Indy Media Watch

Danbbury CT Indymedia is outraged that Anarchist David Graeber is to be fired by Yale

Anarchist David Graeber has apparently been fired from his position as associate professor at Yale University for his political beliefs (actually for some made-up, bullshit reasons but I think its pretty clear that the Yale power structure is uncomfortable with having a young, passionate anarchist in their anthro department).

Assuming it is because of his "passionate activist" beliefs (and no counterpoint - the other side of the story is presented ) why might Yale be "uncomfortable"? A sample of his work:

In the corporate media, the word ‘violent’ is invoked as a kind of mantra—invariably, repeatedly—whenever a large action takes place: ‘violent protests’, ‘violent clashes’, ‘police raid headquarters of violent protesters’, even ‘violent riots’ (there are other kinds?). Such expressions are typically invoked when a simple, plain-English description of what took place (people throwing paint-bombs, breaking windows of empty storefronts, holding hands as they blockaded intersections, cops beating them with sticks) might give the impression that the only truly violent parties were the police. The US media is probably the biggest offender here—and this despite the fact that, after two years of increasingly militant direct action, it is still impossible to produce a single example of anyone to whom a US activist has caused physical injury.

Does that include Police?

Would a student paper be accepted if it made such a claim without evidence to back it up?

There might be other reasons Yale isn't impressed... I for one am concerned at the trend towards "increasingly militant direct action".

Moreover, in most of the Indymedia reports on bystanders being injured at protests, they were usually caught in the crossfire. This is held up as examples of police brutality, but begs the question at what point "activists" are responsible for obeying the law.

Innocents caught in the crossfire between Police and terrorists militants combatants activists using them as human shields is an old problem.