Category Archives: Activist Interviews

‘New Brunswick Today’ Under Attack

Posted on by under activism, Activist Interviews, cancel culture, Neutrality and Complicity, Palestine

I’ve praised both New Brunswick Today and its editor Charlie Kratovil on this blog before. If, as I’ve put it elsewhere, “New Brunswick politics is an education,” Charlie Kratovil deserves an endowed chair.

New Brunswick Today was the newspaper that published the most extensive expose, back in 2024, of the outrageous scheme by Edison township officials (and the Edison Police) to intimidate Spanish-speaking migrants stopped at the Edison rail station, following their expulsion by Governor Greg Abbott from Texas. Kratovil was the only reporter to go out and sue to get body cam video of the entire incident, publish it in its entirety, and make explicit that what it showed was an extended civil rights violation. Subtract his reporting from the record, and the event falls between the cracks and vanishes.

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Activist Interviews Page

Posted on by under activism, Activist Interviews, General announcements

I just created a new Activist Interviews page to house the Activist Interviews series I began this past January. I’ve so far only posted one interview, the one I did with Emanuelle Sippy of Princeton University’s Alliance of Jewish Progressives. Forthcoming interviewees include Sireen Sawalha, Sadaf Jaffer, Aditi Rao, Ana Paola Pazmiño, various participants in Princeton’s Gaza Solidarity Encampment, and many more. Stay tuned.

Activist Interviews: Emanuelle Sippy

Posted on by under activism, Activist Interviews, Neutrality and Complicity, Notes on the Anti-War Movement, Palestine

This is the first in an ongoing series of interviews I’ll be doing with a variety of activists and practitioners I’ve worked with or met over the years. Emanuelle Sippy was the head of Princeton University’s Alliance of Jewish Progressives during the Gaza Solidarity Encampment of the spring 2024, and both a forceful and articulate presence throughout. My interview with her was conducted May 4, 2025 at Terrace Club, Princeton University.

Q: You were brought up Jewish, the daughter of a Reform rabbi in Kentucky. What was that like? How would you describe the Jewish part of your upbringing, including your education? Continue reading →