Radhika Sainath in Boston Review: The Free Speech Exception

Senior staff attorney Radhika Sainath penned an excellent op-ed in the Boston Review on how the climate of censorship, suppression, and intimidation aimed at supporters of Palestinian rights that we are witnessing resembles the aftermath of 9/11:

"The climate of censorship, suppression, and intimidation resembles the aftermath of 9/11; it is what the CCR and we at Palestine Legal have called the Palestine exception to free speech—the real cancel culture, or whatever you want to call it—in action.

If we had truly open and informed debate, where journalists were able to accurately report this issue—where students, professors, and artists could write articles and publish freely without fear of employer retaliation—how might U.S. policy change? Would our elected officials stay Israeli airstrikes? Might we be able to stop the ongoing killing and prevent the mass tragedy unfolding before us? 

Every writer who is canceled should not have to sue for breach of contract; student groups should not need a team of attorneys just to hold a talk, and professors should not need to retain counsel before posting to Instagram. Even if we had an army of lawyers to represent each individual who is targeted, the chilling effect is real: people will self-censor.

Combating this injustice requires social change. That means everyone—journalists, artists, students, teachers, professors, anyone with a social media account or the ability to take to the streets—using the tools at their disposal to stop the censorship campaign and the ethnic cleansing that is taking place."