{"id":5092,"date":"2020-12-04T22:07:52","date_gmt":"2020-12-05T03:07:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cafe.nfshost.com\/?p=5092"},"modified":"2020-12-04T22:07:52","modified_gmt":"2020-12-05T03:07:52","slug":"tell-me-again-about-the-right-to-freedom-of-opinion-and-critical-enquiry-that-authoritarian-societies-dont-have-australian-court-upholds-sacking-of-academic-for-criticizing-us-and-israeli-mil","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cafe.nfshost.com\/?p=5092","title":{"rendered":"Tell me again about the right to freedom of opinion and critical enquiry that ‘authoritarian’ societies don’t have — Australian Court Upholds Sacking of Academic for Criticizing US and Israeli Militarism"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Centre for Research on Globalization<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Australian Court Upholds Sacking of Academic for Criticizing US and Israeli Militarism<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\nBy Mike Head<\/a>\nAsia-Pacific Research, December 04, 2020\n World Socialist Web Site<\/a> 3 December 2020\n\n\nRegion: Oceania<\/a>\nTheme: Justice<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n 3\n 4\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n

\n 23\n\n\n\n\n \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"\/<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

A Federal Court judge last week set a chilling and far-reaching \nprecedent for the further overturning of basic democratic rights and \nacademic freedom, especially to express political or other dissenting \nviews.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The ruling backed the University of Sydney\u2019s February 2019 dismissal of Dr. Tim Anderson<\/strong>,\n an economics department senior lecturer, primarily on the basis of \nallegations that his criticisms of US militarism and Israel\u2019s oppression\n of the Palestinian people were \u201coffensive.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The court decision is another warning of the poisonous and repressive\n atmosphere being whipped up to silence opposition to the preparations \nfor Australian involvement in potentially catastrophic US-led wars \nagainst China or other perceived threats to the global hegemony asserted\n by Washington since World War II.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Significantly, the University of Sydney hosts the US Studies Centre, \nwhich was established in 2006, with US and Australian government \nfunding, for the express purpose of overcoming popular hostility to US \nmilitarism after the massive protests against the invasion and \noccupation of Iraq.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The court\u2019s judgment also exposed the fraud of claims by the National\n Tertiary Education Union (NTEU) that its enterprise bargaining \nagreements (EBAs) with universities protect the essential principle of \nacademic freedom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Justice Thomas Thawley ruled that the university\u2019s EBA with the \nunion, which is similar to those at most universities, \u201cdoes not \nrecognise the existence of, or give rise to, a legally enforceable right\n to intellectual freedom.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In particular, Thawley declared that EBA \u201cacademic freedom\u201d clauses \ndo not protect university workers from being sacked for making \ncomments\u2014even on their private social media accounts\u2014that managements \ndeem in breach of their employee codes of conduct. Instead, EBA \ncommitments to academic freedom were \u201cpurely aspirational.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"\/<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

