George Ciccariello-Maher

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Drexel became aware today of Associate Professor George Ciccariello-Maher's inflammatory tweet, which was posted on his personal Twitter account on Dec[ember] 24, 2016. While the University recognizes the right of its faculty to freely express their thoughts and opinions in public debate, Professor Ciccariello-Maher's comments are utterly reprehensible, deeply disturbing, and do not in any way reflect the values of the University. The University is taking this situation very seriously. We contacted Ciccariello-Maher today to arrange a meeting to discuss this matter in detail.

Ciccariello-Maher responded by stating that "white genocide" is an "imaginary concept... invented by white supremacists," adding that "It is a figment of the racist imagination, it should be mocked, and I'm glad to have mocked it." He criticized Drexel's response, which "amounts to caving to the truly reprehensible movements and organizations that I was critiquing... White supremacy is on the rise, and we must fight it by any means. In that fight, universities will need to choose whether they are on the side of free expression and academic debate, or on the side of the racist mob." [27]

Some critics dismissed the Drexel statement as a misinterpretation of the tweet, [25] and for infringing on Ciccariello-Maher's academic freedom and due process. [28] Hank Reichman, chair of the American Association of University Professors Committee on Academic Freedom, suggested that "Drexel should apologize to Professor Cicciariello-Maher." [29]

Theodore Kupfer, managing editor of the National Review , criticized Ciccariello-Maher, calling him hypocritical due to statements made by him regarding people who also have made controversial statements, but are on the political right. He also cited his support for former President Hugo Chávez and current President Nicolás Maduro of Venezuela, who have been accused for violating the free speech of political opponents and the use of physical force against them. [30]

In March 2017, Ciccariello-Maher was again criticized for tweeting that he was "trying not to vomit or yell about Mosul" when a soldier was given a seat by a passenger in first class, on a flight he was on two days after the U.S. bombing of Mosul killed 200 civilians. [31] [32]

Drexel's provost M. Brian Blake began an investigation into Ciccariello-Maher's communication on Twitter in April 2017. [33] [ needs update ]

Shortly after the 2017 Las Vegas shooting, Ciccariello-Maher posted tweets saying the mass shooting in Las Vegas, which left 59 people dead and hundreds injured, was the product of a system that favors white males. His statements, such as "It's the white supremacist patriarchy, stupid", resulted in a number of death threats. Subsequently, he wrote an op-ed for The Washington Post in which he elaborated on his tweets, stating "I tweeted before then diagnosing a sense of double entitlement—as white people and as men—that, when frustrated, can occasionally lead to violent consequences." [34]

