NOTE: Faculty, if you are interviewed and quoted by news media, or if your work has been cited, and you have an online link to the article or video, please let us know. Contact us at news@csusb.edu
With little direct impact on Americans, mass protests over Iranian foreign policy unlikely in U.S., CSUSB professor says
Press TV
Jan. 5, 2020
David Yaghoubian, CSUSB professor of history, was included the English-language Iranian TV network’s continuing coverage of the U.S. attack that killed Iran Revolutionary Guard Maj. Gen. Qassim Soleimani in Baghdad on Jan. 3. This was the professor’s second interview with the network after that incident, and begins at about 6 minutes and 35 seconds into the nearly 54-minute segment.
He dispelled a notion outside the United States that because the U.S. is a democracy, Americans have a say in the nation’s foreign policy, when in fact, unless people take to the streets like they did to protest the Vietnam war in the late 1960s and early 70s, Americans have no say, nor in many cases, much interest. The lack of a draft to mandatory military service, such it existed during the Vietnam era, plays a role in that disinterest, Yaghoubian said.
“So what I’m getting at is that, unfortunately, without a draft, the students in my college classes – and I’m going to be teaching beginning on Monday in our new term – are barely going to be interested in this story … because it does not relate directly to them,” he said. “And of course, because of the state of their lives in the American economy, they have other issues going on in their lives to focus on.”
He said later in the interview, “This is the unfortunate state of the American political system and populace right now in the context of potentially staving off another illegal and potentially endless Middle Eastern war. There just isn’t any leverage that the American public maintains short of there being a draft and their own lives being affected by such a war in which we might see people actually take to the streets en masse.”
Watch the online coverage at “Iran vows to avenge Gen. Soleimani, PMU deputy chief’s killing in ‘right place, right time.’”
Implications of U.S. attack on Iranian military official discussed by CSUSB professor
Press TV
Jan. 3, 2020
David Yaghoubian, CSUSB professor of history, was interviewed on the English-language Iranian TV network about the U.S. attack that killed Iran Revolutionary Guard Maj. Gen. Qassim Soleimani in Baghdad on Jan. 3. This was the professor’s first interview with the network after that incident.
Yaghoubian appears beginning at 1 hour and 7 minutes into the more than 2 hours of coverage, and extend through the hour that follows.
“I believe that this targeted assassination is a clear attempt to provoke Iran into an open war that would serve the interests of (Israeli Prime Minister) Benjamin Netanyahu as well as the potential reelection of Donald Trump, and the ability of the neoconservatives who are in the driver’s seat of his (Trump’s) foreign policy to remain for another four years,” Yaghoubian said in his initial reaction.
Watch the online coverage at “Rolling coverage: Commander of Iran’s Quds Force, Iraq's PMU deputy head assassinated in US strike” (the link picks up at Yaghoubian’s interview, but the entire online video can be accessed).
Attack on Iranian military official and its effect on a multi-national nuclear agreement discussed by CSUSB professor
TRT World Now (Turkey)
Jan. 6, 2020
In a brief segment on the Turkish news network, David Yaghoubian, a professor of history at California State University, San Bernardino, explained the implications of Iran removing all caps on its uranium enrichment program in the aftermath of the attack that killed Iran Revolutionary Guard Maj. Gen. Qassim Soleimani in Baghdad on Jan. 3.
In addition to other issues, some experts said the attack could further jeopardize the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, the multi-national agreement to regulate Iran’s nuclear development program. The Trump administration pulled the U.S. out of the agreement in May 2018, saying it wanted a stronger deal and imposed economic sanctions on Iran to get it to the negotiation table.
The video was posted on TRT World Now’s Twitter feed.
Trying to determine motive in hate incidents is more complex than giving them singular labels, CSUSB professor says
Asbury Park (N.J.) Press
Jan. 5, 2020
Brian Levin, director of the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at the California State University, San Bernardino, was interviewed for an article on recent ant-Semitic attacks in New Jersey and New York as law enforcement investigators seek a motive behind them.
