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MESA Academic Freedom Award Winners
2006
1. Joan
Scott, to recognize her work
as head of the AAUP's Committe A from 1993 until 2005.
She has been an extraordinarily
articulate and vigilant defender of academic freedom in
North America
and put the AAUP on the front lines of defending and promoting
academic freedom in the United States.
2. Akbar
and Manuchehr Mohammadi of
Iran; Iranians who have sacrified their freedom and even
their lives in the struggle to exercise basic freedoms
such as the freedom of expression and association.
2005
1. Fatma Muge Gocek,
University of Michigan and Ron Suny,
University of Chicago
and all of the scholars associated with
the workshop for Armenian-Turkish Scholarship, in recognition
of their successful collective effort, using the tools of
history and the social sciences and relying on the language
of collegial discourse, to initiate and implement a project
that overcame political divisions in society and in the academy
and has provided a model that others addressing other conflicted
histories can use in the years ahead.
2. Akbar
Ganji
MESA salutes the Iranian writer Akbar Ganji,
a major figure in promoting intellectual and political debate
in the Islamic Republic over much of the past ten years and
a man who paid an enormous price for his efforts by spending
the last five of those years in some of the country’s
most notorious prisons and cell blocks. Although Akbar Ganji
is not affiliated with an academic institutions, his resistance
to repression of intellectual freedom in Iran has been crucial
to sustaining intellectual debate there. CAFMENA recognizes
Akbar Ganji, a public intellectual and writer of uncommon
courage.
2004
Matrouk Al-Faleh
Professor of Political Science at King Saud University in
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
For his courageous advocacy of democratic
rights and civil liberties in Saudi Arabia and his principled
commitment to the exercise of free speech and the free exchange
of information and ideas, and in recognition of the resistance
he and others have displayed in the face of harassment and
attempts at intimidation from the government of Saudi Arabia.
Professor Al-Faleh was arrested in
his university office in March 2004, and has since that time
not been allowed to resume his academic duties. He is currently
on trial in Riyadh, charged with advocating changes in Saudi
Arabia’s system of government. In fact, Professor Al-Faleh
has spoken out responsibly in favor of political reform, and
he has organized petitions that peacefully advocate parliamentary
elections and the establishment of a constitutional monarchy
in Saudi Arabia, and related reform measures.
Professor Al-Faleh is now unable to
teach. He is on trial, along with two others among those arrested
in March, because they refused to agree to a government demand
that they cease exercising their right to peacefully criticize
their government and to exercise their freedom of speech.
MESA salutes Professor Al-Faleh for
his courageous and principled stance. He and his colleagues
have made a brave stand in favor of freedom of speech and
academic freedom, and they deserve our support and our admiration.
2003
Saeed Razavi-Faqih
For his dedicated and spirited promotion
in Iran of the rights of students, professors and intellectuals
generally to freedom
of expression, belief, and opinion as a student leader, essayist,
columnist, and teacher
And his high-profile defense of professors
Hashem Aghajari, Mohsen Kadivar, Abolkarim Soroush, and
Hasan Yusefi Eshkevari and others who have been persecuted
by the Iranian authorities solely for the peaceful expression
of their views
In further recognition of his work as a
leader of the Daftar-e Tahkim-e Vahdat (Office for Consolidation
of Unity), a student group active in the defense of the integrity and
autonomy of universities
And his endurance throughout 78 days of
solitary confinement and relentless interrogation, from July
10 until October 3, 2003, for his public speeches protesting
the Iranian government’s repressive measures against
academics, intellectuals, and students
MESA dedicates its Academic Freedom
Award for 2003 to
Saeed Razavi-Faqih
Doctoral student and Lecturer in Philosophy,
Tarbiat Modaress University
Elected member of the Central Council of the Daftar-e Tahkim-e
Vahdat student organization
2002
Dr. Arif Dalila
For his courageous advocacy of democratic
rights and civil liberties as an academic and in his professional
field of economics
And his commitment as a public intellectual
in Syria to the principles of free expression and the free
exchange of information and ideas
In further recognition of his endurance
of persecution and harassment by the government of Syria on
account of his advocacy of fundamental rights and liberties
for all Syrians
MESA dedicates its Academic Freedom Award
for 2002 to
Dr. Arif Dalila
Professor of Economics, University of Damascus
Founding member of the Committees for the Revival of Civil
Society
Political Prisoner
2001
Dr. Saad Eddin Ibrahim
In recognition of his dedication
to the promotion of democratic rights and civil liberties
through his teaching and scholarship,
and his commitment as a public intellectual to the principles
of free expression and free exchange of information and ideas
In further recognition of his endurance
of persecution and harassment by the government of Egypt,
and personal attack by state-affiliated media,
On account of his tireless advocacy
of fundamental rights for all Egyptians MESA dedicates its
first Academic Freedom Award to
Dr. Saad Eddin Ibrahim
Professor of Sociology
American University in Cairo
Founding Director
Ibn Khaldun Center for Development Studies
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