So I promised a digest of @NafeezAhmed piece in @BylineTimes regarding American far-right influence & interference at Cambridge. The piece is detailed & can't really be summarised. But it seems to boil down to this. (1/x)
This is not just a group of academics with similar views and political interests coming together. A powerful, wealthy foreign entity not connected to academia or research, mired in political power-brokering & lobbying is seeking to shape what is happening on a university campus.
To do so, it has brought together academics (apparently all male) disaffected with what they see as 'woke' influence on students & campus culture into a 'network' which extends to other universities (certainly Oxford). Among the group's activities are sponsoring race scientiests,
as well as controversialists known for endorsing such race science (positing that black people are less intelligent, for instance) and attacking gender equality and transgender rights. The network also seems to include people making the 'case for colonialism'.
What is the end goal? After all, if it was just a bunch of academics interested in misogyny & racism, they could meet & have coffee twice a term & compare calipers. Why is a very powerful megabillionaire involved? What forms has this influence taken that we don't know about yet?
The piece makes disturbing connections not just between a group of academics & attempts to rehabilitate race science, sex inequality etc, but also between these discredited subjects, current government advisors/policy, & rightwing thinktanks with influence in the education sector
The piece further connects activities at Cambridge & Oxford with governmental advisors not just in Britain but white nationalism in the United States as well as the Trump administration. It also connects so-called 'free speech' legislation with these forces. What is going on?
Is the right-hand man of a very powerful & wealthy rightwing American connected to Donald Trump in contact with a group of academics, telling them who to invite to campus & apparently getting students groomed through internships? The article claims this. We need to know.
What implications does this activity--& potential access to huge funds--have for those teaching & researching at Cambridge? What implications does it have for administrative decisions? We already know 'free speech' amendments were rammed through with likely outside influence.
Currently more questions than answers. A bunch of terms that sit next to each other, raising them. White nationalism. American evangelists. Thatcherites. 'Free Speech' Trojan Horses. Dark money. Woke-bashers. Race Science. Transphobia. Misogyny. Colonialism. Western supremacy.
These questions must be openly & publicly posed and answered. What will not do is pretending they don't exist, & they can just be ignored.
"Thiel’s chief of staff was – according to Byline Times’ sources – involved in seeding the UK coalition of anti-liberal academics centred around Cambridge University."
Why? To what end? Who is involved? What are the implications? What's in it & for whom? We have right to know.
Why? To what end? Who is involved? What are the implications? What's in it & for whom? We have right to know.
One important question is --where else has Thiel's money gone? What influence has it been able to purchase? What governance reforms has it been behind?
We now more or less know that the 'free speech amendments' pushed through a year ago were initiated with outside influence, from FSU. That is an example of dodgy & illegitimate influence on university autonomy. But it is probably the least of it. We need to know.
The interest in 'flipping' Cambridge to a megalomaniac megabillionaire is clear. Oxford staffs the Cabinet right now. Cambridge could easily be in the same position, has been so historically. A fast-track to political control --the only problem being'woke' students & teachers.
Some of us have been targeted by members of this group, naming no names for the present, in the press & well as with our employers. What seemed like a vendetta by an aggrieved racist now takes on more sinister contours--& I'm reasonably certain I haven't been the only target
Remember "Professors are the Enemy?"
The piece connects this to what is going on.
The piece connects this to what is going on.
"Thiel has invested millions of dollars in support of Senate candidates campaigning on a free speech ticket. J D Vance, who reportedly received $10 million from Thiel... recently told a conference of the National Conservative movement that “professors are the enemy”, citing Nixon
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