University of Sydney Institute Building, where United States Studies Centre is located (Photo source: Wikipedia)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This thoroughly anti-democratic decision comes on the back of a \nsimilar result in another case taken to the courts by the NTEU. In July,\n the Full Federal Court upheld the dismissal of James Cook University \nacademic Dr. Peter Ridd, for expressing his views, as a climate-change \nsceptic, that cut across the university\u2019s reputation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Anderson\u2019s case demonstrates how far university managements, working \nin league with governments and the corporate media, can victimise \nacademics, especially those who oppose the wars of US imperialism and \nits allies, including the Zionist regime in Israel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Among the charges the University of Sydney made against Anderson was \nthat he tweeted, on his own Twitter account, criticism of the university\n hosting an address by US Senator John McCain. Anderson described \nMcCain, a backer of every US military intervention for the past three \ndecades, including the brutal neo-colonial wars in Afghanistan and Iraq,\n as \u201ca key US war criminal.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Other allegations included Anderson posting on his personal Facebook \naccount a photograph of a group of friends eating lunch, one of whom \nwore an anti-Israel badge. Anderson was accused of \u201cpromoting racial \nhatred and\/or racism\u201d and charged with violating the university\u2019s Code \nof Conduct even though he was on leave from the university at the time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Anderson was further charged with posting to his Facebook and Twitter\n accounts a denunciation of a video news report by Channel 7 reporter \nBryan Seymour that insinuated that Anderson supported racism and the \nNorth Korean regime. Anderson\u2019s comment that \u201cColonial media promotes \nignorance, apartheid and war\u201d was declared \u201cderogatory\u201d toward Seymour.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Anderson was also cited for giving a lecture that allegedly featured \nan Israeli flag with the Nazi swastika superimposed on it, examined \nmedia coverage of Israel\u2019s attack on Gaza in 2014, and encouraged \nstudents to seek independent evidence of claims of \u201cmoral equivalence\u201d \nbetween Israel\u2019s deadly aerial bombardments and primitive Palestinian \nrocket attacks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This was judged to be \u201cderogatory and\/or offensive\u201d and as \n\u201creasonably seen as racist towards or seeking to target and\/or offend \nIsraelis and\/or Jewish people and\/or Jewish victims of the Nazi regime.\u201d\n Yet, critics of the Israeli government, including anti-Zionist Jews, \nhave often compared its persecution of the Palestinian people to the \nactions of the fascist German regime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Finally, Anderson was accused of breaching confidentiality orders \nbarring him from even telling anyone that he was facing dismissal, and \nof failing to comply with \u201ca lawful and reasonable direction\u201d to delete \nhis social media posts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The judge agreed with the university management\u2019s determination that \nAnderson\u2019s posts and efforts to fight his dismissal amounted to \u201cserious\n misconduct\u201d under both the NTEU\u2019s EBA and the university\u2019s Code of \nConduct, thus justifying his sacking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Anderson\u2019s dismissal followed a protracted campaign by senior figures\n in the federal Liberal-National Coalition government, the corporate \nmedia and university management, to demonise Anderson because of his \ndenunciations of wars and military interventions by the US, Israel and \nother major powers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In April 2018, Education Minister Simon Birmingham, who was in charge\n of university funding, demanded an investigation into Anderson for \ncomments he made questioning US claims that the Syrian government was \nresponsible for a sarin gas attack in the town of Khan Sheikhoun.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Murdoch-owned Sydney Daily Telegraph<\/em> hysterically denounced Anderson as a \u201csarin gasbag\u201d and the Sydney Morning Herald<\/em>\n later reported that the university was taking disciplinary action \nagainst Anderson\u2014a media disclosure that violated its own \nconfidentiality regime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Justice Thawley found Anderson\u2019s dismissal as justified by the \nuniversity\u2019s Code of Conduct, which imposes requirements such as \u201cthe \nexercise of the best professional and ethical judgment,\u201d \u201cintegrity and \nobjectivity,\u201d being \u201cfair and reasonable\u201d and treating \u201cmembers of the \npublic with respect, impartiality, courtesy and sensitivity.\u201d The \nuniversity\u2019s employees must also \u201cuphold the outstanding reputation of \nthe University in the community.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These formulations are so vague and value-laden that they could \nprovide a pretext for sacking academics or other university workers for \ncondemning government policies, denouncing corporate greed or accusing \nthe US and Australian governments of military aggression or war crimes. \nEmployees could be dismissed for criticising university policies, such \nas hosting pro-military think tanks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Virtually every university campus across the country now participates\n in government-funded programs to tie academic research to the \ndevelopment of new military technologies. Australian universities are \nbeing integrated into a vast US-led military build-up, aimed at \npreparing for war with China and other powers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The NTEU\u2019s response to the court ruling, as it was to Anderson\u2019s \nsacking itself, and the massive job cuts ravaging universities, is to \noppose any mobilisation of university workers and instead appeal to the \nemployers for a deal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a union media statement, NTEU New South Wales division secretary \nMichael Thomson said: \u201cWe call on all Vice Chancellors to come to the \ntable to talk about how we can formulate a legally enforceable right, to\n provide the appropriate protections for university staff and to avoid \nthese circumstances occurring in the future.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Federal Court\u2019s support for Anderson\u2019s victimisation is part of a\n deeper attack on fundamental democratic rights. It widens the impact of\n a High Court 2019 ruling that essentially abolished freedom of speech \nfor workers, whether in government or corporate employment. With no \ndissent, the judges endorsed the sacking<\/a> of a federal public servant for criticising\u2014even anonymously\u2014the country\u2019s brutal refugee detention regime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A warning must be sounded. The ruling class and its agencies, \nincluding university managements, are seeking to suppress dissent amid \nmounting social inequality, war preparations and deepening political \ndiscontent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hence the federal police raids on journalists for publishing leaks \nexposing government and military crimes, the prosecution of the \nwhistleblowers involved and the bipartisan<\/a> backing for the persecution of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

*<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Note to readers: please click the share \nbuttons above or below. Forward this article to your email lists. \nCrosspost on your blog site, internet forums. etc.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Featured image: Dr. Tim Anderson (Photo source: Facebook)<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Centre for Research on Globalization Australian Court Upholds Sacking of Academic for Criticizing US and Israeli Militarism By Mike Head Asia-Pacific Research, December 04, 2020 World Socialist Web Site 3 December 2020 Region: Oceania Theme: Justice  3  4    23 … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[2701,34,2703,2704,2702],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cafe.nfshost.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5092"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cafe.nfshost.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cafe.nfshost.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cafe.nfshost.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cafe.nfshost.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5092"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cafe.nfshost.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5092\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5093,"href":"https:\/\/cafe.nfshost.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5092\/revisions\/5093"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cafe.nfshost.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5092"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cafe.nfshost.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5092"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cafe.nfshost.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5092"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}