A feminist praxis for academic freedom in the context of genocide in Gaza
Palestinian Feminist Collective | 11 April 2024 | Mondoweiss
As members of the Palestinian Feminist Collective and scholars at North American universities, we are steadfast in our commitment to the intellectual pursuit of knowledge, truth, and justice in environments free from systemic oppression. The Zionist regime’s escalated genocide in Gaza has meant the annihilation of intellectual and cultural sources of wisdom, or sophicide.
Sophicide refers to the Zionist regime’s deliberate annihilation of Indigenous knowledge traditions inspired by the land itself, as well as the carriers of that knowledge, including elders and women. It involves the crushing of Palestinian life and learning through the systematic murder of Palestinian students, mentors, teachers, researchers, scholars, academics, writers, librarians, archivists, spiritual leaders, historiographers, creatives, poets, interns, lecturers, professors, staff, and lab technicians. Such attacks on these Indigenous knowledge carriers impacts entire generations of learners, crushing their aspirations and dreams.