The pro-Palestinian protest that started at Columbia with only seventy students, where they pitched more than 50 tents on the lawn in what they called a “Liberated Zone” on April 17th 2024, has now spread both nationally and internationally. What started as the Gaza solidarity encampment at Columbia University, has since spread all over the US. The uprising many say has joined the ranks of Occupy Wall Street and the 1980s anti-apartheid movement, some even link it to the protest against the Vietnam War.But these pro-Palestinian protests are not limited to the US,they have further spread to universities from Italy and France to Australia. This is happening despite a stringent crackdown on the protesters, and arrest in hundreds. The movement is calling on universities to cut financial ties with Israel and divest from companies they say are enabling its brutal war against the Palestinians.
Calling it a war or a war between Israel and Gaza or Israel and Hamas are to shrink its magnanimity, its Israel’s war on humanity and an onslaught on the world’s global order. The blatant American support to Israeli forces makes it possible. The United States of America has vetoed four times in seven months to allow this massacre to continue unabated. The ululation of the dying falls on the dead conscious of those in the corridors of power. Observers say that the students led protests have been both peaceful and largely respectful. However, they faced both heavy-handedness and charges of anti-semitism. The Republican Governor of Texas Greg Abbott said that the protesters ‘belong in jail’ and that any student joining in what he called ‘hate-filled, anti-semitic protests’ should be expelled. Interestingly, a Jew professor of history Jeremi Suri at UT Austin, said on record there was “nothing anti-semitic” about the protests, also a law professor Jody Armour at the University said officials were using the claims of anti-Semitism to try and silence the protest. The reality on the ground is that Jews, along with Muslims, Palestinians, Catholics and Protestants are all protesting. It’s not about religion, it’s about humanity.
Harvard and Penn’s presidents had also resigned post criticism for allegedly failing to combat anti-semitism, with House Republicans interrogating the presidents of Harvard University, the University of Pennsylvania and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) on their policies in December 2023. The protests have gained momentum now and over thirty-five colleges and universities across United States are up against the United States policy of supporting the genocide in Israel. However,
Biden now for months has taken the pro-Palestinian demonstrations in stride, including at many of his public events and advisers say he has no plan to change course. He also signed into law an aid package granting $17 billion dollars in additional military funding for Israel. This of course, encouraged Israel and Benjamin Netanyahu to carry on the rampage in Gaza and its adjoining areas. The United States President framed the new assistance as an effort to help Israel protect itself from attacks against Iran. Israeli provocation by striking Iranian Consulate in Damascus, may not have resulted in United States joining the war, but it sure got him more military aid to carry on in Gaza. The Council on American Islamic relations (CAIR) said Biden passed the moral point of no return by signing the bill.
Coming back to the student protests, many think the protests have rattled both Tel Aviv and Washington. The heavy-handedness being shown to suppress the protests, which include arrests of hundreds of students, threats, expulsions and cancellation of campus events, including graduation ceremony of University of California in Los Angeles is definitely an indicator of weakness, rather than strength. University administrations have police on the campus to handle the crisis. Deadlines for an end to encampment have been dropped. The use of chemical irritant to push back students have been used.Helga Tawil-Souri, an associate professor of Middle East and Islamic studies at NYU said that “I’ve been at NYU for almost 20 years and I’ve seen a number of protests happening. I don’t think I have ever seen a crackdown of this nature.”
Chisato Mimura, protest leader at Yale University in Connecticut told the BBC, that activists were upset at President Joe Biden as well as their school officials for “quite literally funding and equipping the weapons used in genocide”.
And last but not least, the protests brought back memories of the protests against the Vietnam War in the minds of many. Almost five decades ago, members of National Guard were called to campus of Kent State University in Ohio, to quench the student protests over Vietnam War. More recently, of course the student movement to end the Apartheid in South Africa in 1985. In 1991, students across several US university campuses led protests against the Gulf war. Their demonstrations echoed nationwide dissent against American military involvement in Operation Desert Storm. In 2003, American high schools and university students, staged walkouts nationwide to express their opposition to the Iraq War. The student protests in 2018 and 2020 played a pivotal role in amplifying the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement. These pro-Palestinian protests cannot be taken lightly. The speed with which they have spread should be giving many, sleepless nights. College administrators, law enforcement, and politicians are grappling how to rein in a nationwide revolt in a new era dominated by social media and 24 hour news.
But more interestingly, they have spurred heated debates around freedom of speech, Palestinian solidarity activism in the US, and the use of force to disperse student protests, among other issues. While all of this happens the Palestinian death toll in Gaza has surpassed 34,300 mark, amidst reports that mass graves were uncovered in the coastal enclaves. A very profound sentiment expressed by a student said “we are a part of something that is bigger than us, we are a part of a global movement right now and we’re really inspired and strengthened by the incredible solidarity [we’re] seeing across the United States, across different college campuses, across the world.”
