Mobilizing Against Oppression within the CUNY Community

In this discussion we talk with Professor Corinna Mullin who is a member of the Anti-Imperialist Scholars Collective. 

Corinna Mullin is an anti-imperialist academic who teaches political science and economics. Her research examines the historical legacies of colonialism and the role of capitalist expansion and imperialist imbrications in producing peripheral state “security dependency,” with a focus on unequal exchange, super-exploitation, resource extraction, and other forms of surplus value drain/transfer as well as resistance. Corinna has also researched and published academic works on border imperialism, struggles around the colonial-capitalist university, fascism, multipolarity, and national liberation, with a focus on the Maghreb, West Asia, and Turtle Island. Corinna was a member of the Steering Committee for the International Peoples’ Tribunal on U.S. Imperialism and organizes with CUNY for Palestine and Labor for Palestine. She serves on the Steering Committee of the Professional Staff Congress (PSC)-CUNY’s International Committee and is a member of the Delegate Assembly. Full bio from AISC.

In this discussion we primarily discuss her piece, Zionism, Imperialism, and the Struggle Against Global Fascism: Palestine as the ‘Hornet's Nest’ of US Empire from the Anti-Imperialist Scholars Collective blog The Pen Is My Machete 

And a little bit on her piece The ‘War on Terror’ as Primitive Accumulation in Tunisia: US-Led Imperialism and the Post-2010-2011 Revolt/Security Conjuncture from Middle East Critique 

Also I say more about this in the episode, but Dr. Mullin was fired from CUNY as a result of her stance and organizing with respect to Palestine. We will include a statement from AISC on this and a Statement in Solidarity with CUNY Faculty and Students Facing McCarthyite Retaliation for Palestine Solidarity which we have signed. 

There are also a number of other calls to action for faculty and students at CUNY that we will include in the show description. Corinna talks about those at the end of the episode and we strongly encourage folks to support those calls to action it only takes a minute of your time.

In this discussion Dr. Mullin talks a little bit about Dr. Ali Kadri’s The Accumulation of Waste: A Political Economy of Systemic Destruction and it just so happens that we have a study group on that exact book starting on October 1st, it’s available to everyone who supports the show, whether through patreon, BuyMeACoffee or as a YouTube member of the show. Details on that study group and how to join it are linked in the show description. But just to note that there are only about 40 spots left in the group as we publish this, so if you want to join us, make sure you do so ASAP to reserve your space.

Calls to Action: 

"Hadeeqa Arzoo Malik is being made an example of for the sake of setting the tone across the nation at public universities, as they seek further control over the student movement for Palestine. City College President Vincent Boudreau has already denied her appeal for a drop to the charges, without even an acknowledgement to the 2,000+ calls and emails from the community that demanded her reinstatement. Now, it is time to escalate both our tactics against CUNY and whom we pressure— Take it to the Board of Trustees. Your rage is needed to make it loud and clear that CUNY’s repression will not go uninterrupted. 

CALL CUNY STUDENT AFFAIRS:

646-664-8800

EMAIL THE BOT:

https://tinyurl.com/Defendhadeeqaarzoo"

Free Tarek Bazrouk! Tarek is a 20-year-old Palestinian from NYC, unjustly convicted of federal charges stemming from his participation in protests against the genocide in Gaza.

"Demand Immediate Reinstatement of Terminated Adjunct Faculty and Defend Academic Freedom

Send a letter to Brooklyn College President Michelle Anderson, CUNY Chancellor Félix Matos Rodríguez, and CUNY Board Chairperson William Thompson urging them to reinstate the fired adjunct faculty and protect the rights of CUNY students and workers who stand in solidarity with Palestine.

The targeting of these individuals is part of a broader assault on higher education and academic freedom. Their fight is our fight—silencing them is an attack on us all.

Send your letter here ➔"

Sanctuary & Popular University Network (SPUN statement & instagram)

Related conversations:

War is the Basis of Accumulation with Ali Kadri

Charisse Burden-Stelly on Black Scare/Red Scare 

Link to the latest issue of Middle East Critique & the conversation with Matteo Capasso  

“Attica Is an Ongoing Structure of Revolt” - Orisanmi Burton on Tip of the Spear, Black Radicalism, Prison Rebellion, and the Long Attica Revolt 

Heading Towards Invasion? The US Empire’s Campaign Against Venezuela with José Luis Granados Ceja 

Palestine's Great Flood with Max Ajl