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References

Citations

  1. Ciccariello-Maher, George (2017). Decolonizing Dialectics. Durham, North Carolina: Duke University Press. ISBN   978-0-82237-370-4. OCLC   940521740.
  2. Ciccariello-Maher 2012.
  3. 1 2 "How a Christmas Eve tweet roiled a university (Philadelphia Inquirer)". 29 January 2017. Archived from the original on 7 January 2018. Retrieved February 19, 2017.
  4. Simmons, Erica S. (Winter 2013). "Review: We Created Chavez: A People's History of the Venezuelan Revolution by George Ciccariello-Maher". Latin American Politics and Society. 55 (4): 208–211. doi:10.1017/S1531426X00003290. JSTOR   43286500. S2CID   158113482.
  5. "Abolition: People". Archived from the original on January 7, 2018. Retrieved September 4, 2016.
  6. 1 2 Ciccariello-Maher, George (March 13, 2014). "Venezuelan Jacobins". Jacobin . Archived from the original on July 21, 2017. Retrieved July 16, 2017.
  7. "Yes, Philando Castile Was Killed for the Color of His Skin (Jacobin)". Archived from the original on April 7, 2020. Retrieved August 11, 2016.
  8. "Ferguson: Breaking Out of the Post-Racial Hypnosis, an interview with George Ciccariello-Maher (Roar Magazine)". Archived from the original on July 22, 2016. Retrieved August 11, 2016.
  9. "We must disband the police: Body cameras aren't enough—only radical change will stop cops who kill (Salon.com)". 24 April 2015. Archived from the original on 11 August 2016. Retrieved August 11, 2016.
  10. 1 2 3 Silva, Cristina (January 2, 2018). "Professor warns America is 'at war' with alt-right and white nationalists, 'Academia is a crucial front in that war'". Newsweek. Archived from the original on January 7, 2018. Retrieved January 6, 2018. Ciccariello-Maher, a fellow white man, first made national headlines after he wrote on Twitter in December 2016: "All I want for Christmas is white genocide." He then wrote: "To clarify: when the whites were massacred during the Haitian revolution, that was a good thing indeed."
  11. Gray, Melissa (December 28, 2017). "Drexel professor resigns amid threats over controversial tweets". CNN . Archived from the original on December 28, 2017. Retrieved December 28, 2017.
  12. "Johann Hari, Champagne anarchists (The New Statesman)". Archived from the original on April 12, 2017. Retrieved August 11, 2016.
  13. "Letters: A class in anti-capitalism (The New Statesman)". Archived from the original on April 12, 2017. Retrieved August 11, 2016.
  14. "Johann Hari, Is Anti-Globalisation Just Mindless Ranting? (The Independent)". Independent.co.uk . 29 January 2003. Archived from the original on 12 April 2017. Retrieved August 11, 2016.
  15. "Report to the Review Body" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on November 13, 2017. Retrieved August 11, 2016.
  16. "Class War University: Against Academic Alibis, The Best Education is the Struggle – An Interview with George Ciccariello-Maher". 19 August 2013. Archived from the original on 23 April 2016. Retrieved August 11, 2016.
  17. "Raider Nation, Volume 1: From the January Rebellions to Lovelle Mixon and Beyond" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on June 24, 2016. Retrieved August 11, 2016.
  18. "Venezuelan Protests: Another Attempt by U.S.-Backed Right-Wing Groups to Oust Elected Government? (Democracy Now)". Democracy Now! . Archived from the original on February 18, 2017. Retrieved February 19, 2017.
  19. "El Libertario: beware Venezuela's false 'anarchists' (Roar Magazine)". Archived from the original on April 26, 2017. Retrieved February 19, 2017.
  20. Jaschik 2017.
  21. "Riots work: Wolf Blitzer and the Washington Post completely missed the real lesson from Baltimore (Salon)". 4 May 2015. Archived from the original on 27 August 2015. Retrieved February 19, 2017.
  22. "White supremacist Christmas! Right-wing media spent the holiday snuggling up to overt racism". 28 December 2016. Archived from the original on 29 January 2017. Retrieved February 19, 2017.
  23. "Interracial Couple Ad Has White Racist Trolls Deep In Their Feelings". 25 December 2016. Archived from the original on 1 January 2017. Retrieved February 19, 2017.
  24. "Drexel University Condemns Tweet by Professor (Teen Vogue)". 26 December 2016. Archived from the original on 29 January 2017. Retrieved February 19, 2017.
  25. 1 2 Dessem, Matthew (27 December 2016). "Drexel University, Apparently Unfamiliar With White Supremacist Lingo, Censures Prof For "White Genocide" Tweet (Slate)". Slate. Archived from the original on 15 October 2018. Retrieved February 19, 2017.
  26. "There Is No Such Thing as "White Genocide" (Jezebel)". 26 December 2016. Archived from the original on 18 February 2017. Retrieved February 19, 2017.
  27. "Drexel Condemns Professor's Tweet (Inside Higher Ed)". Archived from the original on December 10, 2021. Retrieved February 19, 2017.
  28. "Another university flunks the free-speech test (Los Angeles Times)". Los Angeles Times . 27 December 2016. Archived from the original on 8 March 2017. Retrieved February 19, 2017.
  29. "Drexel Must Defend Academic Freedom (Academe Blog)". 26 December 2016. Archived from the original on 28 December 2016. Retrieved February 19, 2017.
  30. "No, George Ciccariello-Maher Doesn't Believe in Academic Freedom (National Review)". National Review . 12 October 2017. Archived from the original on 31 March 2019. Retrieved October 12, 2017.
  31. Sharman, Jon (March 30, 2017). "Professor 'tried not to vomit' when passenger gave up seat for soldier". The Independent. Archived from the original on March 30, 2017. Retrieved March 31, 2017.
  32. "Professor tweets 'trying not to vomit' after passenger gives up seat to soldier". USA Today. March 31, 2017. Archived from the original on March 31, 2017. Retrieved March 31, 2017. He said he felt compelled to say something about Mosul, because the incident took place two days after reports that 200 civilians were killed in a coalition airstrike in Mosul, where U.S.-backed Iraqi forces are clearing the city of Islamic State militants.
  33. Flaherty, Colleen (April 18, 2017). "Looking Into Tweets". Inside Higher Ed. Archived from the original on April 19, 2017. Retrieved April 18, 2017.
  34. Quintana, Chris (October 10, 2017). "Drexel Puts Professor on Leave After Tweet About Las Vegas Draws Conservative Ire". The Chronicle of Higher Education . Archived from the original on October 13, 2017. Retrieved October 13, 2017.

Bibliography

George Ciccariello-Maher
Born
George Joseph Ciccariello-Maher IV

(1979-03-12) March 12, 1979 (age 44)
Academic background
Alma mater University of California, Berkeley
Thesis Identity against Totality: the Counterdiscourse of Separation beyond the Decolonial Turn  (2010)
Doctoral advisor Wendy Brown
Influences Wendy Brown, C. L. R. James, Georges Sorel, Hegel, Frantz Fanon, Michel Foucault, Enrique Dussel [1]