral practice that provides the knowledge, skills, and social relations that enable students to explore the possibilities of what it means to be critical citizens while expanding and deepening their participation in the promise of a substantive democracy.

Critical thinking for Freire was not an object lesson in test-taking, but a tool for self-determination and civic engagement. According to Freire, critical thinking was not about the task of simply reproducing the past and understanding the present. To the contrary, it was about offering a way of thinking beyond the present, soaring beyond the immediate confines of ones experiences, entering into a critical dialogue with history, and imagining a future that would not merely reproduce the present.

Critical pedagogy attempts to understand how power works through the production, distribution, and consumption of knowledge within particular institutional contexts and seeks to constitute students as informed subjects and social agents.

Freire was acutely aware that what makes critical pedagogy so dangerous to ideological fundamentalists, the ruling elites, religious extremists, and right-wing nationalists all over the world is that central to its very definition is the task of educating students to become critical agents who actively question and negotiate the relationships between theory and practice, critical analysis and common sense, and learning and social change. Critical pedagogy opens up a space where students should be able to come to terms with their own power as critically engaged citizens; it provides a sphere where the unconditional freedom to question and assert is central to the purpose of public schooling and higher education, if not democracy itself. And as a political and moral practice, way of knowing, and literate engagement, pedagogy attempts to make evident the multiplicity and complexity of history (Said, 2001, p. 141). History in this sense is engaged as a narrative open to critical dialogue rather than predefined text to be memorized and accepted unquestioningly. [emphasis added]

Critical consciousness is an entirely different frame of reference than critical thinking. As Columbia linguistics professor, John McWhorter, has posed the question: Do you want your children taught that battling power differentials is the central endeavor of intellectual, moral and artistic endeavor?

The government and quasi-government entities that sponsored and participated in the conference included the U.S. Department of Education, The Connecticut State Department of Education, The Connecticut Association of Schools (CAS), and the Connecticut State Education Resource Center (SERC).

Many think this debate is about how or what we teach in high school history classes, but the goal of these groups is to install curricula based on the precepts of Critical Pedagogy into all subjects in every grade from K-12. To demonstrate how this shift might be applied, a conference presenter offered the following example of a fifth-grade math problem:

For a deeper dive into the concepts and strategies for infusing critical theories into K-12 education, see Kimberl Crenshaws summer school program for educators.

Is the oppressor/oppressed dynamic the best or only way to think about society?

In college, I had a course on the effects of technological innovation on societies through history. On my bookshelves sits The Sea and Civilization, which is described by Amazon as, A monumental retelling of history through the lens of the sea revealing in breathtaking depth how people first came into contact with one another by ocean, river, lake, and stream and how goods, languages, religions, and entire cultures spread across and along the worlds waterways bringing together civilizations and defining what makes us most human.

There are numerous was to think about the interplay of our societal interconnections.

Alleged differentials of power are only one frame of reference for examining the world. Further, there are real questions as to what exactly constitutes oppression. Are unequal outcomes de facto proof of discrimination? Or, are there perhaps multiple overlapping causations?

And to clarify I am for education reform in Connecticut, especially reform that focuses on making sure that all of our children, including those currently assigned to failing schools, have the opportunity to learn and thrive.

But the critical theory lens denies individuality. People are not individuals, but intersections of their multiple group identities. Are all people in an assigned group oppressed or oppressor? What are the mental health impacts on children of teaching them they are a part of a group rather than an individual, that their outcomes are determined by their status at birth, and that it is their moral responsibility to root out any and all perceived power differentials in society?

The issue is not whether Americans should strive for a just society, or if Connecticut schools should teach a complete history of America, including the numerous racist policies it has implemented. Our students should know the whole truth. Nor is the issue one of banning critical theories. Theories cannot be un-invented and intellectual inquiry is appropriate in education. The issue is not one of democracy. It does not matter whether a majority of voters favor or reject implementing Critical Pedagogy in schools, or which side wins the contested Guilford School Board contest.

The issue at hand is the First Amendment right to freedom of speech.

Public schools are the government. As such, they cannot control the speech of citizens. Freedom of conscience is inherent to freedom of speech; therefore, the government cannot compel anyone to accept a belief system. This principle has been upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court in their 1977 ruling, in the matter Wooley v. Maynard, which ruled that the State Of New Hampshire could not compel Jehovahs Witnesses to display the slogan Live Free or Die on their license plate. Our schools cannot compel students to accept a belief system that the morality of society must be judged by the single framework of alleged power differentials among group identities.

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Comparing 'Critical Thinking' and 'Critical Consciousness' Pedagogy in Public Schools - CT Examiner