Subaltern linguistics: A call for action

“Ahmar, my friend, you live in Western civilization, speak and teach the language you see as highly oppressive, yet enjoy the benefits of the freedom it affords you to do so, to criticize it publically.” (a comment on my Facebook post that shared the following article: https://www.megaphone.org.au/petitions/university-of-wollongong-reject-the-secret-ramsay-deal) This is not the first (nor last) time that people have made such comments to me. I want to take a moment to respond to them. First, it is not just the Western…