\
Activism
People's politics vary of course, and, in light of this fact, some professors are hesitant to make their political orientation clear to their students. My own view is that political orientation inevitably has an influence on one's teaching, especially in the humanities and social sciences, and that, when a teacher hides his or her political orientation from students, it simply makes it more difficult for students to become aware of that influence. In addition, in my case, intellectual work and political activism are connected, as anyone can see who reads one of my articles or book chapters. So honesty is not only the best policy in my case, it is the only possible policy. Here you will find links to the movements I have been active in, newspaper and magazine articles that report activism in which I've participated, as well my writings that are explicitly concerned with social and political activism. You will also find information about a topic of vital importance to everyone who works, teaches, or studies at UMass Boston - namely what i argue is the attempt to privatize the public resources of our university under the guise of the UMass Boston administration's so-called "strategic plan." If you are interested in getting involved in the battle to keep UMass Boston a public institution, please let me know. There is plenty that you can do.
PS: It's amazing how quickly things can change after a long period of stasis. I wrote the paragraph above just a few days before a handful of young people occupied Wall Street and accelerated what may turn out to be a period of transformation that we have not seen since the "world revolution" of 1968. In fact , we may be in what is only the third such period in history: 1848, 1968, and 2011. The Wall Street Occupiers, and now their comrades in Boston as well as over 1000 other American cities and quite a few others around the world, were inspired by the Arab Spring of just 6 months ago. Clearly the train of history has accelerated. Or, as Marx would have said, the "old mole" is sticking its snout above ground once again.
