Friday, February 5

Terror and academic freedom in the UK

This chap says that study of terrorism in the UK is being blocked. I quote:

Since my arrest under the Terrorism Act in May 2008 at the University of Nottingham for possession of the so-called Al-Qaida Training Manual, I have been following the increasing pressure faced by lecturers regarding the teaching of terrorism. One example is the pressure to submit reading lists to research ethics committees for vetting purposes in case they contain material that may be deemed "illegal" or that "may incite violence".

I found this very strange. Have just submitted my PhD in the area of terrorism studies and have been downloading, storing, researching, analysing, writing about terrorism since I registered at Kings College London, Department of War Studies. And its just not me, there are many other colleagues at the department who are studying this. I have never heard of anybody getting arrested, much less investigated!!!!

there is obviously something else going on.

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