Free to Think Podcast - “Raising the cost of repression” — Sol Iglesias on political violence, red tagging, and threats to academic freedom in the Philippines

“Raising the cost of repression” — Sol Iglesias on political violence, red tagging, and threats to academic freedom in the Philippines

04/03/23 • 33 min

Free to Think speaks with political scientist Sol Iglesias about "violence for social control" and threats to scholars in the Philippines, including online trolling, "red-tagging," threats, and violent attacks.

Iglesias, who is a professor at the University of the Philippines and contributes to SAR’s monitoring of attacks on higher education in the country, believes academic freedom is the lifeblood of social progress and development. “[It’s] part of this ecosystem of truth telling, speaking truth to power, [and] producing evidence-based social and political criticism,” she says. “We can’t do without it.”

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“Every day my children can go to school, I laugh, because my heart is full of joy,” with SAR scholar Zahra Hakimi

In Herat, Afghanistan, Zahra Hakimi was a faculty member, midwife, family planning trainer, and women’s reproductive healthcare provider. She often worked in secret and at personal risk to provide treatment to survivors of sexual assault.

Within a week of taking control of her city, the Taliban raided Hakimi’s home. They condemned her work as “anti-Islam.” They threatened her and her husband, and demanded her teenage daughter for a forced marriage. She had no choice: She had to flee.

On Free to Think Hakimi shares her incredible journey, including several attempts to escape Afghanistan, first through Iran, then the United States, and ultimately Canada. With SAR’s help, she is now a visiting researcher at the Centre for Research on Health and Nursing at the University of Ottawa. Since December 2022, the Taliban has banned higher education for women in Afghanistan. Now in Canada, however, Hakimi’s daughter hopes to become a dentist. “Every day that my children can go to school” Hakimi says, “my heart is full of joy."

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“‘Jane from California' might be an Afghan woman…” University of the People's Shai Reshef on education in Afghanistan under the Taliban

Free to Think speaks with Shai Reshef, President of the University of the People, the first non-profit, tuition-free, American, accredited, online university whose mission is to help students worldwide overcome financial, geographic, political, and personal obstacles to higher education.

Since August 2021, University of the People has received increasing numbers of applications from women in Afghanistan seeking a way to continue their studies. After the Taliban reimposed a ban on women attending universities, University of the People provided 2000 scholarships for Afghan women. “They want to expand their knowledge, to learn to enrich themselves, but also to feel part of the world,” says Reshef. “Studying... is exactly what they need in order to keep them alive and hoping for a better future.”