House Commitee on Education and the Workforce Investigation Echoes HUAC and the Era of McCarthyism w/ Sahar Aziz

Parallax Views w/ J.G. Michael

On this edition of Parallax Views, Rutgers University's Director of the Center for Security, Race, and Rights, 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. We'll also delve into some of the key points covered in Sahar's book The Racial Muslim: When Racism Quashes Religious Freedom and discuss the Islamophobia-industrial complex that's especially been prevalent in America since 9/11 and the Global War on Terror. Moreover, Prof. Aziz will offer her thoughts on the Anti-Defamation League, which has received harsh criticism in recent years with Jonathan Greenblatt at its head, and its activities against pro-Palestinian and Arab American political activists. Most importantly, however we focus on how the House Commitee on Education and the Workforce investigations into antisemitism, which involves figures like Rep. Elise Stefanik and Rep. Virginia Fox, have attacked the Center for Security, Race, and Right as well as academics like Noura Erakat and Juan Cole. Sahar will address some of the allegations made by the House Commitee against CSRR and delve into how this is connected to broader Republican Party efforts to tamper down academic freedom and discourse (ie: how it connects to GOP attacks on DEI and CRT, right-wing promotion of book-banning, etc.).