Campus Protests Good

campus protests good, actually

Israel is conducting ethnic cleansing in Gaza with US military and political support. Israel’s actions have killed 35,000 Palestinians, displaced 80% of Gaza’s population, and placed a million into famine conditions. That’s evil.

From April 18, tens of thousands of students have protested for a ceasefire and for their universities to boycott and divest from Israeli apartheid. They are right to do so.

How have they been rewarded? 

First, media misrepresentation. The capitalist press has smeared protesters as anti-Jewish bigots. Mike Johnson, rightist Republican House Speaker, claimed protesters were "calling for the extermination of a race of people". Joe Biden, centrist Democratic President, railed against “antisemitism or threats of violence against Jewish students” from protestors. Israel itself called them “terrorists”, twice.

In reality, many of the encampments have Jewish leaders or organizers. A dozen campus protests hosted passover Seders. At one, when one pro-Israel provocateur yelled “Kill The Jews”, he was booed. (Everyone got arrested anyway.) No contentious mass protest can stop all bigoted statements. To minimize that, protest organizers have repeatedly condemned antisemitism and centralized their communications.

Second, mass arrests. John Greenblatt, ADL Director, demanded that the National Guard break the encampments. No Guardsmen were necessary, because cops nowadays use ex-military equipment to conduct raids that shock even scholars of protest. In four weeks, cops have arrested over 2400 protesters.

In reality, 99% of protests saw zero violence until police arrived. The worst violence from protesters was an accidental flagpole poke, credulously reported as “Jewish student STABBED IN THE EYE”. In contrast, when two hundred pro-Israel demonstrators threw fireworks and bricks onto UCLA protestors, police sat idly by. The law has chosen a side.

Colleges have turned to punishments for speech we haven’t seen in decades: Mass suspensions, expulsions, and arrests. Centrist Democrats and Republicans have not lifted a finger to protect protesters’ democratic rights. Instead, they passed a resolution that “equates criticism of Israel with hate speech”.

You don’t need to be a socialist to see why this is awful. Any liberal who values free speech should despise this repression. Peaceful protests and tents on the campus green do not deserve tear gas and riot cops.

Israel has damaged or destroyed 80% of Gaza’s schools. Students are right to protest that horror. They deserve admiration, not repression. And when progressives protest the Democratic National Convention, they will deserve the same.

protester at University of Texas, Austin, by Nuri Vallbona for Reuters