Judith Butler is being targeted by the US government. We must stand up | Joel Swanson

"Amid all the other breaking news consuming the United States this month, the University of California, Berkeley, arguably the nation's most elite public university, gave the Trump administration a list of 160 names of faculty, staff and students, as part of an investigation into alleged antisemitic incidents. While all the names on this list are significant, one name in particular that UC Berkeley handed over to the Trump administration stands out: Judith Butler, the eminent queer theorist, literary theorist and philosopher, and one of the"

"In addition to Butler's name representing one of the most high-profile academic scalps demanded by the Trump administration in its campaign against higher education so far, Butler's name is also notable for another reason: Butler is proudly and publicly Jewish, and has written extensively about their Jewish identity and how it informs their politics. In the name of fighting antisemitism, the Trump administration is publicly making an example out of arguably the most famous Jewish public intellectual in the country today."

"As a professor of Jewish studies, whose work intersects with gender and queer theory in substantial ways, I teach Butler regularly in my classes, both their writings on gender performativity and on Jewish politics. I never endorse Butler's perspectives on Jewish politics, and when I teach their writings against Zionism, I am always careful to present them to my students alongside opposing perspectives."

The University of California, Berkeley provided the Trump administration a list of 160 faculty, staff and student names in an investigation into alleged antisemitic incidents. One prominent name on the list is Judith Butler, an eminent queer theorist and publicly Jewish intellectual who has written about Jewish identity and politics. The Trump administration framed Butler's inclusion as part of fighting antisemitism and acted to make an example of a high-profile Jewish scholar. A professor of Jewish studies teaches Butler regularly, values Butler's gender work, disagrees on Zionism, and insists that Butler must be defended.

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