George Ciccariello-Maher Explained

George Ciccariello-Maher
Native Name Lang:en
Birth Name:George Joseph Ciccariello-Maher IV
Birth Date:12 March 1979
Alma Mater:University of California, Berkeley
Thesis Title:Identity against Totality: the Counterdiscourse of Separation beyond the Decolonial Turn
Thesis Url:https://escholarship.org/uc/item/3c66g2x0
Thesis Year:2010
Doctoral Advisor:Wendy Brown
Discipline:Political theorist
Influences:Wendy Brown, C. L. R. James, Georges Sorel, Hegel, Frantz Fanon, Michel Foucault, Enrique Dussel[1]

George Ciccariello-Maher (born March 12, 1979), also known as Geo Maher, is an American political scientist who was an associate professor of politics and global studies at Drexel University.

Academic career

Ciccariello-Maher did his undergraduate work at St. Lawrence University and Cambridge University, where he was a Davies-Jackson Scholar. He then completed a master's degree at University of California, Berkeley before taking a sabbatical in Mexico. After returning he finished a Ph.D in political science from Berkeley in 2010, and was then appointed as assistant professor of politics and global studies at Drexel University in Philadelphia the same year. He was promoted to associate professor in 2016.[2]

Ciccariello-Maher is the author of multiple books. His first book, We Created Chavez: A People's History of the Venezuelan Revolution, concerns Hugo Chavez's Bolivarian Revolution.[3] He has translated books by Enrique Dussel, Immanuel Wallerstein, and Stefan Gandler, and is co-editor (with Bruno Bosteels) of the book series "Radical Américas," published by Duke University Press. He is a member of the editorial collective of Abolition: A Journal of Insurgent Politics.[4]

Ciccariello-Maher has served as a media commentator on Venezuela's Bolivarian Revolution,[5] Mike Brown, Freddie Gray and Philando Castile,[6] the Ferguson unrest and 2015 Baltimore protests,[7] and the abolition of the police.[8]

In October 2017, he became the subject of controversy after tweeting "All I Want for Christmas is white genocide.” and "To clarify: when the whites were massacred during the Haitian Revolution, that was a good thing indeed". Following this, Drexel University placed Ciccariello-Maher on administrative leave. On December 28, Ciccariello-Maher announced his resignation from Drexel, effective December 31, citing "nearly a year of harassment by right-wing, white supremacist media outlets and Internet mobs, after death threats and threats of violence directed against me and my family."[9]

In January 2018, Cicarriello-Maher announced on Facebook that he was now a visiting scholar at New York University's Hemispheric Institute of Performance and Politics.[10]

Activism

While in England, Ciccariello-Maher was a member of the Cambridge collective Anti-Capitalist Action, and was later arrested during the 20 March 2003 anti-war protest known as "Day X" that marked the beginning of the 2003 invasion of Iraq.[11] [12] [13] When four members were rusticated from King's College, Cambridge in 2002 for their participation in a squatted social center, Ciccariello-Maher co-authored an appeal document that resulted in their reinstatement.[14]

Ciccariello-Maher was a member of Bring the Ruckus, co-founded by the late Joel Olson.[15] In Oakland, he was arrested for involvement in the protests that followed the shooting death of Oscar Grant by transit officer Johannes Mehserle.[16]

Ciccariello-Maher supports Venezuela's Bolivarian Revolution.[5] During opposition protests in early 2014, he appeared on Democracy Now to discuss his views of protesters' support for opposition leaders like Leopoldo López.[17] He has also been critical of those on the left and anarchists who have supported the Venezuelan opposition during those protests.[18]

Social media controversies

Ciccariello-Maher was active on social media, where his statements have created controversy, including calls for his dismissal. His writing in Salon that "Riots Work"[19] claims that racism against white people is imaginary and that the police should be abolished. In 2015, he tweeted that a South Carolina school police officer, who lost his job after body-slamming a black female student during an arrest, should be done "like Old Yeller."[2]

