Irish Examiner view: Protest uses the power of polite dissent

Actor Olwen Fouéré, filmmaker Margo Harkin, and American historian Kerby Miller have each refused the University of Galway's offer of an honorary doctorate

University of Galway's campus. Whether the university will finally sever ties with Technion is unclear. File picture: Ray Ryan

There is a particular sting in the act of protest that doesn’t shout, doesn’t blockade, or disrupt. The kind that simply says “no”. 

In recent days, the University of Galway has felt that sting three times over, as actor Olwen Fouéré, filmmaker Margo Harkin, and now American historian Kerby Miller have each refused the institution’s offer of an honorary doctorate. One act of dissent can be dismissed as an anomaly, two, a trend, but three is a reckoning.