The Memory Hole > FBI File: Edward Said

FBI File: Edward Said

Professor, Critic, and Pro-Palestinian Activist

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(PDF format | 146 pages | 7.3 meg)

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>>> From Wikipedia: "Edward Wadie Said (November 1, 1935 – September 24, 2003 ...) was a well-known Palestinian-American literary theorist, critic, and outspoken pro-Palestinian activist. He was a professor of English and comparative literature at Columbia University. He is regarded as a founding figure in post-colonial theory."

Professor David Price offers a detailed look at Said's FBI file in this article at CounterPunch. He writes:

Most of Said's file documents FBI surveillance campaigns of his legal, public work with American-based Palestinian political or pro-Arab organizations, while other portions of the file document the FBI's ongoing investigations of Said as it monitored his contacts with other Palestinian-Americans. That the FBI should monitor the legal political activities and intellectual forays of such a man elucidates not only the FBI's role in suppressing democratic solutions to the Israeli and Palestinian problems, it also demonstrates a continuity with the FBI's historical efforts to monitor and harass American peace activists.

Technical notes: This file was released on paper by the FBI on 07 Sept 2005 in response to FOIA request 0984950-002/190-, filed by Russ Kick. According to the cover letter, 147 preprocessed pages were released. (They apparently counted a cover sheet, which I didn't scan, as the first page of the file.) According to David Price, the first requester of Said's file, the FBI noted that Said's complete file is 238 pages. The missing 91 pages were withheld due to FOIA exemptions.

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