On Christmas Eve 2016, Ciccariello-Maher tweeted, "All I Want for Christmas is White Genocide," and the next day tweeted, "To clarify: when the whites were massacred during the Haitian Revolution, that was a good thing indeed"[20] [10] Ciccariello-Maher stated the tweet was sent in response to a racist backlash against State Farm Insurance for purportedly advancing "white genocide" by depicting an interracial couple in an advertisement.[21] [22] [23] [24]

On Christmas Day, Drexel issued a public statement distancing itself from Ciccariello-Maher's tweet:

Ciccariello-Maher responded by stating that "white genocide" is an "imaginary concept... invented by white supremacists," adding that "It is a figment of the racist imagination, it should be mocked, and I'm glad to have mocked it." He criticized Drexel's response, which "amounts to caving to the truly reprehensible movements and organizations that I was critiquing... White supremacy is on the rise, and we must fight it by any means. In that fight, universities will need to choose whether they are on the side of free expression and academic debate, or on the side of the racist mob."[25]

Some critics dismissed the Drexel statement as a misinterpretation of the tweet,[23] and for infringing on Ciccariello-Maher's academic freedom and due process.[26] Hank Reichman, chair of the American Association of University Professors Committee on Academic Freedom, suggested that "Drexel should apologize to Professor Cicciariello-Maher."[27]

Theodore Kupfer, managing editor of the National Review, criticized Ciccariello-Maher, calling him hypocritical due to statements made by him regarding people who also have made controversial statements, but are on the political right. He also cited his support for former President Hugo Chávez and current President Nicolás Maduro of Venezuela, who have been accused for violating the free speech of political opponents and the use of physical force against them.[28]

In March 2017, Ciccariello-Maher was again criticized for tweeting that he was "trying not to vomit or yell about Mosul" when a soldier was given a seat by a passenger in first class, on a flight he was on two days after the U.S. bombing of Mosul killed 200 civilians.[29] [30]

Drexel's provost M. Brian Blake began an investigation into Ciccariello-Maher's communication on Twitter in April 2017.[31]

Shortly after the 2017 Las Vegas shooting, Ciccariello-Maher posted tweets saying the mass shooting in Las Vegas, which left 59 people dead and hundreds injured, was the product of a system that favors white males. His statements, such as "It's the white supremacist patriarchy, stupid", resulted in a number of death threats. Subsequently, he wrote an op-ed for The Washington Post in which he elaborated on his tweets, stating "I tweeted before then diagnosing a sense of double entitlement—as white people and as men—that, when frustrated, can occasionally lead to violent consequences."[32]

