Here's a scholarly essay on the French historical controversy from the 1980s about whether the War in the Vendée constituted a genocide. I analyse the discourse of the time and compare it to the current discourse around Gaza. When mainstream historians talk about France, what arguments for genocide are considered absurd? And are the same standards applied to Gaza? See: https://donalmoloney.substack.com/p/the-counterfeiters
Before a critique. Here is a 500 word claude summary of the 70 page nsjp manifesto cited for all to read.
This manifesto, published by National Students for Justice in Palestine (NSJP) in 2025, presents a critical analysis of American universities as institutions fundamentally complicit in maintaining capitalist-imperialist systems of control. The document combines political theory with actionable demands for institutional change.
**The University's Role in Capitalism**
The authors argue that **universities serve as key components of capitalism's superstructure**—the ideological, political, and cultural systems that legitimize and reinforce economic exploitation. Rather than neutral educational spaces, universities function to reproduce capitalist social relations by indoctrinating students and naturalizing existing class hierarchies. In the American context, this role is uniquely complex: universities are formally autonomous yet materially subordinated to both the ruling class (through Boards of Trustees populated by corporate executives) and state interests (through federal research funding that shapes institutional priorities). The document cites numerous examples of corporate board members—from the Carlyle Group to defense contractors—controlling university governance, demonstrating how universities serve as engines for capital accumulation and U.S. imperial dominance.
**Settler Colonialism and Land Dispossession**
A crucial dimension of the analysis connects universities to **ongoing indigenous genocide and land theft**. American universities were built on forcibly seized Indigenous land, with the Morrill Acts of 1862 and 1890 directly expropriating 11 million acres from over 250 indigenous tribes to fund land-grant universities. Beyond this historical foundation, contemporary universities continue practices of dispossession through urban real estate monopolization and displacement of low-income communities. Columbia University's expansion into Harlem and similar projects across major cities reveal how universities function as **parasitic rentiers**—using their vast capital reserves to control land markets, drive up property values, and displace marginalized populations. This consolidation of land ownership, the authors argue, is integral to neoliberal capital accumulation.
**Securitization and Control**
The document traces how universities transformed in response to 1960s-70s student activism. Universities underwent physical and demographic restructuring: open quads were replaced with surveilled, enclosed spaces designed to prevent mass mobilization; student bodies became increasingly international and privileged; and securitized campus perimeters separated universities from surrounding communities. These changes represent **counterinsurgency measures** against political organizing. Additionally, programs like Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion function as "diversity washing"—acknowledging systemic oppression while refusing to transfer actual power from administrative bodies to students.
**Political Vision and SJP's Seven-Point Program**
The manifesto concludes with NSJP's programmatic demands: institutional divestment from Israeli colonization; ideological confrontation through "revolutionary political education"; countering anti-Palestinian racism and Islamophobia; politicizing Palestinian and Arab student communities; reconnecting globally fragmented Palestinian students; building anti-imperialist coalitions; and asserting democratic control over universities by uniting students, faculty, staff, and community members against Boards of Trustees.
The document positions **student movements as crucibles for challenging imperialism from within its core**, transforming universities from sites of capitalist reproduction into incubators for liberation struggle. By exposing universities' historical roots in indigenous genocide, ongoing complicity in dispossession, and integration into military-industrial structures, NSJP frames divestment and institutional democratization as necessary steps toward decolonization and anti-capitalist resistance.
Wow. Just a few weeks ago I was hopping all over the internet with posts and messages trying to generate interest in asking the large psychological organizations to step up and explain to the haters why they hate, and suddenly...
In re Kile B. Jones, good friend of the Jewish people: I asked him politely what his motivations were for doing what he does, and he blocked me on Facebook. Very suspicious. Is he still affiliated with Claremont?
I love posts about new books and insightful articles. And thanks for the "they read the book so you won't have to" link!
Here's a scholarly essay on the French historical controversy from the 1980s about whether the War in the Vendée constituted a genocide. I analyse the discourse of the time and compare it to the current discourse around Gaza. When mainstream historians talk about France, what arguments for genocide are considered absurd? And are the same standards applied to Gaza? See: https://donalmoloney.substack.com/p/the-counterfeiters
Before a critique. Here is a 500 word claude summary of the 70 page nsjp manifesto cited for all to read.
This manifesto, published by National Students for Justice in Palestine (NSJP) in 2025, presents a critical analysis of American universities as institutions fundamentally complicit in maintaining capitalist-imperialist systems of control. The document combines political theory with actionable demands for institutional change.
**The University's Role in Capitalism**
The authors argue that **universities serve as key components of capitalism's superstructure**—the ideological, political, and cultural systems that legitimize and reinforce economic exploitation. Rather than neutral educational spaces, universities function to reproduce capitalist social relations by indoctrinating students and naturalizing existing class hierarchies. In the American context, this role is uniquely complex: universities are formally autonomous yet materially subordinated to both the ruling class (through Boards of Trustees populated by corporate executives) and state interests (through federal research funding that shapes institutional priorities). The document cites numerous examples of corporate board members—from the Carlyle Group to defense contractors—controlling university governance, demonstrating how universities serve as engines for capital accumulation and U.S. imperial dominance.
**Settler Colonialism and Land Dispossession**
A crucial dimension of the analysis connects universities to **ongoing indigenous genocide and land theft**. American universities were built on forcibly seized Indigenous land, with the Morrill Acts of 1862 and 1890 directly expropriating 11 million acres from over 250 indigenous tribes to fund land-grant universities. Beyond this historical foundation, contemporary universities continue practices of dispossession through urban real estate monopolization and displacement of low-income communities. Columbia University's expansion into Harlem and similar projects across major cities reveal how universities function as **parasitic rentiers**—using their vast capital reserves to control land markets, drive up property values, and displace marginalized populations. This consolidation of land ownership, the authors argue, is integral to neoliberal capital accumulation.
**Securitization and Control**
The document traces how universities transformed in response to 1960s-70s student activism. Universities underwent physical and demographic restructuring: open quads were replaced with surveilled, enclosed spaces designed to prevent mass mobilization; student bodies became increasingly international and privileged; and securitized campus perimeters separated universities from surrounding communities. These changes represent **counterinsurgency measures** against political organizing. Additionally, programs like Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion function as "diversity washing"—acknowledging systemic oppression while refusing to transfer actual power from administrative bodies to students.
**Political Vision and SJP's Seven-Point Program**
The manifesto concludes with NSJP's programmatic demands: institutional divestment from Israeli colonization; ideological confrontation through "revolutionary political education"; countering anti-Palestinian racism and Islamophobia; politicizing Palestinian and Arab student communities; reconnecting globally fragmented Palestinian students; building anti-imperialist coalitions; and asserting democratic control over universities by uniting students, faculty, staff, and community members against Boards of Trustees.
The document positions **student movements as crucibles for challenging imperialism from within its core**, transforming universities from sites of capitalist reproduction into incubators for liberation struggle. By exposing universities' historical roots in indigenous genocide, ongoing complicity in dispossession, and integration into military-industrial structures, NSJP frames divestment and institutional democratization as necessary steps toward decolonization and anti-capitalist resistance.
Wow. Just a few weeks ago I was hopping all over the internet with posts and messages trying to generate interest in asking the large psychological organizations to step up and explain to the haters why they hate, and suddenly...
In re Kile B. Jones, good friend of the Jewish people: I asked him politely what his motivations were for doing what he does, and he blocked me on Facebook. Very suspicious. Is he still affiliated with Claremont?