NOTE: Since starting this petition, we learned that others had started a similar petition nearly a week ago, so we ask that you help us consolidate our voices by reading and signing the earlier petition: http://www.petitiononline.com/freeacad/petition.html

If you believe that university professors and students should NOT be silenced for voicing their opinions and ideas, please sign this petition to signal your support of the Malawian professors, students, staff, and people from all walks of life who are protesting unconstitutional government attempts to silence them. They need your support NOW, because the efforts to silence them have become increasingly violent in the past weeks.

In February, a political science lecturer at Malawi’s Chancellor College was interrogated by police because he made a remark in class comparing current conditions in Malawi to recent conditions in Egypt. When his colleagues learned what had happened, they demanded that the government issue an apology and assurances that Malawian universities would be free from intimidation.

When neither assurances nor apologies were offered, Chancellor College lecturers walked out of their classrooms, refusing to resume teaching until such time as they received word that their constitutionally guaranteed academic freedoms would not be infringed upon by the government. In the weeks that followed, instructors at other Malawian institutions joined their Chancellor College colleagues in their boycott, which has also received the support of many Malawian university students.

The police and the regime of Malawian President Bingu wa Mutharika have responded with teargas and violence to break up protests. They have also attempted to fire those instructors and administrators they consider responsible for the boycott, since all other attempts to intimidate them into silence have failed.

If you wish to tell the Malawian academic community that you stand in solidarity with them, and to tell the Malawian government that it should end its attempts at intimidation, please sign this petition!