Books

References

Bibliography

External links

Notes and References

  1. Book: Ciccariello-Maher. George. Decolonizing Dialectics. 2017. Duke University Press. Durham, North Carolina. 978-0-82237-370-4. 940521740.
  2. Web site: How a Christmas Eve tweet roiled a university (Philadelphia Inquirer). 29 January 2017. February 19, 2017. 7 January 2018. https://web.archive.org/web/20180107215519/http://www.philly.com/philly/education/How-a-Christmas-Eve-tweet-roiled-a-university.html. live.
  3. Simmons. Erica S.. Review: We Created Chavez: A People's History of the Venezuelan Revolution by George Ciccariello-Maher. Latin American Politics and Society. Winter 2013. 55. 4. 208–211. 10.1017/S1531426X00003290. 43286500. 158113482.
  4. Web site: Abolition: People. September 4, 2016. January 7, 2018. https://web.archive.org/web/20180107222332/http://abolitionjournal.org/collective/. dead.
  5. News: Ciccariello-Maher. George. March 13, 2014. Venezuelan Jacobins. Jacobin. July 16, 2017. July 21, 2017. https://web.archive.org/web/20170721024932/https://www.jacobinmag.com/2014/03/venezuelan-jacobins/. live.
  6. Web site: Yes, Philando Castile Was Killed for the Color of His Skin (Jacobin). August 11, 2016. April 7, 2020. https://archive.today/20200407093743/https://www.jacobinmag.com/2016/07/philando-castile-police-brutality-fields-white-supremacy/. live.
  7. Web site: Ferguson: Breaking Out of the Post-Racial Hypnosis, an interview with George Ciccariello-Maher (Roar Magazine). August 11, 2016. July 22, 2016. https://web.archive.org/web/20160722050049/https://roarmag.org/essays/ferguson-protests-institutional-racism/. live.
  8. Web site: We must disband the police: Body cameras aren't enough—only radical change will stop cops who kill (Salon.com). 24 April 2015. August 11, 2016. 11 August 2016. https://web.archive.org/web/20160811023908/http://www.salon.com/2015/04/24/we_must_disband_the_police_body_cameras_arent_enough_only_radical_change_will_stop_cops_who_kill/?. live.
  9. News: Gray. Melissa. Drexel professor resigns amid threats over controversial tweets. CNN. December 28, 2017. December 28, 2017. December 28, 2017. https://web.archive.org/web/20171228231927/http://www.cnn.com/2017/12/28/us/drexel-university-professor-resigns/index.html. live.
  10. News: Silva. Cristina. Professor warns America is 'at war' with alt-right and white nationalists, 'Academia is a crucial front in that war'. Newsweek. January 2, 2018. January 6, 2018. Ciccariello-Maher, a fellow white man, first made national headlines after he wrote on Twitter in December 2016: "All I want for Christmas is white genocide." He then wrote: “To clarify: when the whites were massacred during the Haitian revolution, that was a good thing indeed.”. https://web.archive.org/web/20180107100108/http://www.newsweek.com/professor-warns-america-war-alt-right-and-white-nationalists-academia-crucial-768803. January 7, 2018. dead.
  11. Web site: Johann Hari, Champagne anarchists (The New Statesman). August 11, 2016. April 12, 2017. https://web.archive.org/web/20170412142628/http://www.newstatesman.com/node/194427. live.
  12. Web site: Letters: A class in anti-capitalism (The New Statesman). August 11, 2016. April 12, 2017. https://web.archive.org/web/20170412062541/http://www.newstatesman.com/node/155503. live.
  13. Web site: Johann Hari, Is Anti-Globalisation Just Mindless Ranting? (The Independent). Independent.co.uk. 29 January 2003. August 11, 2016. 12 April 2017. https://web.archive.org/web/20170412063117/http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/commentators/johann-hari/is-anti-globalisation-just-mindless-ranting-130267.html. live.
  14. Web site: Report to the Review Body. August 11, 2016. November 13, 2017. https://web.archive.org/web/20171113223809/https://www.indymedia.org.uk/media/2003/10/279260.pdf. live.
  15. Web site: Class War University: Against Academic Alibis, The Best Education is the Struggle – An Interview with George Ciccariello-Maher. 19 August 2013. August 11, 2016. 23 April 2016. https://web.archive.org/web/20160423162521/https://classwaru.org/2013/08/19/against-academic-alibis/. live.
  16. Web site: Raider Nation, Volume 1: From the January Rebellions to Lovelle Mixon and Beyond. August 11, 2016. June 24, 2016. https://web.archive.org/web/20160624050308/http://www4.uwm.edu/c21/pdfs/symposia/Preoccupy/Ciccariello-Maher_RaiderNationCollective.pdf. live.
  17. Web site: Venezuelan Protests: Another Attempt by U.S.-Backed Right-Wing Groups to Oust Elected Government? (Democracy Now). Democracy Now!. February 19, 2017. February 18, 2017. https://web.archive.org/web/20170218025737/https://www.democracynow.org/2014/2/20/venezuelan_protests_another_attempt_by_us. live.
