Back to School

The last week of August marks the start of the academic year in most schools in the United States. Other universities in the Northern Hemisphere will start instruction in mid-to-late September. Academia appears to be under serious attack in many places in different ways. The gigantic — and often very inertial — American higher education system is currently being assaulted by its own government and the horizon only shows dark clouds that portend stronger storms. In Europe, British and Dutch universities are facing enormous budget shortfalls forcing them to close down programs and lay off academic and professional services staff. Rising costs of operations pose difficulties for institutions of higher education everywhere and many public ones look to high-fee-paying international students to close the gap: a market-based model that is hardly sustainable. Governments stipulating that education is a personal privilege rather than an investment in the public good continue reducing their support for higher education. In the rising number of autocratic regimes the universities face tremendous pressure on the contents of their curricula, while faculty and students are persecuted, jailed, or forced into exile.

Make no mistake, universities are under attack not only because they have been instrumental in criticizing the failures of hegemonic capitalism, but also because they have the potential to cultivate and harvest the power of ideas for change.

Today, we celebrate this transformative power by reposting articles in languages other than the Eurocentric (or NATOcentric) ones: Persian (click here for English translation), Urdu (translation), and Chinese (translation). Diversity of intellectual perspectives is one of our core strengths.