½¿É«µ¼º½

In times of crisis, silence is never neutral, it is complicit. As we bear witness to the ongoing genocide in Gaza, what’s unfolding is not only a humanitarian catastrophe but also an assault on knowledge, history and the very soul of education. The term ‘scholasticide’, coined by Palestinian theorist Karma Nabulsi and further developed by scholars such as Hajir and Qato (2025), captures this brutal reality: the systematic destruction of Palestinian universities, scholars, teachers and students.

‘In times of crisis, silence is never neutral, it is complicit.’

This blog post explores the violent erasure of Palestinian education through the lens of scholasticide, a term that names the targeted destruction of Palestinian intellectual life, as both a humanitarian and epistemic crisis. It focuses on how global patterns of academic suppression, censorship and enforced silence are complicit in sustaining settler colonialism and genocide, not just in Gaza but across universities in the Global North. Grounded in critical pedagogy and political urgency, this blog post invites educators to reflect on what it means to teach, resist and act with moral clarity (Giroux, 2022) in times of atrocity.

This is more than the physical erasure of buildings and institutions, it is a targeted attempt to dismantle intellectual resistance and collective memory. Across the globe, the silencing doesn’t stop at Gaza’s borders. Scholars, students and educators who speak out against Israeli settler colonialism and genocide are facing growing censorship, professional retaliation and institutional intimidation (Rubin, 2024). What we are seeing is not isolated, it’s a pattern. Whether in Palestine, the US or the UK, academic spaces are increasingly being co-opted by nationalist agendas, neoliberal market imperatives and ideological suppression (see Wasi, 2025).

From reports of the banning of Critical Race Theory as against political impartiality, the dismantling of EDI (Equity, Diversity & Inclusion) initiatives as against meritocracy, to the penalisation of speech about Palestine as antisemitic (Shabi, 2024), education is being stripped of its critical power. Under the guise of neutrality, educational institutions and workplaces are demanding that educators become complicit by staying silent. We must not leave geopolitics at the door or be neutral in the face of genocide.

Education as resistance

At its core, education is not just about instruction, it is about transformation. Drawing on the work of Paulo Freire (2020) and bell hooks (2014), critical pedagogy invites both teachers and students to challenge the systems that shape our world and naming oppression is the only way to map a path towards changing oppressive systems. This means refusing to stay silent when academic freedom is under attack such as writing open letters, organising teach-ins, publishing academic articles, creating spaces to talk and share, speaking at public forums, or joining marches and protests.

As academics from a range of disciplines we must consider the ‘Enforced Silence: Gaza and Scholasticide’, not just analysing a political crisis, but confronting the ethical crisis at the heart of global academia.

Scholasticide is global

The scholasticide on Palestine (Giroux, 2025) reflects a broader trend of academic suppression. From restrictions on curriculum to loyalty pledges for contracts as seen in some institutions requiring academics to denounce the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement in order to receive research funding or employment (Barghouti, 2011); to the surveillance and punishment of dissent, where scholars have been blacklisted, or dismissed for speaking out in support of Palestinian rights (Landy et al, 2020), critiquing settler colonialism, or challenging dominant geopolitical narratives. The rising tide of ultranationalism, fascism and censorship – whether in Florida classrooms or British universities (Giroux, 2024) – is shrinking the space for critical thought.

What comes next?

It is time to ask questions such as: What now? How do we move from witnessing to action?

Some of the key questions include:

• How can academic institutions stand in solidarity without being performative?
• What historical precedents from apartheid South Africa to the antiwar movements can guide us?
• How do we protect the right to education in Palestine while fighting for academic justice everywhere?

The answers won’t be easy, but they must begin with breaking the silence (Shakir, 2025). Now more than ever, we need critical educators willing to speak up, scholars ready to risk comfort for justice, and institutions that choose humanity over neutrality. Because education, if it means anything at all, must be a practice of freedom.

Join the conversation. Raise your voice. Refuse the silence.

References

Barghouti, O. (2011). BDS: Boycott, divestment, sanctions: The global struggle for Palestinian rights. Haymarket Books.

Freire, P. (2020). Pedagogy of the oppressed. In J. Beck, C. Jenks, N. Keddie, & M. F. D. Young (Eds.), Toward a sociology of education (pp. 374–386). Routledge.

Giroux, H. A. (2022). Pedagogy of resistance: Against manufactured ignorance. Bloomsbury Publishing.

Giroux, H. A. (2024). Cultural politics and public intellectuals in the age of emerging fascism. Communication and Critical/Cultural Studies, 21(1), 6–21.

Giroux, H. A. (2025). Scholasticide: Erasing memory, silencing dissent, and waging war on education from Gaza to the west. Journal of Holy Land and Palestine Studies, 24(1). Ìý

Hajir, B., & Qato, M. (2025). Academia in a time of genocide: Scholasticidal tendencies and continuities. Globalisation, Societies and Education. Advance online publication.

hooks, b. (2014). Teaching to transgress. Routledge.

Landy, D., Lentin, R., & McCarthy, C. (eds.). (2020). Enforcing silence: Academic freedom, Palestine and the criticism of Israel. Bloomsbury Publishing.

Rubin, M. (2024). Free speech restrictions on college campuses: When maintaining the status quo demands complacency in the genocide of oppressed peoples. Public Interest Law Reporter, 30(1).

Shabi, R. (2024). Off-white: The truth about antisemitism. Simon and Schuster.

Shakir, S. (2025). No end and no beginning: Race equity in higher education. Equality, Diversity and Inclusion: An International Journal, 44(1), 9–25.

Wasi, W. (2025). Sacrifice and silence neoliberalism, right-wing populism, and the repression of pro-palestinian student movements at Alberta universities. Canadian Journal for the Academic Mind, 2(2), 109–128.