  18. Web site: El Libertario: beware Venezuela's false 'anarchists' (Roar Magazine). February 19, 2017. April 26, 2017. https://web.archive.org/web/20170426151619/https://roarmag.org/essays/critique-libertario-venezuela-anarchism/. live.
  19. Web site: Riots work: Wolf Blitzer and the Washington Post completely missed the real lesson from Baltimore (Salon). 4 May 2015. February 19, 2017. 27 August 2015. https://web.archive.org/web/20150827142917/http://www.salon.com/2015/05/04/riots_work_wolf_blitzer_and_the_washington_post_completely_missed_the_real_lesson_from_baltimore/. live.
  20. Web site: White supremacist Christmas! Right-wing media spent the holiday snuggling up to overt racism. 28 December 2016. February 19, 2017. 29 January 2017. https://web.archive.org/web/20170129093042/http://www.salon.com/2016/12/28/white-supremacist-christmas-right-wing-media-spent-the-holiday-snuggling-up-to-overt-racism/. live.
  21. Web site: Interracial Couple Ad Has White Racist Trolls Deep In Their Feelings. 25 December 2016. February 19, 2017. 1 January 2017. https://web.archive.org/web/20170101080754/http://hiphopwired.com/530439/state-farm-interracial-couple/. live.
  22. Web site: Drexel University Condemns Tweet by Professor (Teen Vogue). 26 December 2016. February 19, 2017. 29 January 2017. https://web.archive.org/web/20170129234227/http://www.teenvogue.com/story/drexel-university-condemns-tweet-by-professor. live.
  23. Drexel University, Apparently Unfamiliar With White Supremacist Lingo, Censures Prof For "White Genocide" Tweet (Slate) . Slate . 27 December 2016 . February 19, 2017 . Dessem . Matthew . 15 October 2018 . https://web.archive.org/web/20181015051648/http://www.slate.com/blogs/browbeat/2016/12/26/drexel_censures_professor_for_white_genocide_tweet.html . live .
  24. Web site: There Is No Such Thing as "White Genocide" (Jezebel). 26 December 2016. February 19, 2017. 18 February 2017. https://web.archive.org/web/20170218120435/http://jezebel.com/there-is-no-such-thing-as-white-genocide-1790500883. live.
  25. Web site: Drexel Condemns Professor's Tweet (Inside Higher Ed). February 19, 2017. December 10, 2021. https://web.archive.org/web/20211210133701/https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2016/12/26/drexel-condemns-professors-tweet-about-white-genocide. live.
  26. Web site: Another university flunks the free-speech test (Los Angeles Times). Los Angeles Times. 27 December 2016. February 19, 2017. 8 March 2017. https://web.archive.org/web/20170308025133/http://www.latimes.com/business/hiltzik/la-fi-hiltzik-free-speech-drexel-20161227-story.html. live.
  27. Web site: Drexel Must Defend Academic Freedom (Academe Blog). 26 December 2016. February 19, 2017. 28 December 2016. https://web.archive.org/web/20161228151439/https://academeblog.org/2016/12/26/drexel-must-defend-academic-freedom/. live.
  28. Web site: No, George Ciccariello-Maher Doesn't Believe in Academic Freedom (National Review). National Review. 12 October 2017. October 12, 2017. 31 March 2019. https://web.archive.org/web/20190331060727/https://www.nationalreview.com/2017/10/george-ciccariello-maher-academic-freedom-plea/. live.
  29. News: Sharman. Jon. Professor 'tried not to vomit' when passenger gave up seat for soldier. March 31, 2017. The Independent. March 30, 2017. March 30, 2017. https://web.archive.org/web/20170330212652/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/history-professor-vomit-george-ciccariello-maher-soldier-first-class-seat-give-up-passenger-mosul-a7658411.html. live.
  30. News: Professor tweets 'trying not to vomit' after passenger gives up seat to soldier. March 31, 2017. USA Today. March 31, 2017. "He said he felt compelled to say something about Mosul, because the incident took place two days after reports that 200 civilians were killed in a coalition airstrike in Mosul, where U.S.-backed Iraqi forces are clearing the city of Islamic State militants.". March 31, 2017. https://web.archive.org/web/20170331143742/http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2017/03/31/professor-tweets-trying-not-vomit-after-passenger-gives-up-seat-soldier/99861126/. live.
  31. News: Looking Into Tweets. Flaherty. Colleen. Inside Higher Ed. April 18, 2017. April 18, 2017. April 19, 2017. https://web.archive.org/web/20170419100650/https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2017/04/18/documents-show-drexel-investigating-professors-tweets-its-unclear-whether-faculty. live.
  32. News: Quintana. Chris. October 10, 2017. Drexel Puts Professor on Leave After Tweet About Las Vegas Draws Conservative Ire. The Chronicle of Higher Education. October 13, 2017. October 13, 2017. https://web.archive.org/web/20171013141142/http://www.chronicle.com/blogs/ticker/drexel-puts-professor-on-leave-after-tweet-about-las-vegas-draws-conservative-ire/120540?. live.

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