Tim Weiss’ Post

We need collective spaces of dialogue about Gaza where love is the animating spirit. Why? The individual and collectivized fear of speaking up is everywhere. I am seeing it in everyone. Even saying the name "Gaza" has become a political act. "Liking" or "reposting," that we do often without thinking, is now made into a courageous act when it comes to Gaza. The fear of alienating others, the fear of anticipating retribution, the fear of coming out is omnipresent. The pain that cultural erasure is inflicting is palpable everywhere I go no matter who I talk to. Led by Zahira Jaser and friends, about 100 academics came together to create a collective space of dialogue and listen to her words. For a brief moment the gaslightening of suffering of the Palestinian people was gone and what existed was vulnerability, compassion, and empathy. It was a powerful moment of collective presence, respect and commemoration. There was love in the air. And remember, we are academics. We are trained to think and rationalize. This does not come easy. The final moment of Zahira's speech was enveloped in standing ovations. Again, remember, we are academics. We are trained to criticize each other. But, here we were in a collective moment of solidarity and togetherness. Can we please have more of this! Please read Zahira's article if you'd like to know more: "Coming out as Plaestinian" https://lnkd.in/eqZRd2vq Samer Abdelnour your spirit was present. You were missed. EGOS (European Group for Organizational Studies) #EGOS2024

🔥 The Youth 🔥 First coded as moral representatives of Kenya's bright future and then re-coded by state power as terrorists and threats to the nation. It is difficult to cut through the layers of imperialism, neocolonialsm, and capitalism at play which the newspapers around the world cover. If you do cut through, however, what presents itself is of rare beauty and purity. The aspirations of a tirelessly hopeful generation ready to do whatever is necessary to lift their Kenya into a future that works for them without repeating history. State power is hard at work to crush these dreams. In light of this, it seems more important than ever to read and reread what these dreams are. Here, an excerpt from a beautifully written article, one of many, that brings it to the fore. "We know that our society can fight for moral reasons. We can elect leaders who put their money where their mouth is, and who make and strike down laws for moral reasons. We can unite in fighting poverty, not poor people. We can care about our kids, about the disadvantaged members of our society, without beating our chests. We can build our economy collectively, brick by brick, without breaking the backs of the lowest among us. We can elect leaders with an appreciation of facts, logic, reason, and an understanding of philosophy, art, and science. We can elect policymakers who aspire to intelligence, who don’t belittle knowledge or get threatened by it. We Gen Zers know these things; we can be these things and do these things because we are informed. Because we have grown up watching our parents make the same mistakes over and over again." Thank you Tonny Ogwa for capturing and distilling the essence in powerful prose. Read the full article here -> https://lnkd.in/eiXQu4Mc

🔥 Can professions effectively self-regulate in the face of severe misconduct? 🔥 This study on overprescription of opioids in the US finds that out of 100 physicians found guilty of overprescribing, only 6 got their license revoked. This failure in accountability needs to be redressed. Kudos to Ece Kaynak & Hatim A. Rahman for showing powerful scholarship at its best. More please!

Super humbled to be able to work with this incredible calibre of scholars to catalyze emerging research talent. Kudos to the lead writers of the grant Mumin Abubakre and Dr Tessa Pijnaker for pulling this off and putting together such a wonderful cohort of scholars 🦾

If you dont know about this fantastic project then change it. Storytelling at its absolute best.

My scholarship is animated by a bell hooks' understanding of love and, as a result, a deep troubling concern for how the imperialist white supremacy capitalist patriarchy exploits, subjugates, others, marginalizes and kills people that have never asked to be victimized. I am deeply troubled by the ongoing genocide in Gaza and all the lives that are lost; all the past, present, and future possibilities of what has, is and could be that are being destroyed. This once again is a direct attack on humanity. What is more, I am also deeply troubled by the silence and silencing that is going on in academia; particularly so in my field of management and organization studies. Although there is a strong understanding that science should serve humanity and, as we know, academics have something to say on any given topic (whether qualified or not), we have and are collectively failing to step it up and stand for humanity. In looking for true leadership, it is once again those that never asked to be victimized who are rising to the occasion and raise their voices in such sensitive ways, making themselves vulnerable to critique, hate, personal targeting, and loss of a job. Nevertheless, they awake our consciousness of how the world should be -- a place of affection, care, compassion, communication and empathy for oneself and the other and thus by extension also humanity. The current struggle to end the ongoing genocide and the continuous efforts to silence in academia are a testimony that we have lost out of sight what scholarship should stand for and what academia is all about. I salute my colleagues (you know who you are) for finding ways to wake all of us up, and influence, support, and lead in covert and overt ways the struggle towards lasting peace. They are showing leadership even though they never asked nor wanted to lead. Thank you for doing it, again 🙏 The genocide needs to stop now. And, once its over it is my hope that we rethink what leadership and also success in academia actually stands for and thus where we can look for guidance in such troubled times. Thank you for reading up to here 🙏