The Macquarie University Rank-and-File Committee has received messages of support after organising a lunchtime meeting of some 70 educators, students and workers last Thursday to call for a campaign throughout the universities and the working class as a whole for the defence of Dr Randa Abdel-Fattah, a Macquarie University academic.

Abdel-Fattah is being threatened with dismissal by Macquarie University and being stripped of her Australian Research Council (ARC) research grant, at the behest of Zionist groups, the corporate media and the federal Labor government for speaking out against the US-backed Israeli genocide in Gaza.

Education Minister Jason Clare threw the Labor government’s full backing behind the witch hunt by writing to the ARC in January to ask it to investigate “as a matter of urgency,” Abdel-Fattah’s Future Fellowship grant for a study of “Arab/Muslim Australian Social Movements since the 1970s: a hidden history,” citing trumped-up allegations of breaching the rules for the grant.

Our campaign is a test case for the defence of all the others, including academics, journalists, students and workers, being slandered and vilified as antisemitic for opposing the ongoing Zionist atrocities throughout Palestine. The genocidal assault is intensifying with the support of the fascistic Trump administration.

Thursday’s meeting at Macquarie University unanimously voted for a resolution that concluded:

The attack on Abdel-Fattah is not confined to one academic. It is aimed at silencing any opposition to the US-Israeli mass killings, the Labor government’s support for the genocide and the Trump administration’s criminal plan to ethnically cleanse Palestine.

We call on educators, students and workers to pass similar resolutions defending Abdel-Fattah, the right to free speech and democratic rights, including academic freedom.

This followed the adoption of a similar resolution moved by a member of the Committee of Public Education, the rank-and-file educators’ network initiated by the Socialist Equality Party, by the Australian Education Union (AEU) sub-branch at Melbourne’s Footscray High School. That resolution explained:

The latest attacks on Abdel-Fattah are aimed at rescinding her research grant and sacking her from MQ university. The harassment is being led by the Murdoch media, Zionist lobby groups and is fully endorsed by the Albanese government. Abdel-Fattah, like others who oppose the genocide in Gaza, is being bullied and slandered as being antisemitic for speaking out in defence of the Palestinian people. 

Randa Abdel-Fattah sent a message of thanks to the Footscray High teachers and the mover of their resolution:

I’m deeply grateful for this support. This statement is excellent and rightly points out that the impacts of what is happening to me extend beyond me alone. The broader principles must be defended. Thank you. Warm regards, Randa.

Numerous messages of support have been sent to the campaign, which the Macquarie University Rank-and-File Committee launched with a statement on January 21. The messages were sent both before and during last Thursday’s meeting, including from educators unable to join the event. Below is a selection of the comments:

Academic research should be free from external pressure and should not be politicized.

I support Dr. Randa Abdel-Fattah because defending academic freedom and the right to dissent is essential in the face of attempts to silence opposition to injustice. Her advocacy against genocide and for Palestinian rights is not hate speech but a vital expression of democratic principles and human rights. Silencing her sets a dangerous precedent for free speech and critical thought in academia.

I support Dr. Randa Abdel-Fattah because academic freedom and the right to express political views are fundamental to a democratic society. Silencing voices that challenge dominant narratives sets a dangerous precedent and the backlash against her work reflects broader issues of censorship and political pressure.

Dr Abdel-Fatteh is being used to further the violent Zionist cause in this country, which I am dedicated to resisting. Because it’s inhumane to do otherwise.

I stand with the freedom to fairly critique government policies.

I stand with Palestine and Randa because it’s not only the only acceptable ethical position, but—more selfishly—the attack on academic freedom affects me personally as a young academic. 

Because it is our duty as members of the international working class to defend the free speech and the research of academics who fight for freedom and justice.

It is imperative to rise up against those who seek to suppress the free speech and research of academics advocating for freedom and justice.

I am her colleague and Palestine should be free.

Academic freedom of speech is a right and sacrosanct. This must be protected, even when it is uncomfortable.

Several online participants in last Thursday’s meeting posted comments in the Zoom chat expressing their support. These included:

Thank you for the Zoom meeting. I couldn’t vote as only listening, but support intended action. It’s important to get a valid definition of anti-Zionism. I totally reject the current one Labor is pushing: that anti Zionism comment is antisemitism. It is ludicrous but convenient for padding out their bias against Palestinians & genocide occurring.

Thank you from a western Sydney arts worker. Standing with you.

Yes, Randa’s research field is provocative for Zionists. So happy to see academic colleagues stepping up to support her and against the erosion of democratic rights.

A Macquarie University academic exposed the claims by the government, a Labor-led parliamentary committee and university managements that opposition to the slaughter in Palestine is making Jewish students feel unsafe. She wrote:

Students/people feeling ‘unsafe’ if we criticise Israel or call out a genocide. This is no reason to say they are unsafe. They may feel discomfort. It is not unsafe nor is it an attack. I’m sorry, if anyone needs safe rooms it’s Arab students and those of us advocating for Palestine. It is us getting zero support from the university.

We appeal to educators, students and workers to pass resolutions in defence of Abdel-Fattah and all the other targets of the Zionist-led witch hunt. 

We also urge you to join or form rank-and-file committees to take forward the campaign to defeat this assault on the right to free speech and fundamental democratic rights, and oppose the suppression of dissent against the underlying program of genocide, war and austerity.

As our statement of January 21 concluded: 

The defence of basic democratic rights, including academic freedom, is essential. As universities become increasingly enmeshed into serving the research needs of both Australian and US militarism via the Labor government’s Universities Accord, the rights of academics to speak out against imperialist war is more important than ever. 

The defence of free speech is inseparably linked to the fight against the capitalist profit system itself, which is the root cause of military aggression, war and barbarism.

To join the campaign or send statements of support, email the Macquarie University committee at macquarierfc@gmail.com, or the Committee for Public Education (CFPE), the rank-and-file educators’ network, at cfpe.aus@gmail.com.