book description

In this lecture, Ruth Ben-Ghiat, an internationally renowned historian of fascism and authoritarian regimes past and present, stresses that universities have always been core targets of anti-democratic forces: “Strongmen disappear people, and they also disappear knowledge.” It’s an operation of noise and silence, she tells us. Aggressively take over institutions with the authoritarian worldview, hollow them out through “moral deregulation,” and bankrupt individuals by enticing them to distrust facts and betray their values. The goal, she argues, is to frighten civil society into silence in a coordinated attempt to stamp out dissent.

Ben-Ghiat speaks from experience: she had to deliver this talk, part of the University of Michigan’s yearly lecture devoted to academic freedom, on Zoom due to safety concerns.

Her respondents—Karima Bennoune, Ji Yeon Hong, and Ronald Suny—draw upon history, the law, and political science to remind us that the suppression of speech and thought has never succeeded for long and why campuses are key to protecting democratic values.

about the author

Ruth Ben-Ghiat is Professor of History and Italian Studies at New York University and a Senior Fellow at the Charles F. Kettering Foundation. 

contributors

Karima Bennoune is the Lewis M. Simes Professor of Law at the University of Michigan Law School.

Ji Yeon Hong is the Korea Foundation Professor of Korean Studies and an Associate Professor of Political Science in the College of Literature, Science, and the Arts at the University of Michigan.

Ronald Suny is the William H Sewell, Jr Distinguished University Professor Emeritus of History in the College of Literature, Science, and the Arts at the University of Michigan.