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CSUSB professor writes on press freedom in Ethiopia and includes plea for ‘responsible journalism’ECAD ForumMay 6, 2019 Alemayehu G. Mariam, CSUSB professor emeritus of political science, wrote: “This commentary has dual purpose: 1) to share my pride and joy over the extraordinary expansion of press freedom in Ethiopia over the past year and express heartfelt gratitude to all who have long fought to make press freedom possible, and 2) to plead for responsible journalism and caution about the probable consequences of abuse of press freedom.” Read the complete article at “Behold press freedom shining bright in Ethiopia!”
Riverside City Council candidate’s explanation for racists comments called implausible and invalid by CSUSB professorThe Press-Enterprise/Southern California News GroupMay 6, 2019 Brian Levin, professor of criminal justice and director of the CSUSB Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism, was interviewed for an article about a Riverside City Council candidate, John Dave Denilofs, who has created videos and made phone calls with messages he acknowledges are racist. Denilofs says the comments, mostly made in the lead-up to the November 2016 election, don’t reflect his actual opinions. … “I don’t know what to say to my voters,” said Denilofs, who refers to the series of videos as a show. “Do I apologize? No, I can’t, because at the time that I did it, I was doing a show.” Until the recent explosion of social media, speech like Denilofs’ would have found a limited audience, said Levin. “That’s why these white nationalist messages are so pernicious,” he said. “In the past, it wouldn’t make it into the socio-poltical mainstream because social media wasn’t as dispersed. But now what we’re seeing is a spectrum of bigotry over the internet, where even though you may not see swastikas and Klan hoods in all of them, they’re done in such a way to ensnare people based on their fears and stereotypes.” It’s not surprising for a man with Asian ancestry to advocate white nationalism, Levin said. Denfoils is of Vietnamese ancestry, said he was raised by a white stepfather and identifies as white. “One of the things we’re seeing is the democratization of hate,” Levin said. “Islamophobia, you can find that across different races. Homophobia, you can find that across different faiths. Antisemitism, xenophobia, homophobia, a variety of other prejudices go across a whole bunch of different lines.” Levin said Denilofs’ defense — that he didn’t mean what he said — seemed implausible and invalid even if it’s true.“It’ll be for the voters to decide whether or not, civically and morally, his fingerprints are too close to this bigotry scene,” Levin said. Read the complete article at “Riverside City Council candidate acknowledges racist comments — but says he didn’t mean them.”
CSUSB professor interviewed about U.S. announcements on sanctions on Iran over uranium exportsPress TVMay 3, 2019 CSUSB professor of history, David Yaghoubian, was interviewed for a segment on the Trump administration’s announcement that it will start imposing sanctions of Iranian exports of uranium allowed under a 2015 multinational agreement, known as the JCPOA, which imposed limits on Iran’s nuclear program in return for a relaxation of U.S. and international sanctions. The interview with Yaghoubian begins at about 1 minute and 15 seconds into the segment. See the online video at “U.S. targets Iran's export for enriched uranium.”Press TV is a 24-hour English language news and documentary network affiliated with Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting.
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