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He Made a PowerPoint on Mothers Starving in Gaza. Then He Lost His Government Job. (theintercept.com)

submitted 5 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

62 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Alexander Smith’s PowerPoint presentation doesn’t appear designed to court controversy. The slides, focused on declining maternal health in Gaza, cite public health data from the United Nations and World Health Organization. His employer, the U.S. Agency for International Development, had selected him to share it at the government agency’s Global Gender Equality Conference.

But just before the conference, an issue of contention emerged.

A single slide mentioned international humanitarian law in context of the health crisis in Gaza. USAID staff cited the slide and discussion of international law as potential fodder for leaks, documents and emails Smith shared with The Intercept show. Despite Smith’s willingness to make revisions, his presentation was eventually canceled. On the last day of the conference, he found himself out of a job.

“I thought it is really obscene that misinformation can go out freely out into the world [about Gaza], but I can’t talk about the reality of starving pregnant women,” said Smith, who worked as a contracted senior adviser at USAID on gender and material health. “We can’t even whisper about that in a conference on that topic.”

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[–] [email protected] 17 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Is this a first amendment violation because this person is a govt employee?

[–] [email protected] 13 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Government employees in their official capacity can be limited, but not in private capacity. So if he's speaking officially on behalf of his government employer they can decide what he can say.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 5 months ago

He was also a contractor. Not sure if that makes a difference.