Southeast Asian academics unite vs acad freedom attacks
"Suppressing academic freedom stifles the very spirit of education.”
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"Suppressing academic freedom stifles the very spirit of education.”
The proposed GE cuts are part of a neoliberal approach to education that prioritizes efficiency, cost-cutting, and marketable skills over universities’ broader mission of fostering critical inquiry.
Kabataan Partylist Rep. Raoul Manuel said that the move was “a step in the right direction” but he warned that merely withdrawing from the task force is not enough. "There is no place for agencies that put students and teachers in danger within our educational institutions."
Clearly, the Hobart and William Smith Colleges teaching ban on Jodi Dean is a symptom of a broader and systematic assault on the freedom of association through US Counterinsurgency.
Progressive educators decried the red-tagging of two bookstores, saying that this is another unmistakable attack on academic freedom and critical thinking.
“Instead of providing a space for students to think for themselves, universities under the pressure of the NTF-ELCAC surrender the right to read hence giving way to the government’s anti-communist hysteria.”
“Rather than listen to all the valid criticisms, DND continues to brush aside the damning evidence against them by escaping institutional accountability.”
Those activists taught us how to expand, how to imagine the world with compassion, a sense of mission and commitment, freely, creatively and scientifically. None of our goals end when our personal ambitions shatter. There is a bigger picture to this accord and even to the so-called student power that made it possible.
“I must express our grave concern over this abrogation, as it is totally unnecessary and unwarranted, and may result in worsening rather than improving relations between our institutions, and detract from our common desire for peace, justice, and freedom in our society.” - UP President Danilo L. Concepcion
“What we have here in UP are critical minds much sharper or deadly than guns, and it seemed that that was the AFP [Armed Forces of the Philippines] and PNP [Philippine National Police] were afraid of.”
'Fear history for no secret is not revealed.’

By ANNE MARXZE D. UMIL
Online and in the streets, Judy Taguiwalo is an inspiration to a new generation of Filipino activists, particularly women activists. Her world view is shaped by our nation’s history -- a history that not too many Filipinos had the courage to confront nor the opportunity or inclination to take part in. She insists on correcting mistakes and learning from them. And she roasts a mean chicken with Kikkoman and lemon grass.

The University of the Philippines is regarded as an institution where academic freedom is at its best. Ironically, the case of one of its professors, Sarah Raymundo, seems to go against the grain of the university’s liberal tradition.
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