Levin said research is finding that describing an event as just a hate crime or based on mental illness or terrorism discounts many other factors that may be involved.
“We have to remember we are dealing with, sometimes, conflicting definitions and chronologies,” said Levin. “When we’re trying to make sense of hateful and irrational violence, we are now finding offenders who have mixed motivations or different variables. Today’s terrorist or offender is a jumbled mixture that can include anger, mental distress as well as radicalization. We are dealing with intersecting definitions.”
Read the complete article at “After recent attacks on Jews, policy experts urge full review of factors behind the violence.”
CSUSB professor discusses the rise in anti-Semitic hate crimes in major U.S. cities, including Los Angeles
The Chicago Tribune
Jan. 4, 2020
The newspaper picked up Jan. 3 The New York Times report on the rise of anti-Semitic hate crimes that featured the work of CSUSB’s Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism and comments by its director, Brian Levin, professor of criminal justice.
The number of anti-Semitic hate crimes recorded by authorities in Los Angeles has doubled, thanks in part to those changes. But the rising numbers also mirror a trend seen in cities across the United States. A coming report from the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at California State University, San Bernardino, shows that anti-Semitic hate crimes in New York, Los Angeles and Chicago — the nation’s three largest cities — are poised to hit an 18-year peak.
It was also picked up by The Hartford (Conn.) Courant, The Orlando (Fla.) Sentinel and The Baltimore Sun, among other newspapers.
Read the complete article at “Report finds anti-Semitic hate crimes in New York, LA and Chicago are at 18-year high — on par with attacks on gays and African Americans.”
Hate crimes are becoming increasingly more violent, CSUSB professor says
NBC News
Jan. 3, 2020
The rash of anti-Semitic attacks gripping the New York-New Jersey area may feel like chilling coincidences, but statistics show they’re part of a wave of anti-Semitic violence that has risen across the country over the past half-decade. While 2018’s total was actually lower than the year before, felony assaults, arson and murders — including the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting that left 11 dead — were all up.
The dip in anti-Semitic hate crimes between 2017 and 2018 comes despite hate crimes in the U.S. staying about even those two years.
“While hate crimes were flat, they're getting more violent,” said Brian Levin, a professor and the director of the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism (CSHE) at California State University, San Bernardino.
Read the complete article at “It's not just New York: Anti-Jewish attacks are part of a wave of 'more violent' hate crimes.”
Educators have to become knowledgeable in helping students ‘assess everything from false data to memes on the internet,’ CSUSB professor says
The Orange County Register
Jan. 3, 2020
Brian Levin, director of CSUSB’s Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism, was quoted in an article promoting two community forums in January in Orange County aimed at understanding and combating hate incidents. The forums are organized by the Orange County Department of Education and the Orange County Human Relations Commission. A Tuesday, Jan. 7, event is for students, their families and the community; a follow-up forum will be held Jan. 22 for teachers and school administrators.
While today’s youth are one of the most diverse generations in history, they also spend more time online than any other age cohort, are more impressionable and are more likely to feel socially isolated, anxious or depressed, said Levin.
“There are those who are quite skilled at manipulating adolescent fears and insecurity into scapegoating and bullying,” Levin said. “Our secondary educators have to become knowledgeable not only about how to make students proficient in history and civics, but also how to critically assess everything from false data to memes on the internet.”
Read the complete article at “Two forums set to understand, combat hate incidents among Orange County students.”
LAPD’s hate crimes division is one of the few in the nation, CSUSB professor says
Crosstown (Los Angeles)
Jan. 5, 2020
Reporter Joshua Chang, in a column about covering hate crimes in the Los Angeles area for a year, included a comment by Brian Levin, director of CSUSB’s Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism, on the work of the LA Police Department in tracking such incidents.
“‘We should recognize not many cities have a hate crime-specific division in their police departments,’ says Prof. Brian Levin, the director of the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at the California State University, San Bernardino.”
Read the complete article at “What I learned from a year of covering hate crimes.”
These news clips and others may be found at “In the Headlines” at inside.csusb.edu.